Huli Mountian

Monday was "Chinese Memorial Day", so Chris and I decided we would take a walk up to a Temple we discovered while hiking aimlessly around Huli Mountain a few weeks back. This post doesn't need a whole lot of explanation, it is mostly for the pictures/video of what we saw there.

Huli Mountain is the only place in Xiamen, so far, that I have been able to breath in via my nose, and not only not evoke the gag reflex, but thoroughly enjoy the smell of good old fashioned nature. (More to come on the smells of China once we have them all properly categorized and labeled.)

All around the mountain there are lush forests, cobble stone paths, and some fancy places to stop and rest, like this one.

All the trails are marked by these peculiar signs. What makes them peculiar, you might ask? The fact that to the average non-woodsy American passer-byer, one would assume they are made of wood. But, anyone who has spent more than a week in China (since nothing but tea tables are made of wood here. Not even witches.) or grew up learning about trail markers on the other hand, would know they are not They are in fact solid concrete.

Then out of no where, in stark contrast to the dense dark green sub tropical forest, these building come sharply into view.

We walked a bit further and found the entrance and began to poke around. Here is what we found.

One of the largest and most elaborate Tea tables I have seen so far. (totally bringing one of these home!)

One thing about China is that anywhere there is anything (which is everywhere) there is something under construction. This was no different. This should give you a pretty good idea of the atmosphere.

Bamboo used for scaffolding.

I did not get any clear pictures of the inside of the main building. Ritualistic people en-mass make both Chris and I nervous so we steered clear. Suffice to say there was a big golden Buddha, a bunch of incense, and some candles. (Like most Buddhist shrines.)

There was certainly plenty of cool architecture and art to go around. Here are some examples.

Off to the sides of the main building were a couple small shrines connected with elaborately decorated halls.

At the end of the hallsare separate smaller shrines dedicated to ancient Chinese war lords and the like.

By this time we thought that we had seen all there was to see of the shrine, so we took a minute to appreciate the view of the city.

And spied on some people in a cool hiding place for lunch.

Though I am not sure, something about this smacked of Cultural Revolution a little too much to not take a photo.

I have now used "Spied" and "Cultural Revolution" on the same blog post... If for some reason the blog becomes inactive in the next few weeks... you know why.

Then I saw the weirdest goose I have ever seen. (And some people don't think bird's evolved from Dinosaurs!!)

But, as we were about to leave, we noticed there was a bit more. The bit more had a TON of people walking towards it and was actually a lot more, so we figured we'd check it out.

Along with men selling turtles on a leash,

this where I saw the T-Rex man. I couldn't bring my self to take a picture, but think full grown man with fully functional infant arm. Thank you USA for having an EPA.

It turned out that this was where most people we going to celebrate Chinese Memorial Day. This is a big chimney.

I don't know the ins and outs of it, but from what we were told and what we saw, people burn paper, which they get from here.

Then they go here here to make a wish and burn some incense. (The wish may or may not come up on the ticker screen.)

LOTS of incense.

Lots of really big incense.

Then, if your a foreigner you wander around and get stared at while you take lots of photos of the cool stuff. However, I didn't take to many more photos. (Once again due to "the horde of people bowing, talking to them selves, and burning stuff factor" but here are a few.)

Then I got Chris to smile in front of the whole thing. (This is a challenge in it self after being stared at, shouted at, pushed around, and charged too much for stuff for about 3 hours)

All in all, a very cool place. We might just have to go back when it is a little less crowded.

More later.