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| Ticket to Lanke Shan park |
The weather is starting to get cooler now, the students are wearing padded jackets in class (the rooms are not heated), although I can still get by with just a long-sleeved polo top.
The weather today was fine for an excursion though, cool and overcast. If the weather was OK, Marzena (the Polish English teacher from the adjacent university) and I had agreed to go to
Lanke Mountain (Lanke Shan). It was supposed to be only 10km from Quzhou. Well that’s probably true, but only if you count from the outskirts of Quzhou! Finding the bus departure point was also a mini adventure (it was in a small depot in north Quzhou) but not as interesting as the bus ride itself.
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The village where we commenced
our walk to Lanke Shan |
The brakes on the bus sounded like they were completely worn, and whenever the driver applied them there was a horrendous scraping and squealing noise, and the bus slowed only marginally, then they would lock and stop suddenly. Conversations in the bus were conducted between screeches, and everyone was noticeably concerned at the way the bus was unlikely to stop suddenly if required. To the driver’s credit, he drove slowly and applied the brakes judiciously.
The trip itself took about and hour, most of which was spent tortuously travelling through the outer suburbs of Quzhou, although it improved after we left the outskirts. So, an hour later, we arrived at Shishi Village and were advised to get off…thankfully.
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Gateway to Lanke Shan with a
Chinese chess motif |
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| Roadside mural featuring Chinese chess |
The direction to Lanke Shan was reasonably well signposted so we headed off on foot, to arrive about half an hour later at the entrance to the park.
The setting was very peaceful, and with the leaves on many trees starting to change colour it was quite beautiful. It reminded me a bit of Audley in the Royal National Park near Sydney – on a wintry weekday when it’s deserted.
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| The natural rock arch |
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The huge Chinese chess pieces below
the arch |
After paying the small entry, 20RMB ($3AUS) we headed along the winding paths and up the stone steps to the large natural arch – the main feature of the park. One of the attractions here is a giant board for
Chinese chess (Xiangqi), one of the motifs of the area. Along the road on our way here, we saw roadside murals featuring people playing the game. A house even had a board with pieces integrated into its front fence.
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An Australian tourist
at the Ri Chi pavilion |
We just sat for a while and took in the scene, eating the fruit we’d bought on the way – mandarins of course, Chinese pears that look like apples, and the first strawberries I’d seen. Huge AND delicious, not like the watery tasteless ones in Australia.
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View from the top of the rock arch with
the temple roof below |
There was almost no-one around, until a Chinese tour group arrived. All the tourists that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the area have been Chinese, mainly from the region or from places like Hangzhou. No foreigners. We climbed the short walk to the top and just took in the view – hampered a little by the hazy atmosphere, but it looked bit like a Chinese painting with hills slowly fading into the distance. This doesn’t really show in the photographs I took.
On the way down we stopped at the Bao Yan temple which, like many I’ve seen around Quzhou, are a mixture of Doaism and Buddhism. It was nestled into the mountain and surrounded by the forest. An absolutely beautiful place to contempate the important things in life.
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| The smaller first temple |
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| The main Bao Yan temple |
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| Temple buildings in the forest |
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The Buddha in the
small temple |
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The Buddha in the
large temple |
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| Winter is on its way |
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| Lanke Shan tourist map designed as a Chinese chess game |
