OK, Back to China

Early this spring as Ken and I were planning our trip back to China, one thing we agreed we wanted to do for sure was once again climb Qingcheng. Qingcheng is a mountain about two hours west of Chengdu, and it is the seat of Daoism.

When we got to Chengdu, we inquired about the condition of Qingcheng. We knew the devastating earthquake of 2008 had occurred at or near this mountain, so we weren't sure whether the hiking trails were still open. We were told we probably wouldn't have any trouble hiking Qingcheng again.

We hired our usual driver and his car, and at 8:30 promptly we set out for Qingcheng.

As we traveled the countryside approaching Qingcheng, the only evidence of the earthquake we could spot was a house tipping precariously at a 45-degree angle. We did see piles of rubble here and there, but in China one always sees piles of rubble here and there because buildings are constantly being demolished and rebuilt.

Arriving at Qingcheng, things appeared to be normal. It wasn't long, however, before we realized things were far from normal. Apparently the eastern side of the mountain was badly destroyed in the quake. It was impassable. We were not surprised to see the usual men toting supplies up the mountain on their backs, but now they were not toting baskets of food supplies and other smaller items: they were toting baskets of huge rocks, cement, gravel, even propane tanks! They were carrying supplies to rebuild the hiking trails of Qingcheng. That was pretty sobering. Their hiking sticks double as seats when they stop to rest; they simply sit on the "T" of the stick.

After attempting to follow the hiking path we were familiar with, we finally admitted it was impassable and decided to hike UP our usual DOWN route.

This allowed us to hike nearly to the top, but we reached a point where we had to admit defeat and turn around to head back down the mountain.

It was disappointing not to be able to make the complete hike of Qingcheng, but at least we got to spend some time there one last time and take in the tranquility of the place.
We were in the company of many other hikers, for the Chinese do love their excursions on this mountain.

As you can see from the top photo, if you don't care to make the hike on foot, or if your health doesn't allow for such a strenous hike, you can hire two men with a sling contraption to carry you up and down the mountain! The total cost of this means of conveyance is only a few yuan, probably less than a dollar, maybe less than 50 cents.

Ken and I are hardy Mainers, though, so we enjoy a good physical challenge.

After two and a half hours at the mountain, it was time to head back to Chengdu. Our driver, a bit of a daredevil behind the wheel, soon had the speedometer up to 140 km/h, which translates to over 85 mph. Ken dozed off during the ride, but I, fearing we might be about to face death, decided I'd better stay awake for the occasion. Luckily I was wrong and we arrived in Chengdu safely.

(Wow. I didn't realize until just now, when I did a google search to find the link above to the China earthquake of 2008, that we returned to Qingcheng on its two-year anniversary, exactly. The quake occurred on May 12, 2008; as you can see from the date on my photos, we were there May 12, 2010.)

The boat in the header photo sits on a little lake near the base of the mountain. It used to convey hikers across the lake, but we found it now sitting idle.