Chinese Adventure: Best Day Ever.

Today, we woke up early to head out to Funyang Mountain, a famous mountain about 45 minutes away from Yongkang. By the end of our excursion, I was the hottest and sweatiest I have ever been in my entire life. The kind of sweaty where it is dripping into your eyes. (And you're welcome for that visual. I'll keep them at a minimum from here on out in this post ;) I was told there were thousands of stairs, and it went up, up, up. And it did. And it's June. And the humidity was 91% today. And I was exhausted. 

But it's my favorite place I have been in China. And I'll show you why...

Here we are at the bottom of the mountain looking up, up, up!

Tired? Don't worry. You can pay these guys to literally carry you up the mountain. Apparently they pay by the pound.. (Just kidding.)

"Please forbid schlep fireworke mountain dimbing."

This sign was at the entrance at the bottom of the mountain. I decided then to refrain from schlep-ing, fireworke-ing, and dimbing during my climb.

He was playing an ethnic instrument near the bottom of the mountain, and you could hear the music floating up for much of the climb. 

One little segment up.

If you look carefully on each step, they were all marked/signed with someone's name. These names are the people who carried the stone into place up the mountain or sponsored the stone. Pom Pom said many of them were trying to make up for doing something wrong, but Betty just rolled her eyes when he said it. 

This is the most famous part of the hike up, it's on the mountain's logo. 

Betty and I. Mountain climbers extraordinaire!

Pom and I looking out toward the pagodas over the cliff.

When you near one of the platforms at the top (there are many layers, you really sort of just keep going and climbing like you are in a huge tree house), you are greeted by the four warrior guardians of the heavens.

Uhm. Hi, there. You're terrifying. And HUGE.

Ok, I totally get how "Man Taming Dragon," "Man Playing Chinese Instrument," and "Man Wielding Sword" are all warriors. A little lost on the "Man With Umbrella." Perhaps he represents all gentleman everywhere. Most Chinese women use an umbrella to protect themselves from the sun because fair skin is beautiful here. Meaning in China, I am finally the right skin color. I make "pale as a ghost" look good. 

The main reason I wanted to go to the top of the mountain is because Betty's grandparents used to live at the top of the mountain and take care of one of the temples. Before they were the caretakers of the temple, they used to run a little shop which was located right beside this cover. The cover hides a well. Betty's mother said the well will never run dry and is full of fresh water from the mountain. Awesome!

One of the little streets "in the heavens." There were a few little shops, however, all they really sold were red sticks which looked like fireworks, but are actually candles to light at any of the many temples.

Many of the shops have this outside: a pig, pig's tail, and a dead duck. Yum. These are popularly used for Buddhism as a sort of gift to the gods. So, you should buy from this store because they have the freshest pig head, or, in other words: how I always choose what stores to shop at in America.

Meanwhile, teenagers are teenagers all around the world. He reminds me of my (now 18-year-old as of Saturday!) brother, Patrick.

I love the dragon details. Probably because I am a dragon myself. rar. :)

One of the many Buddhas. Betty and Pom said there are more than 100 kinds of Buddhas. The statues they used to depict the different ones are beautiful.

This is the mother. Betty gave thanks to her for Dow baby.

Then you have Pom Pom. When his parents were going to try to have a baby, Betty's mother came to pray for a baby. She pointed out that one, and said she wanted that baby boy specifically. So, Pom Pom was a boy. Obviously after that story, I made him take a picture with the baby. (It's on the top shelf in the second window over, a little baby between two big Buddhas.) 

A view over some of the temples.

This is Mr. Hu. Mr. Hu was a governor for their province in ancient times, and was well respected and kind. He looks a lot like the bad genie in Aladdin, but I did really like all the depictions of the good he did in his life for the province on the walls around his temple.

This shows how he helped with the regulation of money.  In ancient times, they used the coins with holes in them, which are depicted on the ground of this picture. Some dishonest officials would make them out of a material other than copper, so he helped to make a scale which weighed the coins to ensure they were correct.

Then, they had another little temple area where you can pray or you can make a wish! So I did! First, you shake this kind of can thing with sticks inside of it.

But you have to shake it just right so that only one stick falls out. Harder than it sounds. Then you get a little script paper with your sort of fortune for your wish on it.

Next, you take the paper with the ancient writing on it over to the official script reader, and he will read you the answer to your wish. In Chinese. So I just nodded and smiled like I had any idea what he was saying. Luckily for me, Betty listened in and then told me what it said later.  

See at the top right? Those are "two bests." You can have up to three bests, and the more bests, the more likely your wish is to come true. Pom Pom had three bests, and his wish was to pass his exam in April, so he was ecstatic! My wish had to do with my husband and I, but as soon as they saw my script, before he knew my wish, he said "wow! you have an amazing marriage" which I was thought was kind of neat.

Each script comes with a story. Mine went like this: 

During the three kingdoms, Emporer Liubei met one of his best military counselors. The counselor was named Pangtong, and would help him and advise him, giving him a hand when he needed one. So, Mike and I will have much fortune and have someone in our lives who will help us fulfill our wish. 

The way up to the temple where Betty's grandfather worked as a curator and lives. 

Hey there hot stuff. You need a trip to the dentist.

Betty going up to look at the top of the temple where her grandparents used to live.

Then, we headed over a sky bridge to the other top of the mountain. Suddenly, the clouds parted and the day became more beautiful... And quite a bit hotter. ;)

"Oh, Captain my Captain," I thought of you today at the top of the world.

The beautiful pagoda close up.

Behind the pagoda is a courtyard where they had cultural dances and plays which people come up to watch. Betty said that she was last here in April, and there was a giant head of Mr. Hu, but for some reason they got rid of it. She was disappointed, but I told her I have seen a lot of giant heads in China.

Then, of course, I wanted to climb to the top of the pagoda. This was half of the first flight of stairs up. As you go, the stairs become less stairs and more just straight death ladders. Don't worried, I held tight to the railing.

On each level there were beautiful paintings about important moments in ancient Chinese history.

Then we MADE IT to the top! At the top there was a bell, and I realized after taking this picture I hit the bell in the wrong spot. Shoot. 

A panorama from one side of the top of the pagoda. This distorts the view, as I am actually on a circular building, but the view was gorgeous.

The other side of the pagoda.

Me at the top of the pagoda. So exhausting, but so worth it.

On our way back down, we saw the passing of the torch, literally, from mother to son: teaching the cultural and religious heritage. 

Beautiful.

Then, we decided to stop in the new Hardware City for lunch.

This is me and my opinion of the tiny glasses in China. I JUST WANT A REGULAR, HUMAN-SIZED GLASS! (Ok, maybe not that badly, but it would be nice.)

A rose made of radish.

At Pom's military school, they have like no time for eating, so he inhales his food like someone is about to steal it from him, and he also eats more than anyone I've ever seen. Cracks me up every time.

After I got back, I showered up (mercifully) and went shopping with Lilly, one of my colleagues, to finish up some of my shopping lists. WE LOVE SHOPPING. Then, we headed to Lydia's apartment for a dinner with all of my English colleagues.

Paula and her little boy playing Chinese checkers. They thought it was hysterical that I called them that.

Wee man and I trying to decide which of Lydia's son's toys we want to play with.

The beautiful dinner table.

Sweet rolls. THEY. WERE. DELICIOUS.

Her husband cooked the whole meal, and he certainly has talent in the kitchen! All of the food was wonderful. He even made my favorite dessert. You take the little white sticky roll and put what tastes like the ingredients for a Butterfinger inside, roll it up and YUM! 

Signature strange food: Pig stomach lining.

Doreen and her 6-year-old son. She said he learned how to use chopsticks at age 1. 

When I was Skyping with my mom the other day, she told me that when she was pregnant with me, her craving was Chinese food and they would eat it 5 out of 7 days a week. She and my dad used to joke I would be an Asian baby because I loved Asian food. She also said my dad taught me how to use chopsticks when I was four. So we come full circle!

We were besties and made a tower together. He was shy, but so sweet.

Whereas Paula's son was a FIRECRACKER. He was hysterical.

Me with the babies of the English department (minus Dow and Susan's baby).

Then, the icing on the perfect day, we headed to karaoke. That's right: karaoke. It's all the rage in China to go to these little karaoke places and sing their hearts out. Sometimes they drink, and sometimes they don't. We didn't and had a BLAST.

The top songs to sing along with right now. I know at least one of them!

All the blue signs are little rooms. Your group gets assigned to a little room where you go to sing, sing, sing!

Before I got cornered into my first song. "Africa." I was laughing hysterically, but no one understood why the song was so funny." "I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AFRICAAAAAA..." And yes, video exists of me singing. Maybe someday you'll see them. But there's no way I'm posting that valuable footage on the internet. It's going in the vault.

Lydia's husband and son sing a song. Imagine a Chinese math teacher belting out a song about being an man's man warrior. It was the most hilarious and most adorable thing I have ever seen.

If I am standing, I must have been singing an Adele song. You can't sit and sing Adele. Everyone sang a lot of songs, we were there for hours. I sang: 

Man I Feel Like a Woman

Cowboy Casanova

Skyfall

Someone Like You

Rollin' in the Deep

Ignition (yeah that's right)

Gold digger (I'm an awesome rapper)

Africa

Your Song

Dynamite

Betty and Lilly gettin' it in Chinese. I don't know what they were saying, but it sounded good.

Susan and I at the end of my favorite day.

I have never been more tired, but it was all worth it for my favorite day in China.