FISHES AND CATS AND DRAGONS, OH MY!

fishes and cats and dragons, oh my!

As my subject line indicates, we feel as though we have landed in Oz. What an amazing place. Yesterday began at 8:00 a.m. and didn't end until after 10:00 p.m.
We began the day with the traditional Chinese breakfast that comes with a room here in LuShan. I really mean traditional. There were many dishes we were unfamiliar with, but we found plenty of food on which to fill up including hard boiled eggs, fresh steamed bread, and noodles with vegetables. Interestingly there was no fruit or fruit juice on the menu, but there was something that we found both appealing and disgusting at the same time. Appealing because it was familiar to us, disgusting because we normally don't drink it the way it was served. It was ......TANG. Good old Tang, but it was served steaming hot....ugh.
At about 9:15 we met Coby and he explained that he would purchase a ticket on the LuShan National Park Tourist bus for us....the fee is pretty nominal. For one small price you can ride the beautiful air-conditioned buses all over LuShan. There are stations everywhere....get off, do some sightseeing, then board another bus and go somewhere else. Very similar to the buses that take you through the Grand Canyon. But here is an interesting Chinese twist to the tourist bus. To avoid freeloaders riding the buses who have not paid for a ticket. you are given a numbered ticket at the start of your trip....you place your thumb print on the ticket (it has a laminated cover) and the numbered ticket with your thumb print on it is scanned into a tiny computer that stores the information. When you get off and then re-board another bus you are asked to provide your ticket, which is then scanned....then you place your actual thumb on an optical reader and the two thumb prints have to match up. This avoids the problem of one person buying a ticket and later giving it to someone else. Pretty cool, huh?
We went to our first stop and hiked to a lookout point, where we took many pictures. Coby gave us the option of returning to the bus stop and riding to another lookout point, OR HIKING the trail through the entire scenic loop. Fresh from our breakfast and full of energy, we opted to hike the loop. Wow, wow, wow.....I just don't have words to describe the beauty we saw. This mountain is on the UNESCO World Heritage and Cultural list for good reason.
In climate and topography it is very similar to the Great Smoky Mountains in the US. We even had the special experience of standing on a mountain plateau when the clouds literally came down from the sky and envelope us, then just as quickly the mist was blown away by the ever present breeze. In fact, LuShan is known as the land of cloud and mist.
I could not possibly tell you about all of our stops, but there are a couple that stand out. After hiking about a million stone steps (at least that is how it felt) we took a rest at the Cave of the Immortals. It is a natural cave that goes deep into the mountainside, and there is a dark, cold pond fed by a stream way at the back. We went to the back and our guide splashed our faces with the icy water, which felt so good because even though the temperatures here are cooler than in the valley, we had worked up a sweat from our hiking. Caitlin and I were staring into the pool of water and Caitlin said "I see a fish", to which our guide assured us that no fish live in the dark icy waters. But Caitlin was positive, and I believed her. So while the other members of our party were outside enjoying the view, Caitlin and I were staring into the pool. But we did not see the fish and Caitlin was so disappointed, UNTIL WE CAME UP WITH A PLAN. We aimed both our cameras into the icy black water and kept snapping flash pictures over and over and over, until suddenly on the digital camera screen we saw the image of not one, not two, but three jet black fish with shiny eyes in the pool. Caitlin was vindicated and we high-fived each other for being the first Westerners (and maybe the only people on the world) to capture the fish on camera.....we have named it the Invisible Immortal Fish.

Look closely in the bottom right corner and you can see two of our mystery fish .... I had to add a lot of brightness to the original photo, as the pool is much darker than this picture would lead you to believe.

Meanwhile, while Caitlin and I were attending to the invisible fish, Hannah and Madeline and Perrie had found a colony of cats living in a rocky area behind some tourist kiosks that sell everything from camera film to hot dogs up on the top of the mountain. Hannah ran to find me and took me to see the cats. Madeline was very concerned for their well-being, and they stood in front of us meowing pitifully. So I rushed to the hot dog vendor and purchased a hot dog FOR THE CATS. Perrie tore it into pieces and Hannah, Madeline, Caitlin and Perrie threw the tiny pieces to the cats....as the kids threw hot dogs into the cracks in the mountainside, more and more cats ventured forth.....most of them were very pretty orange and white ones. They were thin, but not starving....probably the food vendors give them leftovers, or maybe the cats catch mice and rats that would otherwise inhabit the area.

These are some of the cats that lived around the cave/temple.

After resting there at the Cave of the Immortals, we trekked further into the mountains. Next we went to the Yellow Dragon Pool and the Black Dragon Pool. OMG as the kids like to text, this was yet another incredible place. At the Pool of the Yellow Dragon there are three trees that have been tested to be over 600 years old.....one is a ginko tree, and I can't remember the type of trees that the other two were. They are so tall and so wide in diameter that it was difficult for me to photograph them with only one camera shot, even when using panorama mode.
After admiring the trees (and the kids were busy finding four leafed clovers), we hiked down, down, down to the waterfall and pool of the yellow dragon. There, our kids once again proved they are half mountain goat by climbing out onto the boulders into the middle of the pond and posing for pictures in front of the waterfall.

Right: Madeline and Hannah at the Yellow Dragon Pool and Waterfall

More hiking down the mountain side brought us to the Black Dragon Pool, which actually has a waterfall that breaks into three areas and is just as breathtaking as the Yellow Dragon waterfall. Just when I began to worry about how I would make it back to the tourist bus if I were forced to hike back up that steep trail with the million and one stone steps, our guide surprised us by pointing in the direction we had been hiking and saying a tourist bus station was about a three minute walk down the path. It felt beyond excellent to sit on the air-conditioned bus and ride back to the town of KuLing for lunch.
Just wait until you hear about our afternoon.....

Hannah and Madeline at Black Dragon Pool and Waterfall