Intenational Women's day - A trip to Mt Zhouyi

The big bell at the Temple...
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RYAN...

For International Womens day our school decided that all the women will have the day off. I was invited to join their outdoor excursion on exception that I am a foreigner. So all the women (female teachers from the school) and I all got into a bus and drove for about 3 hours to a place called Mt Zhouyi (Joe ee). The first stop was a big temple that was a memorial and tribute to Emperor Shun (pronounced Shwum). This was a really interesting place and it had lost of reconstructed imperial-style Chinese buildings. There was a big statue of the Emperor and lots of the teachers got down and prayed to him for luck and protection which I thought was pretty cool. We didn't know if it was kosher for us to pray of not, so we didn't. Next we rang a massive gong because we could. You must ring it 12 times for good luck.

we were in the Bat Cave or Moria and either Gollum or the Penguin was going to spring out from the shadows at any moment

All the female teachers outside the temple gates...
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Had lunch at a little place but because this was only a few weeks into our China experience my stomach was extremely unhappy, so I didn't really enjoy myself. My belly felt like it was turning summersaults and growling with horrid displeasure (hating the excess chilli, oil and Msg that we now consume daily). It was, in short an awful experience because all up I was sick for at least 2 weeks and following that I contracted a chest infection.

But skipping ahead to the more exciting part of the adventure, we then went to explore an underground cave called “Purple Cloud Rock” (I was to find out later that this region has hundreds of these kinds of caves). This is the biggest underground cave I have ever seen in my life – it was bloody huge! We descended countless steps with difficulty in our hiking boots because the rocks were really slippery but then looked on in horror as all the other teachers wearing high heels swayed and teetered their way to the bottom precariously. We were very much amazed that no one died then and there – it was pretty close.

Jane and Monica - our friends and minders...
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Chinese caves have been known about for so long that many of the interior decorations have been taken away of destroyed, but despite this the caves beauty was astounding. Also because the government doesn't really put much money into these caves, the lighting is really bad and as a result, much of the cave is in shrouded in darkness, leaving us walking along with the feeling that we were in the Bat Cave or Moria and that either Gollum or the Penguin were going to spring out from the shadows at any given moment. .

The teachers pray for good luck and prosperity...
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After this we wanted to go home, but were transported to another cave called the “Peach Blossom Cave”. This cave was a long tunnel (about 1 km) that we waited about 1 hour to see because the boatman was late. Yes, it was really cool because we went through the cave by boat with only a few dodgy lights and a torch to guide us. What is interesting in Chinese caves is that the guide doesn't tell you anything about the geology or history of the caves formation at all, they focus instead on the stories that the caves decorations tell. “This one is a dragon kissing the water” our interpreter whispers to us, “and that one is Chairman Mao giving a speech to the people.” When I asked one of them how the actual cave formed they say “just by magic of course.” “By magic,” I like that. Anyway I thought it was really different to our way of doing things.

Walking down the steps to Purple Cloud Rock...
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Going home we realized that this kind of experience doesn't happen to everyone. The reason is that hardly any tourists ever come this deep into rural China unless they are lost, so we are essentially seeing parts of the country that are natural wonders but hardly anyone outside this little region sees. I like that.