china-huashan mtn

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Rachel and I hiked Huashan Mountain near Xi'an.  It is one of the Holy Mountains in China. 
And apparently holiness is partly determined by thousands of stairs.  I mean tens of thousands
and going up thousands of feet (and down, too).

 
Can you see the people going up that ridge in the picture on the right?

The tram that takes you to the base near North Peak

It is almost surreal to see all the stairs and buildings at such a high mountain.  Only in China.

At the Golden Lock pass.

So we had decided before we left the USA that we needed to find this specific place on Huashan where you walk
across wooden planks along the cliff.  This is the way you climb down to get to that path.

And here is what it looks like when you get down there

Almost gives you vertigo just looking at the picture!

 
But stunningly beautiful.

And it earns you a view of the shrine for Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism.  A kind of
pilgrimage for me since I have been studying Taoism for about 15 years.

But you do earn your way on that mountain.

This is us with our newly made friends Nikki and Mandy from Hong Kong.  We met on the bus
from Xi'an and stuck together all day.  They are great fun.