Assembling at 7am early in the morning, we had the loaf of bread we bought the previous night for breakfast on the bus. Traveling 300km away from Wuhan, with a long bus ride of 5 hours along expressways, we finally reached Wudang Mountain.
Had our lunch at one of the restaurant when we reached Wudang Mountain. Only some of the food appealed to us as they suited our taste.
Sources taken from here.
Wudang Shan is a sacred mountain area in northwest Hubei. The range of 72 peaks stretches for 400km (250 miles). At 1,600 meters (5,250ft) Tianzhu Feng peak is the highest of Wudang Shan peaks. Its name means pillar to the sky. Many of the hills in Wudang Shan have Daoist temples scattered on their slopes which date back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and this is one of the most sacred mountain areas for Daoists.
Wudang Shan is a sacred mountain area in northwest Hubei. The range of 72 peaks stretches for 400km (250 miles). At 1,600 meters (5,250ft) Tianzhu Feng peak is the highest of Wudang Shan peaks. Its name means pillar to the sky. Many of the hills in Wudang Shan have Daoist temples scattered on their slopes which date back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and this is one of the most sacred mountain areas for Daoists.
From the point of the foot of the mountain, we had to take their designed bus up with stops in between for the visiting of tourist attraction. The road of the mountain was a little bumpy but mostly, the turns made the bus ride exciting for the some, but a disaster for some. It was like those seen in the movie, Initial D.
First stop was 太子坡 (Tai Zi Po)- The Prince Temple. The flight of stairs came into our sight just as we went up there. It was tedious and everyone was looking hectic.
Next was 紫霄宫 (Zi Dian Gong)- The Purple Cloud Temple. It was built in 1413, where it is enshrined with statues of Zhen Wu at different stages of his life. It is built against slopes of the mountain and the structure is built in a succession of platforms that uphold the attractive views of Wudang’s sea of jungle-studded peaks.
After which, the hotel (九龙山庄) room was given out to us. We placed our backpacks in the room and off we go to the tourist attraction near our hotel which needed only about 5-10 minutes of walking up a slope. Appreciating part of the view from Wudang Mountain, we slowly made our footsteps up to one of the side.
We were told to assemble at the restaurant for dinner at 6.30pm. The dinner was not as great as they did not suit our likings. We had an early night, recovering our energy to prepare us for the climbing of Wudang Mountain the next day.
Day 25- Sunday, 28March
We woke up at 6am instead as LingLi and I mistaken the assembling time for breakfast was at 6.30am. Thus, we had excess time and waited till 7am for breakfast at level 2. Breakfast was not really great too, but we all had it just to store the energy we needed later on.
Walking up the slope, climbing up and down flight of steps, completing the hundreds and thousands of steps, panting hard, having the motivation to see the nicest view of Wudang Mountain since we were already there, we finally reached to the golden submit of the mountain after around 2 hours. The view was splendid and mesmerizing. Famous of Taoism in the Wudang Mountain, all of us decided to buy the locks for our families as a wish of peace and success. A family lock and a personal one cost me about 15+10, 25rmb.
4 hours of estimated time climbing up and down of Wudang Mountain, and because of the reason that we were late, everyone of us had a late yet quick lunch at around 3.50pm and left Wudang Mountain. The bus journey of about 5 hours took us back from Wudang to Wuhan. Reached the hostel at 9 plus pm instead of the estimated time of 7plus pm.
It was a tiring and hectic day. Muscles ache are the aftermath of this event but I am glad that we made it up to the mountain although it was a tough journey.
