TaiMu Shan

 In China, there are many famously historical mountains - the sacred mountains of Buddhism and Taoism.  These mountains (and just about every other hill more than 10 feet high) are covered with ancient shrines and monuments and a temple or two.

 TaiMu Shan, in FuJian province, is not among these historical mountains.  Sure, there is a temple up there.  But the main attraction of the mountain is more natural than supernatural.  It is like a little slice of Yosemite or Yellowstone.  It is blessed with dramatic rock formations and stunning views of the coastline of the East China Sea.  It also has an assortment of trails, each with its own unique scenery and obstacles.

 One of the obstacles on our trail was called the "ray of sunshine", or something like that, where the path wound it's way through a narrow gap in the rock formation.  They call it the "ray of sunshine" because that is all you can see as you squeeze your way through.  You can see the ladies below going down to the entry.

I was about 10 yards past this point (where the ladies are above) when I realized that there must not be very many personal injury lawyers in China.   The sunlight was choked off to almost nothing.  It was impossible to see the pathway as it continued steeply downward and the stones became more slimy and slippery.  But the lack of light became academic - the gap became too narrow to tilt one's head to look downward. 

At one point, the gap became narrower than I am thick (From back-of-shoulder-blade to front-of-chest).   I had to work my way through sideways on one foot and one arm.  I may be a fat American, but I am not the fattest one you will ever find.  One more inch around my middle and I would have become a permanent fixture of TaiMu Shan.  (By the way, the women in our group were nimbly slipping through the crack like a rabbit in a rabbit hole.  The fact that I have a bigger chest, from back to front, than all of them should tell you something about the physique of the average Chinese woman.)  

At the top of TaiMu Shan are dramatic knobs of granite, like the one shown above.  Some brave workers have constructed a kilometer or so of walkways around the circumference of these knobs.  The walkway rests upon concrete beams cantilevered from the nearly-vertical rock. You can see the walkway in the photo above.  When  stood on the platform, I couldn't imagine how the poor construction workers installed those support beams.   It's a long way down to flat ground, so any kind of scaffolding would have been a remarkable feat.  

 The platforms allow you to walk almost completely around the top of TaiMu Shan.  The scenery is spectacular, and was especially so on the day we went because the skies were sunny and crystal clear.  The photo above shows an inlet of the East China Sea, with a small town nestled at the shore. (Note that this is not the beach-side village we visited earlier.  That was much smaller.)  The photo below shows the terraced sides of the hills down below.

 Finally, you can see below a photo of our group that went to TaiMu Shan...totalling about 50 of my co-workers and their families.  Very nice people and a pleasure to travel with.  (I am at the back at dead center.  You can just barely see my head poking up above the others.)