Today was the day when we actually went to the mountain, instead of
the bottom, or, looking at a hand, the palm of the hand. We got up at
7 today, or what the people call "late". They must be out
of their mind!! If this is late, then what is 9? Of course, I couldn't
say this out loud, so I had to bite my lip and get up.
Our next stop was an awesome stop. There were houses built on the
straight up and down mountain. Only skinny poles supported them, and
they hadn't been replaced. I stood in awe and stared. My legs were shaky,
but I couldn't refuse to go up there! No sun could shine at it; it was
located at a spot where only three hours of sun could heat it, no wind
could blow at it; it was against a mountain, both sides of it had the
mountain curved around it, and opposite of it was a mountain, and last
of all, no rain could hit it; the mountain above it was curved down.
So practically, it was surrounded completely by mountains. How could
they pick such a wonderful place?! It was perfect! Not that I would
ever want to live there...
Finally, the guide stopped talking and we could walk up! This was
so exciting! I rushed to the front, and started climbing. There were
stairs that led into the first house, and steep stairs going out. There
were no lights in the house, so it was kind of dark. After the first
two staircases, we were back out in the open, only this time, way high
up. We were on a rock ledge now, with only a short railing. I paused
to take pictures, feeling giddy being so high in the air. I dared to
look down, but my legs started shaking and I had to turn away. It was
straight down into rocks. Jasmine was braver than me. She walked faster,
and took the lead. I stayed in the back, my excuse was taking pictures,
but I did take them! At the top, there were more 菩萨。We prayed (again!) as we passed them. This was extra good, because
we were high up in the air! Finally, we got back down to the bottom.
I felt grateful that it was over... and that it didn't fall down.
Our next stop was... guess what? More 菩萨! Except this time, it was way different. They were super, super
tall! They were about 50 meter's piled up on top! The statues were located
in caves, where the builders would start from the top and work their
way down. I shuddered to think of what would happen if one fell. The
statues were made out of stone, then covered with mud painted in brilliant
shining colors. I stared up in awe at the smiling statues, well, for
a while at least, because their head were so high I couldn't see it
well without hurting my neck. We saw so many more of these, and my neck
hurt more. But all of them were different, and so picturesque, that
I didn't mind looking at all of them.
Again, they were the prime of the day. This time, though there weren't
many, they were sooooooooo tall! Super super big! People must have risked
their lives to make them! Again, they were painted in bright colors.
I noticed that all of them had smiling faces nad I couldn't help but
smile back. I briefly wondered why they weren't considered on of the
world's seven wonders... Although there was no cushion, I prayed standing
up, not caring that there wasn't a cushion. Once I had prayed for every
one of them, I felt ready to go home.
The most awful thing happened at dinner!! For dinner, we ate 火锅。As soon as we got inside the restaurant, the first thought that came
into my mind was, HOT. I started sweating immediately. Everyone else
was outside. Their power had gone out, and we had to wait. It was cool
outside, so I didn't mind at first. After minutes of waiting and running
around, I started to wonder, when could we eat? I was starting to get
hungry. More minutes. Finally, electricity turned on. Inside, the 火锅 was placed on a electric stove in the middle of the table. After a
while, a beep sounded. The stove had turned itself off! This happened
again and again, and finally we had to be moved. Well, of course, we
had another problem. No airconditioning! The stove this time was propane,
so how could we live? Again, a solution. We moved back outside. To another
table. I was counting now, we had moved twice! Would we move again?
I surely hoped not! Right when we finished, the lights went out again.
No electricity?! I was relieved though, because I was done eating! Just
as they brought the candles out, I happily hopped out and waited for
everyone to finish eating. Oh, what a day! I was just glad it was over!
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