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Wutai Shan
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Wutai Shan (Five-Terrace Mountain) has five mountains surrounding the village of Taihuai. It is one of China's
sacred Buddhist mountain areas. The highest of the five peaks is the northern Yedou Peak, known as "the roof of northern China."
Taihuai has about 15 old temples and monasteries with about 20 more throughout the surrounding mountains. I arrived on the last
day of April. May 1 started a major vacation,"golden week," throughout China with Wutai Shan becoming very busy
with Chinese tourists. There is no train or plane, so bus or car is the only way to get to this special place. It takes about
5 hours from either Datong or Taiyuan. I arrived from Taiyuan and went to Dadong on the way out. It is a very scenic and winding
road both ways through great mountain scenery with the occasional small group of homes. I believe that most of the
people living in Wutai Shan are Tibetan. Many of the visitors are Tibetan pilgrims. On the way out, the bus was delayed
due to icy roads. It was quite cold even though it was May. It was rainy, snowy, icy, and cool for my stay. The trees were
in early bloom, which made for a very pretty picture against the white of the snow-covered slopes.
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Because of the holiday, people were setting off a
lot of firecrackers and rockets...
Although Wutai Shan has a goodly amount of tourism,
most native people live a simple life as farmers or shepards, using hand tools and oxen and living in basic huts without
modern amenities. Many of the local stores are both businesses and homes. The dress of the local people,
bright colored head scarves and big green overcoats, is quite different from what I saw in other areas.
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Hope I can get back someday, as it would be great
to explore some more with better weather and good batteries for my camera. Missed some great pictures. Interesting to talk
to some of the people here who grew up in such a rural and undeveloped area.
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I enjoyed the Budhist music and chanting heard around
town and at the temples. I believe some of the chanting was in the Hindu language.
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