Kongtong Shan
Kongtong Shan: sacred Daoist mountain in southeastern Gansu province.
More or less the middle of nowhere, socio-economically speaking, but
some lovely surroundings. The nearest town is depressingly pre-1991
Soviet zone as concerns architecture and air pollution, but mercifully
the people are that delightful contemporary Chinese mix of open and
curious and nosy and fun and many other things mixed in.
Having already climbed more than a thousand steps (I stopped counting
and the steps kept going for a VERY long time), I took a moment to
capture this temple, seemingly lost in the clouds high above me. In
the next set of shots after this, you’ll see both this temple from
closer up (pay attention to the foot bridge at the bottom of the shot,
which perilously spans a terrifyingly steep and deep gorge), and a
view of the path itself as seen from above – look for the white line
winding through the trees.
It’s All About Mushrooms
What are those lumps in the foreground? Mushrooms, set out to dry! On
SO many available surfaces all OVER this mountain, I saw sheets of
plastic on the ground, all covered with mushrooms in various stages of
desiccation, or – as here – sitting by the side of a fountain dreaming
of their future in someone’s soup pot. In the next bunch of photos,
you’ll see lots of details that try to show how steep the area is, how
the mountain ranges on the other side of the valley lake just follow
each other rank upon rank into the blue distance, and just other
pretty aspects of the complex that I enjoyed.
(so much world, so little time....) 