Kongtong Shan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

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
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

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.