Way out here in Northwestern Henan province is one of the five sacred mountains of China......Song Shan. My Chinese name is 陈象嵩. A major highlight of this trip was getting to visit the mountain for which I was named. Song Shan is actually the area that is made up of five mountains and it is most famous for being the site of the Shaolin Temple, home of Chinese martial arts.
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| Song Shan National Scenic Area |
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| Did I mention that I was named after this mountain? |
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| Shaolin Buddhist Temple, famous for the art of "Wushu" right here at Song Shan. |
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| Shaolin Temple |
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| There was a martial arts show...the most impressive thing I saw? This guy who through a needle THROUGH a pane of glass to pop the balloon. The rest of the show? Nothing that impressive. |
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| So it turns out that the temple has a Shaolin Academy which trains martial artists for competition many find future employment as teachers of martial arts. Jeff and I watched them during the afternoon hoping to see something interesting happen, but it looked they were just taking attendance. |
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| Wandering near the temple, in the forest, we saw a kid training to learn to back flip. |
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| CLOSE, but SPLAT! |
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| The Pagoda Forest |
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| The temple grounds don't reveal to you the amazing, spectacular scenery that lies around the corner. A cable car up and you're looking at a major geological thrust. Rocks are vertical. |
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| In the far distance, you can actually hike to this temple. Close....but actually it takes some three hours because... |
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| The hike is along a path attached to the side of the rock. And it's all up and down some major stairs. |
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| Did I tell you that this is "my mountain?" |
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