Another one of those places that I’ve wanted to see for a while. I got there just after 9am, and I was just in front of the tour buses… Disastrous to say the least, however I see that they use a different way of communicating with their group.

Each group have ear pieces and they can listen to their guide a lot more clearly rather than have each group battle it out over megaphones. For years now here in China when confronted with tour groups your ears have been inflicted with an almighty cocophany of competing tour guides, now at least it is slightly more civilised. Mind you the etiquette has not developed.

Three days after climbing Mount Huashan and my legs are still complaining and not working 100%. Going up and down stairs is still painful and slow and I really do feel like an old man. And so I did not go up to the higher levels to look at a few of the caves, apart from the main feature which houses the big Buddha and entourage and that was worth the effort.

I’ve mentioned this many times, but I’m still intrigued by the way the Chinese view these places. It’s all done with a quick picture and then maybe several selfies, because you have the poses to perform and there are many. They never seem to spend any time actually looking at the history, the artistry, the beauty which is staring them in the face. They seem to be very superficial.

And the other thing I find funny is that they dress for success, to look their best and sometimes the women will wear shoes that are completely inappropriate for the terrain, must look good.

On the mountain the other day I couldn’t get away with the amount of folk that had just been to the local sports shop and got kitted out. They have so much stuff that you think they were going on a three day hike. Lots of them had walking poles, either with no adjustments, or the bottom was hard plastic which just seemed to skite of the ground. Others just had them set up incorrectly, but I guess they look better with poles.

Another thing I’ve noticed, they never seem to wear good shoes. They wear training shoes, not proper hiking boots and many of them have no grip. I saw a few slipping on the surrounding surfaces, where I didn’t have any problems. Again it seems to be fashion over function.

Anyway, getting back to the Grottoes. It is stunning when you look at it in a grand scale. The details in the carvings, big and small. It took around 1500 years up to about the 10th century to reach this scale and you won’t be told that it was Chairman Mao in his infinite wisdom that destroyed and mutilated many of the carvings because that’s what you do when you have a cultural revolution. Although you have to also blame those who stole in the name of art.

It is worth going to see. It is spectacular and when you go to the other side of the river and look back at the site in its entirety, it is very impressive indeed.

And so was lunch..