Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: So many temples

We chose to have a slow morning but we managed to leave the hotel together with Kate before 11 am to go out and take a look at the town, the temples and the surroundings. It is also Sunday even though you choose to travel for a year.

We walked through town and visited a couple of monasteries there before bumping into Nico and Neill. Lots of locals out this morning to visit the various temples and holy sites. Spent most of the remaining morning visiting two of the bigger monasteries and the temples – a lot of similarities to the many temples we have seen so far and then again they are very different in so many ways. Different kind of Buddhas and one of the temples also had a huge white stupa inside it with prayer wheels around it. One monastery dated back to around 69 AD with buildings added during most of the different dynasties. Very impressive.

After lunch we hiked about 2.5 kilometres out of town to visit a big fortress looking monastery on one of the mountain sides. Malene's favourite temple so far, maybe of all the temples we have seen in China. We counted the number of steps of the main staircase leading up to the entrance – 108 steps – the lucky number. There was so much to explore on the mountain with small temples and shrines at each level and once we were done with one level there were another set of stairs leading to a new level and more temples. Because it was out of the center there were a lot fewer people and it wasj ust nicer and more relaxed to walk around.

Mikkel hiked back from the temple at around 16:30 – templed out. Malene and Kate continued to hike to a nearby valley to see some of the nature. No more temples today. It's been really beautiful and impressive here in Wutai Shan. According to the official list of temples there are still around 45 left to visit if we choose to drop by in the future.

Quiet evening – it is also important to remember to relax even though we are on holiday for the foreseeable future :-)