Day 35 - Cave Splunking

Woke up at 6 and was given the morning call 4 times by 3 different people-the tour guide and 2 Mr Wongs.

Went to 绿林古兵赛(LuLin Fort Village).

Liu Xiu... is not related to Liu Bei.

And the gate being heavily guarded by 'soldiers'.

And once again, we are climbing up the stairs.

And a natural mineral that was used to make some jewellery.

And this hole. It's said that on a certain year, the sunlight will be aligned with the hole in the rock. This sign will mean the arrival of a king.

And some ancient housing with mud bricks.

The owner of the house. Actually, the house above only contains his statue...

And this is a 2,000 year old vine that wraps around the mountain.

Named 生死恋(Eternal Love). A vine embracing a dead willow. A lot in common with Romeo and Juliet, if you ask me.

The stone behind me has s story somewhat similar to the 'Oath under the peach blossom trees' in Romance of the three kingdoms.

The Moon pool, sister of the sun pool. Shaped like the crescent moon.

汉天门(Hantian Gate) is a natural formation that is shaped like the Chinese character for people(人) .

And I caught a male model again. Clive, you have proven your point... Although, I have no idea what it is.

Yushi Cliff. A poem is inscribed on the rock.

Care for a game of chess? Liu Xiu made his battle plans here.

And the 鸳鸯树(YuanYuan Trees-Lover Trees). Pray to the trees for luck in babies as well as love life. Guess which one's female.

Answer: The one with the larger trunk symbolises the female(pregnant)

Liu Xiu riding an oxen into battle. Question remains why an oxen?

This straw house was used by the sentry soldiers who would look out for intruders. Now, it serves another purpose.

It's an enormous man made bird nest.

Went to another location by bus. Let's say the ride reminds us of 'Initial D'.

Group photo shot.

Most of the MDE girls(exclude Stephanie) photo.

You know, the fortress there looks so... unreal.

The two of them look so tired and seem to be 'emoing'. Zee Min and Nadiyah, cheer up...

Ring the bell and wish/pray with all your might...

Passed by camel peak... I asked the tour guide can the camel actually grow that large. She shook her head and explained that it merely resembles a camel.

The fence is a good place to rest. After climbing again and again...

You know, we weren't allowed to pass over the fence but still...

桃花. Soon we will have 桃花运(Peach blossom luck)

Finally, enter the ancient South Camp.

In ancient times, the flag will be more vibrant while the soldier would patrol the area.

Mr Zhang Hao. Look so suave de.

Jonathan from LSCT waving the flag skillfully.

Randolph and Clive with the ancient chariots.

And the instructor that teaches us how to use the bows and arrows properly. Ancient warriors also had training with the ranged weapon.

On the bus after lunch.

The bumpy road...

Last stop of the day, finally.

This looks grand. Wondering if this is really a cave?

Yes. When you step inside the area.

A word of advice. From here on, all are natural landscape that will resemble certain objects if you use your observation and imagination powers.

A rock formation said to be a buddha greeting the guests. Needless to say, the middle part is the tummy.

And here we go towards the more 刺激(exciting) part of the cave, 南天门(Heavenly South Gate when translated, I think)

See the painting of a man on the wall? Said to be a tasoist as the area wass known as 八卦炼丹炉(Eight Trigrams Oven)

And here we see the tortoise who fell in love with the toad. The toad is the stone at the bottom.

Said to be a bird that brings happiness. Could it mean a magpie?

One of my favourite pictures. The natural nuptial chambers(洞房). Exclude the curtains, naturally.

And the tortoise shaped rock.

Looks like a woman threading the beads.

The beautiful view of the cave...

Nice rock formations. They produce a wave-like effect.

Ah-ha. Can see my stomach when I tiptoe... Too short a shirt...

It's actually reflected from the water. It reads, "海底神宫"(Palace under the sea).

Did I mention that we wre lagging behind the group to take all these photos?

The 'lucky' stone. It's said to be lucky as it never drops down?

The choice of the two roads. Chose between 辛福路(Happiness Road) and 长寿路(Long/Longevity) Road.

To exit this place, we need to climb up the never-ending spiral staircase.

Finally, we are out of here.

But still, it's another 4 hours journey back to our hostel.

And I stayed up relatively late to finish the Flexsim software for presentation. Night!