Mount Kuaiji & Shan Lu Feng Monastery Trip

Do you like hiking? Do you like climbing mountains? Would you like to walk up approximately 3,000 stairs? Then join us in beautiful Shaoxing, Zhejiang Providence of the People’s Republic of China and we will take you on the tour! Amaze your friends, surprise your family, wow your partner, and build self-esteem all the while getting out of breath, getting shaky legs, and probably falling down steep stairs breaking every bone in your body! But wait, if your still not convinced then chew on this while mulling it over, you will view serene landscapes atop a majestic mountain apex and soak in through your eyes the vivid painted colors of a Buddhist Monastery: yellow, orange, blue and red, the soaring sweeping architecture of its temples, the perfected sculpting of its shrines and idols, and the gracefulness of meandering streams with their quiet pools of reflection. Shan Lu Feng Monastery on Mount Kuaiji is in the south part of our city.

Have you ever traveled abroad and been a bit overwhelmed at your complete incompetence trying to understand the language, people, and their culture, but then there came a moment, a single defining instance when you experienced something that was beyond the petty differences, that defied your ability to reject the unknown and except into your heart that these little nuances that when combined together create something so unique, so exceptional, and at the same time so absolutely antonymical and foreign to your culture that it makes you recognize your society reflected in a mirror, image reversed, letting you see, for the very first time, just how beautifully similar our societal differences are? This is what you will experience when we first walking into Shan Lu Feng Monastery, watching and listening to their evening prayers; it was so similar and yet so very different from a Catholic Mass that you’ll find yourself falling in love with humanity all over again, and so, in that afternoon and on into the evening, we became quite reacquainted.

We must admit, we have never felt so much like a world traveler as when we climbed to the top of those multitudinous steps. What a feat it was, how it tested our bodies to their limits, but it was worth every step. There were many levels to the monastery that held ancient temples, quaint buildings, and relaxing pavilions, each level as breath-taking as the next going all the way up to the top of Mount Kuaiji. The first level was just past the small village (which only had, perhaps, 9 or 10 different shops and homes) at the base of the mountain and at the beginning was a temple for the masses where they could kneel before the altar and pray to Buddha or whatever gods they pray to, to watch over their hearths. Going up to the next level, and an easy climb from the first, was where the monks chanted prayers loudly inside another temple, the echoes reverberating off the walls and high ceilings, while a novice dressed in blue robes polished the inlaid gold of an altar positioned near the entrance. Continuing through the monastery on the same level, we walked past what appeared to be some of the monks’ chambers, as well as their chamber pots if you catch my drift. This took us to a gradually rising set of steps that turned into steeper and steeper stairs as we climbed up to a pavilion which seemed to stand as the last vestige of plateaus until the top, and this is exactly where we rested for a span trying to catch our breath as it flew away on the wings of our exhaustion.

Now after the pavilion the steps rose up more sharply until it became so steep that we had to hold onto the guard rail or face crawling on our hands and knees to maintain our precarious balance, and because of this Mary had to stop ¾ of the way from the last level of the pavilion to the top of mountain, the exhausting climb was just to much if she wanted to walk back down she said. She sat down on a bench that peppered the length of the staircase and told me to just keep going she needed a break anyway, so that is what I did, I made my way to the top.

At the very peak of the mountain the final part of the monastery was still being built, but due to the fact that I arrived just after evening began, they had closed the last buildings off for the night so I could not go in there, but I had no worries because there was still plenty to see including a Manchurian bearded monk in plain clothes proselytizing or pastorizing to a couple, now what they were doing at the top of the mountain in these evening hours I may never know, but I imagined that they were there for the pre-marriage sessions that one would have with a priest of the Catholic Church. Also, there was a small veranda that offered a splendid view of the area both towards and away from the city of Shaoxing, and it was here that I saw an animal. It had tan fur ringing the tail blending into its black overcoat, and this, along with its height, made me think that it was some sort of deer, but I am not sure, so if anybody has a clue as to its identity please let me know. So after taking some good pictures I walked back down to get Mary which was not so easy, just looking downwards was a rather daunting task considering the fact that if you tripped and fell, you would tumble for quite a ways before resting into a position that would not be so comfortable.

Finally, walking all the way back to the beginning to the bottom, legs completely feeling like jello, we walked through the little village watching the dogs play with each other, growling happily, and nipping at legs in a parking lot, we hailed a motorized tricycle cab, roofed with thin steel in an attempt to keep out the elements, and rode it to the bottom, paying five yuan for his help. This is where the city bus picked us up to head back into town. We remember looking out the windows, back towards Mount Kuaiji, seeing part of the Monastery resting on the mountains shoulders and silhouetted against the sky, thinking, welcome to China.

P.S. Look for more photos of this trip and our other exciting adventures on Flickr.