The Gansu Kong Tong Mountains (甘肅崆峒山) Amongst The Dazzling Spring Cherry Blossoms
Posted On Thursday, April 3, 2014 at at 12:59 AM by Alvin
We flew out of Shenzhen to Xian bright and early and our eventual aim was to enter the Hui Province (回族自治區) of Ning Xia (寧夏) via the quiet back roads; but first we had to sneak pass the formidable Kong Tong Mountains (崆峒山) in the province of Gansu (甘肅). Interestingly, we passed through the city of Bao Ji (寶雞) where 2,000 years ago, a well known military strategy was formulated and executed way back before the Han (漢) Dynasty - 暗渡陳倉. Anyway, the Kong Tong Mountains turned out to be a walk in the park - provided we walked "downwards" through the thousands of concrete steps. We took a cable car up the mountains via the lake of 彈箏湖 and walked passed the many Taoist (道教) and Buddhist Temples such as the majestic 老君殿 and 法輪寺. Spring was definitely in the air as thousands of peach and cherry blossoms exploded into eye-catching pink and white dazzles, blooming over the whole of the Kong Tong Mountains. We found our way back to the city of Ping Liang (平涼) and strolled around the Willow Lake (柳湖) Park which was populated with locals relaxing in the Spring mild afternoon sunshine (one could almost hear the purring) - Sheer bliss !
