This was the first year that I didn’t go somewhere outside of Shenzhen.  This was a nice break, actually.  So many folks leave Shenzhen and go traveling.  The train stations are clogged, the airport tickets are expensive, and it’s pretty much cold everywhere in China.  So, Shenzhen, being an immigrant city, empties quite a bit for Chinese New Year.  This was very noticeable; everything was much quieter, the busses were never full, and the restaurants and shops were easy to manage.

(above) Hiking shots from Nanshan

During the New Year, we were also blessed with spendid weather – sunny and in the 60′s and 70′s.  Various folks and I took advantage of the nice weather and made some hiking trips.  I hiked Nanshan twice, which is no big deal since it can be traversed in about an hour, but it’s still a pleasant hike.  I also hiked WuTong Shan once, which is a much bigger mountain on the outskirts of Shenzhen.  I went with my Buddhist class (those who remained in Shenzhen) and we made the round trip from the low parking lot in about six hours, I think.

(above) Shots from WuTong Shan

Even though Nanshan is much closer and more convenient to the city center, it was uncrowded.  WuTong Shan, on the other hand, was overrun with thousands of people.  The lower part of the trail followed a steep gully through a fairly dark temperate forest.  It was impossible not to see at least 20-50 people no matter where you were along the trail.  Our group started thinning out pretty quickly as the slower hikers lagged behind.  A couple of hours later we emerged at the upper parking lot.  I thought you could drive here, but there were few cars parked here.  It was loaded with people.  The last time I was here, we hiked along the leftside of the mountain.  This time, we took the prominent double staircase leading up the righthand ridge.  A slow and steady pace is all that’s needed.  The crowds didn’t let up.  A few folks topped out on different sections of the staircase along the way having taken more obscure trails on different sides of the mountain.  The summit was loaded with hundreds of people.

We took a direct route back down to the lower parking lot.  It pretty much followed a straight ridge all the way back down to the base of the mountain.  The dirt was fairly loose and required care to not slip.  This was quite a thigh workout.

I was sore the next day; it was a good sore.

Many bus and taxi drivers have little Mao memorabilia whose purpose is to protect the vehicle, bring good luck, or something like that.  This is the sort of post I would have created long ago, but I guess I finally got a decent shot of the front of the bus with Mao’s likeness dangling from the rearview mirror.