Fengdu- Ghost City - 21st October 2007

During the afternoon our ship docked at Fengdu where we had our first offshore excursion to see the Ghost City of Fengdu. We were allocated an English speaking guide who walked us to the Entrance. We had to take a cable car to the top of the mountain which was interesting in itself as we could see out over the Yangtze River and the surrounds.

After the cable car there were a lot of old ancient steps that led up to the ghost city and even more steps inside the passages leading to the temples and statues of all their gods etc. There were a lot of stalls selling local goods, souveneirs etc.

We stopped and watched an exhibition of strength. A local lad had to lift a very heavy stone and balance it on top of a pointed rock (pictures attached). It was very heavy & had to be manipulated in a circle & the momentum lifted it to the top. It would have required a great deal of skill & strength. All the people in the city were very small (as in most of China). Very tiny in height & stature - but very strong and are very hard workers.

We looked through their temples and statues & colourful buildings. We learned the correct way to cross the bridges and entrances through gates so as to have good luck for the rest of our lives. Females had to step with left foot first, males with right foot first. The bridge to choose depended on your wish to be healthy or rich.

There was a concrete box at the entrance to one of the temples which had a sharp point inside of it. We all had a turn of stepping into the box (without touching the sides) and balancing on one foot on the point for 15 seconds (photo attached)- not as simple as it looked.

It was a pity that we were all lacking in sleep from the night before, we would have been much more receptive on another day to all the incredible history surrounding the place. We returned to the ship in time to get ready for the Captains Welcome Party.

Images attached: A map of the Ghost City; Story of the area (you can click on the images to enlarge them to viewing size. click your 'back'key to return to this page; Unusual statue to find in a Chinese community; Our group of girls in front of the statue (you can see I am on the mobile phone speaking with Greg about our troubles and woes); going up the chairlift; concrete balancing box; various group photos; local lad demonstrating his lifting skills; our group at the Ghost City of Fengdu.