Pavilions, Castles, Parks, and...Heaven?

The Nonexistent Joy of Being Sick in China

Right now, I wish I could say I were climbing a faraway mountain or walking on The Great Wall of China.

But I can’t.

First, because I’m not doing either of those things, and second, because I am sick with who knows what. Whatever it is, it includes a colorful collage of symptoms such as achy legs, heavy head, razor throat, goopy eyes, clogged ears, and the uncomfortable feeling that someone is stuffing cotton balls up my nose so I can’t breathe properly. Blah.

Can I just say being sick in China is no fun? Granted, being sick anywhere is no fun, but it’s even less fun when Chinese people think that hard beds are the solution to back problems. BUT I have actually been very blessed during this past week with new thoughts and exciting experiences from my first vacation to Danxiashan Park!

Let me share some of my latest adventures with you. (Which will be easy for me since I’m laid up in bed with Kleenex and a nose that comes with free refills.)

Hiking to Heaven

Don’t let that heading above fool you. I have not died. But I did get to take a short hike this last weekend up to Heaven’s Pavilion, which is found in Danxiashan Global Geo Park in Shaoguan, China! The park was absolutely beautiful. It was like hiking in a Chinese jungle with LOTS of stairs. I love the outdoors in China! Here is a picture of me on the entry bridge into the park. *Please take note of the awesome pirate ship in the background with the painted-on shark face.

Every hiker knows that you should start out small and work your way up to the harder hikes, so naturally, we chose the steepest hike all the way to the top of the mountain. At first, it was easy. It was pretty much all wooden stairs traveling up and up and up. I kept getting left behind because I was so obsessed with taking pictures of all the stairs. They seemed to be symbolic in my life somehow, but I was too busy taking pictures and climbing up them to decide what they meant.

Then we came to a detour. “Heavens Pavilion” a wooden sign read, pointing up a long flight of wooden steps.

(I overlooked the grammar error on the sign with the missing apostrophe. Well, not really, but you can’t go fixing every Chinese sign.) Anyway, as I climbed the stairs to the pavilion, I thought to myself, “Well, what do you know? I am hiking to Heaven!” It was supposed to be a clever, little whatnot in my brain, but then I realized that I am hiking to heaven. Every single day. I wanted to explore that idea in my head more, but I decided to take pictures instead and think later.

And then, before I knew it…

We had made it to Heaven’s Pavilion! *Note the proper apostrophe. *And please note the “No smoking” sign right next to the pavilion. “No smoking in heaven, please!” 

Trails among the Cloud

Let’s be honest. They probably meant “Trail among the Clouds” since that whole trail couldn’t have possibly fit into one, single cloud. But maybe they didn’t. In any case, the trail we went up next was appropriately named because it did feel like you were hiking among the clouds, going up and up  so far that you felt you might bump your head on the roof of the sky and have to get stitches.

Of course, to get up that far in China, one must have stairs. Lots of them. They soon turned into a steep slope of steps so that at times you had to use your hands to climb up, just like you do when rock climbing. I felt like Spider-man crawling up the side of a mountain. Speaking of Spider-man, I found him later at the front of a little Chinese shop!

*Insert Chinese lady’s voice singing off-key: “Spider-man, Spider-man. Does whatever a spider can. Spins a WEEEB…”

The Pavilion and the Castle

After we had made it to the top of “Trails among the Cloud,” we found a fabulous lookout point at Jiadun Pavilion. The view made us feel like we were on top of the world! So of course, we turned on “I’m on Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons and jammed to that for a bit.

We also stumbled upon the ancient Ximei Castle that no one had set foot in for two thousand years!

Actually, it was more like two minutes. But it was still very cool and ancient-looking!

The Most Amazing View

The next day, we climbed up to a point called Elder Peak. And you will never guess… there were MORE stairs! So many, that I’m pretty sure if you stacked them all sideways across the ocean, I could get back to the United States. Well… maybe. I’m not very good with numbers.

Some stairs had railings…

Some wound their way up…

Some were incredibly steep…

Some were beautiful with light shining down on them…

And there was one special set of stairs that had the most amazing view of all. Even better than the one we would see when we got to the top of Elder Peak. This is what I saw from the staircase:

This, by far, is my favorite sight I have seen since coming to China. And I could have missed it quite easily.

You see, this view isn’t seen from a pavilion or a castle. You do not see this landscape from a grandiose area that is marked plainly with a signpost. You see it while you are either climbing or going down a long, steep, narrow staircase that is usually congested with people.

Now, look at the people in this photo more closely. Where are they looking?

Almost every single one of them is looking down. Down is NOT in the direction of the gorgeous view. But the stairs are so narrow that you have to look down or you could fall and knock down everyone behind you as you slip unceremoniously all the way back to the bottom of the staircase.

So the only safe way up is to look down, right?

Well, that is a safe way, but it’s not the only way. I still saw the view and didn’t fall. Another safe way up is to stop and then look out. You don’t have to sacrifice the horizons you could see to make it to your destination. You just have to take the time to stop and look around.

What I Learned from the Stairs

I remember feeling bad for the people who didn’t get to look at the beautiful view I saw because they were looking down. I was sad that they didn’t get to stop and appreciate what I saw as one of the most amazing sights in the park.

And then I realized that, at times, I had been doing the exact same thing. I had been taking pictures of stairs and focusing on them rather than what was going on around me.

I think that’s the way it is in life too. On our hike up to Heaven, we might become very focused on overcoming the challenges (or stairs) we face to the point that they are all we see. We can become so focused on getting up to the next checkpoint that we miss all the lovely trees, rocks, and streams along the way. We can also become exhausted from the trials we face—after all, the way to Heaven is a climb.

But I believe it can be beautiful along the way, if we take the time to look around us.

“On earth, there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.” –Jules Renard