It was a beautiful lake, but how can I differentiate her from other Great Lakes worldwide? How can we create sunshine in our minds and capture the moonlight in the daytime?
When the bus almost reached the destination, I peeled through the window, the grand Lake was unfolding. My first sight of Sunmoon Lake was pure calm and gorgeous. But It was a cloudy day in the mid-morning, and the sun was not showing up yet Obviously, the moon was still sleeping. How can I see through the Sunmoon lake without sunshine? How should I discover her charm without moonlight? Without the sun and moon, why should we call her Sunmoon Lake?
When I took off the bus, I wasn’t stepping into the dream wonderland, but still in our mundane world with small restaurants, hotels, and convenience stores across the narrow street, like other small towns in Asia. After walking around for five minutes, I arrived on the Shuishe ferry. Standing in front of the lake, I watched over the sky and walked around the lake. The water of the lake was emerald green. The remote mountains emerge through the clouds, shaping a natural water ink painting.
I took the water bus - the small passenger ship heading to another ferry - Xuanguang. It was a 15-minute water tour; so the passengers could watch the clear water of Sunmoon Lake closely, appreciate the scenery of mountain towers and antique buildings on the river bank.
After landing at the next ferry port, I took the stone stairs up to the hill. There were parks, temples, and towers on the mountaintop. The path I took was called the Road of Xuan Zhuang. There was a very famous ancient fable called “West Tour” story behind it. It was about a Buddhist Tang Xuangzhuang who traveled tens of thousands of miles from East to West to learn and preach to make high achievements.
He had three students and a white horse with very special talents who accompanied him to go to the West and help him on the way. One of them was the famous Monkey King who could make 72 types of changes. His special tool was called a gold ring stick that could be expanded into a giant cylinder or shrunk into a little needle, put into his ear. He could flip across mountains and oceans to reach the edge of the world, but still under the master’s control. Four of them climbed up high mountains, swam through deep waters, overcame numerous challenges to accumulate credit of benevolence, fought for justice, and showed impressive magic. It was one of the best-written and the most popular fiction novels in the East, full of imagination. I took his footsteps to pursue truth, explore the world with invaluable cultural heritage
Then I retook the ferry ship going to the next stop: Yidashao village to discover unique scenery and local minority culture. It was like the smaller version of Gulangyu island in Fujian Province, with many eateries and gift shops. I tasted some sample snacks the shop staff offered and had a special lunch: Bamboo rice -the sticky rice mixed with shrimp and nut pieces contained in the bamboo stick. It cost one hundred local currency and tasted fine
Local people were friendly and lots of school kids with their teachers came here for some activities, as I saw an education center building here. People, flowers, and trees on the river bank created a harmonized picturistic scene. There was a cable car station here. Many people were waiting in line to go to the other side of the lake. I skipped it due to the tight schedule.
It had drizzling rain and a cloudy sky. I searched for the sun but it didn’t show up I couldn’t find the moon in the early afternoon. It was a beautiful lake, but how can I differentiate her from other Great Lakes worldwide? How can we create sunshine in our minds and capture the moonlight in the daytime? Shall we create more human-made miracles to make Sunmoon Lake as brilliant as the sun and as lucid as the moon regardless of weather conditions?
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