Belated Post I: Hiking

Located 40 minutes outside of Dalian by train, Kafaqu literally means "Development Zone" and is home to the software park (which my dad's college classmate is apparently in charge of), lots of mountains, and the meanest cab drivers I've seen so far in China. It is also the temporary home of our new friends Phil and Matt from Penn State. Couple of weeks ago, they took us hiking in the mountains. Voici les photos:

These lion posts were all along the mountain path. The ones pawing a ball are supposed to be male; the ones pawing a cub are female. I don't know what the red ribbons are for.

The Great Wall! Not really, just some barricade from I don't know when.

Xiao Xiao on crenellations admiring the view

Dragon relief on the steps up the temple (?) at the top of the mountain.

The temple had intricate patterns on the ceiling.

And demon children in bas relief around the outer walls.

We saw two more temples on our way down- one Buddhist, one Daoist- both of which had real monks around. Guess which temple this sculpture is from.

Ancient temple nestled in the greenery of the mountains currently being renovated.

unday of the same week, Phil invited us hiking again, this time to explore a Japanese bunker from World War II. Unfortunately, I had a stomach ache that morning and opted out...