Where Mountain Goats Dare

We can see the top cable car station from our table in the dining room. It was a windy night and we don't know what the weather will be like today. We decide to walk up to the National Park and see what's there. It's only a short walk to the National Park entrance gate where we pay an admission and are told that everything is closed because of the weather. We can go as far as the temple but that's it. We shrug and continue on in.

The first area we pass consists of a group of standing stones, Stupa, which mark the resting place of ashes of monks. We then come across a small pagoda before coming to the base station for the cable car. Looks like it's running. Before I even open my mouth Richard has the tickets in hand and ten minutes later we are on our way up. We rise quickly; these peaks are dramatic and almost vertical. At the top station we discover we are at 800m elevation which seems astonishing since we can see the sea from here; after all we are only about 15 minutes up the road. We leave the observation deck and strike out on a trail for a few hundred metres that ends up at an open rocky expanse that falls away dramatically into the chasm beneath on one side. No guard rails here; just an obligation to keep your wits about you.

We return to ground level then follow a path towards the temple. This follows and crosses the rocky stream in several places and passes a large bronze Buddha statue. The temple is ornately decorated and houses three golden Buddhas seated on a raised platform. There is a natural spring nearby that has had a font built over it so visitors can easily scoop water from it.Read more