We were able to visit Shibaozhai, also known as the Precious Stone Fortress on a very hot day. We had to cross a seriously questionable looking bridge in order to get there, but we also got to walk through a very old city. The trek there was almost as awe inspiring as the fortress itself. Once getting to the base of the pagoda, we were told that the climb inside is not for claustrophobic people as the interior was very small and only got smaller the higher you climbed. I decided to just go for it as I figured the inside could not be any hotter than the outside, considering the inside was shaded. I was pleased to find out that I was right, and once at the top, we were able to walk through these little shrine like areas that had statues depicting various gods in Chinese culture. Our tour guide told us some stories about the different gods and goddesses along with some of their ´powers´ that helped create or protect the earth. We also walked past a very ancient looking wall, I missed whatever our tour guide said about the wall, but I still enjoyed looking at the intricate script.

Posted By: Ariel Noriega