The mascots are cute (read: UGLY but adorable), but it's just a personal opinion.

Actually, I never really scrutinized the map. We just followed our chatty 'tour guides'.

While YJ and I were busy takin pictures, ZJ went ahead to purchase the entrance tickets for us; She absolutely refused to accept our money for the tickets, insisting that we, as guests, should not have to pay (very hospitable right?). And so we said hello to our first sight beyond the ticketing gates where we withstood the hostile glares of the ticket collectors.

Lo and behold the 3 musketeers:

What variation of superhero-trio is this?

The first part of the trip up 香山 was leisurely, although very much commercialised; The place was overflowing with pretty flowers and other tourist-friendly stuff, such that I could't help but wonder about their authenticity (man-made or natural?) even though they looked pretty real to me.

A supposed water pump thing which didn't have any water:

A kid and her dreamhouse, surrounded by brightly coloured flowers which I'm certain my mum would love:

Rock formation:

Flowers galore:

And the 3 musketeers are at it again:

Then someone decides to act cute:

But her 'cuteness' doesn't surpass that of these figurines:

Fragile stuff, one of which I nearly (unintentionally) beheaded.

Along the way we also saw how the chinese protect their trees:

Looks like a tree in the strait jacket of a mental institution?

A while later, pass the tourist-friendly fish pond attraction where u get fish food to feed the fish for like 10rmb (no I wasnt dumb enough), we came to a (i think) man-made waterfall structure:

Next stop: A place with Tibetan Feel:

Budding photographer in action:

Lookin beyond the light:

And finally, past these side attractions, we finally came to the main one: climbing 香山.

and YJ and I could act sart khi with our xiang long shi ba zhang:

Oh and of course there's the element of surprise, which appeared in the form of a snake:

The road ahead seems long and tedious:

but nothing brings down the spirit and enthusiasm of the musketeers!!

Although the oldest 2 got a little tired:

it's perfectly natural, considering the the long route ahead:

休息是为了走更长的路！

Along the way we were rewarded by the fresh air (finally free of smoke) and the great view:

As the climb got more tiring, we soldiered on, step by step:

the 1500th step.

the 1600th step.

More rest along the way:

View at one of our rest stops:

我们继续一步一步往上爬：

the 1900th step.

By this time, one of us got a little cranky and started to sing to Mother Nature:

"Romeo..Romeo.. Wherefore art thou, Romeo...?"

By here, we were kinda sweatin buckets:

the 2000th step.

And when the steps seemed like they weren't ever gonna end, lo and behold, we reached the top!

2153 steps in total.

And just in the nick of time too. Cuz not before long, showers of blessing rained down upon us all. But we managed to snap a couple of shots before runnin for shelter:

Cnt tell from this pic but boy oh boy, the wind was cold and strong I tell u.

While under shelter, the shutterbugs took a couple of scenery shots:

Then they got a little hungry and decided to get some melon-flavored ice-cream:

Cold stuff when blasted with strong cold winds?? Damn, we're good.

Hammin it up for the cam!

The shower stopped a while later and we decided to begin the dangerously slippery trek down:

Going down this long, steep flight of stairs is no joke; our legs were like trembling. Luckily there were railings to hold on to.

Landslide prevention measures.

On the way down, we saw a heartwarming sight of a doting grandfather piggybackin his grand daughter downslope:

The danger of the steep steps, the heavy load and the slippery floor prompted the sisters to lend a hand:

I meant that quite literally.

Soon, the little one was off with the sisters, while dear grandpa walked behind.

Isn't it a sweet sight to see how close the kid is to dear grandpa?

Here's a shot of nature before we reached ground zero:

After the slopes, we finally reached the entrance palace attraction, which we skipped earlier on due to the crowd:

Cnt take a pic of the interior, so here's the exterior.

The view that the emperor sees from (almost) within the palace.

Last shot of the 3 musketeers before we step out of the ticketing gates.

While walking to the bus terminal, we spotted a 'babelicious' creature:

Yea, I meant 'babe' as in the pig. This is someone's pet guinea pig.

This sign signalled the end of our visit to 香山:

A 50min bus ride, a 20min cab ride and a eat-until-we-nearly-fell-asleep lunch later, we're finally back in our apartment, ready to crash.

End of Day 10.

josh, signing off.