If the title of this post baffles you or you are worried about the degeneration of my English skills, fear not. 'Mountain water' is in fact a literal translation of the ever economical Chinese word for landscape, 山水 (pronounced 'shanshui'). Hence, landscape paintings are called 山水画, drawing of mountain and water. I also used a Chinese idiom, 游山玩水, which means to go on a scenic tour, and literally means 'to roam the mountains and play in the waters'. Not that I played in the water, as it was -2'C. Even so, it was a beautiful clear day, and we got to see some fantastic views. The landscape invokes images of traditional Chinese watercolour painting, and it's not hard to see where the old artists got their inspiration from.
The scenic area of Laoshan is just under one hour East of downtown Qingdao, and is China's tallest coastal mountain, at 1,132.7m. We were stopped from entering in our taxi, and had to buy tickets to then continue on in a minibus. The tickets weren't cheap either, ¥100 for a senior and ¥70 for a student. Laoshan is huge, being the major mountain range of the province, so I don't understand how they managed to seal off all roads to tourists and force them to take minibuses.
As for tourism on the mountain itself, Laoshan boasts terraces, temples, a cable car, and the Laoshan springs. Our aim was to catch a leisurely ride on the cable car to glide over the tree tops. However, the wind was too strong so the cable car was forced to shut. We also managed to get a little lost, as none of the maps actually pinpoint their location, although through guesswork we muddled along just fine. We also caught a dodgy people carrier with a loose door back to the first carpark because we couldn't find the minibus drop-off point.
Now I guess I'll leave you with a few mountain based chengyu;
青山绿水 (qing shan lü shui) green hills and clean waters.
湖光山色 (hu guang shan se) beautiful lake and mountain landscape.
依山傍水 (yi shan pang shui) mountains on one side, water on the other.
背山临水 (bei shan lin shui) with one's back to the mountain, facing the water. This is a very important principle in Chinese culture, and houses built in these locations will fetch much higher prices. I believe it's to do with the energy flow between them, and not just the nice scenery.
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