[See more of my Fengdu pictures; there's ghosts and demons!]
Under Taoism, everyone comes to Fengdu after they die, tourists just get to come here a bit earlier. The multi-temple compound is up about 400 steps, you can also do a chair lift but Grim Fandango firmly warned me against taking shortcuts when it comes to the afterlife. The journey was doubtless once much longer, but along with the old city the original approach is now underwater. The new city is visible across the river.
There’s a lot of neat statues, temples, and legends. There’s three tests for determining if you’re a good soul. First there’s a slippery bridge to cross, bonus if you can do it in nine steps. The nine steps was actually a little tricky for me because it meant tiny steps at the end which made it harder to balance. Supposedly if you cross holding your spouses hand it means you want to be together in the next life. The next test is just crossing a high threshold without touching it.
The final one is hard and involves standing on one foot on a small round stone for three seconds. I could do it for a count of three but I’m not sure I counted slowly enough and I certainly wasn’t looking up at the characters of virtues whiles I did it. That was the one test where I intentionally eschewed using my left foot, as I was supposed to as a male. I suppose it shows that without male privilege I can’t make the grade. Alternately that I’m too held down by earthly possessions, namely my laptop bag.
Finally, on the way back you can choose the silver bridge for long life or the gold one for wealth. Long-life all the way. Initially most of the other tourists seemed to be making the same call, although I’ll note that the temple to prosperity had a lot more offering candles burning than the temple of health.
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