17 June 2006 * Azure Fortress Mountain

Between the soundtrack ski lift and the cotton-clad top-knotted monks and nuns, Azure Fortress Mountain is an amazing and bizarre mix of tourist trap and genuine Taoist temple complex, all strung out along stone pathways, plying an incredibly lush and diverse tropical forest.

This is a place where everything is for sale: locks for securing good luck to rusty chain railings; peeled cucumbers; plastic chili pepper necklaces, and sedan chair rides of the mountain on the sweating backs of the Maroon Gang.