In these shots I am traveling from Taiyuan (ZBYN) in Shanxi to Xinzheng (ZHCC) in Henan, crossing the Taihang Mountains. These mountains are some of the biggest cliffs I had seen in X-Plane, and thought they must be an error, but then I found them in Google Earth and saw photos taken by residents and tourists to the area and sure enough, these majestically carved cliffs and valleys are really there, and are really that steep.
I made the journey a few times just to see the mountains in different light. Here they are at dawn.
In these next two shots I am travelling west from Xinzheng to Xianyang (ZLXY), in the Shaanxi province. This route took me directly over Song Mountain! This is a truly legendary location, as it is the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and once the home of the Shaolin Temple where Kung Fu was developed by the Buddhist monks living here. The temple was destroyed many times, but its most recent destruction is legend. It may have occurred in 1647 by the Shunzhi Emperor, 1674 by the Kangxi Emperor, or in 1732 by the Yongzheng Emperor. Whatever the date may be, as the temple burned to the ground five Shaolin masters fled and went on to spread the basis of all Kung Fu forms. On of the five refugee masters was Ng Mui, credted with creating the Wing Chun style, as well as other styles. As a student of Leung Ting's Wing Tsun association, it was incredibly exciting to discover this landmark for myself.
Actually, though the landforms around this reservoir are extremely interesting and almost alien, the most interesting thing about this river mouth is the Binlingsi Temple, a series of grottoes and caves filled with ancient Buddhist paintings and giant sculptures of the Buddha. The temple is still in use and one of the few protected Buddhist Temples in China. See the Wiki article for more: 