We had to climb 600 steps to get to Fengdu, which was of course situated at the top of a steep hill. I climbed the steps with the aid of some red bull, which we had to haggle for because the woman wanted 2 quid for it (this is China not England), we paid around 50p for it in the end.
Our guide told us that it would take about 30mins to climb all 600 steps and reach the top, but he then shot off like a rocket whilst the rest of us wheezed, panted and sweated behind him, trying to keep up. The result was we reached the top in less than 15mins.
Once we reached the top there were 3 tests that had to be completed which would determine if you were a good person and go to heaven.
1st test - Run up a flight of stairs in one breath
2nd test - Walk through the ghost corridor looking straight ahead. Men had to enter left foot first and women right foot first.
3rd test - Balancing on either left foot (men) or right foot (women) for at least 3secs whilst looking straight ahead at the temple of the underworld.
Luckily me and Alan passed all these tests and can go to heaven.
There were also 2 bridges that had to be crossed and these had special meanings.
Bridge 1 - Had to be crossed in 9 steps - left side for men and right side for women. If you are married and want to be together in the afterlife as well, then you crossed the bridge together holding hands. Me and Alan crossed the bridge side by side.
Health or Wealth bridges - Depending on what you most desired you crossed the bridge in as many steps as possible. We both chose to cross the health bridge.
Back on board ship, we had a relaxing rest of the day. The evening entertainment was a cabaret show with performances by each of the tour groups. Our group didn't participate as mostly our group consisted of accountants in many shapes and forms and they are not known for their talents. We were kept very entertained by the Americans singing "Old Macdonald had a farm".
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