天门洞～999-级的挑战

还没去张家界前上网做了些功课，知道要观看美景，将免不了攀爬梯级之苦。所以去前做了些准备和体能上的调整，除了吃了些补充膝盖的营养素，还到离家不远的小山锻炼体力。但文字里的讯息和现实往往有差异，毕竟每个人的解读和联想不尽相同。没去前对独特的天门洞是多么的向往，所以当我们乘坐的小巴抵达天门圣景时，望着那999-级的梯级和这么一个大山洞时， 心里不免一惊，这上得去吗？

依照我们的内地导游的说法，年轻小伙子只需20分钟就能爬上山顶，中年人勉强的可以慢慢爬，老年人最好坐在山下的茶馆里悠哉喝茶免了攀爬梯级之苦。言下之意，游客们量力而为吧，不能爬就不用爬，大伙儿省下时间往下一个景点去吧。在我犹豫上不上的时候，老婆大人已经兴致勃勃的准备上山。我抬头仰望，999-级不是一般陡的梯级肯定不是20分钟就能上得了的，咱们自家的黑风洞都只不过272-级，这可是黑风洞的3倍有多，行不行啊，老兄。我们参观天门山前，已经在天子山，袁家界走了数天的山路，爬了数不尽的梯级，膝盖都有点刺痛了。

结果我们一团30个人少过一半决定上山观洞。天门洞的梯级虽然没万里长城那么高，但是整段路也是很陡，所以没走几步，大半团友都已气喘如牛。抬头看，山顶是那么遥不可及。为了减轻老婆的负担，我把她的背包拿了过来，以让她可以双手扶着扶手一步一步慢慢往上爬。另两位随团的好友虽年过半百，看到老婆脸青青，胆怯怯但还是坚持的攀爬，也勉强的拖着肥胖的身体边爬边坐，汗如雨下的上山。也搞不清我们到底是旅游观光还是在参加运动比赛，登山观景的毅力还是蛮强的。

所以膝盖虽痛，腿再酸，气虽喘，心跳得再快，还是征服了999-级的梯级。登了山顶的第一个感觉并非是给美丽的景色所吸引，老实说是那种如释重担的感觉。毕竟还是有点担心，万一头一晕，滑下去可不得了。天门洞的景色也不是那么的无可比拟，只是很奇特，那么大的一个自然形成的穿山洞也算少见的奇景。但是如果你往刚刚爬上来的梯级一看，看着犹如蚁一般的游客在山下攒动，有种自我挑战成功的意义，也算是欲穷千里幕，更上一曾楼的满足感吧！

下山容易得多了。我想我们是花了40分钟上山，20分钟下山。导游先前说年轻小伙子只需20分钟就能爬上山顶看来只适合运动健将，一些小伙子比我们这些40多岁的中年人还不济，没爬几级，就气喘如牛。一些老年人比我们还健壮，面不改色，轻轻松松的上下山。看来差别不在于年龄，而是一个人平时有没有适当的运动。到了山下，和没上山的团员分享上山的点滴，难免有点洋洋得意。

凤凰古城～夜与晨

抵达凤凰古城时天已黑，上山的路有点颠簸，所以巴士开得缓慢。而且路窄又多处修路，往往和反方向的车辆插身而过时，都让我们心惊胆颤。一到酒店，服务生们想必是等得不耐烦了，我们还没坐好，菜都一股脑的上完了，也都冷了。所以我们吃得有点赶，一半是饿，一半是赶着去看凤凰夜景。

虽说大部份的店已打烊，但古城内还是人山人海。虽说是古城，但在七彩缤纷的霓虹灯和热门音乐的衬托之下，走在古城里，其实和走在五光十色的城市也没多大分别。所以古城的夜景虽美，但因为霓虹的关系，就跟“古”字扯不上关系。

清晨六点，天才微亮，还没吃早餐，我和老婆再走进古城。沿途街道旁有少数民族在摆档子卖菜，卖吃的穿的用的，非常的热闹。赶着上学的小孩们和游客形成了有趣的对比；游客悠哉，缓步慢行的欣赏古城美景，而穿运动校服的小孩们却急步走，有些还边走边啃着面包，看着来来往往的游客，像是羡慕游客们的悠闲。

凤凰的美，在于沱江的水。所以古城的夜景虽美，霓虹五光十色，但见不到沱江的水，也属有所不及之处。就像一位美丽的少女剪掉了一头乌黑的长髮，虽看起来还是英姿勃勃，但是欠缺那种柔性的美。霓虹就像过量的胭脂，反而把凤凰的古典美破坏了。沱江清澈的水衬托着古色古香的高脚楼，有种脱离尘世，或者古时代那种不经工业化污染的美。

沱江上有一座石梳桥和一座木桥，往对岸走再回头看，独特的高脚楼尽入眼帘，和清澈的沱江水形成美丽的倒影。也许是接近上课时间，越来越多的小孩急忙的过桥到古城内的学校。孩子们都胆大心细，快步的走在石桥或木桥上，一点也不胆怯。

没有了霓虹，凤凰的景色反而更是让人着迷。瞬间像是进入时光隧道，仿佛走在古代的街道上，没有汽车轰隆隆的引擎声和废气污染也是一种难得的享受。一看时间差不多了，我们得快手快脚的往酒店回头走，也沿途拍摄了无数的美好风光。

Why bother on what people are saying?

I told a dejected friend that “life is not how people look at you but it is how you look at yourself”. He was dejected after being criticized by his boss for not competent and so forth and getting a poor rating for his appraisal for being “young” and not able to perform his duty as what expected from him.

Coincidentally this morning, there was a report on the Stars saying that employers consider fresh graduates as liabilities and would prefer to hire experienced and skilled professionals who can bring instant returns.

We all have gone through the process in a working life. We were all young before and joined a company with a paper qualification but with limited skills and knowledge but over the years acquired the skills and other requirements to be a competent worker, earning our living. But it doesn’t mean that everything will be a smooth sailing process. You may be thinking that with a degree in hand, you can accomplish a lot of things in your life and rise up to the rank, sitting up at a high position in a company and earning big money.

Sometimes, there are so many twists and turns come along the way and you need to bow a bit if the pressure is too great, just like bamboo, when the winds are strong, they bow but when the winds are over, they get straightened back. Just be resilient and the difficult moment will be over.

A poor rating by your boss probably mean that you would not get a good bonus or increment but it should not affect your internal peace. Come on mate, even your parents will have some preferences on your brother or sister so what more you expect from your boss?

As my friend was so down with the comments said by his boss, I then told him that “life is not how people look at you but how you look at yourself”. We bound to come across many challenges in working life. Your boss may not like you, or your colleagues hate you or your students wrote something bad about you. All these can demoralize a person but we need to keep our conscience clear that so long that we are not doing anything wrong, such adverse comments, criticisms, gossiping and so forth should not disturb our inner peace.

I advised him to go for a movie over the weekend and recommended him to watch the Avengers and hoping that he could gain some strength after seeing how the superhero settling down their differences and ego to save the world. I told him even the Prime Minister was also receiving some sarcastic reception from Bersih supporters during his working visit to England and what more the ordinary guys like you and me could expect? Don’t be so silly to expect everyone will like you even though you have done your part 100%.

We do not have the capability to please everyone but at least we can please ourselves by not being disturbed by all these nuisances created by other people.

Crazy season.....crazy finale

Fans of BPL throughout the world were probably experiencing one the of most thrilling moment on the last day 2011/12 season as it was down to the wire before the league title was decided with 2 goals scored by Man City in the injury times. All of us could have thought that Man City were dead and buried when Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie overturned Pablo Zabaleta's first-half strike and Man City seemed incapable of breaking the net strongly defended by a 10-man QPR.

It was as if on a roller coaster ride for both Man City and Man United fans. Most of the football pundits would have thought that It was going to be a walk in the park before Man City could lift the trophy that they last won 44 years ago. No body could have expected QPR showing that sort of gutsiness, sheer determination to fend off the might of Man City’s strikers but it is the beauty of football that keep us so attracted to it. Never say never before it is over. Even with the last 5 minutes of injury times, if the players push hard and keep on attacking, the unthinkable might happen.

When Aguero struck in the winning goal that crowned Man City the champions, thousands and thousands of city fans flocked into the pitch and the Etihad stadium erupted into jubilations. Fans were hugging each others with tears in their eyes. Some lying on the pitch crying uncontrollably.

Without a doubt, this is the most dramatic match ever seen on BPL and it is the most sensational day as well, Man U won 1-0 at Sunderland but not enough to stop Man City winning the title, Arsenal won 3-2 at West Brom and guaranteed themselves in UCL next season, Tottenham won 2-0 at Fulham but have to wait for the outcome of Chelsea vs Bayern and Newcastle lost 1-3 at Everton. What’s more? Ohhhh…QPR stay at Premier League despite losing as Bolton drew 2-2 with Stoke.

Many could have thought that Man City with the mighty wealth of their Arab billionaire owners could have easily assembled the best squad in the work and winning trophies after trophies but what we have witnessed over the so-called “craziest finale on a crazy season” by Roberto Mancini, it was not the money that matter but it was the people; the never-giving up players, the coaching team, the fans, and millions and millions of supporters following the live telecast all over the world, seeing their dream came through in such a sensational manner and that is sheer satisfaction, the unparalleled satisfaction.

Climbing 999-step to see a big hole

There are always memorable moments during vacations and sometimes there can be satisfaction beyond our own expectation. My wife and I were in Zhang-jiajie of Hunan Province, in China two weeks ago and we were amazed by the beauty of mountain ranges in Wuliyuan Scenic Area where the hills are so unique with pillar-like formations with their shape resembling human, animal and other things. The hills are named after their shapes. There most notable ones being 3-sister peak (三姐妹峰), Herb-collecting Old Man (采药老人) etc.

But there are simply too many attractions in Wuliyuan Scenic Area which covers 690 square kilometers and even after spending one and a half days over there, I felt that it was a bit too rush as there were times wasted on queuing for cable cars, climbing steps after steps and so forth. Instead of enjoying the beautiful sceneries, most of the tourists were busy taking photos and the major tourist spots were so crammed that if you walk a bit slow, probably you will end up being pushed by people at the back. You must be very quick in taking photos or else it will end up strangers blocking you.

After visiting China for 6 times I’ve learned one thing is for sure; people-mountain-people-sea (人山人海), every where you go, it will be crowded. So you have to walk fast, eat fast, ease yourself fast. I’ve never climbed so many stairs in my life during the 8-day spent at Hunan. All the mountainous scenic areas are testing your knee and the queuing is just killing.

But I find that both my wife and I had achieved something so special during the tour to Hunan. We’ve successfully climbed a steep flight of 999 steps to reach the summit of Tianmen Mountain where there is a big natural cave which is the so-called “door to heaven”. The local tour guide told us that it would take 20 minutes to climb up but we probably took much longer than that, 40 minutes perhaps. The steps even though not too high but the whole flight was too steep and could be dangerous if the wind is strong. Fortunately for us, after resting a few times to catch our breaths, we reached there despite the knee pain.

Coming down took us a shorter time as we didn’t stop at all; certainly it was more difficult to go against the gravity. Come to think about it, It was a sheer satisfaction and even though it was not the Mont Everest that we climbed, it will still be a unique achievement in my reckoning; climbing 999 steps to see a big hole, worth it. Just imaging, our own Batu Caves is only 272 steps.