The Golden Lock Pass

One of my favourite parts of climbing Hua Shan was examining the thousands of padlocks along the way. These are clasped here by couples - the belief is that if you and your lover engrave your names on a padlock and place it along the mountain trails, you will stay together forever. You can see them everywhere along the trail, but the greatest number of them can be found at the Golden Lock Pass.

The Padlocks hang from the chains lining the trails











There are just tons of these! Apparently if you want to get divorce, it is only considered final if you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse climb back up Hua Shan, find your original padlock, and cut it off before the eyes of a witness.

. . .

What do you mean you don't believe me??













We got our own padlock engraved with our Chinese names! It's official, we're stuck with one another. We hung it along the Golden Lock Pass.

Thus ends the Chronicles of Xi'an! I am headed to SE Asia next.