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According to the Chinese Taoism, Penglai was home to immortals and heaven on earth. It is known as the landing place of the Eight Immortals and famous for its occasional mirages. Legend has it, about in the 3rd century BC, an emperor named Qin heard people in Penglai invented a special medicine that could stop people from aging. So he dispatched someone to come here and find the immortal medicine. Ever since then, Chinese Taoism had taken it as a holy land.
We came in Pengle Pavillion from east side. The first thing I saw was a big wide plaquette that's carved with “Heaven Land on Earth”. It was written by a famous ancient Chinese poet named Su Dongpo. Stepping in a little further, there was “Hiding Immortal Hole”, legend said it was a secret place for immortals. Then we went up to the pavilion, the view ahead of me was so breathtaking! Seas you didn't know where it ended, white clouds that stretched miles up in the sky, cool fresh breeze blowed gently to the face, suddenly I understand why people thought it's home to immortals. Everything felt like heaven!
Tour guide told us, the mirage here usually appeared in May or June every year, sometime it appeared in late summer. If luck would have it, the mirage could last for hours, otherwise, it was only up for a few minutes. You could only wish for it instead of waiting for it. I wish I could see some mirage at the moment, it would be amazing. But no miracle happened.
My friends waved me over to the “Ancient Battleship Museum”, I ran a little to catch up with here. I was attracted by a battleship that was built about 700 years ago from now. It was 35 meters long and was made from one of the toughest wood-pine. The whole ship was supported by eight blue iron poles. I was trying to imagine its look when it was sailing in the sea, doing its great missions. There were also some ancients pottery on the show stand, all beautifully made.
Another wonder of here was “Wind Hiding Pavilion”. It was located in the west side of Pengle Pavilion. It only got a door that's facing to the sea and was without windows in three sides. No matter how strong the winds blowed outside, you couldn't feel a single air move indoors. Tour guide explained to us it was like this because it's special building structure. I thought to myself, what a great smart designer!