To the Chinese, the dragon is a symbol of power. Chinese Dragons are generally classified into four types. They are the tien-lung, shen-lung, ti-lung and the fut-lung. The tien-lung or celestial dragon protected the gods and the palaces. The shen-lung were the spiritual dragons which controlled the wind and the rain. The ti-lung or the Earth dragons controlled the rivers and the waterways on earth. The fut-lung or the underworld dragons, guarded precious metals buried in the earth. The dragon invisibly guarding this cache is fut-lung, protecting the metal container you seek and adding a few twists and turns to your search.
N 36 _ _ . _ _ _
W 80 _ _ . _ _ _
STAGE ONE: My great-uncle Hobart spent all of his adult life working in China (that's his photo below/right). He died there, as well, at the hands of an assassin for reasons that were never determined. He must have loved his life in China because he left instructions for his Chinese name to be included on his gravestone. Thus in North Carolina, in an odd piece of cemetery surrounded by flat, white Moravian stones, lies this granite foot-stone, with the intriguing Chinese name. Your first task is to find this stone at the posted coordinates.
1. There is more than one part to his Chinese name, separated by dash(es). How many parts are there? Put the answer in the 4th blank in the latitude.
2. Take this same answer, multiply it by 3 and place the result in the second blank of the latitude.
3. How many letters in his (English) last name? Put the answer in the 3rd blank of the longitude.
4. How old was he when he died? Subtract 5 from the answer and put the result in the last two blanks of the longitude (this is a two-digit number, the first digit goes in the 4th blank of the longitude and the second digit goes in the 5th blank of the longitude) .
STAGE TWO: The puzzle
My great-grandfather (Hobart's father) enjoyed riddles and brain teasers. He told another of my great-uncles the following riddle, and I learned it when I was young. This has to do with the reason that Hobart was in China. He worked for an international conglomerate which began with two companies, one here in the United States and the other in the United Kingdom. This conglomerate still exists today. This company's web-page states, "Our products are risky and our industry can be seen as controversial." With that hint, here's the puzzle:
Three-quarters of a cross
And a circle complete
And an upright where
Two semi-circles meet
A right-angle triangle
Stands on two feet
Two semi-circles
And a circle complete.
5. How many words are in the answer to the puzzle? Use this number for the first blank of the longitude.
6. How many letters (total) in the answer? Add one to this number and use the result for the second blank in the longitude (the longitude coordinate should now be complete).
7. The second letter in the solution of the puzzle could be construed as a number. Use this number for the 1st and 3rd blanks of the latitude.
8. Have you figured out which company my great-uncle Hobart worked for? If you've solved the puzzle, you may know the answer, but be careful -- it might not be the company you first think of. Take the number of letters in the first word of the company's name and subtract 2. Put that figure in the final blank of the latitude.
STAGE THREE: The cache! (Please note that there are several miles between the first stage and the final cache, so plan to drive between stages). The cache is located in a Winston-Salem park with a nice, hard-packed walking track. Stay on this path until your GPS tells you to stop. The cache is no more than 50' from the track to the south (bearing about 150 degrees), so please be very sneaky in your hunting techniques to keep it a secret from the many walkers who use this area.
The cache is in a large ammo box and it contains an assortment of very unusual chopsticks - some with flowers, some with dragons, some with beautiful women, and even Snoopy chopsticks for the kids! I hope everyone in your 'caching party will choose a pair of chopsticks to take home and enjoy; but please, only one pair per person so that many will be able to enjoy these unusual prizes. You may trade anything you like, just as you would in any other cache. Be sure to sign the Chinese brocade logbook, too.
- honeychile -
"a joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones"
NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: This cache is hidden in the great outdoors. Welcome to the South! We've got skeeters; we've got chiggers; we've got ticks; we've got ants; we've got snakes and other critters; we've got poison ivy, oak, and sumac; we've got mold and allergens; we've got kudzu and other pesky vines; and boy, have we got briars, brambles, and stickers! Depending on the place you elect to enter the off-trail portion of the hunt, you may very well find these and other denizens of our environment. Please dress accordingly and take adequate precautions whenever you interact with nature. And don't forget to cache in, trash out. Although the walk to the cemetery and in the park is relatively flat and easy, the cache itself is off the beaten path and is not accessible by wheelchair.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.