Beijing is a pretty ok city; it consists mainly of people, concrete, cars, places to get lost in, flashy advertisements, and MSG. I like it! Though I also like nature, a lot! About two weeks after my arrival in China Kayla and I decided to climb a mountain. Our souls longed for nature! Equipped with my Chacos, a compass, and orange juice we boarded a northbound bus. About an hour or two later, with the mountains in close(ish) range, we forsook the bus and continued our pursuit on foot.
The rhythmic sounds of the oars cutting through the water drown out even the remembrance of traffic murmurs. The water was clear (relatively speaking.) The sky took on a truly blue hue. The mild breeze brought us the nearly forgotten scents of trees, flowers, fish, earth and algae... Beijing was worlds away from the lake and mountains that surrounded us. And if there had been any doubt regarding the expanse that lay between us and our urban haunt, they were dashed once we rounded the next cove. There I was awakened from my trance by the laughs and splashes of skinny dippers jumping off outcroppings. Though both parties involved seem surprised to discover the existence of the other, they seemed undaunted, and continued their sport was we floated by...
In route to the island:
The island:
Coming ashore:
Exploring the island:
A lookout tower on the island:
Views from the tower:
A scary something:
The top of the mountain... More or less....
Glory wounds:
A scary something again:
Walking in the lake with my Chacos, because I can:
Making our way back to meet ESP:
A little hut and its keeper we came across:
A little famished after our day in nature we ate some leaves from a branch a Chinese woman gave us. They were ok, but not the best...
Then we went back to Beijing.
After thwarting the efforts of many eager taxi drivers wishing to take us to The Wall, and briefly getting lost in a brothel, we arrived at the base of our mountain, sort of... Only a large lake lay between us and our goal. Surveying our welcomed challenge, we spotted an island in its center! Exchanging excited looks of agreement Kayla and I decided to add “Exploring the Island” to our list of goals.
As we approached the shore we were at once greeted by a fisherman gifted with extrasensory perception (ESP). Perceiving our wish he asked to take us to the island, and without haggling, he agreed to the ridiculously low price we offered. Exchanging slightly disappointed looks Kayla and I followed our ESP gifted fisher-friend to the boat.
The rhythmic sounds of the oars cutting through the water drown out even the remembrance of traffic murmurs. The water was clear (relatively speaking.) The sky took on a truly blue hue. The mild breeze brought us the nearly forgotten scents of trees, flowers, fish, earth and algae... Beijing was worlds away from the lake and mountains that surrounded us. And if there had been any doubt regarding the expanse that lay between us and our urban haunt, they were dashed once we rounded the next cove. There I was awakened from my trance by the laughs and splashes of skinny dippers jumping off outcroppings. Though both parties involved seem surprised to discover the existence of the other, they seemed undaunted, and continued their sport was we floated by...In route to the island:
The island:
Coming ashore:
Exploring the island:
A lookout tower on the island:
Views from the tower:
A scary something:
While exploring the island Kayla and I devised a plan! We would try to persuade our ESP fisher to take us across the lake to the mountain, and then persuade him to retrieve us a few hours later. Prepping ourselves for a bartering match, one possibly assisted by flirting, we returned to the boat.
Kayla, in her very finest bartering/flirty Chinese said something like this: “We would like you to take us over to that mountain. Then after we scale its highest, we would like you to come get us... And we’re not going to pay you very much! ok?”
ESP Man: “Ok...”
Kayla and I exchanged disappointed looks for a second time and then boarded the boat.
The ascent...
The top of the mountain... More or less....
Glory wounds:
From the peck, "more or less," we distinguished a very happy lonely tree! Exchanging excited looks of agreement for a second time, Kayla and I decided to add “Go to the Very Happy Lonely Tree” to our list of goals.
The tree, what a beauty:
The descent...
Walking in the lake with my Chacos, because I can:
Picking our way along the coast toward our goal:
The very happy lonely tree:
Making our way back to meet ESP:
A little hut and its keeper we came across:
THE END
Beautiful. So glad you got to conquer the mountain (sort of) and arrive at the beautiful tree. Sounds like ESP was of the cloud of witnesses variety. Glad he was there to help. Have a great next adventure!! Zia.
ReplyDelete