Mountains

I love mountains. One of my favorite parts about traveling in China, in fact, was climbing mountains and noticing the drastic changes in mountain landscapes across the country.

I was really disappointed to not have been able to see the mountains on the drive into Boulder, Colorado on Wednesday - the rain clouds were too low and the sky was dark. The weather cleared up, however, and by Friday the sky was bright blue and scattered with clouds. I wish I had been able to do some hiking during my stay!

Solar-Powered Tea Kettle

I climbed a mountain the other weekend with my English friend Andy. The scenery was pretty, the weather was ok, and climbing was fun, but the best part of the trip (besides finally speaking English and freely complaining about teaching methods at the university) was visiting an old man who lives on the mountain and keeps up a Buddhist temple.



Andy and I stopped to say hi to this guy, and we ended up sitting and talking to him for a while. The main subject of our conversation was this cool contraption that the man has set up. Since he has no electricity, he has this reflector panel that concentrates the sun’s rays on the bottom of a tea kettle, and this is how he boils water. (And I thought frying ants with a magnifying glass was BA…)

It just so happened that as we arrived at his home, he was putting the kettle on. As we finished our conversation, the water was just starting to boil. Perfect timing.

This man was really baffled as to why I kept asking about how he boils water, and Andy also doesn’t think it’s cool as I do... What do you think?

Hua Shan

When I flew into Xi'An on Sunday, I met up with Dustin who I studied with in Lanzhou. His brother flew out here from Canada, and the three of us spent two days climbing a mountain. Hua Shan is about a two-hour bus ride east of Xi'An and is a beautiful rocky and tree-covered mountain.



We started climbing at about 8 a.m. on Monday morning, and we reached the top that evening. At the bottom, we walked up an incline, which turned into stairs, which turned into footholds in the rock with a chain to hold on to. The precipices were almost vertical.



We spent the night at a monastary at the top of the mountain. After climbing all five of the highest peaks and using harnesses to traverse some difficult parts, we headed back down the mountain to take a bus back to Xi'An.



Hua Shan is beautiful. When we were climbing the mountain, we were practically the only ones around. But we discovered that there is a gondola from the very bottom of the mountain to the very top. So after a day of rough climbing, we were tired and looking forward to enjoying the scenery. But it was difficult with throngs of Chinese tourists in high heels, dresses, and parasols, yelling on their cell phones. I think the gondola was a bad idea. Also, the beauty of the mountain was partly destroyed by litter. These same make-up clad tourists threw their custard pie wrappers where ever they pleased. It's slightly upsetting.



Even still, I enjoyed Hua Shan and the company of my Canadian friends. But my legs are extremely sore...

...Still in Chengdu

I'm still in Chengdu, but I did go to Leshan and Emei Shan like I wanted.

When I arrived in Leshan, I met a high school girl who showed me a place to see the giant Buddha from the city. So I didn't go to the park. Suckers, haha.



I climbed part-way up Emei Shan and stayed overnight with a family who lives on the mountain. The mountain is full of bamboo, waterfalls, animals, and insects. The noise is almost deafening and the insects are huge. For example, the butterflies are as big as birds. The next morning, it was pouring rain. I was obviously soaked from head to toe as the climbed the mountain, but the worst part of the rain was that the monkeys didn't come out. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to see any. I even had a bamboo stick to hit them with in case they attacked me, which apparently is what they do to mountain climbers.

I came back to Chengdu hoping to immediately go to the city of Kunming, to the south of Chengdu. I found out that there are no train tickets to Kunming for ten days. I'm working on a plan involving air travel, but traveling by plane in China is no fun and is expensive.

The Zip Line

I got stuck in the middle of a zip line the other day.

Some friends and I climbed a mountain and we decided to take the zip line across to a second mountain. Dustin went first and had no problem. I went second but was too light for my momentum to carry me all the way across.



So I hung about several dozen meters or more above a valley for about ten minutes while the people working the zip line figured out how to get me the rest of the way across. Not to state the obvious, but this is China: Nothing is the same as in the west, such as testing equipment or emergency procedures beforehand. They tried many times using several pieces of equipment to get me the rest of the way across. Magnets, carabineers, yards of rope and wire, and an electric pulley system were all involved. Obviously they succeeded or I wouldn't be writing about this now, but it was quite the ordeal.

I wasn't scared because I knew that there was little danger of the line breaking or me being injured in any way. I was more concerned with how long I'd have to wait before they figured out what to do with me. It was definitely neat to be dangling between two mountains- the view was incredible, but I was also eager to make it to the other side!

After I finally made it across, the other friends I was with came across the zip line without any problems.

Afterward my friend Travis and I discussed fear. Neither of us can imagine living a life constantly afraid of various situations. We decided that although it's good that we don't become easily frightened or worked up, sometimes a little more caution is necessary. We're glad that we can rationalize our fears away, but we know we're not invincible.

Tears of Strength

The only time I've cried since coming to Lanzhou was when I was sick in March. And these were only a few tears when I was on the phone with my mom.

Since then I haven't even felt like crying. Until Friday.

My friend Mac and I climbed the highest mountain in Lanzhou. I looked out over the city and tried to find landmarks. For a while, I couldn't recognize very much. Then I found my university.

I saw the main gate, the building where I have class, the park in the center of campus, the library, the track where I run, and finally, my beloved Zhuan Jia Lou where I live. I was so high up that I could barely make out these structures, but I was sure this was what I was looking at.

I felt so small. Looking down on the entire city of 5 million people, stretched before me like a map, where I could hardly recognize the places that are so familiar to me, it finally hit me how awesome it is that I'm in China. I'm out in the middle of no where, in a small city nestled between two huge mountain ranges. There is nothing for miles around Lanzhou. I finally thought about the fact that I'm so far from home and that I have been here for three whole months- but this is only half-way.

I wanted to cry.

I think these tears are built up inside from being tired of being strong. It's hard to be so strong for such a long time.

I have to be strong every day, but it's just part of being here. Lately, though, I've had to be stronger than ever, and it's wearing me out.

It's easy to be strong for myself. But to be strong for other people is hard. I have to be strong for the other Muskies here and I have to be strong for my roommate Aidana. When my roommate is scared of another earthquake, when she wants to sleep outside or push our beds together so we're nearer, it's hard to stay strong. When she hugs me and won't let go, when tears stream down her face, I have to be strong and let her know that everything will be ok.

But standing on the top of the mountain looking down on Lanzhou, I didn't cry. I wanted to, but I couldn't.

Maybe when I can bring myself to cry, it will be out of true strength.

Bing Ling Si

I went on a day-trip on Saturday with my friend Dustin from Canada. Dustin planned out the excursion: Starting in Lanzhou, we would travel to the city of Liu Jia Xi where we would take a boat to our final destination of Bing Ling Si.

Bing Ling Si is a Buddhist community southwest of Lanzhou. The main attraction is hundreds of small caves with Buddhist carvings.

Dustin and I met at 7:30 in the morning and took a bus from the university to western Lanzhou. Finding the west bus station was a journey of its own, so it was a good thing that our next bus didn't leave until 9:00.

The bus ride from Lanzhou to Liu Jia Xi was two hours. Public buses in the cities are dirty, crowded, and uncomfortable for long distances, but this bus was clean and had padded seats. The ride was quite enjoyable, especially because of the beautiful views of the county side.

Liu Jia Xi is a small city. Dustin and I think we were the only foreigners there, not to mention that few foreigners ever visit. Foreigners are more common in Lanzhou because it is the capital of the Gansu province and has several universities. We still get stares and "hellos" in Lanzhou, but in Liu Jia Xi we were met with gasps, pointing fingers, and people yelling "wai guo ren" (foreigners). A young girl even approached us with an offer for us to visit to her home. She recited some English sentences she had memorized, but it was apparent that she knew no English.

Dustin and I walked around Liu Jia Xi and had lunch. Then we took a taxi to the marina. We could have easily walked the distance, but we didn't actually know where the marina was. We had walked to the Yellow River at the south end of town but couldn't find it.

Unfortunately, Dustin and I were the only patrons of the marina on Saturday, so the boat ride was expensive. On the positive side, we had the 12 passenger boat to ourselves so we were able to take many pictures, and in my case, video.

The boat ride was one hour long and took us south on the Yellow River. The river is surrounded by mountains and is stunning.



Bing Ling Si is even more stunning. It would be an injustice to attempt to accurately describe the landscape. The mountains, the river, the walkways, the bridges, the caves, the Buddhist carvings and statues are all gorgeous. Bing Ling Si is a photographer's dream. Between the two of us, I think Dustin and I took over 300 photos.

As I previously mentioned, I brought my video camera along. I shot plenty of cover video and B roll, but the neatest tape I have taken so far in China is of Dustin and me being attacked by women and children selling jewelry and trinkets when we entered and left Bing Ling Si. The only English they know is hello, beautiful, and fifty (dollars). We spoke to them in Chinese and bargained with them for jewelry made by the Buddhist monks. (They kept saying "monkey" in English. Dustin and I know "monkey" in Chinese, so we said that back to them. Until we figured out that they meant "monk" both sides were confused about why the other would be talking about monkeys!)

We stayed at Bing Ling Si for just over an hour, and then Dustin and I took the boat back up the Yellow River to the Liu Jia Xi marina. We knew we were cutting it close on time- the last bus back to Lanzhou leaves Liu Jia Xi at 5:00. Buses are usually late, so we weren't too concerned that it was a few minutes before 5:00 by the time we docked. We speed-walked back toward town, but gave up and hitchhiked. On the way, we saw our bus to Lanzhou coming at us. The driver of our vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, honked, and waved the bus down. Luckily for us, the bus stopped to let us on.

This bus was crowded. Dustin and I didn't have actual seats, but we sat in the aisles and the front of the bus by the driver. Whereas the first bus ride seemed shorter than two hours, this one seemed longer. But we made it safely back to Lanzhou and to the university.

Because of recent events in China, traveling has been heavily restricted and is ill-advised. But because of the proximity and demographics of Bing Ling Si, Dustin and I felt it was safe to travel. Other popular destinations near Lanzhou, however, are closed to travelers. Hopefully things will calm down soon, because I'm already itching to go on some more weekend trips. Travel in China is easy and affordable because of the public buses and trains, and it would be a shame to stay in and study every weekend, especially as the temperature warms up!