Story 04: Training weekend II

The previous weekend took it’s toll and my knees hurt together with my bonny back which couldn’t stand a bouncing heavy rock on him again. All their protests resulted in slightly less weight of rocks that I was planning to take with me this time.

 This weekend destination (19.May 2013) was nearly equally far as the last time but in completely opposite direction - I went west, toward Anning Spa Spring Valley. 

GPS on my mobile ignored me completely between all those surrounded high hills and I had to drive my motorbike to the nearest village, check the destination and then go back to ‘wilderness’ again.   

As my back suggested I didn’t took one big rock but instead I took a bunch of smaller rocks and accompanied them with three 2-liter bottles and middle size but heavy enough watermelon (this time definitely more delicious load).

The path started straight off from the main road and I didn’t have to drive around to find any foot of the mountain as the last week – I was in between mountains straight away. 

And soon I was exploring a small path going through the forest and next to few rice terraces again. This time I planned to follow the path as much as I could and see where will I end up, but already after 1 hour I lost my way and patience and I found myself rolling through thick bushes and very old and dry rice terraces that were masked with leaves, bushes and trees.

Small highlights however, were two shelters that I found on the way – one made from the mud and another from wooden branches, but both half devastated and deserted. One of them was surrounded by wooden logs from which used to be prepared wooden charcoal in the adjacent mud-stone stove. Wandering who was making charcoal coal all the way up here and how hard must be the life for some of those local people, I left the site.  

The higher I was going the more spectacular views were appearing under me and after some time I found myself out of forest in a river-bed-like cannon that leads me straight to the top. The only company up here was a herd of goats that starred to me without a single motion so for a short while I was in doubts if they are really alive or only staffed figures (maybe I was partly hallucinating from stove-hot direct sun and from the heavy rucksack on my shoulders).  

Only thinking about my all-day-effort reward - the sweet and big watermelon in my bag (still bouncing on my bonny back with every step I took) I had been still progressing to the top and looking forward for my reward to be eaten soon. Fortunately, after not very long time I really reached the top which surprised me with a view on other side of this mountain – there was a small but nice village only half the kilometer away! That means that after a long climbing and trekking away from civilization I was actually coming back and closer to it...;-)

The top view was very beautiful and everywhere where I looked, I saw picturesque hills and hills again. Dirt roads were making their curvy and steep ways from valleys to the top of mountain and then following the long ridge. And while looking at these strips across mountains, I had got an idea that the next weekend I would take an off-road bike trip through all those hills – that would be fantastic! 

After some time that I took for rest, refilling my belly and eating my rucksack load I took the way back. The rule that finding the way from the mountains is much easier than finding it on the way up, proved to be right again. After steep and small-rocks-slippery slope where I have to descend sidewise, I got back to the forest where I found a buried pipe line and by following it I got soon into a village which was not very far from my parked motorbike (this time I parked it in a small forest so I didn’t bother to mask it…).

The knee sleeves and proper hiking shoes proved to be extremely valuable and after all day hiking I didn’t feel any pain in my legs at all (however, the next day I felt that I have some muscles on my legs as well….;-)

Now, I am really looking forward to come back here the next weekend but that time on my bicycle. It would be not just enjoyable training but also great down-hill ride!!!

My China Remark II: 

Did you know that in China they cut the whole chicken into soup (including head and feet) and with the all its bones? They cut chicken into around 3x3cm pieces together with bones and boil it with vegetable to make not so bad tasting soup. 

However, sometimes you find floating chicken head with beak on the top of your soup... And the most delicious chicken parts for Chinese are feet which they boil / roast with everything, including nails...