Just a few of the many limestone peaks we encountered while walking along the river
Today's climb was much harder than yesterdays. So many insects. I think it must be my sun lotion. I could hear Ali laughing behind me as I swung my arms around in the air like a mad man. I could hear them all around me. When I reached the top of the first set of steps I was greeted by a woman holding out a ladle full of what looked like wallpaper paste. I thanked her but expressed more interest in what was being fried in her pan. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that she was selling roasted potatoes at the top of a mountain. And, they were just as tasty as they looked! We climbed further up into the mountains and saw more weird and wonderful insects and eccentric caterpillars. I saw two on the same step and tried to re-position them for a photo. They were very uncooperative.
We ended the hike with one last climb to the top of a temple for an almost birds-eye view of the mountains we had just climbed. I lost Ali in the process so I sat patiently with two devout men at the base of the temple. They tried to communicate with me but failed. One guy was stroking the hair on my legs as if he had never seen such a thing in his life. I amused them by writing in my journal. A butterfly flew onto my notebook just inches away from my face I couldn't believe it. It was so colourful and tame. The air is so fresh and clean here. I wondered what they were saying about me. I wish I could understand Chinese but pretend not to so that I could listen to their honest observations.
We took one of the free coaches which was already filled with Koreans to another part of the national park. They were much quieter than Chinese folk and very civilised. The man sitting next to me offered roasted chestnuts. We climbed Tianzishan (Tianzi Peak). Every rock, crag and gully had been given an elaborate name. It really was quite stunning. From this height it all started to make sense. I could see how the rocks were formed. It's quite simple really. Over thousands and thousands of years the continuous flow of water has eaten away at the rock leaving only sandstone peaks to remain. You forget just how high you are until a wispy cloud rolls in and wraps itself around a few tall narrow peaks.
Once we had satisfied and exhausted ourselves we took a bus back to the village to reclaim our baggage. We had left it all at the park entrance with the security staff. We then boarded another bus which took us all the way to Zhang Jia Jie city and found a hostel in the torrential rain. It was so warm and humid. I was hoping it would cool down after the storm but it never did. I discovered a street vendor at the end of our street. We sat at the small table under a canopy and ate fried food. We selected various items on sticks and waited while the woman placed them into a large vat of frying oil to cook. Items of food we selected included fish, unfamiliar (but good) crunchy slices of a vegetable we hadn't seen before, green beans, tofu, egg, potato and even a banana. And of course, no street food dining in China would be complete without a couple of bottles of Tsing Tao beer to wash it all down with. Ali used the beer caps to help illustrate her proposed itinerary for our remaining 19 days in China. We talked in detail about the possibility of us going our separate ways. Ali was torn. Hong Kong or Guilin?
