Rivers and Roads

I can think of several friends who would’ve really enjoyed today. Sunrises, mountains, raging rivers, strange sights, barbecue…WoLong style.

We woke up at 4:14, got picked up, and drove to meet the Hong Kong students a little before 5. Then we all piled into 4 cars to drive to see the sunrise in the mountains. It was an hour drive and we were all exhausted. It was also freezing. Literally. We got there at 6:00 am. Everyone got out for about 10 minutes, Justin and I set the camera up, and then we all went back to the car. The sun doesn’t rise till about 7. We were doing a time lapse, so thankfully we didn’t have to stand out with the camera. It was dark until then, and the sun came up slowly, but at the last second it got quite beautiful. The suns rays were peeking over the mountains and showered the other mountains with streaming sunlight. Snow peaked mountains next to barren grassland covered mountains. We were driving through the valleys between them, up and down them. So wherever you looked you were blasted with beauty (minus the occasional electricity wires).

We stopped several times for the students to take pictures of snow, for most had never seen it or only seen it a few times. Unfortunately, my absolutely frozen feet caused me to stay in the car and look out the window (did I mention that Justin and I and our stuff was crammed into 2 fold-down back seat chairs?).

Then we pulled up to another spot quite high up on the mountain surrounded by grasslands dotted with yaks. We all got out and hiked down through the barren ground, taking time to sit on the occasional rock and just rest in the magnificence of the mountains. We ate our “breakfast” (some rice and peanut bars and an apple) just across the mostly dry river (for it is the dry season). The students were pretty photo happy, but other than that, what a sweet silent relief it was to run ahead and just sit on one of the rocks overlooking the mountain range (which apparently is a part of the Himalayas). The brown shrubs and grass grew up, the trickling water flowed down. And the mountains stood majestically still, dressed in coniferous trees and snow.

After we continued our trek down the grassland, scaring the yak herds away, we loaded back up into the cars and continued our drive. For well over an hour. Of course, it was broken up by stops along the road to look.

Right along with our finding of several bones, a yak horn, and a jawbone, we saw a great deal of blood beside the road. We didn’t know what it could have been, but we soon found out. There was a group of people along the road with a large boiling pot. Unsure of what it was, we kept looking. And sure enough, several men were skinning a fairly large goat right on the side of the road.

We finally arrived at the next destination, one of the Chinese conservation centers. We got out and eventually began the hike (if you can call it that) down by the river. Amazing. Just an few minutes ago we were in a seemingly barren grassland, but now we were in a lush forest, complete with stands of bamboo and waterfalls. It’s sad to think that this place used to be heavily populated by tourists, but now because of the earthquake and subsequent landslides, there are hardly any.

The coolness coming off the water and the warmth of the sun balanced each other out quite nicely. The pace was leisurely (I’m not sure the students have done much hiking in their time…) and the landscape gorgeous. The water crashed over the rocks and flowed cleanly through the valley. A beautiful natural blue crystal color it had. Did you know bamboo sheds it’s skin when it outgrows it? Or that watching small birds in a thicket is so peaceful?

After our walk back to the cars, we drove to another location where our crazy driver decided to back all the way in. And there wasn’t exactly a road to even follow. We carried all our supplies a little more than a quarter mile up a partly dry river bed to an already blazing fire. It was time for barbecue…WoLong style J No hamburgers or hotdogs here. No barbecue grill. No utensils or smores. But there WAS an enormous fire (if you even got close, consider your eyebrows gone). And a slab of pork, covered with a layer of fat, that was cut into pieces. And 2 whole chickens, head, feet and all. A bag of potatoes and sweet potatoes. Tofu waffle things. Bean curd sausage things. Loads of eggplant and cucumbers. A giant head of cauliflower. And looooottts of Sichuan spices and oil.  And it was all cooked over an open fire with freshly cut bamboo skewers. What an adventure it was. These kids have never really had a fire before, and it showed…

The chicken was the most interesting to watch the cooking process. We attempted to cook and eat and eat and cook, all on the bed of rocks smoothed by years of water rushing over them. In a valley between mountains, with remnants of landslides on either side of us.

All this was beautiful, but what really got me was the natural radiance of the earth. The grass and trees reach skyward. The water flows downward. The bamboo shoots up. The birds flit across the sky. The goats and yaks graze. The sun pours down and warms all that is below.

Some mountains are snow covered and dotted with trees, some are barren. But both are still mountains.

There is such a sweet simplicity in it all. You can get lost in the mountains in a moment. Away from all that races and strives for striving sake. In the rays of the sun, with the mountains enveloping me and the river roaring below, what once seemed very important and consumed my energy now fades. And one thing remains.

Peace.