Weekend Off: Cuandixia Village Hiking Trip

Another week passed by with a blink of an eye with only a week and 3 days left with the APSA kids. I'm really going to miss them once they leave and hope they will cherish these last few days with each other. Most of them will never see each other again while others will try to maintain some sort of friendship. I do hope their friendship can carry on even though they will be back in America.

Even though this was my weekend off, I decided to join in on the Cuandixia Village weekend expedition! I'm so glad I did because it allowed me time to take in the beauty that Beijing had to offer. We traveled by bus for about 2 1/2 hours outside of Beijing where we were surrounded by mountains upon mountains. The view was breathtaking because these mountains have been there for god knows how many years!

 

 As the road become more narrow, we buy entrance tickets for the village and chug our way to the village. Once we reached the village, I saw that we were surrounded by enclaves of mountains and the first view I see is the pagoda on the top of the hill. I loved that I was surrounded by nature and so much effing GREEEN!

As we unloaded the truck, we made our way to our rooms to settle down before touring the village.We hiked up to the pagoda and saw the village in its own bubble surrounded by mountains. Mei (Moho) came for the weekend as well so it was great! We left the kids and found a quiet spot we picked out while touring the village to come back to at night. Flashlight, ukelele, and camera in hand we headed toward the spot. It was still foggy leftover from the afternoon so we didn't see any stars. Got us two bottles of beer and just chatted and she played some songs. As we were heading down, I of course flip on the stone steps and twisted my right ankle!!! (3 years I also twisted the same ankle!) It wasn't too painful, but I was still limping around was just pissed with myself that I had to slip and fall!

I was bummed, but I was not about to let this twisted ankle stop me from hiking up the mountain! Next day, it was a bit swollen but I could still put weight on it so I was determined to climb the mountain. I, of course had to keep in mind if the pain did get worse, I'd stop before I actually fracture something. While on the hike, it was a bit hard due to the fact it wasn't stable ground. The path was made of small pebbled rocks, large slippery slabs of stone and some straight paths. As I hiked, I was mindful of where I placed my foot as well as taking it easy. I had my walking stick so it really helped a lot with placement and just pace.

I hiked up the mountain through dense layers of fog every so plateau of land we encountered. Eventually after 3ish hours of hiking, we came to the top and it was GREAT! The mountains were surrounded by fog and mist. It was sort of drizzling as we made our way to the top and we devoured our PB&J sandwiches we made earlier. The group even laid down a bit for a nap before continuing to a higher peak for better photos.

I couldn't believe where I was and what the process was to get up there. I did not want to give up and was so happy I stuck it through. I really wanted to stay up there the whole weekend and just take in the scenery because I could not believe where I was. Fog, mountains, trees, wild flowers and misty rain--all made the scenery that much more beautiful. I tried my best to capture some of the scenery but I feel like I can't do it justice and it's one of those things you have to experience.

Eventually we had to hike down to make it back to the van so we can get back to the village before sunset. It started raining harder which made going down the mountain even more dangerous due to the slippery rocks and the angle we were coming from. Everyone from the team slipped once if not twice due to the rain. We made it back down and luckily by then it stopped raining.

After dinner, we set up the bonfire in the village and it was awesome. S'mores, bonfires and songs --what more do we want? That night due to the rain, the sky cleared up and there were STARSSSS! Tons of stars could be seen shining ever bright in the dark mountain skies. I found little dipper and even Orion's belt. That was a perfect ending to the weekend.

I take for granted little things like this because in even though I like nature, I never truly had a chance to fully immerse myself in it. I normally don't camp, hike or even be around nature let alone spend time in the 'wild'. The stars made me remember being back at Mount Holyoke campus and laying on the green watching the night sky go by and looking out for shooting starts. So many good feelings can come from just looking up at stars in the sky.

I really truly appreciate the opportunity this summer job has given me both professionally and personally. This has allowed me to view Beijing in a different light as well as grow as a person. I'm really enjoying the Beijing I'm seeing now which is filled with nature and hope.

Now, I just have to figure out my sprained ankle business and I should be good.