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.

Great Wall Unrestored!

It's already the beginning of the fourth week of the program! Where has the time gone? This weekend was considered a relaxed weekend and I use that term loosely. Instead of our normal weekend excursion where we have an overnight stay, we had a day hiking trip to the Mutianyu Great Wall unrestored section of the wall. By unrestored, I do not mean some rocks hanging off the wall--I really mean trees whacking you in your face, uneven path winding up and down the mountain and eventually you see the wall creeping up in your view. I was part of Team Chill which mean we could take it 'easy' hiking up the wall and had more rests in between the hike. There were 2 other teams: Team Moderate and Team X'treme!

(The hike up on the unrestored portion of the Wall)

The weather for the hike was gorgeous! It was sunny and clear blue skies not the typical Beijing weather we normally get (smog) so I was really grateful. It took us about 2 hours to hike up the mountain to reach the wall where we had to keep following the wall back to the restored portion of the wall. We crossed broken down portion of the wall where it was very easy to slip and fall off the wall. In my head, I kept thinking please don't let a kid fall off or slip or twist an ankle! Luckily, all the kids made it in one piece across and Team Moderate/Team X'treme was cheering on our kids as they approached the restored portion which was a great boost of energy. I'm glad these kids have settled into the idea of family now with each other. The cheering and encouragement really shows the support they have for everyone.

(The path where we came from-had to climb through this window) 

After reaching the fortress on the restored part, we had lunch and prepared for the student presentation. They had 3 different topics regarding the Great Wall: Past, Myths and Modern views of the Great Wall. The kids had awesome presentations where they used the information given and ran with it. After the educational bits were done, we continued onwards so we could explore more of the wall and make our way down the restored part so we could get back to the city in time.

(Us facilitators joining on the fun)

As we passed different forts on the wall, we climbed upon them and took lots of jumping photos which is a must clearly lol I believe the kids really did enjoy the day and even though most thought they were going to die from the hike, in the end it was truly worth it for them personally and overall great experience.
Within the same night, we had a social event where we laid out sleeping bags in the common room and watched Mulan through the night. It was a great conclusion to the night because the kids was just at the Great Wall as well as Forbidden City in the same week.

Sunday rolled by and they had history class and we surprised them with KTV afternoon filled with English music. Kids sang Bieber, Kanye, Drake, Zedd as well as Beyonce. Everyone had a great time singing and dancing. This was a great break for everyone in general because usually we pack the schedule with heavy items that need to done.

Today is the start of a new week--new excursions and even more new experiences that needs to be had.
'Till another time.
Deuces

Mutianyu! (慕田峪长城)

On Friday it was a gorgeous day to have our hike to the Great Wall section of Mutianyu. The bus was 30 mins late but once we got on, we slept a bit (2 hrs) and then we reached the hike portion. The mutianyu section is older than the badaling section of the Great Wall.

The hike started from the village then up, up we went. Through the path we hiked up past the trees, bushes and at some point it got tighter and tighter together as all the trees were cloistered all over. After about 1 1/2 of walking on the trail, the wall peaks out at you and surprises you. Must be what it was like thousands of years ago when the invaders stumbled upon this giant wall! I had to climb through an open window and slowly climb up the section of the wall...Everywhere we turned was filled in with green--the mountains in the distance, the trees sprouting on the wall itself, the flower bush on the steps and each step you take you are surrounded by the green that had taken over the wall. We kept moving forward until we reached one of the towers and the view was insane! This is a view that you have to experience because it's so hard to capture the moment and the thoughts going through your mind. Even having been there at that moment, words did not come to mind of how to describe it.

 

The view from one of the towers on the Great Wall! 

After the first tower we continued walking through the forest of greens until we reached a halfway point where we had to cross a broken down section of the wall and that was just plain scary! On both side you could see if you slipped and fell you'd tumble your way through the forest beneath. 

After that scary part, we finally reached the normal restored section of the wall (THANK YOUU) and rested up a bit before trekking down the wall and back to the bus station. 

 

Such blue skies hiking that day

After the hike back down, we came back exhausted, sweaty and after a nice shower I passed the 'eff out!