Swen who moved in with me last night elected not to do Huang Long because she needed to catch a train to Beijing from Chengdu late today. So we had breakfast nearby the station. We had porridge, fermented tofu, pickled vegetables, and steamed rice buns for 5 yuan per person. This is quite the breakfast standard in China. Du insisted on paying for all of us of which Swen and I politely accepted. Swen and I ate like we’ve been starving for weeks. Well, in fact both of us were very hungry and we munched on a handful of nuts yesterday. Today knowing I’d be most likely hungry again, I filled up on breakfast. It was delicious and refills are at no extra charge. I ate Swen’s buns and she ate the eggs for all of us.
This morning we took the first bus out to Huang Long. Du took seat number one and assigned me to seat number two on the tickets which he was holding for the both of us. Seat number one was spacious at shotgun. I was in a mini seat by the engine that was sticking out leaving no room to rest my legs. Now I know how people with long legs feel in cramped up mini Asian cars. It was snowy and icy cold outside. The cold was so cold that it was as if the driver drove with the windows down. I guess Du thought differently of his very special spacious seat after the wheels started to roll. I tucked my head down to keep warm, to my left was a young man from Hong Kong who sat next to the window and I had the very hot engine to my right. The not so spacious seat that I was unhappy about in the beginning turned out to be quite a gem. The tight little uncomfortable spot was tight enough to keep me warm between a human body and an engine. Uncomfortable and warm, spacious but freezing cold? Hum…….. warmth always wins on my list.
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Went to Huang Long especially to check out the colored mineralized pools it is famous for. This park is on the route back to Chengdu to not also stop here after this very long bus ride the northern boarder of Sichuan would be a miss. The bus driver before letting us out told us he would take us to the local nearby town where the long distance bus station for Chengdu was for a small sum. We agreed it was a good deal and agreed by prepaying. He told us he would leave without us if we were late in getting back to the bus. Being so early, we got to hit the trails early morning. There were hardly any other buses when we arrived in the parking lot.
There was ice and snow, it was cold, I had all my clothes on. Du complained the whole way up the trail about how it isn't worth the trip etc..... I tried not to let it get me down. I just tuned him out. In fact that whole day was a day of grip and complaint and anger for Du. Maybe Du should have eaten more breakfast then maybe he wouldn’t have been so poopy. It was like someone farting and stinking up the trail with loud gas and diarrhea everywhere. Even so I really enjoyed myself on the frosty trail glistening under the sun.
Du was unhappy and nervous about the bus leaving without us that he rushed us everywhere. Since there was only one trial up we were pretty much together. Regardless, I did my own pace and really enjoyed walking in the woods.
I liked how it was winter in the park. The leaves have fallen. The water was icy. The colored pools look like pools of crystallized gems. The light shinning on icicles looked like beautiful jewelry. The patterns of ice on water pools and on branches and etc.. were all very beautiful to me. Even the naked trees standing in the midst of colored pools of frozen water looked amazing. I like being in nature. I find trees very healing. I find the air and the trees there to be very gentle. The park goes through difficult cold winter yet nature there remains strong, persistent, gentle, elegant, and beautiful.
While Du stopped by the oxygen first aide check in to take in more air, or just to try it out he says, I sat by a pool of colored water of limestone yellow, shades of green and soaked it all up all its magic and beauty for the whole forty minutes. I think the extra oxygen intake was good for Du he came back more relaxed. I guess for someone with all that congestion and anger, he’s bound to not get enough oxygen flow in his body. He even changed his mind about being so determined to not like Huang Long. He ended up appreciating it in its poetic beauty. What a drastic change!
Du found out I majored in psychology and asked me to analyze him. I told him that was not something to joke about or to be taken lightly and to do it right I would have to charge him by the minute in US currency to do both of us justice. He didn’t find that funny and he stopped pestering me with it.
Maybe because I was bundled in 5 layers and refused to rush like he did and trailed behind to walk at my own pace and to keep a nice distance between us, Du assumed I was not fit to jog or run. Well, he under estimated me by much and pretty much decided to mock me with it all day. I kept quiet until the last stretch of the trail where I decided to race him to the bus.
