The tour group that I just helped myself to left this morning at 5:30am to see the sunrise. Knowing how the weather was like last night, there would not be enough clearing to see sunrise at all. I stayed in bed until it was time to meet up with Chen to pair up together to hike the Western Sea Trail at 8am.
Chen came to find me earlier than our scheduled time. We headed for breakfast. We ate a lot knowing it would be our meal. The western trail is unpopular due to the difficulty in hiking it. So there isn’t enough incentive for vendor to have stands there. I packed my “man-toe” and stuffed it with pickled vegetables for the road.
Hiking up the eastern trail to connect with the western trail from here means going mostly downhill this way. This was the way to do it and not the other way around. The experience is full of surprise, mystery, imagination, beauty, and joy. I found myself turning my head around a lot making sure I got glimpse of this turn and that corner. You just don’t know what nature will reveal to you in a flash. Every moment is different and if you missed it you missed it.
This is where the scrolls of ink brush paintings come from. This is what the poets go off on for inspiration. This is where backdrops for stories on immortals and “kong fu” legends.
I went through some caves and at the entrance, it would be pitch dark and then after the turn it would be light but foggy and misty, feels like a holy somebody would be waiting there. And holy music would be played and sung in the background as I approached. There is quite a lot of room for imagination. I really felt like I was in a heaven or something, definitely not in a human realm.
Most people take an average of 3 to 5 hours to do this trail, Chen and I took 7 hours with our long breaks of, “ooooooo, ah………..” lost in amazement and majestic beauty.
