Day 30- Celebrating one month in Planet China :)

   

Morning came WAY TOO EARLY for this girlie, after
imbibing in Mexican food and margaritas last night.  Alas, I had
reservations for a hike, so I forced my sorry carcass out of bed
 and into the 'Beijing haze' (aka 'daylight') to meet up with the rest
of the group. The AQI was 183; oh, dear.  We were all hoping to breathe
some cleaner air further out of the city.  Just as we were
lamenting about the air, another member of the group spoke
up and said, "This is nothing; in the winter it is usually 400+.
The air is so bad, you can actually taste it."  Oh boy, do
I ever look forward to the winter season; cold, biting wind
and air that has to be chewed.  I can hardly wait. pfsh.

Fortunately for me, it was a four hour bus ride out of the city due to traffic.
The good news was I finally woke up feeling refreshed and ready
for a hike, and it was a bright, beautiful, blue sky- hooray!

The group was taken to Labaguomen National Park which
is located in the Huairon District.  I was sad to learn that
I was actually still in the municipality of Beijing.
Dang, a four hour drive and I'm still not out of Beijing!

It was a steady uphill climb, that was a paved stretch of road for the first
half of the walk.  It would have felt like an easy stroll but we were
hiking along some pretty steep switchbacks.  I wasn't complaining, YET,
as each turn up the mountain revealed another beautiful vista.
Then the pavement ended, and we really started climbing.

I had Hank, my usual hiking buddy with me.  We
cracked ourselves up with Hoosier-isms as we continued uphill.
Remember the Redneck Readin' Test?
M R ducks. M R not. O S A R. C M Wangs?
L I B. M R ducks....and there's more where that came from-
we recited it ALL :)))

As usual we had to chuckle at the translation of Chinese
signs into English.  No smoking or flammable...
L I B, whatcha reckon' they meant by no flammable?
Guess that means, 'Boys, don't light yer farts in the woods.'
Good to know- no lighting of farts- Must. Keep. Walking.
I did correctly guess that the third symbol on the top
row means 'forest'...look at me go in Mandarin, lol!

Got no I D what this here sign's a sayin'...

It got noticeably cooler the higher we climbed.  We could
also see that at the higher elevation the leaves were
beginning to turn.  I'll bet bet this hike will be gorgeous
in another week or two.  Fall was in the air, for sure.
It felt good, 'cause we were working up a sweat!

Just as I was ready to tap out climbing hundreds of stairs
after two and a half hours of a constant uphill trek,
Hank told me to "Suck it up, princess."
Way to piss me off, Hank.
 It worked.
I rounded the last switchback, and FINALLY had the pagoda
at the peak of the mountain in sight.
Whew!!! 

We made it!!!  It's all downhill from here :)

Time for a selfie!  I couldn't get over the gorgeous
blue sky.  Man, I miss the color blue; blue skies, blue ocean...

Until we climbed further out from the pagoda onto some boulders. There
we were treated to a gorgeous 360 degree vista.  Oh. My. Goodness. 

I relished in the quiet, y'all.  And the view.

Way down there in the distance was a little village...yet the lines and the
contours of the mountains, the trees, the rocky crags...it was breathtaking.

I was the happiest girl in China on top of that mountain :)

I couldn't get enough of the view, but we had a bus to catch. So we had to
make some fast tracks back down to the parking lot.

We took a shortcut through the white birch forest, and the
late afternoon sun was beautiful the way it streamed through
the trees.  And then there was this silly sign obstructing the
view,  "Green is the best reward of your love."
L I B, I learnt somethin' new today.
"Green is the best reward of my love."

I don't know what this flower (weed?) is, but pretty
colors in nature are always cause for pause in my book.

We somehow managed to get back to the bus nearly an hour before everyone else!  I had an apple, drank my third bottle of water, took off my shoes and socks, and promptly fell asleep with my face to the sun while laying on a warm boulder.  I am part reptile, I am sure.  Or maybe part cat.  I couldn't get enough sleep today.  I pretty much slept the three and a half hour bus ride back to the city, too. We bid our goodbyes to the group, then Derick, Hank and I hopped a cab to a hutong that Derick knew about.  There is a German restaurant that he stumbled upon last year, and a heavy German meal sounded fantastic to us after burning a basquillion calories (it's a number, look it up ;)  The guys
were interested in a cold German beer to go with their brats, but I sucked down that Coke Zero like it was my job.  Dinner was fabulous, and I will certainly go back again.  Apart from Mexican or Cuban cuisine, I could eat my weight in German food, too.

After dinner, we headed over near the Lama Temple to another hutong.  Rob, a music teacher at BNDS was performing a set at a wine bar.  We were looking forward to hearing him play guitar- he is amazingly talented.

But, we walked in just as Rob had finished- dang it- and the after party was in
full swing.  L to R are my friends and collegues, Derick (World Cultures, from
CA), Grant (English, from WI), Kevin (AP Physics from IN- a fellow Hoosier!
L I B) and Rob (Music/Choir/Guitar, from NYC).

Alejandra and Zuong said the music was great- the wine, too :)

So I had one glass of moscato, visited with the dozen or so teachers that were there, then decided to call it an early night.  I wanted to catch the subway home before it shut down for the evening. Besides, I was done in, and I planned to go to church in the morning.  All in all, what an awesome way to celebrate my one month anniversary of living in Beijing- a beautiful mountain top hike, a delicious German meal, and a glass of wine with a dozen or so of my new, closest friends here in China.  Life is good, people.

No- today, life is great :)

G'Nite, y'all!