Up We Go

Last Saturday, the new Americanos, Thomas, and I made our way up some mountains. Cool. Thomas and I are trying to plan out a 3-day fast n hike over Easter weekend. By "we" I mean that it occurred to me one afternoon that it would be fun and two hours later I approached Thomas (Weihai's hiking expert) about suggesting areas/leading the hike. The ridge that we went up will probably be part of that hike, so I guess you could call this a test run on fully-fueled energetic bodies. Not a complete simulation, but it will do.

It was hard going for the first little bit...right after we passed this calm little Bessie cow. I guess I've seen cows before, but these gals. Whew! Never knew udders and teats were that...large?

After climbing up (there was some grappling with rocks and branches), we got to the first peak. Here's Thomas pointing out the military base a ways off that forbids hiking around its perimeter.

And here's the lubberly view. Through the haze (fogginess + pollution), you should be able to see some land--that's Liugong Island. I think it was once a military base for the British. There is a ferry that hauls out there, but I haven't made the trip yet.

We kept "ridge hopping" towards a little abandoned building. When we got there, we were uber excited about the Chinese characters carved into the cement.

Here are Rory and Julie--I took this shot because I felt it so "Sound of Music." Austria anyone? On the way down, we bumped into a graveyard and Thomas told us of a heartwarming story about a man who led a group through his people's burial grounds (which was forbidden) and when he came back discovered that his entire family had been murdered. Though it was interesting to see such a place--the Chinese build these mounds and then put the urn of ashes inside--it was still a cemetary. And cemetaries, Chinese or not, are CREEE-PYYYY!! We continued on and found some nice level, soft ground where we could pitch our tents. All in all, I say it was a successful outing.

Yay, new friends!!!