A Trip to China

Austin Chan

Period 3A

DESCRIPTIVE

CHINA ALIVE

Hiking in Lijiang is no joke. Walking strenuously uphill for three hours, with an occasional break here and there, is no doubt tiring. Is it worth it? The beams of sunlight razing through the edges of the mountains, and the puffy white clouds caressing each other in the maroon sky. Yes, it is.

I remember a part of the hike where the road was cluttered with rocks, and wind swished passed my face. The road was curving left and right, like a sideway "S" from a bird's eye view. After the second corner, I was already gasping for breath. The weather was at a level where every time I exhaled, a wisp of white fog escaped from my mouth. As I ascended, the air became thinner, making it harder to breathe. The dense forest covered any sign of animal life, except for the constant wasp here and there. Pieces of dry branches littered the soil, with cuts in the brown bark. I could hear the buzzing of the wasp's miniscule wings, and see the pointy stinger attached to the small of its back. Trees blurred out our vision, making it impossible to see anything but the mass of trees and the mountain trail. Birds chirped in unison a harmonious melody, while at the same time staying unseen in the long branches.

After climbing up for two hours, a lone mountain goat blocked our path. Baa, Baa, as if to communicate its helplessness, and it's pleading for us to take it down the mountain. Its skinny body, as though it did not eat for days, was covered with grimy fur, with streaks of gray running down the sides. When our group approached him, it retreated into an old pen covered with dirty hay. With everybody stopping to take pictures, you could hear the repetitive clicks of camera flashes. Click, click, click!

A tattered