#zhaixi

We woke up in four o'clock in the morning, for the third time in a row, We were supposed to meet Ms.Talkative outside our hotel and hike for an hour or so to meet the rest of the group at sunrise. It was dark and cold, and Ms. Talkative would not show up. We called Fang, who told us something along the lines of "oh, yeah, she will not be joining you, just start walking", Thank you, Fang.

We climbed the mountain in the dark, which was cool and unpleasant at the same time. After an hour or so, we got to the hotel where the rest of the group was staying, and peeked into one of the rooms. These were small, smelly rooms in which about ten men, or women, depending on the room, were stacked into bunk beds. We thanked god that we paid more in order to get our own room in a much nicer hotel, and walked outside to see the sunset, which was very pretty. 

Fang gathered us and led us down the mountain. Here's a group picture:

Left to right: Ms. Talkative, Julia, Red Coat, Me, Old Lady, Mr. Trooper, Mrs. Trooper, Annoying Mom and Annoying Girl.

Fang showed us a famous pine tree (yes, it's a just pine tree), quoted some poems, and pointed out more rocks that look like things. Like this rock, that looks like an old Nokia cell phone:

This rock is actually called, and I kid you not, "The Cell Phone Rock".

Between Fang's elaborate descriptions of rock formations, Julia and I were engaged in our favorite pastime, which is hating other people - this could be for any reason whatsoever, like yelling, shoving, posing ridiculously for pictures, or just being people that are not us.

We took a break to rest, and Julia told me that she registered us to take the cable car down the mountain instead of walking down because we was tired, and it's only 80 Yuan for each of us (about $26 total). Guess what? It turns out everybody in the group was tired after climbing the mountain for two days, and nobody wants to walk the remaining 9 kilometers. This resulted in the amazing coincidence where the entire group, including Fang, took the cable car and met at the foot at the mountain around noon, just as scheduled. I wondered what would have happened if I told Fang "no, I want to walk. And being my tour guide, you're gonna walk with me. Nine kilometers. While everybody else waits for us down there." 

After the cable car ride, we walked for just a little bit longer until we got to the buses. An amazing performance by the Zhaixi-tourist-trafficking-network brought us to a restaurant where the bag we left at the hotel was miraculously waiting for us. Not only that - since we were hungry and already in restaurant, we ordered some food, and guess who shows up and had lunch at the table right next to ours? Fang! What are the odds?!

Another bus came and picked us up to take us back to Nanjing, It was mostly empty, and we both fell asleep immediately. We woke up a couple of hours later, to the sound of a beast of a guy chewing sugar cane across the aisle. The bus somehow was now packed with people. They were probably picked up when we were asleep. The beast across the aisle was way too tall and had a big face and big hands, and he was biting off pieces of sugar cane, chewing them loudly, and when he was done with a piece, he just opened his mouth and let the piece fall to a trash can he had between his feet. I wouldn't mind that so much if he didn't have dozens of these sugar canes and the repetitive process was not so loud and disgusting.

Naturally, we could not go back to sleep, so we stared out the window, through which we could see entire cities being built at once. China is going down, I tell you. And everybody else is next.