Day 1 of Super-Awesome Fun Things To Do During Summer

Today was an exceptionally lazy day, and near the end of the day I drew up a short list of things to do before summer break was over. From building outdoor forts to holding Vriksasana (Tree pose) for half an hour to eating an entire watermelon (by myself at one go) to writing a spoof of Twilight (yeah, still hatin' on that book despite my sudden re-intrest in it) and more, this is going to be one interesting end-of-summer-vacation. And the best part is that everything is going to be part of a photo journal (also on the list) so you get to see my face when I eat the entire watermelon :D Today was

#1)  Climb a mountain in under 5 minutes

. . . and . . .

#16) Run around sprinklers

(yeah, I picked the easy ones since we didn't have much time)

 Me before climbing the mountain. Ok, it's not much of a mountain, more like a hill on steroids, but still! I'm trying to point to the mountain, but it looks like I'm pointing to the fence. Anyways. . .

Ian prior to climbing the mountain. . . Yep, I made him do a 'crazy mountain pose', which, as you can see isn't really that crazy.

This is me at the top of the mountain. I made it up in 3 minutes and 40-ish seconds whilst Ian sprinted up there in 2 minutes and a half. He was up there chilling and shouted down to me that I had less than 10 seconds yet, which caused me to sprint up there as fast as I could, freaking out all the way. He has an identical picture to mine--after getting to the top of the mountain, we each rushed down a little to take pictures of each other.

While we were on the way back, we ran into a broken sprinkler, and got the opportunity to cross over item number 16 on our list, playing in the sprinklers!

Huang Long

   Huang Long 黄龙 , the literal translation being "Yellow Dragon", is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the Sichuan province. After finishing 4 weeks in a language program in Guangzhou, it was our first destination for our 6 day mini-tour of Sichuan. 

Trees and Mist at Huang Long

   The park, when we saw it, was not at its best. The clouds we had seen from the airport, clinging to the sides of mountains, came alive after the three-hour drive and when we arrived at Huang Long, the sky was a stark grey and it was drizzling.
   After entering the park (well, it was still drizzling), the mist (and the drizzle) seemed to turn the forest on either side of us into a spirit world we had accidentally trespassed into. It was mysterious, eerie, and (as much as I hate to mention this) looked straight like a scene from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. That is to say, its surreal beauty, had we not been directly experiencing it, would have looked slightly cliche and more than slightly photoshopped.
   Huang Long, and as we would later learn, Jio Zhai Go, was a place of ethereal beauty that sometimes pushed the boundaries of beliefe.

My Aunt and I, with Lakes in the background

Tiered ponds of Huang Long

    Though the mist lent a sense of surreality to the park, the light rain (which later escalated) made hiking a little irksome, especially when you take the fact that we only had 2 small umbrellas amongst the four of us into consideration. The tiered ponds, formed by calcite deposits didn't sparkle with 5 different colors, but they were still a gorgeous and interesting sight.

My Mom and I with Lakes in the background

   The only thing about the park that really bothered me, though, was the vast amount of people (all of the asian, by the way) that packed the path and jostled for place at good photo sites.    This place, for instance, that my mom are at in the picture was simply awful. The view behind us of the crystal-clear ponds was beautiful (though it didn't show up that well in the pictures). We had to push our way through the swarming mass of people, and then try to keep the eager photo-takers away until we had finished shooting our own pictures.

Paths are jam-packed!

   This picture is one that we snapped while there was a bit of breathing room from the crowds (relatively speaking), and as you can see, it's one gigantic parade of umbrellas*. Overall, though the mist, soaking rain and crowds were a bit of a deterrent, I would definitely say that Huang Long is a must-see if you're in the area. Every part of the path we took was gorgeous, even the woody area that preceded the lakes. 

*probably even on the sunny days, as Asian women (and some men) are in the habit of carrying parasols in order to keep their skin white.

A (not that) Glorious Return

We landed in San Francisco on 10:48 Wednesday. Strangely enough, being back in America was a welcome relief for the much overused 'sore eyes'. But it was certainly a little unsettling being surrounded by a bunch of gui lao and having people shoot me funny looks when I said something about them in English--a bad habit I picked up from China. Since everyone there usually can only speak Chinese, I've gotten into a bad habit of making sarcastic remarks in English about things that justly deserve sarcastic remarks. The vast majority of it is non-insulting--it just looks like I'm talking to myself all the time!

Anyways, to cut a long message short (well, really to cut to the chase so I can start writing about the trip itself), I'll skip the intro, apology, foreword, etc. and cut to the chase so I can start writing about the trip itself. Due to numerous obstacles in China, such as time constraints, lack of internet, and Blogger being kind of blocked, many my experiences have yet to be shared. So, like my postcards (yep, I'm the kind of person who buys out of country postcards and then mails them when they get back--or just looks at them pensively--or forgets them entirely), I will now begin talking about the trip.