Weekend Hike

We had a fantastic Saturday at the BingYu Goh Valley state park. My husband and I, with Buchela and my parents took off at6:30 in the morning and arrived at the park around 8:30.

So, we had an early start.

But we are in China. And in China, solitude is a rarity. State parks are no different. Even early in the morning, there were already hordes of people that came by the bus loads prepared to assault the place.

To make things worse, there were shops all over the place. Game operators played different and loud music in competition with each other. And you know those golf cart looking cars inside airports? There were there ferrying the old and the lazy back and forth on the main trail. We had to be careful not be run over.

That said, we still had a great time.

Buchela's father was creative at finding ways to get away from the crowd. We even got lost --- very lost --- by choosing the less traveled trails. Try to imagine what it would be like to explain that you are lost and to ask for directions when you don't speak the same language as the people with whom you are trying to communicate!

Buchela enjoyed the day as much as anyone. He even walked part of the way! My parents did well but my mother was pretty putout by the seven hour hike after 2/3rds of the way. Of course we took plenty of breaks. But still, she kept on asking when we will finish and if we knew where we were going....

We assured her we did and when it became evident that we didn't (when we got lost), she panicked thinking that there might be another six hours to go.

My parents will definitely have a few new stories to tell after this trip!

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