Another morning dawned (and with dawned I mean the literal sense because I seem to wake up on this trip always around 6am) and I started to update the blog. Some of you might have noticed that I am 2 weeks behind on the blog. Since China I am just struggling to update. Anyway the wi-fi was working well with the VPN in the Westland Hostel and I updated a bit again.
But around noon and two cups of coffee I felt ready to get moving again and for today I had planned to see the Moon Hill. So again I went to the hostel next door, paid my 10 Yuan (a little more than a one Euro) and cycled out of the city in the same direction as yesterday. This time though I went over the Yulong River bridge and went further. I noticed that the heat really got to me and I need to take more breaks in-between. Also I felt the day of cycling from yesterday. Apparently I was not in such a good shape after all.
When I found the Moon Hill I got stopped by a woman next to the entrance who wanted to show me the farmer’s way to it by paying her a small fee and no entrance fee. I decided to trust her and declare it as local development aid. So I parked my bike and hiked up with her a small trail about 150 meters from the actual entrance. The heat and the humidity in the jungle just about did me in. Eventually we arrived a stone way and she told me to just walk about there, I will get to the hill and use the regular exit upon leaving. What she didn’t tell and might not have done the Moon Hill after all that the hike would be cruel.
So I trudged up some stairs (always stairs and more stairs) and arrived after maybe 20 minutes at this point of view.
It looked spectacular and I felt like the king of the world, but since it was only a view point and you could get up to the real “Moon”, I wanted to go there too. It took maybe another 40 minutes to get up there but the stairs in this heat and with a lot mosquitoes and the humidity it felt like hours. While walking up there were always people coming down and they motivated me to get on going. There was an end in sight and since they had made it, I could too. Plus they told me that there would be cold water on top. And I bought an overpriced cold water bottle because I felt I deserved it and so did the really old woman who had brought it up. she even fanned me while I drank it an gave me something for the mosquito bites. So it was money well invested.
On that the I never stopped sweating by the way. I think the hike increased my core temperature so much, that I couldn’t stop until I was back at the hostel. I have never experienced anything like it that water just ran down my body while I sitting in front of a fan and was not moving at all. A very weird experience. So after I had a little break on top, I walked down again which I enjoyed a lot more than going up although now I noticed the mosquitoes. Before I had just noticed the bites.
I had parked my bicycle next to a shed which was actually a little restaurant. So I went to this place and ordered mixed vegetables with rice and it was just perfect. Maybe because I was starved for some vegetables after the dinner yesterday or maybe I was exhausted from the hike. Anyway, it was the perfect lunch with a cold beer to get some energy.
But every break needs to end and after an hour or so I was back on the road to roam the countryside some more. I passed what I thought was a cemetery, but I cannot be sure about. It looked definitely cared for and quite lovely.
While some others looked overgrown and abandoned.
Since sweat was dripping constantly my grip on the bike was not the best and anyway I had enough of bicycling already, I decided to make another stop. I found this quaint roadside place and had a coffee and some lychee juice here. And even in this no-name place they had wi-fi. The world is really shrinking.
Two hours and 10 postcards later I thought I had exhausted the hospitality of the little café and rode back to the city. I stopped for another hour at the bridge, watching the water pass by.
Dinner that evening was Chinese fast food and I loved the way how it was presented. It was only a noodle soup with some meat, a salad and a tea egg but so good! Yours, Pollybert
