Week 7: Quingshui River Hike

This week I decided to get out of the city for a bit and join some other expats and curious Chinese on a trip to Quingshui River. Going into the weekend I expected a nice walk along the river bed with some swimming holes and a tasty barbeque at the campsite at the end of the day. I was not exactly on target with this prediction.

We had traveled to a town near the river in a regular bus, with about 30 seats total. However, to get to where the trail head started near the river, we had to split the group in half and load onto smaller buses with 2 seats on one side and 1 on the other. Thank goodness we did so, because the roads we proceeded to follow were extremely narrow and passing other 4-door sedans was a feat in and of itself. In China bus drivers seem to honk at everything: pedestrians crossing, the car in front of them going to slow, approaching a corner, you name it! I’m also pretty sure that the horns on cars in China are louder than anywhere else in the world, but that may just be due to increased usage. Along with the constant honking and the precarious passing’s, my driver also managed to pull down an electrical wire with the side mirror at one point. In an “only in China” moment, he proceeded to light a cigarette and pick up the wire, throwing it back to the side of the road and enjoying his smoke while he re-adjusted the mirror.

Hiking started out fairly normally-we walked through a bamboo forest and ended up at the river, promptly jumping in for a swim in the cool water (it was about 90 degrees with 85 percent humidity.) After the swim though, things started to get a bit harder. The river was higher than the trip planners had anticipated, so instead of wading through the water we ended up climbing (and more commonly, traversing) the rocks on the bank. It was a lot like indoor bouldering, except that if you fell you would fall into water and likely have wet clothes for the evening. With the stakes so high I hung on for dear life a few times, and owe a box of cigarettes to our trained guide who hoisted me out of the river a few more times than I’d like to admit. (He smoked like a chimney, had the girth of a celery stalk and the strength of a bear.)

The campsite was a quaint little spot with about 6 houses, clearly set up for the tourist traffic coming through the area. I was provided a tent and sleeping bag, and decided to do as the locals and pitch it on a structure by the river. When I say “by the river” I mean over the river: the hosts had several frames made of wood that they lay woven bamboo mats over in order for tents. These did not look sturdy, but after a night sleeping on it I can say it was fairly decent, no worse than a forest floor. The biggest problems were the mat moving whenever anyone on the platform shifted and the fear of going to the bathroom in the night, in case you walked the wrong way out of your tent. We were also served a traditional Chinese meal, which was quite tasty if not the barbecue I had anticipated.

The next day was significantly more relaxing, with a walk that actually was along the river (rather than through it or alongside it suspended a few feet) and some swimming to cool off in the heat. We also had the fun of watching another group of all Chinese people enjoy the rapids in life jackets-as they made a train to go down they all made the funniest “weeeee!” noise, so those of us not from the country were quite entertained. At the end we hiked up some steep banks to a small town for the mini buses to come pick us up again. We were rewarded with some amazing views of the surrounding hill sides and fresh mountain air. Getting on the bus to go back to Shanghai is always a bummer, but this time I was happily exhausted.

Note: usually the pictures I post were taken by me (or the subject was me) but I can’t claim credit for most of this week’s, we had some stellar photographers who shared their shots and I must say they were better than the ones my little point and shoot came up with. Don't want to take credit for work that isn't mine.