Today was our first full day at Utahloy. Wake up was at 7, and then at 7:15 we all were able to get some much needed washing done. Breakfast was at 7:30 which was just another meal at the International School which included heaps of food.
Unfortunately, sickness was still prevelent, and so the rest of the day didn’t end up as previously planned. Dakota, Tanya and Isabella (accompanied by Mr.Tung) stayed back to rest while the rest of us went on a hike to Loufu Mountain. Although Sadhana and Mia were still a bit sick with a few coughs here and there, they troopered on and went on with the walk.
It was only about a 25 minute drive to the base of the mountain. We then walked for about 10 minutes towards a Taoist temple that was on the way. Outside was a wishing well, where we all threw a few coins in and made a wish (or just tried to get the coin in the dragon or fish statues mouth.) The temple was beautiful and although we didn’t spend long there, we were able to see multiple places within the temple were fruit and money as well as insence were placed in front of Taoist figures as offerings.
At about 11:30, Mr.Tung sent Ms.Boyes a photo of the girls back at school sleeping. We were on our way up the mountain, but it was good to know that they were resting up and hopefully were feeling better. The air at Loufu was incredibly moist and even after our attempts to rid away some of the sweat, we finally decided that we just had to accept that we were basically going to be drenced. Halfway up we stopped at a little resting place where our guide for the treck Carol gave us some amzing brownies and we filled up our water bottles with the little water sacks we had for the treck.
After a bit more walking we reached the section where we then in pairs took a chair lift up to the top of the moutain. While Carol went and got the tickets for us, we went over to a viewing area where of course, we took photos. We surprisingly had walked quite far up, so the view was absolutely stunning.
The chain life was a little scary to get on as we had to somewhat jump on to them, but once getting on, we instantly saw how beautiful the ride was going to be. Might have been a little silly, but Mia and I made the effort to say hello or rather ‘ni hao’ to every person or pair that passed on the other side of the chair lift. It was a bit of an effort, but it was nice to see how happy the people were once we said hello to them.
Once we reached the top we stopped for lunch, and a little look around at the top of the moutain. We could have hiked more to the actual top of the mountain, but an executive decision was made that we were all a bit too dead to do anymore. I told myself I was alright, but I think that I might have died on the way up due to exhaustion.
We took the chair lift back down and once again Mia and I said hello to everyone was passed. The walk down back to the base of the moutain was pretty quick, and we got an ice cream once reaching the bottom.
We then took the bus back to Utahloy and arrived at around 15 past 1. The rest of the day we spent resting and working on our presentations, and then towards the end of the day we were briefed about what the next couple of days at the Heishan village would be like.
Then we watched a bit more of the Last Emperor and headed off to our rooms to pack for the village.
Although not all of us were fully healthy, and it felt a bit weird not having everyone with us, the day was still amazing, and hopefully the rest of our time here will be the same.
2018 China Delegation 