Moganshan continued...starting with best breakfast ever

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Day 2
Sunday morning we woke up early. There were actual roosters crowing, and crowing, and crowing. We had a couple hours before breakfast, so we decided to go for a walk. The kids grabbed their binoculars (best purchase ever--yay me). We ran into the young girl, Hu Yan, whom we had met the day before and she came with us to find the waterfall. We followed the water and eventually came to a large waterfall. It was about a 15 minute walk mostly downhill and on our way we passed these guys that offer rides in chairs they carry on their shoulders working in teams of two men. We saw these guys on our other mountain adventure in Huangshan. We never considered hiring one then, but Emily was intrigued and the price was right, so we let her get carried back up to our hotel. Hilarious is all I can say. She waved like a princess the entire time and had a huge grin on her cute face while we scurried up the path to stay nearby. Mark snapped pictures of Emily's royal ascent back up the mountain. Ironically, Emily would hike for hours later that same day and we climbed up steeper paths and many of them. But that was after the amazing breakfast.

Breakfast both days was fantastic. We had low expectation but figured if it was part of the room cost, we would try it. Good thing we did. The dishes were Chinese, but also included hard boiled eggs and bacon. The highlight of the meal was the scallion cakes that came to the table right out of the pan. They are doughy, they are a little oniony, and they are ever so delicately pan fried. Just writing about them makes my mouth water and my stomach grumble. They were that good.

I'm not done describing breakfast. We also had a couple great veggie dishes. One was bamboo hearts with soy beans (edamame) and the other was cucumbers and garlic. Deliciousness. Another dish was a plate of salted, roasted peanuts. Corn on the cob came next. Mark tried to eat like a Chinese person, one kernel at a time. I haven't the patience so I ate mine in the less perfect American mode. Classic Chinese dishes and all great. Oh, and we had raisin toast too. As if we needed more.

Another highlight of our breakfast was we brought our own coffee and our Melitta single cup brew and some filters. We also brought boxes of milk and soy milk and brewed our own coffee while eating outside in the fresh mountain air. Heavenly. Really. Good food paired with good coffee. We were raving about Mark's brilliant idea to bring the coffee supplies all weekend. It was a stellar move.

We thanked the ayi who prepared our amazing meal and we rolled back up to the room to prepare to work off some of those calories. Mark packed our suits and a towel (one towel for four, don't get me started). He wanted to be prepared in case we found as he put it "a swimming hole". We did not. His dream, apparently, is to swim in a swimming hole. Next time.

We hiked for many hours. It was great fun and the kids were constantly running up and down the paths to see what they could see. we found statues in all sorts of animal forms, we saw abandoned houses and many other hotels tucked along the roadways as we climbed up the mountain along a main road.

The highlight of the day's adventure was finding the suspension bridge after walking a long time. This was right out a movie--we swayed and jumped and scurried back and forth several times. On the other side of the bridge was a scenic area with a clear bottomed floor. We could see down and out and it was a little scary but cool nonetheless. Getting to this point involved quite a windy path that was right along the edge of the mountain.

We made our way back down to the Lodge and stopped off for a beer and some brownies. This became a ritual after each big hike. I don't think we were the first to think of this ritual, and I'm sure we won't be the last. That Lodge is conveniently located.

We took a break and a couple of us snoozed before dinner. Back up the path to the Lodge and this time we had the place to ourselves. Sunday nights are not busy nights, it seems, which made it really relaxing for us. We hung out with Emily and chatted with Dan about where to go fishing the next day before heading back down in the dark to the Villa. We used Mark's iPhone screen as a flashlight which worked surprisingly well. There are no lights on the paths. Note to self: pack flashlight next time.

Day 3
Monday was our last day, but our train was not until 6:20pm. We had to leave the mountain at about 3:30 to allow for time back to the train station with the possibility of traffic. We had our yummy breakfast at the Villa and then set off to go fishing. Dan had helped us arrange to rent gear to go fishing. Nathan was super excited to go fishing and so were the rest of us.

We followed Dan's directions and found our way up to the car park, and followed the main road until we came to a gap in the guardrail. Then we were instructed to look for "wtf" but really it's "wjf" but we'd remember wtf, and sure enough we did! We took the path next the guard rail gap and we hiked straight down the mountain. After about 25 minutes, we came to this other set of rental properties called the Naked Retreats where we rented fishing poles and got a quick lesson on casting and using the two poles. Though the lesson was great, we still had little clue and got our line stuck on an electric wire within minutes of starting to fish. With patience and perseverance Mark and I untangled the fishing wire and got our lure back down. Took a while, but we did it. Then we moved locations where we could not catch any fish without risk to our line. Needless to say, no fish were harmed in the making of this adventure.

While hanging out and attempting to fish, we ate pb&h sandwiches that I prepared with my pack full of food and supplies. I encouraged everyone to eat up so I'd have less to carry back. We also met a Chinese woman who lives near the reservoir. She wanted to sell us lunch but I explained we had brought our own food. She was not pleased at my refusal and poked me in the arm and pointed at my kids with wild gestures. I think she was telling me that my kids were too thin and I needed to feed them more. I nodded and smiled but said no thanks to her continued offers to cook for us. She finally stopped asking and walked away. She returned and gave us a handful of these local, small, red berries. After thinking about it for about two seconds, we went for it and tasted the berries. Sweet and tasty, I saw these growing all over the mountain. My pre-China, more skeptical self would likely refuse the offer. My current self figured why not, she’s being friendly, go ahead.

We dropped of the gear and saw some newborn puppies (that were being given away to my dismay and Nathan's delight). Of course we declined. The ascent back up took longer, but the kids were fast and furious and beat Mark and me to the top. In the end, Nathan offered his services for a fee to carry the backpacks. We willingly paid the fee. We let him haul our bags back to the Villa and we were as sweaty, smelly bunch after a long, hot hike uphill.

Remember the bathroom situation I mentioned in part one? It was a totally flat square room with a shower head, 2 drains in the floor on the same part of the room as the shower head, and a toilet and sink. There was a shower curtain but it was useless as you will soon learn. I took first shower and the water started to seep across the floor. By the time Nathan came in for the second shift, the water was rising and he slipped and slid across the room. I laughed. He did not. Then Emily and finally Mark showered which resulted in full flood waters. It didn't leave the bathroom, but the drain was not exactly clear. We waded around, packed up our stuff, and that was that.

We got our bags and ourselves back up the mountain with help from the driver and the ayi. We did a final photo shoot with the ayi who Emily lovingly hugged goodbye. We made a quick stop at the Lodge, having our driver take us there by car since we were tired and hiked enough for the day! We got our requisite daily brownies for the kids to go and said goodbye to Emily and Dan.

It was such a fabulous trip. We are hoping to go back this summer to escape Shanghai's heat.

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Photos

the entrance to the path
"wjf"

Comments

[Linda]

breakfast
Is it just me or are any of your other American readers noticing the rave reviews that veggie dishes for breakfast are getting now that you're midway in your stay in China? I remember when you were blogging about the joy of bringing along maple syrup and the kids' favorite cereal.

[soooze]

Chinese breakfast--a hit with some of us
Well, we actually did bring cereal along on this trip too! Everyone ate some of our breakfast but the veggies were the biggest hit with me. Emily liked the scallion cakes, the corn, eggs and bacon. Nathan liked the toast and the bacon.