Eric's Beijing Diary

Yesterday when I got up, the words to an old hymn were running through my mind:

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail...

Or I could put it another way:

Little ones to him belong
They are week but he is strong.

I had been wondering what to do for the May holiday. I had pretty much decided to take the train up to Dalian, because I have always wanted to see that city. In fact, I went to the travel bureau on Sunday to buy a ticket, but the office was closed. That evening I met a couple students from Renda who had organized an outing to Yunmeng Mountain. Linda is majoring in International Trade, and Ida is an English major. Linda came over to my table at the coffee bar, and handed me a homemade flyer she and Ida had put together. I looked it over, and I was so impressed with how they had organized this thing, that I decided to cancel my trip to Dalian and go with them. Their price for the two day trip was 280RMB (about $35US). Linda asked me if this price was too high, and she looked like she was going to offer a discount, but I stopped her. This thing was obviously very well planned, and if there was any money in it for them at the end, it wasn't going to be very much. I didn't want to narrow their profit margin any more than it was. I told her that I thought the price was fair, and that I was very interested.

We met at the QQ Coffee Bar yesterday morning at 7:30. They had come up with this plan a little late, so they didn't get as many takers has they had hoped, but there were a dozen people waiting to take the trip. Some Chinese young people, and a few Japanese students from BLCU. The Japanese students had obviously made the choice to learn Chinese rather than English, so they were not conversational in English at all, but their Mandarin was actually quite good.

Ida and Linda had chartered a bus for the trip to the mountains. Somehow I ended up riding with a guy who was taking his own car, and we had a very hard time keeping up with the bus. This was not a comfortable situation, but the driver of the car did manage to teach me a couple of sentences:

Tamen zai women de qianmian.
Women zai tamen de houmian.

He said them both several times. I got lots of practice. We stopped after awhile, and I got on the bus. Once we had started again it didn't take me long to see why we had had a tough time keeping up with this guy. Red light? Look both ways and go for it, hand on the horn. Slow traffic? Hit the shoulder and floor it. Pedal to the metal. When all else fails, ride the yellow line and weave back and forth. Flip on the siren and flashing lights and become an emergency vehicle until the moment passes. Let oncoming traffic know we mean business. They can get out of the way, because we're bigger, and we're not slowing down! I questioned his sanity, but I had to admire his skill.

After a short time (which should have been much longer), we got to the farm house where we were going to be staying. We put our stuff in our rooms, and headed for the mountain, where we met our guide. This weathered mountaineer looked like a veteran from the Long March. He had obviously spent a lot of time in these mountains.

The trail we were on was very steep, but heavily wooded. We climbed to the top of the ridge, then headed down into a deep ravine beside a cool mountain stream. It was very pretty, but a little too accessible to be isolated. This place is pretty close to Beijing, and pretty easy to get to. I was looking forward to the next day, when we would take the summit trail to the top.

We returned to the farmhouse for a big dinner. Chicken, fish, and a big juicy leg of lamb. It was a real feast. After supper, we went outside by the campfire. Linda had arranged for an outdoor karaoke, so the young people did that for awhile, and then it was time for introductions. Each person took the microphone and did a brief introduction, then the rest of us could ask questions. My question to everyone was the same, "What is your goal in life?" Linda's goal was to become an entrapranuer. Several of them said they wanted to make lots of money, or marry a beautiful woman.

After the introductions, we played a game Linda had come up with called, "The Killer and the Judge." Linda was the judge. She explained the game to us, "Everyone will be an ordinary person except one person who will be the killer. Then we all need to close our eyes. The killer will kill someone, but nobody can see this. Then we will all open our eyes, and I will tell the dead person that he is killed. Then we have to guess who the killer is." We played that game until a couple people had been murdered, and then gave it up. I really wanted to go for a walk and look at the stars, so Linda and Ida and a couple other young people joined me, and we headed down the road. This was really my first time away from the city since I came in January, and it was really nice to walk under the stars. I found the Big Dipper and showed everyone the North Star. There was a full moon, and I taught Ida a song I used to sing with my children:

I see the moon, and the moon sees me,
And the moon sees somebody I want to see....

Ida really liked that song. She sang it over and over. She said, "I really like that song, because I miss my mother in Harbin." I asked her about her father, and she told me that he had died when she was young. Ida is a deep person, and speaks with a serenity that displays a quiet maturity quite beyond her years.

We finally got back about midnight. Breakfast was scheduled for 7 am, so we hit the sack. I slept, with one other guy, on an old kang. A kang is not a soft bed, but it was comfortable, and the country night was quiet, except for one stupid rooster, who couldn't seem to figure out that it was nighttime.

This morning, I was sitting in the courtyard reading my Bible. Ida, being a literature major, was interested in what I was reading. She was very interested in the influence of the Scriptures on the literature of the English speaking people, such as "original sin" in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, one of her favorites. Chinese students seem to be very aware of the Bible and its relation to literature, but not as well acquainted with the Bible itself. But perhaps I could say the same about American students. I certainly found it to be true of American professors when I was a student myself.

Our breakfast was fit for the day. Farm-fresh eggs, a delicious type of pita bread and some wheat porridge. Top it off with a few of those weird fermented vegetables, and we were ready to go.

We left for the mountain, and met our guide again. This time we were going to the summit, so there were a lot less people than yesterday, especially once we gained a little altitude. Still a few hikers and backpackers along the way, but no women in high heels this time. It was a beautiful day, and the mountain trail was really scenic. Lots of different vegetation. Quiet, with a soft breeze blowing through the trees, and nothing to break the serenity, except an occasional cell phone.

After a short time, we came to a site where there was a 300 year-old tree. Ida told me the story. Apparently, this had traditionally been a place where people came to pray for their children and ask the tree to protect them. I could see a box where people put money. Linda said, "This is a prayer tree. You can pray here." I don't believe in praying to trees, so I started to go, but Linda stopped me, "Don't miss this opportunity!" I could tell she really wanted me to pray, so I turned away from the tree and lifted my eyes toward heaven. I thanked God for the beautiful day, and asked Him to keep us safe for the rest of the trip. And Linda prayed with me.

We came to a cave by the side of the trail, and the guide pointed it out. I was curious, so I climbed up the side of the hill to the cave, and noticed the opening at the far end. Linda climbed up inside the cave to tell me the story. "Our Communist party was hiding from the Japanese, and there was a traitor who told where they were, so 32 soldiers were killed here." I crawled through the cave to the other end. The guide had graciously come up the other side to guide us back down to the trail.

It really was a nice hike, and everyone seemed to be in good spirits, except for one of the Japanese girls who looked to be close to tears. The ever-vivacious Linda took her hand and encouraged her all the way up the mountain. When we got close to the final ascent to the summit, the girl finally gave out and decided to wait there for us. The final ascent seems to be that way on most mountains. Right near the summit, the trail gets very steep, and those who are not into hiking usually opt out at that point.

We had a bit of a schedule crunch on the way down, because of the way they had scheduled the bus, so we were running much of the way. Jump from one rock to another, watch your feet. When there are people in the way, jump across the rocks on the side...a bit of a rush, but it was a good workout for an old jackrabbit.

The grand finale was the cable ride. When we started to get near the opening of the canyon where the original trail started, there was a platform from which a set of cables was strung to the other side of the canyon. It ran from a high point on one side of the canyon, to another platform at a low point on the other side of the canyon. Ida was buying tickets for whoever wanted to go. I was much too sensible to try something like this, but I couldn't help being curious. I thought I might try it if I could be sure that we would be strapped in, so I had Ida check. I found out that there was a harness. There had to be, because there was absolutely nothing else. No cable car. No chair. No platform. Just a harness hanging from a hook fastened to a pulley, which ran along a cable system suspended over the canyon. The cable was angled downward in such a way that the person hanging in the harness would pick up speed very quickly. When you got to the platform on the other side, there was a guy holding a rope connected to a pulley on the same line, who would hold the rope and let it slide through his fingers slowly to break your speed. At the far end of the platform there was a wall of very thick cussions, in case he didn't do a good enough job of slowing you down.

If you want to do this one, you will have to come to China. I can't imagine this would be legal in the United States--insurance companies would have a fit. Don't even think of letting your kids do this. You will have a heart attack if they don't.

My questions about the harness being satisfied, I had no more excuse to refuse the opportunity, so I lined up behind the other adreneline junkies with the resignation of a condemned man going to the gallows. As they were putting the harness on me and snapping the hook to my harness, I remember thinking, "It just doesn't seem like I am suposed to die today." They spent several minutes putting a helmet on my head (to break my fall?). After promising God a thousand times that I would never do anything so crazy again in my life if He would just let me live through this, I let them throw me off the platform. Well, things happened fast after that. There is no brake in that system, so I was going pretty fast before long. It is hard to describe the feeling. Somehow, there is a morbid serenity in having committed yourself to a course from which there is no return.

The scenery was awsome, but I wasn't really doing this for the scenery, and I was concentrating all my energy on holding on for dear life. The harness looked like it would hold me, but the way it was designed, you really did need to hold on in order to be kept upright. The ground was a long, long, long ways down. It was a little like looking from an airplane, but a lot scarier. Looking back on it, I am not really sure what made me do it. It certainly wasn't what I would call fun. And it isn't even a particularly pleasant memory; I get sweaty palms every time I think about it. I really don't like heights. Some say it is the adreneline rush, but I'm an old man, now, and I can do without the kick. When I look back on it, I really think it is the matter of perspective. If nothing else, it really is an incredible experience, and does give one a new appreciation for terra firma. The firmer, the less terror. Life's problems just seem so much smaller when you have a renewed opportunity to see how precious life is. Fortunately, I was moving too fast for it to be a long ride. It couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes. I don't know for sure, because I wasn't in the mood for looking at my watch.

I finally reached the platform on the other side, and the guy holding the rope was waiting. The cable comes in about 10 feet above the platform, and I was really flying, but he managed to slow me down quite a bit. When I body-slammed the cushions on the far wall, I couldn't quite understand what they were telling me to do, but I was so happy to be alive that I let them put my feet werever they wanted. I finally realized that they were trying to get me to stand on a step so that they could unsnap the hook and I could step down to the platform. I stepped down to the platform and took off my harness, then looked up to see Linda flying across the canyon. She was in her element. Ida, the sane one of the two, chose the steps.

Well, our dinner back at the farmhouse tasted pretty good after all that. Lots of fried fish, rice and my favorite vegetable, qiezi (eggplant). After lunch, the bus was ready, so we loaded up and headed for town. We had gone a short distance, when it became obvious that there was some kind of problem. The driver's partner was having a very strong discussion with Linda and Ida. I asked Linda what was going on. She said they were trying to increase their rate, and that they wanted all the money before they went any further. I told her that she should hold them to the amount that they had agreed to. The driver was driving very slowly, and the assistant was threatening to kick us all off the bus, but Linda said they really couldn't do that, because then they would not get any money at all. Well, she was right, but they didn't give up. They started threatening to beat up the two girls. I said, "Linda, don't give in to them. These guys are crooks." I was tempted to go after them myself, but I thought better of it. ("He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.") The whole conflict really centered around three things:

1. They wanted more money.
2. They demanded all the money right now.
3. They demanded that Linda tear up the original agreement she had made with them.

Linda finally agreed to give them an additional 50RMB. They decided to accept that. If they hadn't, the conflict would soon have involved the rest of us, and I'm sure they didn't want that. Well, the moment was over. The driver flipped on the siren, and we set sail. Linda was pretty disgusted with them, but she took it in stride. I said, "Linda, I don't think they are Christians. She laughed, "Probably not."

Back at the coffee shop, we all sat around a table, because Linda wanted us to all say goodbye to each other. So we went around the circle and each person gave a little goodbye speech. Then the young people decided to watch a movie together. I really wanted a hot shower, and I just wasn't in the mood for Jurassic Park III, so I thanked them and took my leave. I think Ida and Linda have the beginnings of a good business, and I told them so. Not sure if they will pursue it, because Linda is applying for a study program in Germany, and Ida, as I mentioned, is an English major. But they certainly did an excellent job. Their first tour was an unqualified success, and everyone on the tour said they would like to do another one.