Wèi shénme bù?: Climb Every Mountainnnnnn

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post! I could say I’ve been a busy little bee, but that would be a lie.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Or 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè) as the Chinese say!

My first post of the year is about a massive hardship I’ve recently voluntarily put myself through: climbing Gŭ Shān (Drum Mountain). Though not mentioned on here, I have actually conquered this hike before – though barely living to tell the tale. About 2 weeks after arriving in China, as a ‘bonding’ exercise my colleagues and I had to climb it. ABSOLUTE TORTURE IT WAS! I am by no means a sporty/energetic person, and being around 20 degrees in temperature really didn’t help the situation at all! BUT, I survived and the view from the top and the feeling of accomplishment once I got there was definitely worth it!

So anyway, at the beginning of the week – quite randomly – I decided to try again! Luckily, Fuzhou has recently seen a wave of nice sunny weather, so the day was beautiful and full of promise! Now by mountain climbing, I mean steps. A hell of a lot of them. 2000 to be exact. The sad thing is, this was only halfway up the whole mountain! One day I’ll attempt to tackle the whole trek. Probably.

The hike took us just over 2 hours (up and down) and, like before, was pretty darn hard! Damn it, looks like the gym isn’t working! But once I reached the top, I was super happy I’d made the decision to go up. Nice to breathe some non-polluted air for a change!

One of the noteworthy things is how a Chinese girl ‘hikes’. So there we were: 2 sweaty foreigners in our (frankly) dirty gym gear breathing very, very heavily, trying to survive the experience, and all around us were Chinese girls holding tiny handbags and dressed in jeans, skirts, furry coats, and various kinds of inappropriate footwear. If the walk proves too strenuous for them, fear not, they always have the option of giving their bag or coat to their boyfriend to hold. Or in one case, a girl’s boyfriend was actually pushing her up the path. Interesting... Anyway, this totally inappropriate clothing choice goes for the gym as well – velour tracksuits, converse, and I once saw one woman wearing heels and one wearing a skirt. Laughable!

Photies from Gŭ Shān: