It’s hot. Really hot. The sun feels like god’s almighty laser aimed at my face to burn me to ashes.
I’ve long switched from sneakers to flip-flops, even for long hikes. The constant circle of sweating and drying off again results in interesting white salt patterns on our shirts, which look better on your back than around your armpits. I even started to sometimes attach my small camera case to my belt to reduce any unnecessary movement. This results in probably my dorkiest tourist look so far.
Being in the area, we got the opportunity to hike along a beautiful path high up in the Songshan mountain. There are two cable car lines to bring you up there to start your journey. Only insane people would choose to walk up the countless stairs for two hours straight, in the heat of the day, at 80+ percent humidity, just to get to the point where the actual hike starts. So we did! And ignored the cable cars altogether.
The views we got during this trip were totally worth the sweating. Looking back at the narrow paths you’ve been walking along for hours made up for everything.
The total number of semi-forced posing photos with Chinese people is steadily increasing. My favorite one was the guy who made all of us get together for a group photo with his son, made him hold up a business card and then took at least 20 pictures. I don’t even want to know what we’ll be advertising for…
