Camping with the Cows

Uploading images to this blog is somewhat weird, so I guess first you can see some pictures of a memorable hiking trip that I went on. Below is one of my friends that I have met here named Ian. He speaks very well due to the americanization influence of various bands and it's culture. Makes for interesting conversation too with his outlook on things. Hopefully our light can be seen and known in him. We also went to a small concert a couple of weeks ago. That was a funny time.

Last week one of my friends that I have met here asked me and Lisa if we wanted to go camping to a place called "Moon Island." It is given that name due to the cresent shaped island. As the picture above shows, it is a smallish valley with few trees. There is a large river on one side, and a small river on the other. However, as I was soon to find out that next morning, there are wild cows and even horses that freely roam this island! As I was trying to sleep that night I could hear the cows mooing. In the dark you don't know exactly how close they are, but the 1st picture above gives you an idea! Ha-ha.

The whole event though proved to be quite a debacle as I agreed to meet my friend the week before to buy some camping equipment. We had been told that tents and sleeping bags are not that expensive. However, when we went to the camping store, it was 500RMB for a tent, and 100-300RMB for a sleeping bag, and then you need a blanket, and so on. We tried to go to another store, but encountered the same problem. It looked as if this trip was going to cost about 800RMB!

Finally, we found out that we could just rent a tent. We still bought a sleeping bag, because after finding out that the winters get SO cold here that a girl we met from Minnesota/Wisconsin slept with full clothes, several blanket layers, and hot water bottles in her bed last winter, we decided it wouldn't be a bad idea. I just bought a cheapy one at Walmart, of which I was teased about while we were out there camping.

But, at this point, Lisa was not so interested in going. I had already now spent 3 full days trying to go around and find the stuff that we needed. Also, it had been POURING down rain for 3 days and the weather forecast didn't show anything different. So that day Lisa punked out, but to a guy... let's reassess the situation.

1. You have hiking and camping to an island in the pouring down rain and cold.

2. You have no hiking boots because the ones you bought don't quite fit your big feet. (It kind of stinks having big feet over here. That and the underwear over here is just laughable. Unless I wanted to buy a red speedo looking thing! Haha)

3. I didn't have time to really buy any real type food to eat. Just a lot of breads and protein from peanut butter, pistacios and peanuts. So, with all that in mind, I was definitely game for some adventure.

So, with all the said and done, I met my friend Ian, and began our long journey there. We must have been a strange sight trying to take a crowded bus with huge packs on in the pouring down rain. We we got the the last stop where we now had to begin walking, one of the other guys tried to put on the litte "booties" that you wear over your shoes to keep floors clean! Oh, and I forgot to mention that he had a pink umbrella with flowers that he was using. So.... you have three grown men with manly packs on, but bright blue booties on our feet, and a pink umbrella walking through this town. Haha.

We then came to this like mile stretch of just mud. We were walking along the bank of a river that had been pounded by rain and was under construction for I guess a road. So it was just orangish clay/ mud with puddles everywhere. I was wearing glasses for I thought for camping it would be better than contacts to sleep in. I could hardly see where I was going due to the rain coming into my face. Also, I had decided to wear some nylon type cargo pants. However, they don't have a belt, only a pretty much broken drawstring. That were already loose on me back home. But now with the weight I have lost here, plus having things in the pockets, and a heavy pack pushing down on the back of them, my pants kept falling down. I was in a hurry when Ian called to pick him up, so the belt that I grabbed also, does not go tight enough! So that was funny trying to walk with one hang holding my pants up through the mud and rain with a pack.

When we finally got there, all of our shoes became soaked after trying to reach this cool little house we saw there. My friend said that it must have been some sort of earth temple that a farmer built. But I was purposely walking at the end of the line so as to, (and correctly s0) find out where there was water. This of course being noticed whenever you hear a groan and an "Oh no!" as their step suddenly sinks and water comes rushing into their shoe! Ha-ha.

So, we were trying to approach this house looking building, thinking it would be cool to get out of rain. They stepped in a puddle and soaked thier feet, but at this point they were close to the house and didnt' care. I tried to go the long way around. After about 5-10 minutes of trying to find a way to reach them, they were just like: come on! and I ran through a big puddle. Not one minute later did my friend approach the house and say that we couldn't tent there because of all the rain! Arrgh...

So, we pitched out tent in a little round clearing. I was grateful for a patch of tall grass near us that I began clearning and using for bedding on top of the soaked grass to keep my drier. Of course, I had to laugh the next morning because it was this same long grass that I was so happy about that drew the cows late at night and early the next morning. There is nothing like being woken at night by a mooing cow and wondering how close it is. It's a good thing that I couldn't quite tell until the morning. Haha.

It was hard to sleep all cramped up. I had bought some foam padding that I slept on top of, but I couldn't quite stretch my legs out because literally, a small puddle had formed at the back of my tent. But, I had brought my I-pod and just listened to some great music and sermons. It really was a sweet time just laying there listening and growing from it all.

Around 1am, I prayed that God would have me fall asleep because I just couldn't sleep. I would turn on one side, and then the other. And mind you that we had decided to go to bed around 7pm! No lie! We were so tired from the hike that after we were in our somewhat dry tents and had dinner, we decided that it was too cold to go into the other persons tent to hang out. Plus the idea of a fire was ludicrous.

But anyways, He must have granted my request, because I like blacked out and don't remember ANYTHING after that. All I knew now was that it was morning. Haha!

I explored the island a little bit and then the next morning we just hung out and talked. It stopped raining for a few hours, in which we walked around the island a bit. On the way home, it began to rain again, but I just listened to another great sermon to keep my mind off of the aching shoulders. Was a good time though!