Yagou:We Have a Meeting With Shangdi (上帝 ) at the Top of that Mountain

Yesterday morning and afternoon (based on China Standard Time), my group took a trip to Yagou, a town in the mountains about an hour and a half outside of Harbin. IT was fun, scenic and made up for the fact that I haven't exercised since I got to China almost 3 weeks ago.


When we first made it to Yagou we were welcome by a scenic lake with picturesque mountains lining the background. "那么漂亮," "how beautiful" was something to be heard for the rest of the afternoon, particulary as we began to ascend the mountain and get an amazing view of the the surrounding area and the coal-powered factories in the distance.



We first spent about 45 minutes climbing to the top of a smaller mountain to look at a rockcarving of a man and a woman who I'm sure used to actually exist but instead our leaders pointed to a wet spot on the rock and told us that she was in that vicinity. When we climbed back down we hoped back on the buses for a 3 minute ride and then were kicked off again in the front of what I assumed to be a house on the edge of this lake with donkeys, cows and two rabid-looking dogs.

The climb was long and sweaty and for the majority of it were were pretty sure that they had no idea where the trail was and in fact, at one point when we had made it to the top of one mountain they turned to another mountain across the way, pointed and said "那时我们的目的，" "that is our target."I'm pretty sure those words struck fear into the hearts of every Chinese roommate as the guys were having their own trouble (brought on my being pretty much the antithesis of a macho man) so imagine how the girls were doing. Luckily my roommate is a good sport and I think she enjoyed the hike. But I digress... (when you look at the picture you'll see a tiny, little thing sticking up out of the mountains in the middle. That was our "目的" and it was really far away.)
Unfortunately you can't even see it in this picture (it's that far away) so here is a closeup.


So after forging our own trail through the countryside, and hilariously running into some of the locals, we made it to our target, the top of that mountain. The air was light and crisp, not like the heavy, coal laced air of the city, and the weather was to die for. I'm pretty sure when we made it up there we met Shangdi (上帝, God) and gave us the privilege of a spectacular view of the real China.





And now for some assorted pictures from the trip.













1. Me and my roommate, Song Yang 宋洋
2. Chinese motorcyclist in the mountains
3. Puppies! Their parents were a little camera shy and too busy growling at us to go and away and looking emaciated.
4. View of cornfields while descending the mountain