This has been the most insane weekend of my life, and the reason these days are together is because there’s no establishing point on where Saturday ends and Sunday starts.
I wanted to sleep in because I knew I’d be climbing a mountain this weekend, but I haven’t been able to video chat my parents for two weeks, and the most communication I’ve had with them is just sending them photos with a one-line sentence about it.
It was a solid one hour chat and I mainly updated them on everything that had been going on for the past few weeks. I was trying to text “Two Asians and Korey” while chatting though, and somehow I just forgot how to write English.
Korey was joking about me bring him food and basically, I ended up writing this.
Korey: bring me food
Me: get your own food
Korey: but then I’d have to put clothes on
Me: same
Korey: I bet you’re already wearing clothes
Me: my I sleep in thoughts
Me: *thoses
Korey: what?
Me: *I sleep in thoses
Korey: what the hell is a thoses
Long story short, I had to ask my parents how to spell those because I could not for the life of me figure it out. Mayhaps I’m forgetting my 母语.
I didn’t get off the phone until around 10:30, so Korey and I did laundry, and then I hijacked Hannah’s plans to get lunch with her and Cayleigh. Midway through, Korey texted that I accidentally gave him my underwear when I sorted our clothes (thankfully I did not), but that gave a good scare for 0.5 five seconds.
We went to a dumpling place on shidalu, and they were really good. Also, I totally forgot to pay for the drink I took. It’s because you pay up front when you order your food, and if you get extra, you’re supposed to pay afterward. Well, my dumb ass forgot that I just didn’t pay for the drink, so looks like I got a freebie.
While we were eating, Cayleigh got approached by some students because they wanted to interview her. It was something about the China Belt Road? I’m wasn’t too sure, but I think it was about connecting China with Europe alone the silk road. They were really just looking for foreign exchange students to interview and fill out a survey, so all three of us did it for them. I actually was asked if they could interview me later, so we’ll see if I actually end up doing that.
We also went to get ice cream at the new place, and it was really good. It’s owned and run by one guy, and he studied in America for a while, so he speaks English with us so he can practice. He also plays western music so he can retain it. Super cool.
I got a chocolate cone, and I will definitely be going back. 10/10 would recommend.
After lunch, I went to go chill in my room, and when I saw my roommate napping, I figured I should probably do that too since we’ll be climbing from midnight to 6:00 AM. I took an hour and a half nap, and honestly, I felt more tired than before since I woke up early. It just took me longer to wake up than normal.
Hannah came to my room, and my roommate asked what we were packing. Hannah likes to be over prepared, but my roommate said we were being excessive, so she made us dump a lot of the stuff we were going to bring.
Korey and his roommate joined around 4:15, and then we were off to get dinner. Hannah and I split a plate for rice, potatoes, and beef. Not as good as the other place, but still tasty.
We then went to the subway station and rode to beikezhan. Some people on the train were super nice and gave Hannah,
my roommate, and myself their seat. I’m not sure why they felt the need to do that, but it was a really nice gesture.
Getting our tickets actually went really smooth. At first, the roommates thought we could use our passports at the self-service machine, but that clearly wasn’t going to work, so we had to go to the window. It took maybe 15 minutes this time, so super low key.
Hannah and I went to go get McDonald's because my appetite has returned after five weeks. I got some chicken nuggets, an ice cream cone, and Hannah and I split a large fry.
The train ride was short—probably around 30-40 minutes. We sorted our plane seats out for the flight back to America, and we made sure we’re all sitting together. I wanted to take the middle seat, but Korey bullied me into the window seat. I’m not complaining too hard though because I do enjoy looking out the window.
We got to 华山 around 8:00? I’m not too sure, but stepping out to the station was amazing because the mountains were right in front of you.
We spent some time just following our roommates all over the place as we tried to find a car that could take us to the mountain range. We somehow managed to squeeze 5 people in a cab. It’s a good thing Korey’s the only white guy with us because the four of us are small and Asian.
It was funny though because I was going to make a joke when we were being led around by our roommates about “just follow the Asians” but then I realized Hannah and I are also Asian. Korey then joked how that he may be the only white guy here, but his Chinese is the third best. Low blow.
The mountain range was probably only 10 minutes away by cab. We took some quick photos, and we were about to enter the park when Korey realized he lost his passport. He thought he dropped it/it fell out of his pocket when we got out of the cab.
Korey and his roommate ended up retracing their steps and talking to the local police while we sat around and waited. They told us to go ahead and start hiking the mountain, but Hannah and I said that we should climb it together, so we decided to go to a hotel room and wait for them.
Mistake number 1 was not getting that hour head start because I forgot how fit Korey is, and his roommate was actually able to keep up with him on the mountain, so there’s
no doubt in my mind that they could have caught up to us.
We were supposed to start hiking around 10, but we didn’t get into the park until 11:45. I knew I was in trouble when the slightly steep inclines were giving me trouble and I was very out of breath after walking for 10 minutes.
Korey and his roommate decided to have a “race up the mountain” and I forced Hannah to keep my very very slow pace.
Literally, if the inclines weren’t at a 30-degree angle, I might have been okay, but I haven’t done any serious physical exercise in years, so I was good as dead.
At some point, Hannah, Korey, and I took off our shirts. Mine was literally damp from all my sweat. It was so liberating walking around without a shirt, but Chinese women don’t really do that, so we got a few stares. It’s not like it’s inappropriate to do—my roommate said it was fine—I just don’t think it’s common.
So, we’re walking for maybe an hour/hour and a half, and I’m dead, and we see a sign that says where we are. I was thinking: wow we’ve probably made some good progress.
Nope.
We were still at the base on the mountain. Actually correction; we still had another 20ish minutes until we got to the actual climbing part.
There were so many goddamn stairs and every step I took was agonizing. When Korey and his roommate were actually still with us, I had Korey literally put me up the inclines.
Why did I think this was a good idea?
So, the stairs. According to my phone, I climb 290 flights of stairs. And these aren’t just stairs. They’re stairs at 70-degree inclines. Like literally the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. Hannah and my roommate, plus a friend that joined us were power walking up those things. I, on the other hand, was stopping every other step to catch my breath.
They have chains on the side on the stairs, and at some point, I was using them to hoist my ass up the stairs because I could not move my legs without assistance.
There was this really nice guy that actually stuck behind with me. I felt bad because I wasn’t sure we were actually going to make it to the east peak to see the sunrise. (That was the goal by the way.) The east peak is the only place you can actually see the sunrise from so a lot of people will head up the mountain starting around 10:00 PM so they make it to the top in time.
We lost Korey and his roommate probably 30ish minutes into the walk since they’re absolutely insane. Hannah and I stuck together until the last hour. The others really wanted to see the sunrise, and I did too, but again, I did not think I would make it in time. When the sky started getting light, I was ready to just give up, sit where I was and watch the sunrise from there. The guy that was helping me (bless his soul he carried my backpack and gave me his water) kept trying to motivate me.
Idk why he stuck with me; he could have gone with the other group, but he was so nice. He kept being like oh you’re almost there. You’ll make it. We only have 800 meters left.
In my head, I was like “wow 800 meters?? That’s not bad at all!” Turns out he meant 800 meters up, so for the last hour, I kept being told: “Hayley you made it to the top” or “you only have 10 more minutes.” By the time I did actually make it to the top, I didn’t actually believe I was there.
At some point, the guy I was with was like “your friend Korey and his roommate already made it to the top.” I was thinking, well they’re 30 minutes ahead of us, so I’m probably not going to see the sunrise. I’ll make it to the east peak, but it’ll be after the sun is in the sky.
So I sat down to take a break, and then I see this blond guy walk past me. I kept staring at him thinking “wow that looks so much like Korey, but that wouldn’t make sense because he’s already at the top of the mountain.” I noticed the guy was looking back at me, and I went on a limb and just went “Korey??”
Turns out it was him, and I’ve never been so confused in my life. I was like where the hell did you come from?? Turns out, they were at the top of the mountain (obviously), but the stopped to take a 40-minute nap. (Goddamn fit people.)
So, for ten minutes I tried to keep up with Korey because I knew there was no way he wasn’t going to make it before sunrise, so that meant I probably could make it if I pushed myself. Aka, we were close enough that Korey and his roommate could take a 40-minute nap.
Somehow, that gave me some motivation, and I almost killed myself trying to keep up with him. Korey pushed me up a set of stairs, which I did really need, but honestly, the putting in my thighs was one I’ve never felt before, and I was dying.
To get to the top of the east peak, you can either take stairs, or you can up straight up a rock wall. I opted for that because I was not going to do more stairs. Going straight up actually helped because I was using my arms more than anything.
With one last set of stairs, and one final push, I made it to the top of the mountain before sunrise, I think this is the biggest accomplishment of my life.
The view and the pain were totally worth it; I can’t even begin to express how amazing all of it was. I climbed 6877 feet in six hours. I’m not even sure how I did it because I’m about as fit as a sack of potatoes.
I found my friends, (my Chinese friend gave me a hot spot for two hours; why is this guy so great) and we were able to get a front row spot to watch the sunrise.
We took a lift down the mountain (blessed), and it was amazing to see how high we climbed as we descended. After that, it was a bus ride to the base of the mountain (we all passed the fuck out since we hadn’t slept in 18ish hours), and then we had another bus ride back to Xi’an. Korey and his roommate had to go to the police in hopes that someone turned in his passport.
We got back to Xi’an, ordered food, and then passed out. I meant to only take a 1.5-hour nap, but I ended up sleeping until 6 or 7. I guess I’m running on American time now.
I studied for my tingxie, and thus concluded the most amazing weekend of my life.