HAPPY WANDERER – STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN IN GUILIN, CHINA

This is Sassy JAM drawn by Sassy JAM.

 I can’t understand why I drew myself as a male hiker!!!

        Qigong is not all about going towards completeness through practice, not for my group anyway. Our qigong shi fu Edwin lao shi, takes us on sojourns to China to revitalise and build our endurance. How? Well, stay on with me as I take you on our journey to the Dragon’s Backbone in Guilin.

        We didn’t start off at the Dragon’s Backbone, Longi Rice Terraces. Edwin lao shi does not believe in scaring us immediately. He allows us to scamper around like overgrown puppies, at first enjoying the cool air compared with what we had left behind in Malaysia, 33 degree Centigrade sweltering days. Then, he increases the degree of difficulty and lures us unsuspectingly to hours-long panting hikes.

        Our “puppy time” started with “shooting the rapids” on bamboo rafts along a small stretch of the Li River in Yangshuo. Strong boatmen and women skillfully manned these rafts. We clung for our lives like a barnacle on a rock (where's the safety belt?) while sitting on elevated chairs and my boat captain just steered the raft standing up, no fuss.

         The next day saw us on a misty meandering drift along the Li river in our “cruise ship” dwarfed by the scoring karst mountains. The Li River in north eastern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been  immortalised on a 20 yuan bank note 

(RMB 20). 

        Edwin lao shi stepped up the degree of difficulty for the scampering puppies on day 4 – a hike up the Longji Rice Terraces. Also known as the Dragon’s Back Bone, the rice terraces built 650 years ago look like the scales of a dragon. From the summit, the terraces twirl and twist like a dragon’s backbone. Of course, our lao shi never mentioned that the hike was UPHILL for 2 ½ - 3 hours. I saw a cable car system going up and thought “what lazy tourists to take the easy way when one can just stroll up.” 

IT WAS A STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN! 

With some of the terraces still in gold, I imagined maybe this was what the  English rock band, LED ZEPPELIN, meant in the lyrics of their song, Stairway to Heaven.

        I started with warm clothes on a chilly morning – a thermal top, long T-shirt, sweater and over coat, stocking, socks and pants. As we arduously climbed step by step, stone by stone with the sun shinning mercilessly, I had to stop and reduce my attire piece by piece, until I was left with just T-shirt and pants. Every other item of clothing had been discarded into my haversack by then. But note in the pix, I was not the only one who had stripped down. If the "puppies" had to climb any further, I hate to imagine what we would have been wearing or .... NOT WEARING.

        Don’t expect a 5-star crown jewel Shangri-la, the hotels are family-run home stays,

 cozy with simple home-cooked meals and lots of hot Chinese tea. 

        Mornings were breathtakingly beautiful and we trekked even higher (at 6 am) to catch sunrise on the terraces. Brillant sun rays shimmering through the tussocks of pampas grasses spinning them into silver and gold.

        We had a faithful companion in ALL our treks, Xiao Bei (Little North), the home stay owner’s doggie. Xiao Bei was a fantastic guide leading us up and down the terraces, brought us back for our meals and on our final day, he personally accompanied us all the way down (2 ½ hr) to the bus terminal. We said our sad Good Byes to him, he turned and climbed back up all the way home for a good rest (I guess) before his next guests arrive. 

XIAO BEI (LITTLE NORTH)