Chapters 97-99 Summer of 2003

Chapter 97

Summer of 2003

Because of SARS, the school couldn’t get another foreigner to come to teach for the fall. Before SARS came along, I had been asked about staying another year and I decided to do that. I also decided to stay for the summer of 2003. There wasn’t any reason to go home. I thought I’d just stay and do whatever. I ended up having a very nice summer. I had so many friends that I kept busy with them, went places, out to eat, walked for exercise and worked on lessons. It was really nice.

I went to the mountain Long Yu Wan with Ms. Wei, her sister and dad, also Gao Zhe and Wang Wei. In China, there are stairs that you walk on to climb, not trails like we have in the US. This mountain was 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) high. I wondered how hard it must have been for the workers to find the way up and build the steps.

About halfway up, there were two men that would help you go up or down if you wanted them to. You would have to pay them of course. They had this “device”. I don’t know what to call it and I don't have a picture. If you saw it, you would know what I am talking about. In the old days, in places like Egypt and Rome you could sit in the chair and they would walk, one man in front and one in back, carrying you with the poles that supported the chair. In those days, it would be for carrying royalty. That would be a hard job.

I didn’t care to ride that thing. I think it took us three hours to get to the top and two hours to come down. I was tired the next couple of days. I was in good shape then. I can't do that now anymore, I wish I could.

I also went to Monkey Mountain (Hua Guoshan). I went with Celia (Lv Ming), her dad and mom, Lv Xianhao and Zhang Xufang, and cousin’s Liu Lin and Zhang Pei. Only Celia spoke English, she was an English major. The monkeys were aggressive and not afraid of people. I was carrying a bag with bread in it that we had brought along to feed the monkeys with and one of them took it away from me and one of the people that I was with grabbed it back. It was a beautiful place.

In August, I went with Ms. Wei and Wang Wei to Beijing for a couple of days. We met another one of their friends, Gao Zhen, she was also from Luoyang. I went shopping with them. Ms. Wei and I went to the Temple of Heaven, another tourist site. It was raining a little that day.

Chapter 98

Mountain Climbing

This is climbing up the mountains by walking up steps not by using ropes. I went several times. Once was with Ms. Wei, a teacher from the No. One Foreign Language School, including her dad and sister and two friends Gao Zhe and Wang Wei.

We went to Long Yu Wan. It was two to three hours from Luoyang. We went up 10,000 feet (3,000 meter) to the top. Her dad is five years older than me. Another time was with my friend Celia (Lv Ming), her dad (Lv Xianhao) and mom (Zhang Xufang), one of mom’s sisters and two of Celia’s cousins Liu Lin and Zhang Pei. We also went to a place called Monkey Mountain, in Chinese it is Hua Guo Shan. Yes, there are monkeys there. One other time I went with Bai Li, a teacher from the No. 19 High School, her sister Bai Yan and other friends of theirs to Wang Wu Mountain. We walked up and took the cable car down.

The places that I went to all had steps going up the mountains. None had trails like we do here. I always wondered how they did all that work of putting those steps in. Did they just make the steps as they went up the mountain and make the path as they went? That would have been a long difficult job. They would have had to carry water, cement powder, sand and gravel to make the cement along with the tools.

All of the places were really pretty. Sometimes we could see in the distance when we got to the top, sometimes we couldn't because of the fog or being in the clouds.

Chapter 99

Mountain Climbing Pictures

I went mountain climbing a few different times. Not using ropes and climbing the mountain, walking up steps. The mountains have steps to go up and down. I always thought about the people that put those steps there. It had to be a lot of work carrying supplies up to do that.

Hua Gua Shan (6,000 feet)

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I went with Celia, her parents, an aunt and two cousins. Celia’s Father (Lv Xianhao), Liu Lin, Zhang Pei, Celia, Liu Lin’s mother and Celia’s mother (Zhang Xufang)

A man selling snacks and drinks

Someone lived here to take care of things.

The top

Celia (Lv Ming) above and her cousin Zhang Pei below

Long Yu Wan-10,000 feet (3,000 meters)

The was the highest mountain that I climbed. I was fine doing it but I felt it the next couple of days. I went with Ms. Wei, her father and friends. Her father was five years older than me and he did better than I did.

Gao Zhe; Wei Zheyu; Wang Wei; Ms. Wei’s father in the back; Ms. Wei (Wei Zherui); the boy was a friend of theirs that came along, I cannot remember his name.

In the picture below, you see Wang Wei standing by the horse and it gives you an idea how big the statue is.

Here we are at the top.

Monkey Mountain

I went with Celia and family again. The monkeys were very aggressive. I had a bag of rolls and a monkey came and took it from me and one of my friends took it back. The monkeys were used to the people coming and bringing food to feed them.

This man was having some of the monkeys perform

That is an elevator. You can get off on top and walk on the mountain.

Yes, I can see the car. Third row from the front, eighth car in from the left.

A view from the elevator

Liu Lin; Zhang Xufang (Celia’s mom); Celia (Lv Ming); Zhang Pei and Lv Xianhao (Celia’s father)

Wang Wu Mountain

I went with two teachers from the school, Bai Li and Summer (Xia Dandan) and Bai Yan (Bai Li’s sister). We met one of their friends there. I don’t remember how high this mountain was. I want to say 6,000 feet.