Day thirteen
The alarm went off at six thirty in the morning, and I headed down for breakfast. About an hour later, I was sitting in a taxi at the park entrance.
An hour after that, I was floating on a bamboo raft down the river.
After entering the park, there’s a bus system to take you to various places, and at the bamboo raft station, you have to make groups of eight people to fit on a raft.
The group that included me was really nice, and while making our way down the river, they would translate key points the guide was telling them about.
The views from the raft were amazing, and it took about two hours to make our way to the landing.
Yesterday, while building the itinerary, the hotel owner drew a map for me to use and explained what was what. Of course, I have forgotten pretty much everything by now, including place names and bus stops, so I had to wing it.
The first attempt was a bad one, as I thought I could make my way up a mountainside and continue on from there. Instead, the trails were not connected, and I had to backtrack to continue my way. The views from the top were from the city, not what I was looking for. That was an hour wasted already.
During the ascent, there was one part where you had to climb stairs to get up, but the way that they managed to get stairs here was that the first five steps were only small stumps in the side-wall, before becoming complete steps again. This was without a doubt one of the dogiest things I’ve done.
The next attempt went better; I found a trail to one of the more famous peaks that I could walk instead of taking the bus.
I was the only one on the trail, and it would cross many tea plantations. (This place is famous for being the source of black tea).
During the raft, we noticed a blackened mountainside with an old trail going along it. And I found myself on that trail a few hours later.
It was sunny, and I lost a lot of sweat during the climb, but the view was worth it. I also ran out of water halfway through, which was not ideal.
What was also worth it was that I was completely alone, as everyone else opted for the bus and a nicely paved road up instead.
At the top, there were some stalls selling food and, more importantly, drinks!
While researching this scenic area, most guides recommended a certain pavilion that would have great views.
I could see it from the top and made my way there. Along the way, I was stopped by some people coming up, and they tried to explain something that I couldn’t quite get.
It was only all the way to the bottom that I noticed the huge “This is a one-way trail” sign...
For now, I was still blissfully unaware, and halfway through, I wasn’t the only one going in the wrong direction.
The views from the pavilion were indeed really nice, but the views from my lonely hike were better.
Finally, at the bottom, there was still a bit of time left to climb another viewing point, but I was done for the day and took the bus back to the entrance and a taxi to the hotel.
They had dinner at the hotel, which wasn’t great, unfortunately, once again confirming the late Anthony Bourdain’s famous quote to never dine at your own hotel.
