Long Way Down

When we got back to where I had made the “wrong” turn, the rain had stopped. I took off my rain jacket and again wedged it behind me. As we got back on the main trail down, it did resemble the trail up a lot more. But for being a trail down, there was still a lot of up. The German guy took a very European approach to the hike and would remind me and the two Asians to stop and enjoy the view every 5 minutes or so. I have to admit, the productivity driven American in me was coming out…I wanted to get down and I wanted to get down fast. I knew I had some flexibility, but I am also tired and becoming increasingly single minded.

I also was starting to feel a little ill-prepared for the weekend. I had definitely brought enough food with me for a day of hiking. That said, I had now done two days of hiking and my food and water had not lasted me. “I’d kill for a Snickers bar right now,” I joked. In reality, it was only a half-joke. I could tell I was really dehydrated and my blood sugar was plummeting. My vision was getting foggy and my legs felt really wobbly. My lips and mouth were super dry and I had a pounding headache in the back of my skull.

As I stepped aside to give my legs a rest, the German told me, “I think this is the last steep stretch if I remember.”

“Did you come up this way?” I said in disbelief. I mean it was the Western Route, but even the locals talked about how hard it was.

“Yes,” he said.

“I am impressed,” I admitted.

At the top, there was a little rest area. The little group I had joined had a loaf of bread some sausage and they were more than happy to share the last of it with me. I must have looked like a feral animal eating it. I could tell I was eating too fast and shoving it in my mouth, but I couldn’t really stop myself. It tasted good, and I was craving…calories.

As luck would have it (or perhaps it was irony…or maybe even a mirage) there was a man selling Snickers bars at the rest area. I bought one along with some knock off Oreo-like cookies. I scarfed down the Snickers in about 4 seconds flat and then moved onto the cookies. Again, I knew I was eating too fast, but my brain couldn’t stop my mouth. As I shoved the cookies in, I realized, I couldn’t swallow. My throat was too dry. I decided to save the cookies for later. The snickers guy was selling mango flavored energy drinks and I bought two to try and get my electrolytes back up. Unfortunately, within about 150 seconds, I had downed both of them as well.

As we continued on, the steep up trail turned into a steep trail down. It was congested so we weren’t really moving that fast. In reality, I think it was probably more crowded than any subway I’ve ever been on. As we hiked along, we shared more observations that we had about the cultures of China, Europe, and America. I wish I’d been a little more coherent to remember it, but I was fading pretty fast.

“I am ready to get home,” the German said. “I have only been gone for a week but I miss my daughter. It is hard for a kid to understand when their parent has to travel. She is only four after all.”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “My mom travels for work. I remember one time she had to go to London to visit a client for a week and I was so scared. I didn’t want her to be that far away and I was sure something was going to happen to her.” I smiled. “I suppose it’s a bit ironic now considering how far away from home I’ve traveled in the past year.”

“Did she travel a lot when you were young?” he asked.

“About once a month,” I said. “I remember when she was gone, my dad I would stay up late and each curly fries with ketchup. We’d wait up for her to come back and when she got home, we had this little cheer we’d do. It was something like…’Mom’s home..yeah’…or something like that.” It made me smile. “I hadn’t thought about that in a long time.”

“It is always nice to come home to your family,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “It is.” I realized in that moment of nostalgia we hadn’t been properly introduced. “I’m Zach,” I said, reaching out my hand.

“Felix,” he said.

As we reached the terminal for the cable car, I felt like Leonardo DiCapprio in the final scene of Inception. As we weaved through the cue, bought our tickets, and boarded the cable car, I felt as if I was out of my body watching myself go through these motions. My brain was fuzzy and the fact that the hike was over felt so surreal.

I remember that Felix was worried about the Cable Car falling. I remember we fiddled with the windows to try and get some fresh air inside. I remember Felix saying, “I was lucky to have met these two guys. We just bumped into each other on the hike.” I realized the same was true for me. This whole adventure had just sort of come together. The entire way—from Shanghai to here—I was alone when I needed an ah-ha moment, and I found people to hike with exactly when I needed someone to keep me on course. I think someone was looking out for me this weekend, and I feel pretty blessed to have had the adventure.

At the bottom, we got on a blue bus back to Tangkou. As we drove down the mountain, Felix said, “Oh I feel so alive! I’ve missed traveling like this. Meeting people, staying in hostels…it’s been five years since I did any of it…it really was the best time of my life.” I smiled, thinking that I’ll probably be saying the same thing to some 20-something kid a few years from now.

“In German,” he explained. “We have a saying ‘Nuen’ [that’s my best guess at the spelling.] I don’t think it translates to English exactly, but it means to ‘return your stress level to zero.’ I think hiking in the mountain is a perfect way to do this.”

“I agree,” I said. “Nature has a great way of reminding you what really matters in life.”

“I feel so alive,” he said. “And you.”

“Honestly?” I said. “I feel like death.” He laughed, but I wasn’t really joking. Besides my brain which was having to concentrate really hard to stay awake, my body was in physical agony. My calve muscles were throbbing. My knees felt like they’d been ripped apart. I was starving, and I couldn’t completely un-hunch my back from wearing my pack all day.

But even in my slap-happy state, my numb brain kept thinking…”Holy cow! I did it? I really did it? Yes, I did it! I really, really did it!”

Back in Tangkou we got on a little golden shuttle back to Tunxi. Felix was talking about joining me on the bus back to Shanghai (even though he had a flight booked for that evening.) He pulled up a map of Shanghai and I showed him where the bus depot was. He decided it was too far from his hotel for a taxi, so he would just take his flight.

At some point on the shuttle ride back, I dozed off. I got about a 30 minute power nap before we got back to Tunxi. When we did, the Asians we’d been hiking with wished us well and headed off to catch their bus home. We meanwhile dodged taxi drivers trying to pick us up and walked back to the hostel.

When we walked in, the young girl who had helped me before recognized me. “Hi,” I said. “I stayed here a few days ago. We were wondering if we could use the showers, and then I need a ticket back to Shanghai on the 4:20 bus.” The girl sold me the ticket and charged us 10RMB each to use the showers. Leading up upstairs, she took us to two stalls at the end of the main hall.

It never felt so good to be clean. I washed off and got dressed before meeting Felix downstairs in the dining area. I was still sore, but I felt more coherent. We ordered club sandwiches and I bought another water bottle.

“You told the girl you were here a few days ago,” Felix said, “but wasn’t it just yesterday.”

“Oh my God! You’re right!” I said. “It was just yesterday. It feels like I was up there for so much longer.”

He laughed, but agreed. There was something magical about climbing a mountain.

“This whole trip was so surreal,” I said. “I don’t know how I am every going to describe it to people back home.”

“Just show them lots of pictures,” he said.

The girl brought out our sandwiches and French fries. I really couldn’t swallow the sandwich—my throat was still raw—but the fries were mushy enough I could get them down pretty easy. I bought a second water bottle and downed it too, trying like crazy to re-hydrate.

As we were eating, Pierre came into the dining hall. He joined us and I filled him in on my adventures.

"You must be tired," Pierre said.

"My bus leaves at 4:20," I said. "With any luck, I'll be asleep by 4:30."

They laughed.

Eventually, the girl came over and told me it was time to go to the bus stop. Gathering my things, I said goodbye to my travel companions, and followed her out to the curb.

As waited, I asked, “How big is Tunxi?’

“Is a small village,” she said. “It only has 11 million people.”

Oh, I thought. It’s a small village the size of Los Angeles.

She told me that they were a new hostel and asked me to write a review for them on their website. I said that I would, especially since it is both the nicest and cheapest place I’ve ever stayed.

When the bus pulled up, I hoped on and waved goodbye. The bus back to Shanghai was very crowded, but I found a seat in the back and sat down to enjoy the long ride home.