Week Five, Six & Seven: Mogan Mountain

Happy October everyone! Fall is approaching quickly, the weather is getting colder, and I could not be more excited. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I have so much to tell you, so let’s get started! We left off on Thursday, September 27th.

Friday was honestly one of the best days I’ve had so far. I had Chinese class in the morning. It was such a beautiful sunny day out I had to take full advantage. So after class, I met up with some friends at the little grassy park area, and we threw a frisbee around. A couple of them were talking about whether they were going to go the International Students Red Carpet Reception. It was supposed to be a cool social event where you could dress up, so I thought why not, I want to go. So, I quickly ran back to my room, changed into a dress, put on a little makeup and met up with the three other people, and we hopped on the bus and headed to Baoshan Campus. When we got off the bus and entered the building where we were immediately surprised by the turnout. There were people we hadn’t even seen on campus. The floor was all red carpet to mimic the atmosphere, and there was the classic backdrop poster board where people were taking photos and signing their name on the wall.

After a little mingling and photo taking, we eventually made our way into another part of the building. The ceremony began with a presentation of flags from all around the world. The speaker mentioned that Shanghai University attracted students from over 120 different countries this year. We then heard a few more words from a few more speakers, and then we were invited to the reception hall to mingle once more. It was a delightful experience, and I felt all fancy. There were long tables with unique drinks (like a hot mango juice drink) served in champagne glasses and small snacks to eat. To the far left of the room, a small group of musicians was playing some beautiful classical music.

The sun was going down, so I stepped outside onto the balcony to soak in the view. I sipped on my drink, met a few people from Yanchang campus and enjoyed the beautiful view. The event came to an end, and we took the bus back to campus. A small group of us ended up sticking together, all swept up in conversations. So, we decided to go to a simple noodle restaurant on Yanchang Rd. It was really refreshing to meet some new faces.

The next day was a chill day for me. I slept in, planned out my courses for winter quarter, and got some late night pasta with my roommate. Sunday was a big day. In the morning, I had a makeup Chinese class. Then, around 2:00 PM, about 8 of us hopped onto the bus again and headed to Baoshan campus. We were going to play soccer!! We arrived at the field which was located next to a bunch of other activity spots like basketball courts. Some of our Chinese friends also joined in an hour later. So for a few hours, we just played a fun game of soccer. It was incredibly fun and super exhausting too, and I realized how out of shape I was, yikes! After the game, our friends showed us around Baoshan campus. We grabbed some refreshing drinks, walked around some more and finally sat down for dinner. The restaurant was kabob style, so I got to try a few different things like roasted cauliflower and potatoes. It was just the right amount of food to prepare for my first hip-hop dance class. I was super excited to finally start because the class had been pushed back by two weeks. My language partner Kim and two of my other friends walked with me to the building.

To kick off the class, our instructor had us warm up. We did a lot of neck rolls and shoulder rolls because in hip-hop you have to move your shoulders a lot. Even though the class was mainly taught in Chinese, I could understand what was next because of his hand gestures. He would show us a small portion of a move, we would repeat it several times and then put it together with music. The movements were like I have never seen before but it was super cool! I’m excited to see how it all comes together. After almost two hours of intense dancing, it came to an end. Our director sent us a video of our progress so far so we could practice on our own. Afterward, we went out for some fries and ice cream lol (yes, I ate all the calories I just burned). I slept good that night.

The morning after, a group of us went to the Starbucks Reserve which is supposed to be the biggest Starbucks in the world. It was very massive, with three floors and the familiar sound of the coffee machine. It almost didn’t feel like we were in China. We made our way to the second floor, and my friend ordered a coffee, so we sat down to chat while he drank.

After that, we ended up walking the streets, it was a beautiful day. We found ourselves at People’s Square again, and it was packed. It was the busiest day of the National break, so it was people to people the whole way down the road. We walked to the Bund and enjoyed the view that never gets old. We all decided that we wanted to head back to the dorms and take a nap. So we all napped. For dinner, I met up with two of my friends who were coming on an overnight trip with me to Moganshan (莫干山) and beautiful mountain rage getaway spot just 1.5 hours away from Hangzhou city. At dinner, we planned the activities we most wanted to do and sights we wanted to see. Zach, one of my friends brought along two of his friends to join us for dinner. They were Chinese students, but they spoke English well. We all went back to campus and just hung out at the park. Chris, my other friend, taught us some taiqi, and I tried to show them the moves I learned from dance class. It was a lovely evening just making new friends and enjoying their company.

October 2nd (Tuesday) was a rest day for me. I mostly packed for our trip, rested, and then studied with Chris that evening. That night, I was thinking to myself how proud I was of planning my first overnight trip. I purchased al the train tickets, booked a hotel, and found an article about the best places to go. That morning, it was a little stressful getting to the train station because we were running late. But after a very hectic run through the whole train station, a lot of pushing, and some sprints down the station to our cart number, we alas, made it aboard. I was lucky to snap a window seat and enjoyed the scenery that whizzed by. The train got up to about 150 MPH! There were only two short stops until we arrived in Hangzhou one hour later. We regrouped, met up with Zach’s girlfriend who was joining us and headed to West Lake, a pretty park with a water view. There were a lot of people, but the park street was wide enough for people to stroll comfortably. The water stretched out beyond my gaze, and boats were resting peacefully on the water. After some time, we all agreed to grab some Chinese food for lunch. Around 3:00 PM, we requested a taxi to drive us up to the mountain. In the car, we chatted, listened to music, and made a quick pit stop along the way for snacks and a bathroom break. As soon as we got out the city and into the greenery, my heart felt calmer. It was beginning to grow darker outside, but still light enough to see your surroundings. Soon enough the concrete road turned into a narrow gravel road.

The sun was setting as it hid just beneath the mountain as the silhouette of trees whizzed by. We saw some horses on the path too and old trucks squeezing past our taxi. Further down, we saw spotted signs of civilization: a few restaurants and little shops. The taxi drove up the hill some more, and we finally arrived. It was significantly cooler up here. We lugged our bags up a little path and found the guest home which, at first glance, looked almost like a large but cunning home with a marble outdoor seating area, potted flowers, and plants and a wooden arched doorway lined with golden framing. The guesthouse was run by a husband and wife who kindly showed up to our rooms.

After we settled in and grabbed warmer layers, we headed back down the road to find some dinner. The first place we saw was a cute but small coffee shop that also had a sign that read “pizza.” Chris, Kim, and I wanted to eat here, so we split off and hustled into the coffee shop where it was warmer. The place seemed a little old, but it was cozy. They had two sofas and a table for dining. There were mismatched stacks of books sprawled out everywhere, some unique wall art, and hushed music coming from some speakers. It felt as though, perhaps, we were inside the home of a writer. We ordered two pizzas, some drinks, and we practiced our Chinese with Kim.

Once back at the room, we all piled into my room, cozied up with blankets and watched Frozen with Chinese subtitles. By around midnight, everyone had fallen asleep. We woke up early the next morning, freshened up, and had a simple breakfast outside. As we ate, we listened to the news and decided where we wanted to start hiking. The hotel owner kindly let us leave our belongings in a back room, so we didn’t have to carry them hiking. Just a ways up the hill from the guesthouse was a promising road that looked like it might lead to the mountain, so we started up it only to realize that it was just a service road. However, Zach ventured off and called for us to follow. So we did. We walked through some weeds into the trees, hopped over a little water spout and were faced with a set of stairs made out of rock with a large pipe to the left of the staircase. After a few hesitant glares, we went up. Near the top, the stairs came to an end, and we had to make some careful lunges from one tree branch to another to finally reach what looked like a mucky untouched reservoir.

Eventually, we went back down to the beginning of the service road. Since we didn’t know where Mogan Mountain actually was, we had to sit down and figure out what to do. On the other hand, we found a stream to relax by. It was the clearest water I had seen this whole trip because it was mountain water. We were close to the mountain, I could feel it. We ended up asking the hotel owner, and shockingly, he offered to drive us halfway up the hill and told us that we could hike the rest of the way. We got dropped off at a little parking area with a few other cars and motorbikes. As we started walking, we instantly got an amazing view of the mountain range and the town below us. After several minutes, we soon became surrounded by bamboo trees. Hundred of butterflies fluttered around us. Sadly, butterflies were not the only insects following us on our walk. The mosquitos were eating us alive! Especially me because I stupidly didn’t bring any bug spray or long pants (oops). The further we went up into the bamboo forest, the more there were. Chris and I couldn’t handle it anymore, so we had to back. We rushed down to the bottom where the hotel owner dropped us off, and we agreed to head back to town by foot. On the bright side, the view of the mountains were actually better because the path was more open and breathable. In the forest, we didn’t really have any open air or a view. After a while, we spotted some houses in the distance. We were getting close. That’s when I spotted a little pathway to the left, and it was calling for me. The path ended up leading to a Chinese-style graveyard. There were about four or five small squared blocks with a red layered roof. In the front, was an inscription. My guess was that it was the description of the person who had passed away. The graveyard led us to an opening, and we were presented with the most beautiful view I had ever seen. In front of me were hundreds of round bushes and tea fields. But then you turned around and saw a spectacular sweeping view of the blue sky, tall green trees, and tea field plants that zigzagged for days. Beyond the tea-fields were more layers of mountain. They faded in color as if it was a watercolor painting. I could’ve sat there and stared forever.

Around 9:00 PM, we boarded our train and off we went. I took the hour ride to journal a little about thoughts on my trip so far. When we arrived at the Shanghai station, we all said our goodbyes to Kim because he was going back to Baoshan campus. Zach and Yuhan rode the subway with Chris and I until they got off just couple stops later. After a long subway ride, we arrived at Yanchang Rd. It felt so nice to be back, but part of me wished I could stay looking at that view forever. Then, I took a long shower, crawled into bed and slept for a very long time.

On Friday, I rested most of the day. Saturday, I forced myself out of the room, took a little walk and studied at Seeds. On Sunday, I went to the Shanghai Zoo with a couple of friends. There were many unique animals, specifically an eclectic amount of birds. We saw some huge tortoises, one called the Sulcata which was an African Spurred tortoise. He was all brown with an intricate hard shell, and his hands had large textured spots in the shape of circles. We then entered a beautiful butterfly forest with a walkway, a little waterfall, and hanging plants. Inside, there were several stands with orange slices which attracted the butterflies so we could see them standing still. But my favorite part was the bears of course. We saw two panda bears and a mama black bear with her cub. The zoo was huge, it took us three hours to get through all of it. While I found the animals cute and some unlike any I’ve seen before, it was sad to see that some of the animals didn’t look like they were in good condition, and their living conditions seemed dirty and unkept. So this is me saying that I do NOT support zoos which do not care for their animals!!

This now brings us to the second week in October! Wow, if you’re still reading this, you’re awesome. There’s been so much to tell. During the week, I had classes like usual. I went to my usual cafe to study with friends, took my first quiz in history on Tuesday and went to hip-hop dance class on Wednesday and Friday (yesterday as I’m writing this). I’m thrilled dance is three days a week. It’s been difficult staying active because we don’t have a gym, so this a perfect way to break a sweat and also break out some moves!! Last night, I went to dance class with Monica (my roommate). On our way to the building, the sky was so gorgeous, we had to take some pics. After class, we did a movie night with friends: we cooked some pasta and spaghetti sauce and put on Bridge to Terabithia. Sometimes, we just need those kinds of chill nights.

And alas, we have reached today. Hooray! I’ve got some really cool things planned tonight and tomorrow, but that is for the next blog post. I apologize for posting so much later than expected. But things are now up and running again, so I hope to stay on track and post every Tuesday (Monday for the U.S.). I hope everyone is doing well this far. Much love to all of you. Until next time, stay smiling!