Fuddland
A group of us foreign types took a hike up the highest of the mountains surrounding : [(平頂山), Flat Top Mountain].
We cheated by taking a short bus journey to the outskirts of the city, which rises part of the way up the mountainside, where the accommodation is well lived-in but the streets are still under construction. From there it’s a steep and initally paved hour-long climb up to the flat summit. For the last twenty minutes or so the rough concrete paving dissolves into the more usual rocks and mud.
About halfway up we found a makeshift exercise area overlooking the city, with securely-bound branches for stretching and chin-ups, although the timber didn’t look strong enough to support any but the lightest of frames, so we didn’t give it a go [nothing to do with being too tired by this point to manage even one chin-up, no siree!].
The higher we climbed, the less we could see of below — a mixture of pollution and natural cloud [though in what ratio I wouldn’t like to guess]. By the time we’d gotten to the top, the city was completely obscured by the smog, and all we could see was a lone gazebo-like structure with a nicely-carved relief in its ceiling. We spent a short while taking photos and admiring the non-view before heading back on a much speedier descent for some lunchtime dumplings at a nearby restaurant.
Perhaps we’ll make another attempt when the weather’s a little better, so we can actually see something beyond arm’s length…
