10th Dec - Oh!!!!No!!! Mountain Climbing!!!

On this day, Nhung proposed that we climb the mountain. She told me that it would take only an hour or so to reach the top. My athletic cells count being zero I was quite reluctant. The thought of all the sweat pouring down my body and all the energy i would need to muster up just to scale the mountain.. detered me from agreeing. But, when I thought of the amount of food htat I had consumed within the past 3 days, and how I have been eating and sleeping right after every meal, I just had to agree to her proposal, just to burn some of the fats I had accumulated. So, I jumped into the fire without knowing what I was getting into.

Initially, the climb was still OK. I could still cope with it. At the beginning, the foot of the hill was less steep. after about 15 minutes of climbing, we stopped to rest and enjoyed the view. We also had oranges, ham, bread... just like a picnic. Ahh..! This is fun! I thought!



Just look at the view from the mountain! the paddy fields, some green, growing with strong, healthy paddy, while some fields are flooded with the river water.. does look like the ocean, doens't it?








After resting, we resumed our climbing. hoh! Then we began to scale rocks, big , huge rocks! and tree trunks.. and muddy earth. huhuhu! all of them climbed so fast. (they must be seasoned climbers, or must love climbing a lot!) and i began panting... ohhh! my lungs were going to burst! I really felt like crying and regretted every inch of my decision to agree with Nhung. huhuhuhu! "What have I gotten myself into, this time?" I thought. I could neither go up, nor go down.

Nhung kept asking me, "are you still alive, Jean?"

My Initial answer was, "yup! absolutel!"
Then came the tired, "huh? yes, i can still continue!"
Until i could not cope anymore, i just had to use my hand to wave it at her.. indicating.. no ! no! am gonna die soon! somebody, help me out here!

Then, after about half an hr.. while we were resting on some big gigantic rocks, some people on motorbikes came. Pressing the accelerator ( do bikes have acelerators?).. burning fuel in their engines, they kept producing this "Broom! Broom! " sounds,, like they were going to race. and all of them stopped near the rocks. I was curious. So, I asked Nhung, "what are they doing? Why are they loitering around here? bring ing this bikes up in the mountains, are they crazy? we had to scale those rocks to climb up here, and here they come, using motorbikes! " in the mountains! Can you imagine?

Nhung replied with an amused tone, "These bikes are meant for people like you!hahahha! " and she laughed and laughed. "Do you want to ride one to reach the top?"

oh no! the thought of riding a motorbike up these roads? was even scarier! and I thought it would be much safer to walk than to ride on one of thse monstrous vehicles. Besides, I would be saving the environment, less polluted air, less smoke contributed.

Finally, after bout 2 hours of climbing, we finally reached the top! I thought it would be a peak, like the tip of the ice-berg, where one would see the full view of the countryside. But, it turned out to b a flat peak, with lots of flat land to build houses, dig trenches etc. just like in the town. ahh.. this is one weird peak. There were lots of construction going on. and i thought.. Hmm.. this had better be good.

Suddenly, as we walked.. i noticed there were more developed shops and houses ! Yeah!!! back to civilization! A chinese proverb suddenly struck me, "liu an hua ming you yi chun".. meanin.. after going through one village, then u come to another village. a more beautiful village.

I was so taken in with the view and I walked happily along the road. laughing all the way...

Suddenly, Nhung pointed out to my right and said, "Jean!Look! "
Wow! Impressive!

Looks like there is a Buddha floating in the midst of the trees! woah!!!!

Never in my life would I imagine being able to see this!I thought it could happen only in movies! Where the Buddha comes or the Goddes of Mercy comes, sitting on a cloud, talking the the Monkey God. Wow!!!

Fascinating!


Nhung and me!



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