Mountains
On the train, together with many other people. Whereas the day before yesterday, people of all stripes were still running onto the train carrying suitcases, bags and buckets, the crowds are now beginning to thin slightly. The aftermath of the population migration around the 70th anniversary of China is still very much ongoing.
The anniversary meant travel season for us! My wife treated us to 10 days of Yunnan. A trip that felt like an excursion, full of relaxation, good weather, good food, being together. My daughter, a 7-year-old, slowly but surely crawls out of her cocoon, with her sparkling and clear look, no-nonsense remarks, she is a young girl who does not let her immediate environment fool her. She sings and dances along to pop music from all times (Beatles, U2, Katie Perry, Robbie Williams) and languages (Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, TF-boys). She listens Hayden and Dvorak while she curls up on the couch, nestled with a “chapterbook” and plowing through 300 pages of “Grandpa’s great escape”.
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During hikes around the ShiKa and Meili Snow Mountain, she climbs up and down with ease. Excited by small trails into the hills, insects, flowers, mushrooms, streams of water, she doesn’t seem to care about time and never gets tired. However, if the path is too straight, or too wide, or too boring — for whatever reason — she shows her disagreement. “How far still?” Or, before dinner, “Can we eat?” And as soon as her bowl is emptied: “Can we go now?”
Breathing is not always easy, four-thousand meters above a sea that most people around us will never see.
Wherever we are, life’s good when we play together. This is how we draw castles in the air and practice martial arts on the roof of Yunnan.
Written on October 9, 2019
