|
The Qingyuan Trilogy-Part 2
Monday, April 25, 2005-10:06 PM
Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls
The last thing I heard the tour guide say before I headed down the path to see the waterfalls was something about only spending half an hour there so we still had time to go grass sledding.
I assumed it was more of an optimistic conjecture than an order. Turns out I was wrong.
Peter was far ahead of everyone else. I was a couple minutes behind him. I wasn't trying to catch up with him, but did anyways after he took a wrong turn and had to backtrack a little.
I kept up with Peter. But if I had been walking by myself, I wouldn't have been walking nearly as fast. I was keeping an eye on my watch. I knew we were getting quite a bit ahead of the rest of the group. I also figured Peter had no intention of turning back unless I prompted him to.
Soon I was ahead of Peter. At first, it was only a few meters. Eventually, he was out of sight. Later he was out of earshot.
Now well ahead of the group I figured I must be nearing the end of the path. Peter was my insurance policy. As long as I kept going, I assumed he'd keep going. I knew I wouldn't end up being the last person to return to the bus.
I walked farther and farther. The farther I went, the fewer people I saw. I knew it was getting late and didn't know if I would still be able to make it back to the bus in time, even if I turned around and ran back.
I had to decide whether to turn around or keep going. I saw someone on his way back and asked him if there was anything worth seeing ahead.
There was one more waterfall ahead, but it was still fifteen minutes away. I went for it.
I was surprised when I got there. I saw an exit sign. "How could there be an exit here?" I thought to myself. The path is almost completely straight. The exit couldn't be anywhere near the entrance.
There were people working at each waterfall along the path, selling things to drink and taking photographs. I asked the woman working at this waterfall if the exit was close to the entrance. She told me it was.
Excellent. I could just walk out the exit right here instead of backtracking on the path I walked in on. I took my time taking photographs. I took a few at the bottom and a few at the top before walking out towards the exit.
I knew my time was up. I had to get back to the bus. I started jogging.
I was running pretty fast actually. It was all downhill. I thought I would see the parking lot any minute.
Not only did I not see the parking lot, I didn't see any people either. It wasn't until I had been running for ten or fifteen minutes that I saw a couple walking slowly ahead of me.
I asked them how far away the exit was. The man thought about it for a second and answered, "About half an hour."
Wow. I was screwed. He seemed pretty sure about it, too. Even if I ran fast, it'd still take me at least ten minutes. I started booking. All I could think was how everybody was gonna hate me because I was too late and they couldn't go grass sledding (whatever that was).
The flip-flops I was wearing were horrible running gear. I had a blister on my left foot and my right foot was still cut from earlier. A few times I almost fell. In addition, I felt weak. I hadn't eaten enough at lunch and felt like I could faint.
I made it to the exit about ten minutes later. David (one of our chaperones) was very relieved to see me.
"Where's Peter?" he asked.
Thank God. Peter wasn't back yet. And he wouldn't emerge for another fifteen minutes.
The tour guide scolded me. "Next time stay with the group."
Next time I did stay with the group.
|
