China: Day 8 - On The Backs of Horses

Horses are uncomfortable in the middle and dangerous at both ends. - Anon.

We found ourselves going to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to hike and maybe, just maybe, touch some real snow. It was a cold December and in the distance we could see the snow-peaked mountains.They were enticing enough for P, and I tagged along with hope of seeing yaks grazing in meadows.

We paid to see meadows and snow, and were bundled up on 2 horses - as old as the guides who held their reins. My horse was a beautiful black horse who farted with every exertion. P faced the brunt of my horses's gastric inconveniences. P's horse, on the other hand, grunted its way up the hill. It seemed tired enough to collapse, even without anyone riding it.

The old man and woman who accompanied us looked equally frail. And P and me found ourselves getting off the horse to allow the horses to rest and allow the old guides to ride the horses.  This was until I realized that they had more stamina than I could possibly hope to have. The air was getting thinner as we went up the hill, and I found myself out of breath when I walked. So for the next hour or so, I sat on the horse like royalty and let the guides earn their money. All of this while P still graciously allowed the the woman to ride her horse. Though I believe this was mostly because P didn't want to be on the horse if it decided to embrace an untimely demise.

We were supposed to go up the mountains through 2 or 3 meadows, on the way looking at some luscious green patches of beauty. But found ourselves going nowhere close to anything remotely good-looking. After an hour of randomness, we finally found something worth our money. Nestled in the midst of the mountains was a lake. Greenish-blue clear water. We stood in the face of winds that nearly swept us off our feet, especially little scrawny me.

It was a breathtakingly beautiful place. A still scene out of a fantasy novel.  The old woman, through very efficient use of sign language, conveyed that in the spring, the place looks even more beautiful. P meanwhile stood in the distance, a speck contemplating her place in nature.

We sat back and rested, smoked cigarettes with the guides. And then it was time to leave. We were excited about what other pearls lay nestled in these hills.

But then oddly enough, we began to descend. We tried communicating with our guides, that we had paid for more, in the best possible sign language. But we failed. We sat fuming on our horses, as our butts ached from the hard saddles and the lack of sufficient posterior fat.

And then the couple refused to let us get down our horses. We pleaded, gesturing towards our butts and aching legs, only to be ignored by the now rather sullen and indifferent old man. We rode for a long time, towards the town, still not allowed to get off. I had thoughts that maybe the old couple were having thoughts of kidnapping us. It made no sense but there seemed no other justification. I wondered if jumping off a horse could ever be fatal.

When we were finally allowed to get off on a deserted road in the middle of a town, the old woman demanded money from us, which we reluctantly took out. She took a 1 Yuan note and pointed at a sign. We're slow when it comes to trusting human nature, so it took a while for it to dawn onto us. The old couple had taken extra effort to get us to a bus stop so we could get back safely to humanity. Or maybe they wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible, so we would not be able to complain about not getting what we had paid for. We would never know.

The woman waited with us till we caught the bus. And we rode back to civilization on the modern horses of steel, which farted exhaust fumes. They were cool though. And more comfortable.