Good Morning!

It is 7.30am and I just got back from climbing a mountain. Some kids from Class 119 asked us last week if we wanted to climb the mountain with them this Sunday, leaving at 5.30(!)am. We agreed. I don't know why.

So, this morning, at 5am, after the worst sleep I've had in months, my alarm went off. It was dark, and cocks were crowing. I checked outside in the hope that the torrential rain we had last night was still going on and I could get back into bed. It wasn't. A quick shower and a peek outside to look for approaching students. Nothing. Surely after all that rain yesterday no-one would want to go climbing...

There we were, usually the two late-risers of Lanshan, at 5.30am, stood outside in the already warm yet still deserted pre-dawn, waiting. We were just thinking that our luck was out and that everyone had already decided that it was an obviously bad idea when two students came round the corner. Just two though. They went off to fetch their teacher but came back alone. He was still asleep. I thought we should be doing the same, but I had his number in my phone so one of the kids called and two minutes later he came racing through the school.

The students said, 'ok, let's go', and started to run.

'Hang on a sec, we're...?...we're not are we?', but they were off. I had no choice. I began to jog. They left the school gate and turned away from the mountain. 'Bloody hell', I thought, 'what am I doing running at 5.30am. I hate running. And where are all those girls who invited us out in the first place!'. It felt like a sick joke. We carried on through some back alleyways towards the square, where I had to stop. I couldn't keep that up. I never could and never will. These people are too damn fit for their own good.

My throat was burning, I was hot and sweaty and seriously questioning why the hell I'd got myself into this when we left the road and started along the narrow, slippery mud paths elevated between the rice paddies that led towards the mountain. I'm really not a morning person either, so was not in the best of moods to have everyone I pass commenting on my presence or shouting 'hellooo!' after me. Anthony was in front so all I could hear as other Chinese came towards me was 'meiguo de, meiguo de' (American, American). It's not a comfortable feeling knowing that everyone is talking about you, but is something you just have to accept here. Not always easy. As we got higher though, my levels of acceptance returned back to normal.

We were climbing through cloud now, and it was humid. There were dozens of other Chinese climbing alongside us, some of them carrying bags of stones, partly for the exercise, and partly as an offering to present at the little temple on top of the mountain. As they climbed they would periodically stop and shout out across the misty valleys at the top of their voices. This mountain, with it's temple, Dong Long Miao (East Dragon Temple), was one I'd climbed before, but never in the early morning. Apparently in good weather a thousand people or more will climb this every day. Nice as it was in the end, I don't think I'll be joining them!

Less than 40 minutes after setting out from school we were at the summit, where the students prayed at the little altar and I could rest and stretch. It was still hours before I'd normally get up.

The way back was slippery in the mist and took a little longer but we were back down before 7am and walked to the town square. In the middle of the square were about a hundred old and middle-aged women, line dancing to some techno music. Other odd couples were practising their ballroom dancing, playing badminton, stretching and exercising or resting after their daily exertions. It was interesting to see. You wouldn't get anything like this back home in the UK. Everyone here is simply fitter and healthier. They eat well and exercise regularly. No wonder everyone looks so young and the older generation are so active.

We resisted the temptation to line dance too and went for breakfast instead. See! All that on an empty stomach too! A bowl of noodles and some tea and we were ready for the day ahead. Walking back to school we could see the market outside the gates in full swing, selling everything from bowls of blood to frogs tied together with twine. Come 8 or 9am all this is packed away and long gone. It's not a sight I have the pleasure of seeing too regularly.

So this morning I lived like a true Chinese. It's something I wouldn't mind doing again, but you can forget the running!