I've decided who my hero is. Charles Darwin, Naturalist.
And, with the recent 150 year anniversary of his The Origin of Species, I just might be his reincarnation.
My conclusion arose as I tramped through what could only be described as dense southern China jungle. My party had not encountered any snakes, yet, and I was regretting having worn only shorts. Bamboo shoots reached more than twenty feet into the sky, as leafy vines crept slowly upward, gently approaching a stranglehold. Black burs resembling scorpion stings clung to my shirt.
There were lizards, and there were ants. Gary (pictured above) found a praying mantis, about eight inches in length.
(this seems like a bad place to put it, but Gary owns an iguana back at his home, and he let me pick it up. Here I am preparing to kiss it.)
The vegetation was incredibly lush and exotic. I came upon some of the coolest plants I've never seen before, and a small waterfall near the beginning of the mountain's slope.
The next picture is of a plant I happened upon that I almost missed. It was covered in ants and sandy dirt, but looked similar in comparison with the so called 'corpse plant' that reaches an immense size and smell. This was not, but seemed very peculiar. Wide and corrugated leaves protruded from the ground, as did a stalk (of palm tree nature) that had attached to it at the top a large, purple acorn shaped flower, with yellow smaller flowers around it. If it stood, which I'm guessing it did at one time, it would've been just over a foot tall. There was no overpowering smell.
If you know what this plant is, please let me know. I'm very curious, and could not find it on the internet.
As we continued on, hopping over small ponds and perhaps quicksand, we encountered a steep cliff unexpectedly.
"There's a simple path up the mountain," my friend explained. "No steep cliffs to expect."
I went first, scaling the first 20 feet easily. As I neared the top it grew steeper, and I could only grasp ropey vines and old tree limbs that jutted out. My foothold in some animal's nest broke apart, spilling dirt everywhere, and throwing me swinging along the cliff.
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Earlier in the day I met up with some friends I met through TPR, the school where I work. From the top is George, Gary, and I-ping. American, British, Chinese.
They live outside the main Zhuhai districts, and have a more peaceful sense of life, albeit surrounded by more slum. I would prefer to live out here to be closer to nature, and to not feel the hurried mindset of a downtown. Since I'd not been to this part of town before, Gary showed me a garden store, the biggest I've seen here.
Here I-ping and Gary look at small banana plants. There were a few exotic plants here, and some rather large palms and tropical bushes.
I think this is a chocolate lab, the only one I've seen here. Colby :)
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There I was, hanging from vines hundreds of feet in the sky, the only thing stopping me from plummeting a thin rope-like vine I had managed to hang on to. Nevermind Charles Darwin, this was more like Indian Jones, also my hero. I managed to get a firmer grip with my dusty shoes and pull myself up the last few feet of the cliff. I clambered up the side, and stood, arms at my side... as I reached into my bookbag to grab my camera, and take photos of the scenery.
We had left quite late in the day, and unfortunately could not make it to the peak with enough sunlight to spare.
(Yes, that's a golf course you see in the background)
We headed back down to the long walk home, and an evening at BBQ. Not a better ending.
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