Written by: Paul du Plessis
CHINA - We decided a few days ago that we wanted to get away from this small village, because there is only so much that one can do here. And besides, a little fresh air never hurt anyone….yet. So we planned the trip for 4 days, while it was still warm. That was the ironic part, we thought that it would only get warmer and warmer, but yes, it didn’t happen like that.
We packed the Friday morning, made breakfast, bought enough petrol for the stove, and then just before we left we had 2 visits from our friendly police here in Dagalanja, or something. They took all our details, like Herman and my home telephone numbers, and took photographs of our passports. They said they were only registering us, and until now, we had been “illegal immigrants/tourists”!! So, we gave them our cooperation, and they left 30 minutes later. We decided not to wait for their return, but we were amazed to see that they have booked in an officer into a room next to ours. That was fun…. he was going to sit there for 4 days with NO one to watch!!!
So we left, with 3 big backpacks, and 2day-bags, and 2 food bags. We traveled really light, so that we could move up the mountains quite easily. That didn’t happen and I don’t think it will happen in our time in China.
We took a taxi/minivan to our destination, for R6pp, and that saved us already a few hours. The route is only 8km long, but it is all going upwards!!! And we walked there the other day, with no bags on, in 2 hours!! So we would have walked a few more with our luggage. We got of, and walked the last few kilometers to where we thought we could camp. We walked to the foot of the mountains, and then explored a bit, to get out of the wind and sight of the farmers. We finally made camp in a nice cozy hole between to small hills, perfect cover from the sides!!!
After we made camp, we went up the mountain to gather snow, and of course to play in it as well! I have never played in snow before, so it was a real treat!!! I took a pot with me, and filled it up with snow. Then we made videos of our team playing in the snow, and yes, I “swam” in the snow!! It was cold, but it was the best experience ever!! Who can say that they have “swam” in the mountains of China in the wintertime??? Please give me a call at 086 ……….! After that we made fire and tried to get warm again. After a few minutes of running, we were fine again.
We ate a nice supper, and then we were into our tents, just after 7pm!!! Now the sun was still out, but it was already misty, and getting colder and colder by the minute!!! I wanted to stay outside and drink coffee, but in my haste to pack, as well as faith in the weather, I didn’t pack MORE warm enough clothing. So later that night is was kicking and turning and twisting and doing just about anything that a normal person would do to try and keep warm, because nothing else worked! I later found out that my mattress had deflated a bit and that I had slept on the ground, with minimal protection from beneath!! The wind never blow that night, or we didn’t feel a wind, but the cold crept in from the insides, and that was bad!! I never slept the hole night, I was just praying to stay alive and for the morning to come!!!
What a nice sight that was, 7 am, a whole 12 hours later!!, when it was fine to go outside again!! I loved it. But to my dismay, the team still wanted to stay at least the night. I later changed my mind, but thought to myself that I will run to the hotel, and get my other warm clothes as well. We then prayed for wisdom, about whether to stay or to go, and we got our answer very quickly. We prayed that if the weather would clear up and get warmer, then we would stay, but if it doesn’t get better at all in 2 hours, then we will pack up and go. So we waited, and the more we waited, the colder it became. Herman came out of his tent looking like an Eskimo without the jacket, just a white little man, describing the cold. I cant say that now, because this blog has now PG on.
So we packed and left, and a peace came over us. Christine was the happiest of us all to leave, more excited when we left than when we arrived to camp!!! So when we reached the road, the Lord provided a free lift to our hotel, and there we met with Pieter.
He was standing with all of his “heavy” winter clothing. We later found out that it was snowing that same evening, and that the estimated coldness was about -5°C going lower!!!
So we were very glad to be off the mountains!! It was very good, because we all had a lot of time to pray and to just be thankful for what we have!!!
When we returned to the hotel, the policeman was gone…ehehehehehe.
We also got a surprise…another of the small teams, the blue team, was waiting at our doorsteps…awesome!!! We love the body that we are in, and God showed us how much we really
care for each other!!!!
This is Paul du Plessis
Writing for the Orange team…
So I guess I can call it: Orange team literature!!!!
God bless!!!