Streams of Life (15)
My friend and I went out for a trip yesterday, for we hadn’t been very productive lately. The decision to have a one-day trip was made right in the early morning of the day, when everything was still tinged with the hue of dawn light, when
the city was still half in sleep. It was a cheering moment.
The weather was favorably pleasant when we came outside. It was interesting to see how different this bustling city looked early in the morning, the time when its road hadn’t been packed with people and shuffling vehicles. All of your body
was naturally open to all senses: the humming vehicle noise afar, the brisk but
quite refreshing smell of the air, and the clear pathway that going afar. I wonder what else can be more pleasant than this.
It took us about one hour and a half to get to the prearranged destination: Wuxi
. Geographically, it’s about half way between Shanghai and Nanjing. I remember
my roommate in school from Wuxi had mentioned times how interesting it was: the
city itself was more diverse than Suzhou, food more authentic, people more hospitable, and etc. I believed her.
The first few minutes walking on the streets of Wuxi was a little disappointing
though. Such commercial branches as Gome, Kedi could be seen everywhere that my
friend and I felt as if we were still in Shanghai. I guess that’s why a lot of
people dislike franchising shops. It is true that they, in a way, make life more
convenient, but they eliminate diversity, which in other words is to say, individuality. Places become assimilated with the result that getting away from city
becomes virtually impossible.
We decided to get away from the main streets. We walked along narrow lanes behind those high-rises, heading for the mountains within our eyeshot. It was not recommended by our map at hand.( But you know these days recommendation is
really not so sincere and trust-worthy any more.) It took us some time to get around the tourist spots, where could have unnecessily cost us a lot, to get to those mountains.
It is no exaggeration to say that they are actually more worthwhile either for sightseeing or excursion. Because the mountains are not open to commercial purpose yet, most parts of the mountains still remain the way they were supposed to be: no artificial stone stages, no man-made weird pagodas, and no annoying peddlers attempting to sell you souvenirs.
Before this trip my friend had told me times that traveling was quite manageable
even with a limited budget. I believed him. My own experience had proved it. So
did it this time. Put your heart into it. Choosing to be just a bit less lazier
than other sightseeing people, you can taste more of one city than that if you
just followed tourist guides. We dodged the main tourist interests, chose our own route and visiting places, and ignored the nice guy on the bus saying it was too late to visit the lake. We ended up getting more but with much less budget.
Traveling, if wisely planed, is always rewarding, physically and spiritually. It
isn’t supposed to be easy though. I told my friend that I always wanted to have such experiences, even though some of which had to derive from unpleasant lessons. I think a self-reliant trip can make you stronger, and what you learn out
of it actually can serve many other aspects in your everyday life, even though sometimes you may not notice it yourself.
