Through the desert to the oasis

It's Eve's Birthday tomorrow! Will the power be on so I can skype her? (Turns out, no) I'm hoping that if it isn't, dad might call me so I can talk to her.

It is currently Sunday, February 24^th (obviously for those of you who are fortunate enough to know Eve) and tomorrow we all go back to work after the King's Birthday, Takin Festival and Sarah D's Birthday holiday. The weekend was glorious even though my friends tried to kill me (I am not as fit as they are!). Both Sarahs, Heather, Dave and Brick the Bukari God came up to Gasa and we somehow managed to all fit (Thank You Zam!) and they kindly brought warm weather with them.

The weekend consisted of a visit to the National Park office, which was empty but we still wandered round and saw some preserved takin footprints amongst other things. I was hoping that the park manager would be there for us to talk to but he was off with the other rangers playing football, as in soccer, with the teachers. Honestly, men and their sports!

It was a successful outing as essentials like cheese, oreos, beer and whisky were obtained. Sadly the beer and whisky strangely evaporated leaving only empty bottles behind.. My guests, led by Heather and Sarah S, cooked a feast of which Peggy and Susan would be proud and Sarah S treated us to an amazing story about Rasputin. I'm afraid my paraphrasing won't do it justice so you'll just have to ask her.

In the morning, after pancakes (I love you, Heather), we decided that a nice fifteen kilometre hike to the hot springs was a good idea. Yes, you read that right. I was hoping for a lift to come along quickly. Oh, how funny that sounds now. I am not a hiker. I know that. I've always known that. I'm generally okay walking on the flat but up an incline, even when I have adjusted to the the altitude, I'm rubbish. Actually that's a bit of an understatement. I'm the refuse at the bottom of a landfill that's so rotted away it would take six months of scientific testing to find out what it was in the first place when it comes to walking up slopes. I am determined to improve but maybe a fifteen kilometre hike as a starting off point wasn't wise. I did know this but naive, simple Arwen of yesterday morning really thought we'd get a lift. Seriously.

The positives of the walk, aside from the company of course, were firstly, the views. Breathtaking views. Views that would make a better person than I write symphonies and sonnets. Secondly, I knew that I would look back on this and laaaaaaaugh. After walking for about two hours with me having to stop quite frequently and all of us frequently thinking that we must be getting close, we came upon a nice little shop and asked the owner how far we were from the springs. Well, his reply did not fill me with enthusiasm for more walking. We were told that we were al least two and probably more like three hours away. I'm not sure any of us really felt like walking any more so this seemed like a nice place to stop and consider options. And eat some junk food purchased at the shop. Fortunately we had a gallant knight to save us in the form of Kinley, the shop owner who was also a taxi driver. So instead of two to three hours later only about half an hour later we arrived at the hot springs. Well, sort of. We arrived at the top of the hill you have to walk town to get to the hot springs. After only falling down once, we arrived at last! The water was wonderful. I didn't drink any as some other visitors did but enjoyed a very pleasant soak after killing my muscles all morning. I was also pleasantly surprised to see many of the the Bjishong teachers also taking advantage of the Saturday off.

Of course, walking down a hill to get to the hot springs meant that we had to walk back up the hill to get home (Gallant Kinley was making sure we got a lift all the way home). That hill was the most difficult thing of the entire day. I felt quite guilty making my party wait but there wasn't much I could do. I did make it to the top at last and home we rode, stopping only for more essentials like beer and potatoes.

The beer strangely evaporated again and again my guests showed their magnificent cooking skills. Interestingly enough, I don't actually drink beer and was wondering how I was going to explain nine 750mL bottles to the recycling collectors. Fortunately most of the teachers knew I had guests over so they didn't think that I suddenly got very thirsty.

Sadly, the visiting BCFers had to leave early to make sure that they got back to their respective schools for work tomorrow and the apartment felt quite empty after they had gone but they had left lovely gifts like apples and bananas!  Sadly I won't be able to share them with T'eo, who I still miss in case you were wondering, so I'll just have to send him, and all of you, hugs.  

Hugs!