The Outlaws
When my family went to Guang Zhou for vacation we went to a place that attracted a lot of tourists. There were two ways to get in to the park: you could pay for the ticket which is very expensive, or we could go with some people who lead us to the park but charged less. We went with the people who would lead us to the park and charged us less. But when we started going, I realized that there was really no path and we were going deeper and deeper into the woods. That’s when we saw a person coming and the guide for some reason told us all to crouch behind the rocks. When the person passed, my mom whispered, “Harry we are breaking the law.” I guess I had on a confused facial expression so my mom whispered again “I’ll explain to you later.” I was really scared and excited at the same time because even though we were breaking the law, I finally had an experience of being an outlaw. When we finally got out of the woods and paid the people, we were not outlaws anymore… but almost everyone was bitten by mosquitoes. I had two on each leg, but my mom however was even more popular, she had seven on the right leg and five on the left, but since my brother is very skinny he only got one bite each leg.
We kept hiking upward until we saw a very big pot and people throwing red ribbons wrapped around balls of sand at the big pot. Then I realized that we were standing under an enormous wishing well. We went to a place they sold cooled drinks and Chinese dim-sum. I got herbal tea but then my dad and the cashier started arguing because on the sign it said that the herbal tea cost 5 Chinese Yuan. But the cashier said it costs 20 Chinese Yuan which was totally not fair because it specifically said 5 Chinese Yuan. Eventually my dad reluctantly gave her 20 Chinese Yuan. We left quickly left because the lady was freaking me out first: because of her wrinkly face and because she kept yelling to tell people to come in and enjoy their fish balls.
When we left, we started going uphill again to see the different rivers or creeks. While we were walking I asked my mom about why those people had to be outlaws and she said that those people couldn’t find jobs and so they found another way to earn money and not have to beg in the streets.
We found out that we had to take a boat and then go through a butterfly garden; then we had to hike with a guide to the mountains and then to the creeks. When we got to the creeks I wanted to see how cold the water was and I stuck my foot in it. If you want to know how it felt, imagine sticking your foot into a box full of ice cubes. After I did that, nobody would try it . So we kept moving on and soon my foot started to grow numb, and I thought that it was just because I walked too much… but I wasn’t even tired. Then the numbness crept up to my knees and then my whole leg felt like it was being drenched in the freezing cold creek. That’s when I realized it was because of the temperature of the water freezing my leg. Then my leg felt heavier and heavier and it was now really hard to walk, and I had to limp while dragging my leg behind me.
When we finally got back to the car I could barely walk and I literally fell from outside of the car to the inside. I made a footrest but the pain increased. I didn’t tell my mom or my dad because they used their free time talking about “important matters”.
We finally got to the hotel my whole leg was in pain so I crashed on the bed and fell asleep. Not long after I fell asleep my mom and dad woke me up and told me I hadn’t had dinner yet, but I told them I wasn’t hungry, but after hearing that it was a special river restaurant, I went with them. Later at the restaurant we ate river fish, which wasn’t much different from sea fish to me, but when I started to eat I noticed that they had fewer bones and the were addictive! Once I ate some fish, I wanted more. Then before anyone knew it we finished the fish in less than 40 minutes. Then when we walked back, I noticed that my leg had stopped hurting. When we got back to the hotel nobody said a word and everyone fell asleep.
This was the best first day in Guang Zhou even though got my leg frozen, and was ambushed by a group of beggar ladies. The good things were: we went to a place where there were a lot of water wheels and water falls, and we went on a hiking trip.