9/07/10 Tongmen – Access road, government land, a hidden gem.

The original plan was to hit the beach for a second round of surfing, but Space needed to be a responsible teacher and prepare lesson plans for his many afternoon classes.  Secretly, I was thankful since my ribs were still killing me from my first surfing experience.  Instead, Space suggested I visit Tongmen, a secluded area not far from his house that was comprised of access roads to the various hydroelectric stations at the base of the mountains.

“How do you get there?” I asked.  This would prove to be difficult since Space, who had lived here 8 years, didn’t know the names of many streets, and even if he did many of the signs in outlying areas are written only in Chinese…not good.  He gave me some confusing directions that hinged on heading “this way” and “that way”, going down a tree-lined road and skipping a certain bridge in favour of another.  My final stop was to be a police station just outside of Tongmen where I would have to check in and present my passport.  This was a necessary step since the access roads were so narrow and traffic had to be tightly controlled; a limit of 300 people in the morning and 300 people in the afternoon was in force.

Space could tell that I was confused about the directions, “Come up to the roof” he said.  Fuck! Not this again; more ledge walking?  At least it was too early to have started drinking.  Surrounded by mountains, all equally tall and green, Space pointed to one valley in the distance and said “There; that’s where you want to go.”  I was instantly reminded of my first trip to Italy with my father in the summer of 1989.  In our quest to find yet another obscure church (Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt and Pain perhaps?) we stopped to ask for directions.  A kindly old man on a bicycle offered directions by pointing at some far off clouds…which were moving.  “It’s over there.”  Even in a pre-GPS era his directions could best be described as lacking in specificity.

Sign at the police station / check-in point

Miraculously, and in keeping with the general theme of this trip, everything worked out and I eventually arrived at the police station to present my passport and check in.  I entered the area through a long tunnel with no lighting which was treacherous because I didn’t know where the light switch was on the motorcycle.  I honked the horn instead which wasn’t my goal but still effective since they would at least know where to find me if I smacked into one of the rough walls and wiped out.

Tongmen was like the riverbed of the previous day, just on a larger scale.  The river was wider and deeper, the rocks were larger, the adjacent rock faces much higher, but clear water ran just as calmly and created perfect natural pools to swim in.  Having learned a valuable lesson while surfing, I didn’t just jump into the first pool.  Instead, I kept riding until the people had thinned.  I found the perfect spot and hiked my way down to the river.  I quickly found a “cover rock” suitable to change behind and without hesitation I was in the water; cool, clear and soft on my skin.

I didn’t stay long because with swimming, as with many other things in life, being alone is highly overrated.  I had no idea how big this place was so I would explore and come back here to swim if time allowed for it.  So with wet trunks, I mounted my trusty 150CC irony horse and set off.  The narrow road was amazing; we simply don’t have anything like this in Ontario.  The scenery was even more amazing and distracting; I had to really concentrate on dedicating my attention to the road ahead.

I must have become over confident with my riding abilities on the irony horse because it struck me as a good idea to record my ride while piloting the bike with one hand, on a twisty mountain road no less.  Sure, I had made better decisions in my life, but there was no way I could describe this adequately, video was the only way.  The flipside of this decision was that I would be opening myself up to an investigation of my carelessness by the safety police back home; they don’t recognize the limits of jurisdiction and punishment would be swift… unending nagging by my parents.

Video - Tongmen covered mountain trail

I soon realized that I was pretty good at this video while riding thing and am convinced that I’ll still be able to ride if I ever lose my left arm in a horrible yet survivable accident; preferably with sharks or tigers involved since I’ll seem cool.

After touring the available areas for a couple of hours I reached the end of the line; just over a bridge leading up to the final hydroelectric station.  While stopped there to take pictures of the irony horse for Space I heard “Hello, how are you?” off in the distance.  My presence had prompted a gang of scooter riding students to begin practicing their English.  They approached and the boldest one asked me if I would take a photo of them on the bridge.  I obliged and asked to have a photo with them in return.  They were overjoyed and shouted out “Rockstar!” even though I was dressed like a complete and total dork: bright yellow swim trunks and a white v-neck so big it looked like a goddamn dress on me.  Seriously, when did “medium” become the new “XXL”.  Fellow Canadians, I beg of you, stop stuffing yourselves.  If this unchecked gluttony continues, I’ll be forced to shop in the children’s section to get something that fits.

"Rockstar!"

Gang and devil’s signs were flashed by the mob before they returned to their scooters.  They were tuning around, but I noticed that the trail continued.  It wasn’t blocked, so I figured I would try it out.  After all, Space had told me that the trails were access controlled and there was only one way in and out.  What could go wrong?