QUIRKE: A Day in the Year of a Nobody

Nicholas Quirke was speechless on 5 August 2020 when he reached the summit of Huangshi Mountain and surveyed in full the landscape that had been in his imagination for decades. It had required an early start but the night had been a disturbed one with the television suddenly bursting into life at 3am and waking him. This also signalled an air con failure, which meant calls to reception caused further disruption to his slumber. Consequently his mind was not focussed and when he inserted a memory card into his GoPro it went in incorrectly and damaged the mechanism. Breakfast was cancelled in the hotel due to the power failure in the night and though they were serving takeaway food there was nothing he could eat and so was given 3 apples! It was not enough and he was feeling sulky when they left for Wulingyuan Core Scenic Area and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. He got a congee and a Youtiao (Deep Fried Twisted Dough), which meant he did eat something before the trek ahead of them. It was an hour bus ride away on a beaten up bus, bumpy, no air con, randomly stopping to pick up locals or anyone who flagged it down. It felt authentic. Even outside the park area the colossal, towering peaks were visible and provided a breathtaking view but once they were wandering through the park, all initial expectations were surpassed. He was suprised to find a colony of monkeys in the parks patiently enjoying their habitat, picking fleas, feeding their babies and waiting for they humans to drop food or to be carrying plastic bags which must they had ascertained contain food. They were at Yellow rock Mountain and had decided to climb to the top and get the cable car down. As they started in the cool shade of the forest everything seemed easy and gentle but as the climb got steeper and the heat more intense, the sweat began to run like a river and Nicholas’s shirt was soaked making it feel very uncomfortable. They passed a few fellow travellers, but it was very few who chose the path they were on and each time they encountered people coming down the mountain they commented on how brave he was to be climbing, which as most Chinese seemed to think he was seventy; “You Westerners look so old” was a compliment. It was a massive effort, which he did feel a little shamed by when he read the ‘Sedan Termination’ sign and realised that people actually carried people part way up the mountain in sedan chairs, yet when he reached the top and the incredible vistas opened up to him he felt quite emotional and trying to record a video rendered him speechless. He found himself momentarily the centre of attention as took photos from the temple at the top of the mountain and several people asked to have their photo with him. Once rested they toured the Huangshi village and visited every viewing platform from which the incredible quartz sandstone structures, formed 300 million years ago, could be viewed, each with a unique name, ‘Star Gathering stage，‘Five Finger Peak‘， ’Golden Turtle in the Clouds’, etc and offering an alternative view of the majestic peaks. Every vantage point, every scenic stop was awe inspiring and when they finally took the cable car down the mountain past through the sandstone forest he was felling exhausted not only by the climbing and walking but also by the landscapes sheer beauty. When they reached the river, Golden whip stream, with its beautiful clear water it was a huge relief to bathe his feet in the cold crystal clear water. An old villager, scavenging for wild vegetables spoke with them and once they were refreshed, they set off on a walk along the river, encountering more monkeys, a spring named ‘Longevity’ from which they gulped plenty of the refreshing sweet liquid. They got a bus back to the city and found a restaurant to eat supper in which felt like a truly traditional eating house serving hot, spicy Hunan fare and which cost only £8.00 for both of them. Peng ordered some black sesame soup with glutinous rice balls for desert and the shattered pair finally retired for the night.

Nicholas Quirke was aware that after his weekend he had got out of sync with his blog and seemed to be two days behind on his posts on 14 May 2020 and as the last couple of days seemed to be relatively uneventful he decided to combine the two into a collage of his misspent relative idleness. Naturally he had not been indolent as his morning on 13 May had included cleaning the apartment, which had suffered from the sandstorm the previous evening leaving windows and cars peppered with dirt, cooking and preparing his blog and video all this took some time and his intended departure time, to head to a tea house in Tai Koo li, from where he would then cycle to meet Peng for their midweek dining out night, was delayed. He could not find the location on his map but knew the rough direction. This obviously was not a good move as 30 minutes into his ride he realised he was lost he tried another app map and followed instructions but it really was now very unfamiliar territory and he knew that the map was taking him out of his way. He tried to contact Peng but got no response so kept following the route he was on after 1.30 hours of cycling and finding himself at a terrifying junction on a very busy freeway he paused and decided to go no further. As he still had no response from his virtual guide he switched the map to start home. Barely had the journey started when his friend messaged. He stopped and sent his location and unbelievably he was literally 2 minutes from Peng’s workplace. He sat on a bench for 15 minutes watching the world go by and was collected and they rode together to the Super Bowl salad rendezvous. This was followed by a stop for sorbet and tea in Tai Koo Li where he was able to discover another new mall ME sponsored it appeared by Mercedes Benz. When they got home there had been a delivery of some fancy vegan cakes, exquisitely made and delicious. The most notable aspect of the day had been getting lost on an bike ride and not much materiel for a fun filled day but maybe a quiet time after his epic weekend was needed and so once again the next day he meandererd thropugh the morning working and watching the end of ‘Night Moves’ an ecological thriller he had been watching on Mubi. Having failed the previous day to find a Teahouse to sit and relax in his plan was to visit a local park and then to drink tea in sun and read. The park was small and simple, a wildlife park but very well tended for, interesting sculptures, some vivid splashes of colour amongst a lush green. He cycled to Beijing Fun which he had visited his first week after quarantine and the change was astonishing. There were no health checks to enter the area, shops and cafes were open and people were sitting drinking and in the open air with no face masks. It felt like normal life again, except that he was thousands of miles from home. He learned how to ask In Mandarin for more hot water for his tea which pleased him and he discovered a couple of ghost signs now he was able to explore more of the streets. He whiled away a couple of hours in the relaxing atmosphere before returning home. Pengs plans to exercise in the evenimng changed and he asked Nicholas to join him on a expedition at 7pm to have a haircut. It was difficult to explain to the stylists how he wanted his haircut and unfortunately a misunderstanding meant his hair got cropped too short to the side of his head and he looked like a pencil. After the cut they walked back home and came across a local street bar which had just reopoened. As it was a warm night they stopped and enjoyed a delicious bowl of noodles and a plate of Endame beans. It was a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere, though the Lao Wei’s presence caught the attention of the locals. It was late by the time they returned home and so, as Samuel Pepys would write, to bed.