And so I dropped straight down on the steps, going with the fall instead of trying harder to regain my balance. My ankle was twisted, though only mildly, not bad at all. Larry rushed over to check on me.
“Jerry! Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I just tripped on the stairs slightly.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t think the light was strong enough from the candle. I’m okay, it’s not bad. Let me rest here a bit.”
As we took a break, as Baba also comes by to see what the matter was. “Heh, looks like no one leaves this mountain unscathed,” joked Baba.
We continued on gingerly after a few minutes, switching to flashlights again, as Baba agreed he didn’t find the light of the candle to be enough. Soon, we arrived at the 4th temple, which had its gates open, though no one was there. After passing through the deserted temple, we headed into the final stretch. Finally, at 9pm, we reached the main entrance at the foot of the mountain.
“We made it!” We were so excited to be alive, but there was no one else around. All the buses and taxis had obviously returned to Dujiangyan for the day. However, before we had more than a few seconds to contemplate what other options we had besides walking 10km to Dujiangyan, light from car headlights shone in the distance. It was heading towards us. We’re saved! As happy as shipwrecked sailors on a deserted island, we waved down the car as it came toward us.
The driver was a Mr. Zhao (趙), a bus driver who was off-duty, but just decided to go “cruising around” at night for fun. We were delighted at our incredible fortune.
“Can you take us to Dujiangyan?” we ask.
“Sure, but it’ll cost you 50 RMB,” he replied.
“Thank you so much!” we cried, agreeing at his offer without even bothering to negotiate. We dumped our packs in the trunk and hopped into the back. As we drove towards Dujiangyan, a thought crossed our mind.
“Actually, can you take us to Chengdu?” Larry asked.
“Hmm… maybe. How is 300 RMB?”
“Sure, that works. Saves us the hassle of finding another ride to Chengdu in Dujiangyan.”
Just then, the driver's wife called, checking up on him. After he finished speaking with her, he turned to us and said, “Sorry guys, I can’t take you to Chengdu. My wife won’t let me.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“Well… she’s afraid of me being out too long…”
It was hilarious. Apparently his wife suspects he's having an affair. “Alright that’s no problem. Just drop us off at Dujiangyan.”
“I’m really sorry about that. Let me try to help though. I have a friend who is a taxi drive who might go there.” He dials up a friend. “Alright, I got you guys a ride for 200 RMB. We’ll wait for him by the bridge.”
After waiting by the highway bridge for a few minutes, a taxicab stops alongside. We get out and transfer our stuff to the other car. After thanking and paying Mr. Zhao, we hopped into the cab, driven by Mr. Yang, our new driver.
Weary from our adventures (we had spent 45 minutes climbing up, and about 150 minutes coming down), no one said another word in the car. We were too busy resting our sore bodies and relishing over our latest adventure. An hour later (52 km), we arrived back at Chengdu, safe and sound.
We decided to go eat a lamb hot pot.
It was a glorious meal.
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