My second visit to the Shaolin Temple (part 2 of 4)

(Note this is part 2 of 4 of this post.)

Out back of the rock I noticed another trail, leading off into the mountains:

So I hunted around and found an offshoot to the main trail.  I asked if anyone knew where it went.  "Bu zhidao."  (Don't know.  Yes my limited Chinese was coming in handy!)  Also one of the vendors had strung a hammock across the trail, so no one was taking any note of it.

So I explored!  Quickly the trail devolved into a dirt and scramble-over-rocks trail.  I figured this was a good warm up for Hua Shan!

I ran into a couple of other folks on the trail.  "Where are you going?" they asked.  "To the top!"  "Oh that's too far!"

Pffft.  After another hour and a half of lonely climbing (no one was taking THIS trail very far) I came to what I thought was the top.  The views were breathtaking, although with the trees kind of hard to appreciate in a photograph.

I was kind of pleased with myself to have made this trek!

But all of a sudden I heard a bunch of noise and laughter from nearby, and a bunch more "Wooooo!" (in Chinese).  I poked around to see who else was around, and I came across a group of Chinese hikers sitting around cooking some lunch.

"Ni hao!" I said as I emerged from the forest.  "Hen qiguai!"  (How strange!)  They asked where I came from and I said Shaolin Si.  (Actually I first said Sichuan, lol, getting my Chinese all mixed up.  This gave them all a laugh.)  "On your own?"  "Yes."

Anyways they told me to sit down and they immediately gave me some noodles for lunch.  I didn't catch their Chinese names (I got them to write them down though) but I decided to call one of the couples Simon and Julie.  Julie gave me some noodles and I said "Enough, enough!" but she kept giving me more.  Simon and Julie kept offering me more food, even though I was struggling to finish the giant portion of noodles they had given me.  (I had filled up at the temple, not sure how long I would be out hiking.)  Anyways I did manage to finish off the noodles, and then Simon gave me bout 5 cups of tea!