ALTUN shan Mountains
Dear Diary,
In Dunhuang, the merchants exchanged their goods and I watched one of them carefully, I want to learn what to exchange with what. He exchanged his silk for white jade and Persian metalwork. He traded the rhubarb for pistachio nuts and walnuts. He exchanged the herbal medicine for musical instruments. I saw government officials who traded silk for horses for the emperor’s army. |
I was bored after an hour, and left the trading in the hands of my friends. Walking down the street, I saw a craftsmen, making toys for the children by hand, and I noticed the materials he used, bamboo, paper, cloth, silk, straw, clay.
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A little boy was sitting near him and he was playing with a small toy that looked like a plump man, the toy’s bottom was round. He pushed the man over with his little hands, but the man bounced back to an upright position. He tried again, but the result was the same. He laughed as he watched the man bounce up again, and again.
I asked the craftsman how the man bounced up. “The toy’s round bottom is weighted, so when you push it over, the weight pulls it back up, not matter how hard you push it over. Its name is roly-poly. My son loves it,” he explained and smiled. I thanked and left the laughing boy and the craftsmen. |
As I was turning back, I saw a group of children and an old man sitting under a tree. It looked like the old man was their teacher, and the students were memorizing texts from some books. The teacher was putting out the fire, and he put the soot into a bowl, mixing it with water. He dipped his brush into this black water, then started to write something. I asked permission to join and watch them, and I sat near the old man. He made a mistake, I think, because he took out a knife and scraped a little part of the writing out. “This is an xue, to scrape the errors out,” he answered, seeing my questioning eyes.
I turned the pages slowly, and suddenly a brush fell out of one of the books, the old teacher said “We make them from bamboo or wood, and their tips are made of rabbit, goat or deer hair.” I thanked the teacher and walked back to our camping place. It was a long day, my legs were aching because of the long walk I had taken and also because of traveling on a horse’s back for hours. But we took the road that afternoon anyway.
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Some of the books were written on wooden tablets, some of them on thin sheets of bamboo, and a few were on lengths of silk. The teacher explained that they were texts on medicine and warfare and collections of poetry and philosophy.
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We rode out of the city, we were trying to choose somewhere to camp. I was so tired and sleepy but when I saw the landscape it made me forget all my exhaustion. Yellow, orange and red danced near the sun which was disappearing slowly, and the sky was filled with pink, purple and dark blue clouds. The mountains mirrored all these color festivities with their cloudy heads, and the sapphire blue lake reflected all their beauty. I couldn’t believe I was going to see this landscape everyday until we reach the mountains! Altun Shan Mountains, Gold Mountains (I wonder if there’s really gold there) was our destination, they seemed far, far away when I saw them for the first time, and it’s thrilling to reach the unreachable.
I exchanged glances with my friends, deciding we were going to camp here. I rushed to take out my painting tools. I wasn’t going to leave this breathtaking view to just a memory! I drew, and painted, while my friends were taking out the simple bread and the frothy sour horse milk for dinner. I worked until I was satisfied with every little detail but I had to hurry to capture this peaceful harmony, for the sun had almost disappeared. I finished and looked at my work with pride, but I knew nobody could paint nature completely and no painting can make you feel delighted like I had at the moment I saw the sundown at the Altun Shan Mountains.
I exchanged glances with my friends, deciding we were going to camp here. I rushed to take out my painting tools. I wasn’t going to leave this breathtaking view to just a memory! I drew, and painted, while my friends were taking out the simple bread and the frothy sour horse milk for dinner. I worked until I was satisfied with every little detail but I had to hurry to capture this peaceful harmony, for the sun had almost disappeared. I finished and looked at my work with pride, but I knew nobody could paint nature completely and no painting can make you feel delighted like I had at the moment I saw the sundown at the Altun Shan Mountains.
I’ll sleep now. My mind is still filled with the songs of the Mongolian throat singers, the beautiful sound echoing in the vast mountain range.
I'll write one last poem here, to the last page of my diary, and then I'll leave this diary.
Here’s my last but not least poem:
I'll write one last poem here, to the last page of my diary, and then I'll leave this diary.
Here’s my last but not least poem:
fourth wanderlust
Your mission now is to find the key,
it opens the last box.
Don’t cast this object into the ocean.
The scroll, not the key,
you may free that.
There are two things in this box, ashes
and a scroll that explains why.
Put it somewhere where all can see.
This object tells of the past.
It tells of wars that were fought,
and paths that were taken.
I leave this to everyone so they may know the true history.
I leave my writing to you so you can learn from the past to help the future.
Travel to Altun Shan.
Find the one mountain
where wild horses gather around
and is the shape of a sleeping woman.
Pink shadows cast over the mountain every night.
It has no name, but there will be a lake at the base of it.
it opens the last box.
Don’t cast this object into the ocean.
The scroll, not the key,
you may free that.
There are two things in this box, ashes
and a scroll that explains why.
Put it somewhere where all can see.
This object tells of the past.
It tells of wars that were fought,
and paths that were taken.
I leave this to everyone so they may know the true history.
I leave my writing to you so you can learn from the past to help the future.
Travel to Altun Shan.
Find the one mountain
where wild horses gather around
and is the shape of a sleeping woman.
Pink shadows cast over the mountain every night.
It has no name, but there will be a lake at the base of it.
Our journey is over, and the man who we have never known but whose soul we followed is now free.
Our young adventurer has cast his leavings into the sea and paved a white road for them.
His soul will carry no burden but be free to roam the sea where great ships have once sailed.
Our young adventurer has cast his leavings into the sea and paved a white road for them.
His soul will carry no burden but be free to roam the sea where great ships have once sailed.