Idleness might be a luxury in modern society. However in Nujiang, idleness is something everyone can afford. With the air enchanted with country music, timeless stream flowing slowly through this little town, everyone seemed to be wrapped up in a relaxing, totally no-hurry atmosphere. Time seemed to take another kind of pace here and it gave you an illusion that right now, in this place you could keep all the worldly worries at bay. I was no immune to this, soon like everyone else, I feel into a sort of NowHere-or-NoWhere mood.
We spent almost a whole day in a tea house by the river, reading, dreaming, gaming or just enjoying the idea of having absolute nothing to do. I had worried that such idleness might be too much for a four-year-old, so I carried Yus camera, Follow-me-writer and Lap-to-go for him to play. I soon realized that I had worried too much. As a four-year-old, Yu is the master of self-entertainment. He could spend several hours in a rock chair like this without feeling bored.
When we hit on the road, window shopping and doing girls staff, he would take pictures with his camera. He certainly had his own idea about photography----he took pictures of rocks, insects, flowers, shops, anything but people. Every time when I asked him to take picture of me, he always showed great reluctance. What a strange
little thing!
The most active thing we ever took in this journey is to ride. Honestly I have this thing about big animals--- sort of afraid of them, but looking at yus eager little face, what else choice I had? The horse we rode has a very gentle name: Juliet and a temper pretty much opposite to her name. She is the only one the groom forbad us to come close to feed her. I bought her the food anyway. Perhaps the bribe worked, she took us safely along the famous Ancient Road for Tea and Horse ().
Three days have passed since we came back from Nujiang. Life came back to its old routine. This visit, like many other journeys, left special mark on me. Travelling is not just about movement. Every time, you would add up something, and when you eventually came back, there would always a slight change, and you might not be the same people when you left.
