Misty Riverside Camping at Zhenye Tianjing

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The story

The wet grass reached our knees and spread down the gentle slope all the way to the water. As we walked through it, our pant legs and the tops of our shoes quickly soaked through. The grass was a mix of green and yellow, with the particular dampness that comes only after moisture has seeped through everything; even the air near the bank carried the scent of grass sap and river mud.

Below the grass line, the water lay still, as if forgotten. A few wooden stakes and fallen branches were half submerged, soaked dark and motionless. Farther out was a band of dark hills, their midslopes wrapped in thin mist; their outlines had softened, and faintly, at the foot of the hills, the shapes of one or two low houses could be made out.

This is Zhenye Tianjing, a spot on the Wannan Sichuan–Tibet Route in southern Anhui. The river is beautiful, the campsite is level, and it is especially suitable for pitching a tent. Someone glided across the water on a paddleboard, while someone else sat on the bank holding a fishing rod; each was busy with their own thing, disturbing no one. The whole lake bay was so quiet it was almost at a standstill, as if sealed in mist and temporarily cut off from the outside.

After the rain, the moisture in the air scattered the light, and the water looked dark and subdued; no shadows could be made out along the bank. We decided not to go any farther and to rest right here. The tent was pitched on the grassy slope, wet jackets hung by the tent, and the mist over the river had not yet cleared. In this chill and quiet, it was enough just to stay still.