Muzhishan

impetus offered by the forecast of a change in the weather and the usual infusions of caffeine, breaking away from the pile of should be dones in favour of want to do's and setting off towards xianshan... another breezy day above the big statue of the goddess of mercy for a break, caught up in the sound of recorded chants rising through the rustling leaves, gusts of wind carrying birdsong through bending trees and the clatter of bamboo... footsteps passing by the low wall, looking up at the ridge which links the summits of the slightly higher hills... each day up here seems to find a different mountain, despite the familiarity of the unweaving trails rising and falling where clouds drift patterns of changing light for thoughts to follow, flittering off into a thousand unfollowed directions... last week a new sign appeared upon the ridge, offering a 500m detour up to the summit of muzhishan, today it's a new panorama beneath gathering clouds spilling rain on the southern hills and cloaking the summits of Yangmingshan but on a clear day....