The Hidden Pool ~ Wrightings and more

I recently traveled to a city in the south of China to reunite with some of my dearest friends. It had been a year since we'd seen each other and we spent the time catching up and making new memories. But little did we know, something special was awaiting us in the karst hills outside the city.

Something we'd never forget...

For some time now, I've had a fascination with the unknown. I love the idea of pioneering... exploring... making discoveries. It's the reason I long to see Alaska. It's partly why I enjoyed the latest King Kong movie. It's why I liked C.S. Lewis' space trilogy and John Eldredge's writing in the The Sacred Romance.

And it's probably the reason I own three Timex Expedition wristwatches.

(that and they're just cool)

In short, I love finding new things... and that there are still things to be found! And this doesn't have so much to do with discovering gold or lost cities or that which is grand. It's more about a person seeing something for the first time or tasting some new taste - things like that. It's about the individual experiencing something foreign or new to them.

And that's where our story begins...

We had set out to find the exact location pictured on the back of the Chinese 20 yuan bill. I really wanted to get a shot of the twenty with the scenery blurred out behind it. And I'll just say this now...

I never did.

But somewhere along the way, we did happen upon a trail we thought might take us there. So we parked the scooters and ventured out on foot. And it was so beautiful! The views actually confused my mind as they were foreign to me. Some of the trees looked tropical and others didn't.

It felt like a mixture of Thailand and my hometown.

But after a while of hiking, we considered turning back. The trail seemed to be never-ending and it was all downhill. Getting back would be more strenuous and we had already spent a couple hours on the scooters just getting there. We were tired, it was hot, and it was a long way back. So we decided to hike to the next bend to see if it matched our little map (the twenty). And if not, we'd turn around.

But instead, we saw something wonderful!

There was this little pool way out in the middle of nowhere! And the turquoise-colored water looked so inviting. But we weren't sure if the water was okay for swimming so I went down and smelled it. And since there were no suspicious odors, I jumped in! And man did it feel good! The others made their way down to join me.

"It's not even a pool, but we're making it a pool." - John Cossey

It honestly felt like we had made some major discovery that would change the course of human history. With everyone in, we couldn't get over the fact of what we had just found. We laughed and we splashed and we kept talking about how special it was. And it really was special. This experience with the pool ended up being everyone's favorite part of our trip to Yangshuo!

And if you wanna know the coordinates, well, go and find them for yourself! :)