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The easiest and fastest way to get to Lake Jiingpo is to fly from a major city like Beijing or Shanghai but it is also possible to reach Lake Jingpo by road from Beijing. Journeying to Lake Jingbo by road had the added bonus of traveling through some of the most beautiful scenery in this part of the world. Other attractions on the way include the food at the small roadside restaurants and friendly people that are happy to spend a few minutes in conversation.

So we took the other way: driving a car. Starting from Beijing, we hit the road along the inter- province highway Jingshen, drove about ten hours and finally arrived at Mudanjiang. It was only 43 kilometers from Mudanjiang to Ningan wherer the very lake is located, so we took our time in the city for some relaxation-- shopping, drinking and trying to get a better map and other real information about the Lake. After all of these, we were ready, and hit the road again. This time, the lake directly!

It was at dusk when we came and saw the Lake. The skies were so blue that you might think if it was the sea upside-down over there, and clouds were as white as flocks of new born sheep moving around in the heaven.” Lo and behold,” my girl friend called and pointed to the end of the road, “there is the Lake, and it looks like a big square of jade!” She and I were the only members of the tour group, and we parked our car in the almost empty parking lot. How we were so clever to come this season to enjoy all the beauty without having to share it with hordes of other visitors.

And the view over the Lake was a breathtaking experience, enlivened by the crimson sun set in the far west between the pine forests where mysterious legends about the anti-Japanese guerrilla girls were told for generations---how they fought with the Japs and how they jumped into the water when found it impossible to get out of the enemy’s surrounding. And some locals still believe that the forests are haunted by the heroic souls.

We ran into the Lake, for the day was hot and we sweated like boiling pots, and the water of the lake was cool and clean. Yes, it was so clean that when you swam in it, it felt like you were floating in the middle of the air, and nothing between you and the lake bed, except some fish sneaking in from nowhere and leading the way to the deep waters. My girl friend had found another fun: several geese who had been flying over the lake now came down and swan along her! She was so excited to almost drown herself when screaming at me to see a goose even trying to race with her!

The traveling service of the Lake Administration are very convenient. You can find little nice restaurant that cater to you local dishes like Niandoubao, Dummy Chicken with Mushrooms, Demoli Fish and all the real Northeast flavors which brings you back to a time more than 500 years ago when the native people trying to survive in a harsh environment, and living on anything they could get by hunting, looting and even killing before they won the war against the central imperial government and became the emperors themselves. The boarding accommodation is better than our expectation, too. You can rent one of the hotel rooms built along the lake, and most of them have a view to look over the lake. Some hotels even stand so close to the lake that you may find your room totally suspending over the water in the morning. If you don’t like hotels, no problem, for the service will find you a family in the nearby village, who would be as nice to you as your best relatives.

We chose to spend the night in the village, and the head of the family welcoming us happened to be the head of the village called Big Wang. He had a very huge family---wife, 3 girls, and his own parents. Big Wang was busy, so the night we talked a lot with his father and mother, who were over their 80ths, and very good in memories. They told us stories about the old days, when adventures, superstitions, and even romantics happened in a way you could never imaine . There was no bed in the house, and we all slept on the Kang built with bricks, and fired through a Northeast style tunnel connected with the kitchen. How wonderful for you to lie on the warm Kang, feeling totally relax after a long and tiresome journey! You could smell the ashy air, listen to the dog barking, and looked at the deep blue night skies shining with diamond-shape stars.

One of the unforgettable fun we had with Big Wang’s family was their little dog. It was named Qiuaiu, or Little Snowball, and looked like one literally. A big mouth always opening in a way we laugh at something to death, Qiuqiu seemed but the happiest thing in the world and its happiness would last from early morning till midnight. It could beg, skip, race ball, and catch anything you yell at it to catch. The little dog had a charming way to please you and let you forget all the human pains of life. I found that when you whistling or making some shriek sound, Qiuqiu would lower its head and turned one of its ears to you to listen. As you continue to do the sounding, its head lowered and lowered, until it touched the ground. My girlfriend laughed to tears, while scolding me for abusing the little charm this way which I would never do.

When we said goodbye to Lake Jingpo, we were full of baloney, and ready to share our traveling experience there with our friends back in Beijing. Next year we will come in a better season when the Lake Administration open the fishing business and we can have a chance to rent a boat to fish salmons in the deep lake!