White Horses Have Attitude

Like most things in China, the trail between the Hot Springs and Yubeng Village is a dichotomy. It is spectacularly beautiful, moving from an arid plateau to a rain forest of rhododendrons and firs. But it is also littered with tons of trash. Pilgrims have been traveling along the trail for hundreds of years, but generally anything they left behind, like food waste, paper, or fiber materials, would biodegrade naturally. However, with ever increasing tourism and the prevalence of plastic water bottles, candy wrappers, and cigarettes butts, the trash just keeps piling up. Tao, stunned by the waste, and Percy, stunned after being knocked down a hillside by a cantankerous white horse, began to pick up as much of the trash as they could see. The response by other pilgrims was mixed. Some seemed shocked that Tao and Percy would condescend to do trail maintenance, some were pleased and said thank you, and others started to pick up bits of trash as well. Spring and Tao have since started an initiative to establish an anti-liter campaign on the inner pilgrimage circle.