Duolun Lake in early autumn

Thanks to my friend Lin Fan Linh (American) for playing the flute

Duolun Lake in Inner Mongolia is very different from what I remember.

Four years ago in Duolun Lake, the gloomy sky was a bit depressing. The huge lake is connected with water and sky, and is full of desolation. Being in it feels like being trapped in a wet and heavy dream.

That day, the car drove up the hillside along the winding path. It was silent and deserted. It was almost dusk and the light was getting dimmer, so we decided to camp on the hillside. Dotted with grazing cattle and sheep not far away.

At that time, Duolun Lake did not start selling tickets. I lament that such a big lake has been silently shelved and no one cares about it. It is like a piece of jade dropped by the gods from the sky. It is buried among the green grass and mountains, covered with gray and lifeless.

Four years, even though it was a snap of the fingers, was far enough away that I had to search for the remaining images in the maze of memory.

Duolun Lake four years ago

In nature, humans are the most unwilling to be lonely. Compared with many animals, humans do not have the longest lifespan, but they want to leave some marks the most. So they invented the camera, probably to make up for the unreliable memory and pale language, to record the good old days, the youth, and to hope that the images can be preserved forever... However, what can be forever? After a few years, the handwriting is blurred and the photos faded. Even in today's digital world, how can digital files be preserved forever? Who else but ourselves will open them? Forever is... Like eternal life, it is nothing but human unwillingness. The unwillingness comes just like that, and disappears just as quickly...

Four years later, Duolun Lake impressed me with admiration. It's like the poor piece of beautiful jade buried in the dust was picked up, wiped away the dust, and bloomed with its original light. Duolun Lake is not dazzling, it is a kind of implicit beauty, lying quietly in the embrace of the mountains, with a kind of silence and indifference after going through vicissitudes of life.

This time, it was bright and clear, with large white clouds hanging in the pure blue sky, and the scenery suddenly became brighter. It turns out that sunlight is the greatest magician, making images and even entire ideas completely different.

Photography: Wowo (British foreign teacher)

The mountains in the distance are undulating, and the blue waves are like mirrors nearby. Everything seems to be the same as before, but it also seems completely different. Nanke had a dream. When he woke up, he didn't know where he was, and he couldn't tell the difference between the dream and the dream. We only live a hundred years, and the most we can perceive is a four-dimensional world. No matter how many dimensions there are, ordinary intelligence cannot reach them. Not to mention that the earth is just a speck of dust in the universe, and we are living in the dust. The dust is extremely small and short-lived. If you always remember your own insignificance, you will be open-minded. If you remember the shortness of life, you will strive to move forward...

Just like riding on a high and low road, the greater the slope, the more difficult it becomes. Sometimes you can't resist the resistance. You push the cart forward for a while, and sometimes you have to work hard to step on the pedal step by step and slowly go up. When to stop and when to persist are often just a matter of thought. In the journey of life, sometimes you need to let go, and sometimes you need to persist. Let go of the insignificant trivial matters, and stick to the most important part of life. To distinguish between the two requires wisdom.

Most of the people who come here are self-driving, and their license plates come from all over the country. Along the way, we only encountered one cycling team, about ten people dressed in the same uniform, as if they were a cycling club. This is the so-called distance in traveler legends. Distance means departure and separation from the daily routine. The scenery is different depending on everyone's state of mind. Therefore, the scenery is one's own scenery, and the distance is only one's own distance.

As I grow older, I gradually realize that the so-called maturity means that the long speeches of my youth are shortened into short sentences, and some short sentences only roll on my lips and then go away with the wind. The world is so big and people are so different. There are many things that cannot be expressed in words, and what is said is no longer them.

We stand in front of each other. Do you understand what I didn’t say? Understanding and being understood are both a luxury. Try to tolerate everything with love. If you cannot tolerate it, leave it to time. In front of time, what does everything mean?

If there are thousands of knots in your heart, go for a ride. If a ride can't solve the problem, then go for a free walk.