baiquanshan (hundred stream hill) in huairou county, aka the compensation trip

8 of the 11 on the previous outing made it back for more. checked out the website beforehand at baiquanshan.com actually, dontbelievethehype.com would have directed you to the same webpage. my expectations were reasonably modest after the prior jolly experience. at the very least, it would be a couple of hours of hiking out of beijing.
which is what we got, in spades. at first, it seemed to be a little different from the usual hiking trail that one finds in the outskirts of Beijing. a little more challenging as opposed to say, fragrant hill. but some things never change. there were helpful signs describing the rock formations, always a fun distraction. the chinese tourists were once again respectful, "hmm, it does kind of look like a turtle gazing at the moon." we improvised, "hmm, turtle gazing at the moon, while secretly relieving itself." "hey, this photo of the 'eagle' looks like the 'after' panel of a slimming ad."
the yuks and the sights dried up after a while as our guide took us on an unmarked trail towards the waterfall. it was uphill and rock/boulder strewn, which was somewhat less leisurely than we bargained for. we should have heeded the signs, or more accurately, non-signs. the meagre water features that we glimpsed along the way should have set off alarm bells. but we pressed on, secure in our naivete that our guide knew what he was doing. when he finally informed us, after doing a little forward scouting, that the waterfall had dried up, my first thought was !!$$#%%@ duped! hoodwinked! bamboozled!!
the crows mocked us every undignified step of the way down.
we were ravenous by the time we made it to the foot of the hill. what lunch lacked for in quality, they tried to make it up in quantity. the 8 of us were served over 15 dishes: cold cuts of beef and duck, peanuts, wild veg, century eggs, fish, potatos in sauce, shuizhu pork, gongbao chicken, bacon and peppers, regular veg, potato strips, tofu, pumpkin pancakes, fried rice and hot water masquerading as soup.

will have to think very carefully when the next fun trip to the outskirts comes along.