A few days ago, Q came across a coconut chicken restaurant that looked really delicious, so we agreed to go try it this weekend. We also had a plan to find a mountain in Guangzhou to climb, and as it happened, this coconut chicken restaurant was right next to Huolushan Mountain Park.

The itinerary was set. I even went to work for a while on Saturday morning, and at exactly noon, I couldn't wait to get off work and head back. After picking up Q, we casually ate something downstairs at our rental apartment before setting off. We had originally considered riding there directly, but it looked like it would take about an hour.

As a conservative person, I still chose the more reliable mode of transportation: taking the subway directly. That way, we wouldn't have to worry about running into traffic police, nor would we have to worry about the electric scooter running out of power before we could ride it back to the rental apartment.

We took the subway directly to Exit A of Longdong Station. After exiting, we walked straight ahead and then turned left, arriving at the entrance to Huolushan Mountain Park. However, Huolushan has many entrances, and I'm not sure whether this one was the south gate.

Before coming, we did some research on Xiaohongshu and chose a relatively popular route, passing Huakuai Viewing Point, Pig Head Rock, Baijia Summit, Chicken Pillow Rock, and Lotus Pond before exiting through the park's north gate.

The first stop was Huakuai Viewing Point, which was actually a platform halfway up the mountain. From there, we could look down vertically at the busy traffic on the South China Rapidway, as well as the skyscrapers in downtown Guangzhou. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great today, and visibility was low in the hazy conditions.

If the weather had been better, we would have been able to clearly see the Canton Tower, the IFC Guangzhou International Finance Center, and the CTF Finance Centre. Before going up the mountain, we were still congratulating ourselves on the fact that the sun wasn't out, since it seemed perfect for hiking. But now, it even looked like it might rain.

The second stop was Pig Head Rock, a huge boulder. Legend has it that molten rock spilled here when the alchemy furnace of Taishang Laojun was overturned, which is why the mountain was named Huolushan. Of course, this is only a legend.

Q wanted to climb onto Pig Head Rock to take a photo, but two uncles were sitting on top chatting the entire time. We waited beside them for quite a while, watching them take off their shoes and sit cross-legged. It looked like they were planning to discuss the meaning of life, so we gave up and continued along the route.

The third stop was Baijia Summit, which seemed to be the summit of Huolushan. Reaching it meant we had made it to the top—little Huolushan conquered! But afterward, a light drizzle began, and the summit was full of people taking shelter from the rain.

After passing Baijia Summit, we began looking for the trail down the mountain. It had already rained by then, and the steps on the mountain path were quite damp. Q and I also started to feel our legs tremble a little, and we just wanted to hurry down and eat coconut chicken from the street stall.

On the way down, we saw another rock that looked just like Pig Head Rock, with many small wooden sticks propping it up underneath. It reminded me of a meme from the internet: when you feel useless, take a look at these small wooden sticks.

Another meme goes like this: these small wooden sticks represent retail investors, while those large wooden sticks are the major players. When the bubble hasn't burst, it is simply because the major players are still struggling to hold it up. Once the major players begin to withdraw, the first ones crushed are these vulnerable retail investors.

The fourth stop was Chicken Pillow Rock, but we didn't climb up it again. Our legs were already having trouble walking, so we took a photo from a distance and counted it as having been there. Compared with the first time I climbed Wutong Mountain, my physical condition is now far worse. An elevation of only three or four hundred meters had already left me this exhausted.

Near the fifth stop, Lotus Pond, we saw many people drawing water with buckets. There was also a warning sign beside it that read: “Mosquito and insect control is carried out here and will affect the water source.” I could only express respect, but not understanding, for those who dared to drink the mountain spring water.

After exiting through the north gate of Huolushan Mountain Park, we crossed a traffic-light-controlled zebra crossing and arrived at the street-stall coconut chicken hot pot restaurant. It wasn't even five in the afternoon, but the restaurant was already full of customers, so we had no choice but to take a number and wait outside.

This restaurant used to be a mobile street stall, specializing in setting up near universities in the area. Somehow, it recently became popular online, and its customer flow surged, so it rented a storefront.

The restaurant was extremely small, with room for only about ten tables both inside and outside. Its table turnover was also very low, with each table taking more than an hour on average. Fortunately, we had arrived relatively early and were first in line, which meant that we would get a table as soon as the first group at the first table finished eating.

Unfortunately, the heavens were against us. Before the first group had even started being served, heavy rain began to fall. The few tables outside without shelter had to be temporarily moved indoors and squeezed together. There was also a table outside reserved for the elderly ladies nearby to play cards. After the rain started, they dispersed and went home.

The coconut chicken restaurant owner therefore moved that table over and added another table. We successfully joined the first group of diners. Even so, nearly two hours had passed from the time we took a number to the moment we had our first bite of coconut chicken.

The coconut chicken tasted alright. It wasn't nearly as amazing as I had imagined, though the broth did have a fairly rich flavor, which suited my taste. I just don't know whether it was cooked purely with coconut, or whether there were some artificial additives involved.

It's difficult to evaluate this street-stall coconut chicken hot pot restaurant. It felt like the owner simply couldn't handle this windfall, or perhaps this was the backlash brought by online traffic. The entire dining process just felt extremely chaotic.

Many of the people waiting behind us gave up, while some insisted on waiting for two or three hours. Perhaps because there was a university nearby, most of the diners were university students. At least there weren't many conflicts caused by the queue at the scene. I have to say, university students do tend to be fairly well-mannered.