After Huang Long Dong I stood outside on the street to wait for a bus but the buses were all heading the other direction. Finally I had to split a minivan to get to a bus station to get back up to Wulingyuan entrance where my luggage was being stored. I was dropped off at a local town bus stop to get on to a bus. This bus was parked and was waiting for it’s time to roll off.
As I entered the bus I sensed a great deal of tension on the bus. A man had been smoking on the bus and refused to put out his light. A girl behind him was allergic and threw up behind him over the window continuously over and again even when she ran out of stuff to throw up on. On top of it all her eyes where swollen full of water and red. Still this man out of pride refused to put out his light.
After watching such a sight everyone on the bus felt for the girl and demanded the bus driver to take action to kick him off the bus. The bus driver did. This man did not go quietly or apologize. He cursed and cursed. He looked scary like a gangster.
I kept my eyes wide open and had hands on the packs just in case violence breaks out and I can get out of the vehicle by the door or jump out of the window. I had my escape plan all worked out. That I would chuck my things out the window first and then somehow get out myself and then run somewhere forward on the open road.
I was on the alert. Why, because this man was a local town person and this was his town. He got all the people in town that was standing by the bus stand to take his side some how. I think they were on his side out of solidarity more than anything else. Either way, it was risky and anything can happen when someone is in a rage and encourages others to rack up more rage.
I was praying, and reciting hoping the driver will just start the engine and get out of that jam before more tension escalated into physical action. Finally the driver rolled off after the passengers all encouraged him to do so.
I was dropped off at another spot to wait to transfer onto another bus to get into the gate of the park. At this time there was no bus. A minivan stopped to offer a ride for a price and I took it. On the way to the entrance I saw two buses stopped with all the passengers out on the road. Looks like another conflict to be dealt with. The road was blocked by this event. I watched and realized I would have to get pass this one on the way out since there was only one road. What a night, a night of conflicts and potential break out of violence.
Finally I was able to pick up my luggage at the park entrance and attempted to head for GuiLing train. But I missed my train because there was a bus strike on the road. The bus company or drivers decided to strike to object to the increase in toll fee, so all last 6 buses were stuck along with all of its passengers.
We waited for an hour and then a college group decided to flag down a car, negotiated price and it had 11 seats. I asked for one but when the car showed up. All the passengers tried to squeeze in like there's no tomorrow, like refugees fleeing a bomb infested site. Then the driver decided to stop the engine. All the extra people got off and even the ones crowding around left. I ended up with a seat and headed for the train station. I missed the trains and even the last one by 20 minutes and headed back to the town and attempted to locate the youth hostel.
Got onto a bus, whose bus driver told me he'd drop me off at the right place. Not! Got dropped off on the road somewhere pointed to a direction and said walk a little that way. It was all too familiar, this thing of getting dropped off somewhere and told to walk a little that way.
I flagged a cab because I did not know where I was and it was on the outskirts of the town. The driver attempted to be confused and drove me to the wrong place and pretended he didn't know the road. He also pretend he didn't know really how to drive by stopping and pulling up at the curb here and there all to stall and make more money off me when the drive only took 3 minutes, all to make a little more money off of me by lying. I was tired, hungry and upset. Finally made it to the hostel and got the whole room to myself.
Showing posts with label ZhangJiaJie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ZhangJiaJie. Show all posts
Huang Long Dong
Afterwards I went to Huang Long Dong. This is a cave full of natural earth sculptures made through years and years of water dripping through and the earth softening to form sculptures. It was lit with colored lights. It was a beautiful way to show case the natural sculptures. One of the formation was made though 200,000 years of daily dripping. It takes awhile since drips are slow and tiny. We also got to take a boat ride through a section of the cave. I found the whole experience really cool. I've never been through a cave that big and like that. I felt like I was in a movie set and Indiana Jones should be popping out anytime.
The Tai Chi Yoga Morning Show
I didn't get up for Tai Chi or Yoga like we had planned for Saturday morning. I think many other people got up and wanted to watch and learn. They all mentioned we didn't get up. Oops!
Xiao Lao Shr drew me a map for another day or two of hiking. He is a landscape line draw teacher who recommended that I stay a few more days at his place and take day hikes and sketch. He would like more days of business by staying at his place longer and eating their food. I decided that I didn’t want to do that here. The room I got all to myself has its own personal restroom and shower. But the blankets were damp and musty. It was good for one night for 20 yuan but not for more than that in my opinion.
After parting with Danica and JustPlur I went to WuLongZhai like many people suggested but I thought it was just okay. The only thing nice about it was there were no tour groups. It was quite and I found a nice place to sit and recite and just meditate.
Went to Tianzi and this place was full of tour groups. It was amazing. I had fun but the sky was not clear, I could almost see the blue behind the haze. I took the cable down to save time to WuLingYuan entrance. This was a fabulous ride. We went through the formations. I had a great time.
On Travels Alone
Honestly, I saw lots of good peaks today. I have trekked a lot today, all 9 hours and been on many trails. It was foggy, and misty, and polluted, it was difficult for photography but may have interesting effects.
It is amazing, aside from meeting government officers and making friends with them, I keep meeting female vegetarian westerners wherever I go. They are happy to encounter me who speaks the language and order the right food without MSG. for them. Danica is a vegetarian too.
People have been kind to me, gathering me into their group when they find out I am traveling alone, fearing I'd be lonely etc..... But then there would be the others who would speak in their dialect and thinking I wouldn't make out what they say, putting me down for traveling alone and how I need to have a boyfriend to travel with etc...... well, I don't have a boyfriend. Anyone who can travel a long time need to either be laid off or quit their job and not worry about their spouse or kids or other family members.
There are people in my life worrying for me that I travel alone and really recommends that I wait to travel with others. But really, when is that going to happen. I just decided that I cannot hold my breath and wait for others to join me as I watch my life pass by.
Hauled in on Human Backs
In China, in the national parks where all vehicles stop at the gate, all supplies are carried in by humans on back. Cost for hire is dependant on weight. There is a system, which everyone must get in line for and you can labor your back when it is your turn.
Locked Together
There is this thing that someone started long ago and it's quite a thing to do in China. Instead of carving your name and someone you love on a tree, here you get your name and the one you love engraved onto a metal lock. Then you find a spot and lock it up on a bridge, forever stuck together, or as long as the metal last or the bridge itself last. Lovers travel from a far, climbing the mountains to engrave their names to lock themselves together tight hoping to stay together forever with the blessings of nature.
A Store House For Literature
The story I heard today from a tour guide said that in the past, since the time of Qin Dynasty, when there was political instability in the country, scholars would bring scrolls of literature and hid them in the mountains for safe keeping. Often times when there are changes in the government the first that would seem to go would be the books and the scholars. IT is believed by many that there are still lots of treasures of anything that was ever written in China hidden in these mountains.
Human Mosquitoes
Shu tried to help me check into a 4 star hotel in the park except the executive, his friend is in Beijing on business, so I was on my own for housing. He tried to get me into the park for free and save 248yuan but it was too late of a notice to get free complimentary tickets. I had sat and waited 1 hour and half to get all this sorted by then it was 11:30am, and I felt most of the day was done.
While I waited, I was swamped by human mosquitoes. They just kept coming and buzzing in my ear telling me how I need them as a guide for the trails in the park, telling me how I need them to carry my stuff, telling me how I wlll get lost, et.c..... There are plenty of guides and tour groups to tag along in my opinion without hiring a personal guide. There is only one trail, and it is hard to get lost. They just followed me and wouldn't go away. It was very annoying. I got very annoyed and was glad to finally get into the park. I had to tell the mosquitoes to quit following me, “I don't know you and stop pretending you are my friend, stop now, don't come near me.” Finally, I was able to leave my bag at the front entrance at Shu's friend's office who manages the gate entrance. Only after that could my day start.
Shu told me he has a driver tomorrow and can pick me up if I needed to. It has been very nice of him to do all of this but I don't think I will trouble him. I have been taking turns paying, he pays one, I pay the next time around. It has evened out okay. He seems to also enjoy making his connections work just because he can, it's a privilege, he has earned it. He said in the air force you have to sign on for 20 years. Everything cycles in 20 years so what you learn is good for 20 years. Because the officers are all very well trained and usually signs onto 20 years of government official position, it is easy to rise to the top or end up as a wealthy CEO. He said if you have money you are an official, if you are an official, you have money. It all works out this way. Everyone helps each other climb the ladder and make the elections work. So the network is country wide.
I was walking behind a tour group from ChengDu and a lady looked at me suspiciously and demanded to find out if I was a photographer chasing her for business. I didn't really understand her and said I was a photographer. Then she heard my mandarin and asked if I was traveling alone, I guess I didn't sound like a local with hooks coming out of me tongue for her business. I told her I was from California. She gathered me in and invited me to join her tour group and to go to Sichuan with them. I told her I just came from there and been to most of the places and stayed in ChengDu for days and ate great yummie food. She and the rest of the group tried to hook me up with a single middle aged person in their group for their entertainment. I moved on ahead and parted with them naturally because we were heading for different trails.
In the park I went up to Huang Shi Zhai, Yellow Rock Village. I decided since I only had 3 hours of sleep and terrible bus ride, I took the cable car up the steep mountain and decided to walk down. It was beautiful. Up this mountain there were many scenic spots to view. I really enjoyed it the whole thing took about an hour. The trail down took almost an hour and half. If I had carefully planned my trip out I would have taken the cable car down and saved myself time.
I had to walk another 2 hours to get up to another site called Yuan Jia Jie. On the trail I met a lady named Wang who wanted me to walk with her so she can ensure I stay at her guest house. I didn't enjoy her yelling and her telling me I can't take the lift up the mountain because it would take a lot longer to go by the cable rail way and I needed to hike instead that I would take less than an hour. I don't mind finding out where to sleep because I need a place to sleep but I really don't like these business tactics. Then she told me how terrible and lonely it was for me to travel alone and I need to have a companion and chat etc... I had to tell her, “I am not a person with hard hearing, please tone down your voice, I am standing right next to you.” In fact I found her conversation terrible and wished she would shut up. It made me tired listening to her. I much preferred to have it quite in nature and enjoy the not so common trail in a very touristy park. It was a nice break, but she kept talking about blah......... This park has lots of Korean tourist. This lady Wang doesn't like them because it meant they were staying outside the park in fancy hotels and this does not mean business for her. Wang continued to pick up empty plastic bottles out of trash to trade in for money all along the trail.
Later I met JustPlur from DaTong a man and Danica from Pheonix. JustPlur told me his place was 20 yuan a bed at Xiao Lao Shr's. I told Mrs. Wang that I want a better deal, I want 20 yuan. It turns out JustPlur from Datong was staying at her cousin's place next door with free internet. Danica has paid for a place at a fancy hotel right outside the park for 240 yuan including a tub to soak in, in her room. But it was too late and dark for her to head out of the mountain by herself and she looked really tired. All the buses in the park stopped running, no one, not even if you paid the workers money wanted to take her. They all wanted to head home. She didn't have a flash light either. She offered me stay at her place at any cost as long as I walked her out of the park so she could soak in her tub tonight. Well, I didn't want to, I really wanted to stay in the beautiful park and check out other places I didn’t get to today. I spend 248 yuan for the park entrance fee and then another 48 yuan for the lift and the ticket is good for 2 days.
Mrs. Wang did agree to cut price and match her cousin's price 20 yuan. I asked her if her place had toddlers or babies who cry at night and she did not deny it and her cousin's place has TV, free internet and private restroom and bath.
After dinner Danica and I went to Mrs. Wong’s next door just to check it out. It was dark, run down, and there were signs of little toddlers staying there. Mrs. Wong has already gone to bed and another relative came to the door. I quickly left before she could wake up Mrs. Wong to keep me there for their business. Danica who was wearing flip flops that were two inches too small for her trailed behind as she was being chased by the lady who wanted our business. All I heard being repeated from behind from Danica in broken Chinese was, “I don’t understand Chinese!”
Air Force Official Turned Politician
I had to get onto a bus from HuaiHua to YoTing, there was no train from HauiHua to ZhangJiaJie till the next morning at 5am. I went for the bus. The bus smelled like old socks, pickled turnips, and well, it was just gross. There was bus trouble and the drivers spent 50 minutes fixing the bus before take off. Everyone on the bus was upset at the delay. Then the ticket collector decided to yell at the bus driver as if they were lazy. As if somehow yelling is going to fix the bus. It was terrible. This yelling was also to set things straight so that all the disgruntle guests would shut their mouth and know who was in charge, the one with the loudest yell. It worked, everyone sat down quietly like students in a classroom with a mean teacher. What this did for the drivers was it made them nervous, upset, and disturbed. What did this do for the driving, it was rough and I felt like throwing up.
An older man squeezed next to me when he already had another seat. I didn't care for this especially when he pretended to be sound asleep as if in REM sleep and kept sliding down and then over to me leaning on me. I finally had to push him and tell him to move over to his side. He behaved after that.
I met a man on the bus, he's a middle aged man who was also going to Zhangjiajie. I suggested we figure out how to go to Zhangjiajie from YoTing. He said if there was no bus or train then he can contact people who will pick him up and drop him off. I invited myself to his ride and he did lend a hand and allow me to join him because there was no bus or train till the next morning to ZhangJiaJie. We had just missed the last by half an hour that was lost with all the bus maintenance, yelling, and then picking more riders to fill up the bus to make extra cash, we had a delay of 90 minutes.
This man named Shu turns out to be an air force official who is now a politician. It was very late at night already and he had lots of connections he decided to pull to get us escorted privately to ZhangJiaJie. The people who picked us up were the city officials, major kind of person of YoTing. His son got into college with Shu's help. And now Shu is helping the son's girlfriend find a better job. They were both graduates of the same class. The same class has a plan for reunion in 2008 and take 7 months off and travel all over China. They plan to remodel cars so the back seat takes luggage and sleeper and rides 3 people. He invited me to join them in 2008 after the Olympics in Beijing. They have to wait till 2008 because there are some friends who are not due for retirement yet. They've got 20+ cars committed and scheduled to depart that year and got the Japanese car Honda maker to get involved in this project to supply cars for a very low price.
Shu also helped me check into a hotel that normally costs 240 yuan and had me only pay 60 yuan because it was owned by his friend. I had the whole room to myself. It was great except it was across from the night market and the night market was active on a weekday even till 2am. I had only 3 hours of sleep. Shu said he'd pick me up in the morning and help me get into the park.
An older man squeezed next to me when he already had another seat. I didn't care for this especially when he pretended to be sound asleep as if in REM sleep and kept sliding down and then over to me leaning on me. I finally had to push him and tell him to move over to his side. He behaved after that.
I met a man on the bus, he's a middle aged man who was also going to Zhangjiajie. I suggested we figure out how to go to Zhangjiajie from YoTing. He said if there was no bus or train then he can contact people who will pick him up and drop him off. I invited myself to his ride and he did lend a hand and allow me to join him because there was no bus or train till the next morning to ZhangJiaJie. We had just missed the last by half an hour that was lost with all the bus maintenance, yelling, and then picking more riders to fill up the bus to make extra cash, we had a delay of 90 minutes.
This man named Shu turns out to be an air force official who is now a politician. It was very late at night already and he had lots of connections he decided to pull to get us escorted privately to ZhangJiaJie. The people who picked us up were the city officials, major kind of person of YoTing. His son got into college with Shu's help. And now Shu is helping the son's girlfriend find a better job. They were both graduates of the same class. The same class has a plan for reunion in 2008 and take 7 months off and travel all over China. They plan to remodel cars so the back seat takes luggage and sleeper and rides 3 people. He invited me to join them in 2008 after the Olympics in Beijing. They have to wait till 2008 because there are some friends who are not due for retirement yet. They've got 20+ cars committed and scheduled to depart that year and got the Japanese car Honda maker to get involved in this project to supply cars for a very low price.
Shu also helped me check into a hotel that normally costs 240 yuan and had me only pay 60 yuan because it was owned by his friend. I had the whole room to myself. It was great except it was across from the night market and the night market was active on a weekday even till 2am. I had only 3 hours of sleep. Shu said he'd pick me up in the morning and help me get into the park.
The Wanna Be Spy On the Train
Last night at the Chongqing city bus and train terminal, I researched the possibility of each mode of transportation. Both options had sleeper berths. The bus leaves the next day at 1pm for ZhangJiaJie and would take 15 hours. This would mean I would have to look for housing for the night. The cheapest I found by the terminals were 110 yuan. The train option leaves the same evening but it stops south of ZhangJiaJie at HaiHua a little after 3pm. Then from there I would have to back track north up to ZhangJiaJie where WuLingYuan National Park was in Hunan. Both ticket prices were at 30 yuan difference. Since I didn't want to deal with sleeping in Chongqing City in a cheap poor condition place and also didn't want to fork out the money to stay at a nice hotel, I decided to sleep on the night sleeper train, two in one with price and time.
Last night I got onto the train and slept well. There was a man from GuangZhou in the next bin who decided to take action in his interest in learning about me by going through my stuff when I am not around. I saw him going over my note book that was the only item on my bed. When he saw me he through my book back as if it didn't happen. It was actually quite funny. I didn't confront him. I too have been watching him watch me. He works with IBM and understands English. Instead of striking a conversation with me he decided to just quietly over everything like a spy, except he didn’t have the slick touch of a spy so I knew he was not a professional spy. I finally had to strike a conversation with him myself to end the sneaking around by him. He wanted to read my journal. I told him it was already packed and I didn't want to pull it out. He got to see my notebook and didn't understand my coded English. It just appear coded with abbreviated shorthand, my style, my system and sometime I can’t even make out what I wrote in haste. He was used to formal documentation writing. He was a nice person who really didn't need to sneak and snoop around.
On the train things were great until a lady from Guangzhou and her 3 year old son from the next bin over decided to show up and hang out and wouldn't leave. She ended up talking in effort and started to loose her voice from all the shouting. I had to crawl up to my bed to make partition from all her activity. She was a nice person who needed to have an opinion about everything and the last word somehow. It's as if no one has ever given her the time and space to speak her mind, unfortunately it really wasn't her mind being shared. The opinions weren't even very well thought out and a bit disconnected. It just seemed like words taking up space. What's an opinion worth anyway? I actually got dizzy sitting next to her. But they were all very curious of me and really enjoyed my company. I had to put my ear plugs on to take a little rest and still her voice penetrated through my ear plugs. How amazing was that! The other people on the train will have to put up with her for another 14 hours because they don't get off till 5am the next day. The lady spent most of the time complaining about her son in front of him about how terrible he was. In fact he was quite well behaved and handled being in the train quite well. She threatened to send him away to scare him. This is also common among the Asians in parenting I've noticed. I've noticed her challenge in parenting has to do with her irregular or inconsistent practice that creates confusion or also the kid sees this and takes advantage of it sometimes.
On the train I saw a documentary on the question of MSG. They showed scientifically proven by scientist that MSG is from a protein compound that is found in every food. This compound in most prevalent in Chicken and seaweed. They proved that there is no chemical in MSG etc.... That MSG has not been proven to be bad for you. That the Americans who complained about MSG giving people a headache in Chinese restaurants, and making people thirsty etc... is not a common thing in China, the home of MSG use. I think this program was sponsored by MSG manufacturers. MSG makes my tongue numb. People really love putting MSG in everything. They put about a tablespoon of MSG in 16 oz dish. That is alot. It makes me feel weird and I can tell it is MSG because I naturally can't eat it, makes me feel sick. So I added no MSG to my list of no's when ordering food.
Last night I got onto the train and slept well. There was a man from GuangZhou in the next bin who decided to take action in his interest in learning about me by going through my stuff when I am not around. I saw him going over my note book that was the only item on my bed. When he saw me he through my book back as if it didn't happen. It was actually quite funny. I didn't confront him. I too have been watching him watch me. He works with IBM and understands English. Instead of striking a conversation with me he decided to just quietly over everything like a spy, except he didn’t have the slick touch of a spy so I knew he was not a professional spy. I finally had to strike a conversation with him myself to end the sneaking around by him. He wanted to read my journal. I told him it was already packed and I didn't want to pull it out. He got to see my notebook and didn't understand my coded English. It just appear coded with abbreviated shorthand, my style, my system and sometime I can’t even make out what I wrote in haste. He was used to formal documentation writing. He was a nice person who really didn't need to sneak and snoop around.
On the train things were great until a lady from Guangzhou and her 3 year old son from the next bin over decided to show up and hang out and wouldn't leave. She ended up talking in effort and started to loose her voice from all the shouting. I had to crawl up to my bed to make partition from all her activity. She was a nice person who needed to have an opinion about everything and the last word somehow. It's as if no one has ever given her the time and space to speak her mind, unfortunately it really wasn't her mind being shared. The opinions weren't even very well thought out and a bit disconnected. It just seemed like words taking up space. What's an opinion worth anyway? I actually got dizzy sitting next to her. But they were all very curious of me and really enjoyed my company. I had to put my ear plugs on to take a little rest and still her voice penetrated through my ear plugs. How amazing was that! The other people on the train will have to put up with her for another 14 hours because they don't get off till 5am the next day. The lady spent most of the time complaining about her son in front of him about how terrible he was. In fact he was quite well behaved and handled being in the train quite well. She threatened to send him away to scare him. This is also common among the Asians in parenting I've noticed. I've noticed her challenge in parenting has to do with her irregular or inconsistent practice that creates confusion or also the kid sees this and takes advantage of it sometimes.
On the train I saw a documentary on the question of MSG. They showed scientifically proven by scientist that MSG is from a protein compound that is found in every food. This compound in most prevalent in Chicken and seaweed. They proved that there is no chemical in MSG etc.... That MSG has not been proven to be bad for you. That the Americans who complained about MSG giving people a headache in Chinese restaurants, and making people thirsty etc... is not a common thing in China, the home of MSG use. I think this program was sponsored by MSG manufacturers. MSG makes my tongue numb. People really love putting MSG in everything. They put about a tablespoon of MSG in 16 oz dish. That is alot. It makes me feel weird and I can tell it is MSG because I naturally can't eat it, makes me feel sick. So I added no MSG to my list of no's when ordering food.
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