Last night I didn't go to bed till 12am and then another new roommate arrived at 2am. I didn't sleep from then on. Since I didn't fall back asleep I got up very early to head for the bus station. I waited for a local bus to take me to the long distance bus station, but it was still dark and the sun has yet to rise, I waited for a long time and the bus did not come. Another bus rider flagged down a bread mini van and we both got on. I made it to the bus station and had very watery soy milk at the stand outside the station. I think the best soy milk is in Taiwan, it can not be found anywhere else, rich, sweet, fragrant, the real thing. I slept the whole way on the bus swinging back and forth on the seat. It took 8 hours to get to Pan Jr Hua.
At the train station I bought the first train available to Emei. I had an hour before boarding and decided to run some errands. I hit the ATM machine just incase the ones in Emei didn't work or wasn't reading my card. I went fruit shopping and bought sweet tangerines. Why drink juice when you can eat the real thing. I went to a cell phone store to load up on my account. The young working professionals were very kind to help me. They didn't have to but they did. The young man took myself and did everything for me. He decided to help me because I looked like a foreign traveler and I was not familiar with up loading my phone for credits. I like this system that involves loading the account paid per minute instead of monthly contract. It's pretty cheap this way and there are no contracts. As a consumer, I can easily switch to a better company that is offering better service and cheaper rate at no penalty against me.
How does a cell phone work in China? You buy a phone, then a card, then buy minutes to load into the card account. It is important to figure out what kind of card to get. There are ones that only work within the province and there are country wide access cards. The proper card will mean great saving on minutes. You can buy minutes at any news stand, store, etc... Everything is versatile and there are plenty of companies to choose from. People in China are very hip and in with cell phone selection and accessories. They are not cheaper to buy in China. I have a lime green one made by a local company. Anyone who sees snares at it, and always asks me why I choose such a brand, and my response is, "it was the cheapest."
