I took the public bus and walked around in search for the Mix Youth Hostel where I was staying for the night. There are a few hostels in Chengdu and I really didn’t know which one to go to. I just picked one that answered my call for a reservation on the phone on the bus ride over.
I checked into Mix Youth Hostel for 15 yuan a bed. The entire staff was busy setting up for a Halloween party at 8pm. So much for going to bed early to get up early at 6am for my 7:50am 10 hour bus ride to JiuZhaiGo. I can see the staff has been waiting all year for this event. They are more excited than any of the guest to have a Halloween party. It’s a big deal for them. They were very excited and wanted everyone to have a good time. Except they really didn't know that Halloween is an American phenomenon and not a universal western one. They got all dressed up and stuff, it was cute. Even some of the shop girls on the street painted their face lightly and did their hair in the spirit of American costume holiday. This is probably as outrageous as they get. The workers really cannot tell who is American by the mere use of English language alone.
I checked out the free internet access, washing facility for laundry, shower, etc… In this humidity, it would take a few days to hang dry my clothes. My room was on the top floor and I asked for a lower bunk. The only thing I don’t like about top bunk is the ladder, getting in and out of bed to use the rest room. I am usually too sleepy, in other words, not awake yet to handle the ladder well. I have a tendency to fall off the ladder and hurt myself. My record of running average is every other time I use it. It’s not good, not good at all.
I dropped my bag off and went straight out to shop and get myself oriented around town because after heading north of Sichuan, I would be back in Chengdu to eat, and hang out to do laundry etc… I found a super market and went to see about getting a new day pack since it has a big whole in it courtesy of the monkeys on Mt. Emei. Well, the day packs were not any better and three to four times more than what I had paid for. So I decided to buy a sowing kit and sow the whole together until I come across a pack that I see that can handle the traveling. I also bought snacks for the trip north to Jiuzahigo and Huang Long. But I didn’t see anything I wanted for dinner by the hostel so I ended up eating my snacks for dinner.
In my room, a woman in my mother’s age was staying at the bunk across from me. She was looking at China’s National Geographic’s issue on places to visit in China for 2006. She was a sweet lady who now regularly resides in Hong Kong. She advised me in a very serious important manner this; to travel and use my legs when I can instead of when they are old and suffer from hiking and walking. She said in her age for her to travel alone, it’s impractical, she has been able to because there has been nice people who would just volunteer to help her on and off buses and trains etc… I assured her that I was using my legs a lot while they still work at my age.
This elderly lady wanted to visit Tibet but she feared her health would not permit her to handle the high elevation of Tibet. I told her I just came from there and it is lovely. I also told her I was headed for Jiuzhaigo where she just came from. She recommended the newly built youth hostel for me to stay in. I was happy about this information because I really didn’t know where I would stay tomorrow night. I heard all the hotels were very expensive, but the youth hostel, not.
As I headed for the showers, I was cut off by a nine year old girl who jumped in the stall and took over before I could. So I waited outside instead. While waiting for the showers I listened in on two 9 year old girls talk in both shower stalls. They were having a conversation on what to do about the lifestyle of being environmentally conscious and having very cool stuff. They debated about this dilemma of being cool to the earth and cool at their school. The two were trying to come up with a solution and a balance, it was fun listening to them brew it over nice hot showers, very long shower that I wanted to be in so I can go to bed afterwards. The conclusion was, they are doing both and it's working out well. They hate having to waste water but they loved staying in the shower for hours, at least it felt like that to me. They were cute, funny, and honest.
While trying to sleep, some kids at the hostel came around aggressively banging on the door for trick or treat. I had candy on me to give but they were tired, cranky kids who were all acting out and I thought the last thing they need is more sugar.
