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!”
