A Dream Come True

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I arrived in Chengdu on Tuesday. I was pretty happy to get out of Nepal just cuz of the political unrest and I didn’t want to be there if and when something sparked up. I flew through Lhasa and obviously had a window seat, but it didn’t matter since the view of Everest was average at best.

On the bus from the airport to town, which cost me 10RMB, I was let off at the last stop in the middle of the city with no clue where I was. I already disliked it…don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Chengdu is fabulous but the last thing I wanted was a city. I left one over a month ago for a reason and while I didn’t mind Hong Kong, this trip isn’t about getting lost in another big city. Anyway, after a ton of bargaining and realizing that there were NO taxis at 6PM on a weekday I negotiated with a few rickshaw drivers and got one for 20RMB to the hostel of my choice. Mind you I paid half that for like 10 times the distance on the bus from the airport…but I was hungry and tire d and it was getting dark and really we are talking about $3. Once I got to the hostel, the only bed they had for me was in a dorm…and I don’t “do” dorms…there are no bathrooms in the room (which isn’t the worst case scenario) and you never know who you will be with, when they’re getting up, snoring, etc. So they called their “sister” hostel which had a single private room but with no bathroom. I ended up walking about a mile to get there with all my crap. Both hostels seemed very nice and clean. But The Loft was great, especially since I was able to change my room the next night to one with a bathroom. I liked the décor…exposed brink, high ceilings, wood floors - it really was a charmer. I didn’t get situated until about 8PM so I just ate at the hotel. Because this is the third largest city in China the hostel area is so vast that places for foreigners aren’t all lumped together like in other cities, but I kind of want to take that back now cuz Kathmandu is large and everything was pretty much all together there, so im not sure whats going on here. Anyway, set up my wireless and just relaxed.

I signed up to see the pandas for the next morning at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. I made sure that there were other people that had signed up, cuz the last thing you want is to be on your own with a “guide” that doesn’t speak English. It ended up being six of us. A couple from Switzerland, Melanie and Mike (traveling for 18 months!), a couple from Canada, Narelle and Nick (forest firefighters that work 5 months of the year and have the rest off….sounds like a solid job to me until they told me about boot camp!), and a bloke from Britain, Martin. Oh Martin, what a special soul. I may get into the stories about that later but for now…pandas. The pandas were adorable but lazy shits. Sorry to be frank, but just trying to give you an idea. All they do is eat, sleep, and have their pictures taken constantly and to be honest, that sounds FANTASTIC to me. There were also some red pandas that look more like raccoons then anything (I am having a de je vu…I think I’ve written this before…maybe from like 8th grade when I went on my England exchange program…who knows, just had a feeling). The red pandas, were much more active than the giant pandas. This seems boring…moving on.

The group kind of got split up and I was Narelle and Nick just meandering through the park. We got tea for a while ran into our guide who just looked straight through us and drove by on a cart. Guess we aren’t supposed to follow him anymore. Apparently we are to meet at 11AM to go back to the hotel. We were all there except for Martin. Nearly an hour later he shows up and apologizes for FALLING ASLEEP!! Seriously? SERIOUSLY??! How do you fall asleep! It really wasn’t a big deal, I had my book and I’ve learned to adapt to nothing happens on time, but seriously…where did you sleep? Snuggling up with the pandas?? Oy .

We all grabbed lunch together when we got back, which was nice. Just a local place…and my veg noodles had chicken in it. I guess veg doesn’t always mean that, so of course I sent it back. Got something without any meat and was happy for a little. Don’t think I am eating enough…well I am eating enough for a normal human being, but not as much as I was. The food is pretty questionable for me. Good thing I have protein bars. Once back we went to the loft bar and they all wanted to see my photos from my travels, well at least from Kathmandu and Tibet since Narelle and Nick were going there the next day, so I happily obliged…after we got through nearly everything, including Vietnam from back in March (ha!) we just relaxed there for the rest of the afternoon. I’m sure there is plenty to see, but I really don’t want to be in the city. I even contemplated going to Phuket or Bali if I could find something, but Mike and Melanie were very keen on Yunnan so I decided to make my plan for that.

The other thing I decided is that while I realize I am all the way over here and there are plenty of things to see I am not going to do ANYTHING that I feel that I should do if I don’t want to. That is not going to be a good experience for me…so only things that I want to. The problem with China is that everything is a tourist sight and I want to go to places like Bhutan that have no tourists. I dislike being a tourist, I want to be a traveler…maybe some people think there is no difference, but I do. I don’t feel like I can appreciate something for what it is when there are hundreds of other people there…the chatter (which in this country is like screaming) and the pushing just isn’t fun.

So my plans as of now are as follows: two hour bus to Leshan to see the Grand Buddha, 30 minute bus to Emei. Depending on the weather and when I can get a train ticket, I will hike Emei Shan for a day or two or leave and train to Jinjiang (12 hours) and then bus (7 hours) to Lijiang. I will then be in Yunnan and will make my way up to Shangri-la for a day or two, stop by Tiger Leaping Gorge for a few days, then to Dali for a few days and 5 hour bus ride to Kunming on the 28th. I fly to Shanghai on the 29th to meet up with Gilligan! I am excited to see him. Not missing home at all but I do miss family and friends. And I am also a tad bit excited for a pretty 5 star hotel. On Nov 1 or 2 we go to Beijing to see the wall and other stuff, although the Great Wall is pretty much what I care about, especially since it’s a massive city I don’t want to be there too long. I also booked a flight to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to meet up with Kirsty. And then we will make our way to Angkor and then I into Laos. I am also looking into safaris for Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe before I have to been in St. Lucia (South Africa) on December 15.

I am on the bus to Leshan now…they just finished playing a series of Chinese videos of a girl group that I would compare to the spice girls. The music didn’t seem all that bad to be honest. Now there is some movie on that makes the Chinese look all normal and nice. Why cant they be like that in real life, or why cant they ALL be like that. Did I mention that I have been mocked by them several times already? God knows what they are saying…but apparently its not just me, the others I met have had similar experiences. Also, I’ve heard horror stories about the buses here. People smoking and spitting on the floor, etc. This one is extremely tame and clean minus the people when they chat on the phones…its been quite pleasant. The woman next to me has a mobile ring that is the tune to Super Mario Brothers. It’s fantastic. And there are an amazing amount of Audis here. They are all over the roads.

Anyway, after putzing around all afternoon (I am back to chatting about Chengdu) we went to an interesting dinner. We ended up at a local place again where they spoke ZERO English and no one had their translation book so this ended up being an experience. FIVE minutes it took for me to get through to them that I wanted VEG fried rice. Oh I don’t even think I can get into it all…it was just the most hilarious experience ever. The others all wanted hot pot, which no one knew really what it was. I don’t think anyone knew how to ask for it in Chinese so it never happened, which apparently is a good thing as I got an email from my friend Dan that said whatever you do…DON’T GET THE HOT POT IN SICHUAN!! We tried to order soy sauce, ended up figuring out it was vinegar…this is after we all doused are food with it! Now this is also the time where Martin shared some info that we aren’t quite sure if he was efing with us or if he was sharing truthful stories. Narelle and my mouths dropped, part in shock of what it was he was saying and part in that he was actually sharing this! Nick was just laughing with him because he thought he was joking. Whatever the case…oy

So my dream has come true….my neck is healed…at least temporarily and I had THE most amazing nights sleep last night. I slept through the night - a solid 8 hours at least and a full-pressured hot shower. There’s nothing like being deprived of sleep and hot water to make you appreciate it when you have it. Sigh….smile

Met Narelle and Nick for breakfast to say our goodbyes and wish each other well and to discuss the conversation from the night before…no conclusion was made. I received my airplane tickets for Kunming to Shanghai and Beijing to Phnom Penh. Yipppee! Time to head off to the bus station and out of the city! Double yippee!

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