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Published: October 9th 2009
The day before leaving for vacation, Staci and I had one of our twice a week Chinese lessons.
After class, we usually get a ride with some other people in our program that live in our district. There was some poor communication and before we knew it, the other group left in a van, meaning we had to figure out how to get home on our own. Our school has made an agreement with their schools to take us close to home after classes, so in the future, we need to get better at making sure our colleagues know we need a ride home.
On one hand, this was good, as there will be times when unbeknownst to us, the people we get a ride with don't come to class, or stay afterwards in the city. Like them, we too will want to stay later and find a different way home. On the other hand, it was the day before National Day and many people were scattering around trying to get to different places for their days off.
We decided to relax a bit and get dinner with Jimmy and Cali at a hot pot restaurant. None of us had ever had hot pot, so it was quite the experience trying to order and eat. We ended up getting a large bowl with two sections of different soup-like liquids. The middle of the table had a burner, so the liquid kept hot to cook our food. We got all vegetarian options, which was a bit confusing for the wait staff, but out came an assortment of greens, fungi, and potatoes. We also ordered a side of taro rolls and fried onion bread.
We knew we were eating the meal the wrong way when everyone in the restaurant started looking at us and giggling, including the wait staff. The staff came over and helped us. We were not aware that you had to dump all the food into the hot pot, then pick it out later. It makes sense, for sure, but we initially tried to hold each individual piece of food in the hot liquid (this is no way to cook a raw potato 😊 ) Another word of advice: it's best not to leave a big metal serving spoon in hot liquid.
After the meal, we needed to figure out how to get back home. It was getting dark, and we couldn't find the bus stop. We ended up walking forever in and out of various subway stations, streets, and corners. It continued to get darker, windy and rainy. We had no coats or umbrellas. We were both cranky and started arguing. We had tried calling our coordinator, and he gave us directions, but it was still hard to follow them in the rain and dark.
Soaking wet, we finally found our bus, and with the traffic, it took a very long time to get back to the airport. From there, we had to find another way to get home. Since it was raining, taking a bus was not appealing, as it would drop us off with a 15 minute walk back to school. Taking a taxi would be expensive, but would drop us off at our school. I went up to a taxi and showed him where we wanted to go. He refused.
Since our school is a bit out of the way, taxi's do not like going there. After dropping us off, there would be nobody for them to pick up. Frustrated, we took the bus, preparing to get soaked again. Luckily the bus dropped us off right when the rain stopped, and the walk home was dry. We quickly fell asleep, anxiously awaiting the next day's start to our vacation.
We woke up and packed, cleaned a bit, and went to our office to check email. While in the office, I was checking my camera to make sure the battery was charged and set to go to Yangshuo. I placed the camera on the chair next to me and within a few minutes, bumped it off, sending it crashing to the floor. It did not appear to be damaged, at least externally. I tried to take a picture on our walk back to our dorm, and it worked fine, but a bit delayed. Then, it made a strange clicking sound, and an error message appeared regarding to the shutter release. Every time I tried to take a picture, it would just click. Bummer. Major major bummer. An hour before heading off on our vacation, I break the camera. Not to mention, the day before, we were cooking with our hot plate, and it exploded and broke, melting one of our cooking pots, nearly splashing me with hot oil.
The hot plates are easily replaceable and cheap, but Yangshuo is considered one of the most beautiful places in China, and I was so excited to have my nice camera. I couldn't have been more upset with myself. I alway try to be careful, but things happen. Fortunately, I think the camera can be repaired, and there is an official Nikon repair center in Hong Kong. Wish us luck!
We needed to meet up at the bus station with our coordinator and group at 8pm for our 8:30pm departure.
Without a camera, we left our dorm around 2pm, giving us plenty of time to get there and a chance to explore. We found a few shops, got some food, and relaxed. At 8pm everyone in the traveling group was there, ready to board our sleeper bus. James, our coordinator, led us to the station where they told us there would be a delay. No big deal. After all, it was a major holiday. After about an hour, we were informed that our sleeper bus would not be a sleeper bus since they had overbooked or a bus had broken down (they gave both these answers). Facing the prospect of sitting on a bus for more than 10 hours when we should be lying down was quite upsetting. Although it should have been much bigger, we were able to get a small refund, and accepted our fate.
The bus was already half full with Chinese people, whom I'm sure were thrilled to see a group of loud, large, and overpacked Americans Staci and I were able to find a seat next to each other, but the seats were not comfortable, and many of them were broken.
Within 10 minutes, we heard and felt a loud explosion. Our bus blew a tire directly under our seat on the highway. Our bus driver proceeded to put the bus in reverse and back down the highway through the oncoming traffic. We went down a few side streets through a village where randomly there was an open tire shop. We waited for the next 40 minutes outside while they unsuccessfully attempted to repair the tire, settling for the spare. Once again, we boarded the bus, hoping to get some sleep.
I didn't fall asleep for more than 20 minutes until 5am. It seemed like this was the case for most of us.
I woke up near 8am to see beautiful rocky mountains. We had made it.
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Heidi
non-member comment
Hot Pot
HOT POT is not the Melting Pot Martin! :)