Going to Zhangjiajie
Trip Start
May 24, 2008
1
3
14
Trip End
Aug 11, 2008
Zhangjiajie, China
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Anyway, a couple of interesting things happened on the bus. First, there was this couple across the aisle, probably college underclassmen. They were very...touchy. I was ammused watching them try to contort themselves so they could lay against each other on the tiny seats
Couple on bus
. I took a picture of them while they were sleeping all tangled up in each other's arms. I figure they must have just started dating or something since they were acting so mushy. The next interesting thing that happened is that about halfway through the ride, the bus pulled over and stopped at what looked like some sort of reststop. I stayed inside, and then I noticed drops on the windows. I didn't think it was raining. Next thing I knew, some guys were scrubbing the bus, making it all soapy. So basically, mid-way through the 4-hour journey, the driver decided we needed a bus-wash right then! I wonder if that's normal in China? I thought it was strange/ammusing. Eventually everyone got back on the bus and we pulled away. 30 minutes later, the romeo guy w/ the g/f stood up with the container of noodles he bought. Then the guy in front of me motioned to an open window and before I realized what was happening, there went his cardboard bowl, right onto the road! Then he just sat back down as if he threw it into the trash instead of destroying the scenery around us. Right before he did that I was thinking how pretty the farmland was, and how it looked relatively undisturbed. After he did it, I kind of felt a mini-outrage mixed with disbelief. Why couldn't he have just held onto his bowl for another hour? I If I knew the right vocabulary, I might have said something to him about it, but I didn't know what to say so I just kept quiet and observed. Eventually the bus got to ZJJ city. This is apparently different than ZZJ village. From the bus station, I was supposed to look for another bus that would take me to the village. Immediately when I stepped off of the bus some tourguide people started to bug me. I ignored them initially and retreived my bag from under the bus, and while trying to stand back up proceeded to bang my head (hard) on the door
Couple on bus2
. So now I guess the score is me:2, bus:4, since half of the time I use a bus I seem to end up with a headache from banging my head against something. Anyway, once I finally stood up the travel agency people took advantage of my dazed-ness and asked where I wanted to go. I tried telling them I was looking for the bus for the village. They took me to their office and tried to get me to read some paper, but it was all in Chinese so I told them I couldn't. They talked about that for a bit then made a call to someone who could speak english. The guy on the phone asked what I was trying to do and I told him I just wanted to find the bus. He asked if I wanted to go alone or with a tour so I told him alone. This actually ended well, he explained to the other guys that I wanted to find the bus, and I convinced them to give me a trail map (for free!) and then one of them showed me where the bus was. When I got to the bus, I was harrassed by yet another guy. This one wanted me to stay at his hotel somewhere in the mountains I was going to. So here's the problem I had with this guy: he had really really bad teeth. So based on his teeth, I immediately didn't trust him. I think I tend to judge Chinese by their teeth and nails, so if they have long nails or bad teeth I am more suspicious of them. I don't mean like crooked teeth. If you can't afford braces that's one thing, I don't descriminate against crooked teeth :-P. But there was some major decay going on in his mouth, very gross. Anyway, I couldn't get him to go away, I kept telling him I didn't want whatever he was trying to sell. Eventually I called my friend, Ying, the girl who was supposed to come with me this week, and she translated for me. He wanted to charge 50kuai/night at his hotel and 30kuai to carry my luggage. Since I hadn't seen his hotel, I didn't want to commit to anything
On the cablecar up
. So basically that's what Ying told him and even tho the bus had already left the station he finally got the point and got off. Fifteen minutes later, I'm trying to figure out when I should get off the bus. Other people start getting off at various stops. That couple that I mentioned before are on this bus too. I figure I'm basically probably going to the same place as them so I followed them. They got off, so I did too (I used the same strategy when trying to find Fenghuang). I didn't have a plan about what I'd do once I got off the bus but I didn't need to worry, since as soon as I got off someone else was bugging me already. This time, she just wanted me to eat, and I was hungry, so I did. While I was sitting in the outdoor restaurant (watching some caged bird live his final hours), I was trying to figure out what hotel I'd stay in. I settled on a place that LP said should be 80kuai. Luckily this place was not far away, so I asked the waitress where it was and she pointed me in the right direction. The hotel is okay...definitely not to US standards but at least this time it's a real hotel. I even have a real toilet this time! But hot water is apparently only after 6pm.
It was about 3pm by now, so I wanted to go hiking before it got dark
Made it to the top. It's easy w/ the cableca
. I filled my Walmart-brand Camelback with water and set off towards the mountain. On the way I was bugged by yet another tour guide but this one I liked. He had decent teeth, his clothes were clean, and his nails weren't too long. He's about 35. He wasn't pushy like the others, and was patient with my bad Chinese. He can also speak a little English (by a little, I mean just a some words here and there, not like forming sentences). Anyway, he told me I should take the cable-car up since it was starting to get late (was almost 4 by then). He wanted to come with me to guide me but I wanted to do it alone. Eventually he said okay, but he first showed me where the bus was, as well as the cable-cars. He told me once I got to the top, that I should take the short way down because otherwise I wouldn't have enough daylight to do the long way. I really tried to follow his advice, but the signs at the top were very confusing, so I accidently took the long way. I took some time to enjoy the scenery (it's my new favorite place in the world, it beats Zion Valley in Utah) then I realized my mistake. So after taking many pictures from the top, I started to get a little worried about the setting sun. I was trying to go down the mountain but for some reason I kept finding stairs that led UP. I'd go along a path longer, look at more signs, and still end up finding stairs going up. I was so confused. So I started going REALLY fast, as I was still on the top of the mountain and had a long hike ahead of me
zzj
. This went on for awhile... Eventually, I started to find workers who were packing up to leave (they were taking the cable-car down). I asked them which way to go, they'd point, I'd go, then I'd get lost again. So this process repeated at least 4-5 times and finally I found the right path with a sign that made sense. It was about 6 pm, I didn't knwo what time the sunset. So I more or less ran down the mountain stairs. So far in China, I haven't walked down mountain stairs, only ran. The only other mountain I've visited so far was in Changzhou 2 years ago, and we were sorta running from the mountain security (long story...)
The hike down was very discouraging, because whenever I thought I was getting close, I'd turn a corner and see more stairs. Finally, I heard some noises up ahead. I thought I reached the base. I turned the corner around some trees expecting to see people, and I saw...monkeys! A whole family of them! Including some babies. I wasn't sure if they were going to attack me (I was thinking of the NatGeo documentary about Baboon attacks) so I was really cautious. But they just looked at me then went on their merry way. They were pretty close at one point but I couldn't get my camera to focus well so I think I only have 1 good picture of one of the bigger monkeys. They were actually good luck for me, as the last cornor I turned yielded the base of the mountain. I made it down in about 30-40 minutes with approximately 30 minutes of sunlight to spare.
I got back to my hotel at 7. The hot water was still on, so I took advantage of it and took a shower.
Does anyone know if mosquitos can bite through jeans? I think I have some bites on my legs, but I didn't think that would be possible.
