Hiking in Zhejian

11 November

So last month, I just had to get out of the city. I found a quick fix through the group Yejo. I pay them 700 kuai, which is just over 100 USD, and they provide all the transport, food, and entertainment sans beer of course for a two night and two day trip out into the hills south of Shanghai. Before I go further, I have one question: Would you drink this???

Sunny Beijing

16 October

One of the Olympic mascots

So last week I lived through my first Typhoon. Now I have lived through hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, ice storms, etc .. but never a typhoon, so I turn to my good friend Google and ask "What is a typhoon?"

Terracotta Warriors

14 September

This has been a hard post to write. Hard to find the words, and hard to post. I have rewritten this thrice, and almost posted twice.  For those of you imaging that I have been out exploring Shanghai history by day and sky rise bars by night, well I must disappoint you. I have spent the past week trying to download a semesters worth of accounting fundamentals into my brain (still working on it too!). But you are not here to listen to me whine.

This cannot compare to Cafe au Lait and Pain au chocolat.

I successfully avoided my good friend Murphy going down the mountain, and arrived at the train station a whole hour ahead of schedule. Now I was the twentieth person to by a ticket, after the ticket office opened late, but I did hop the first bus down from the cable way to the tourist center. Something that saved me a bit of time was that the bus stopped on the main road to allow people to board a bus back to Xi'an. This allowed me the opportunity to catch a cab to the station nearly thirty minutes ahead of schedule. My reward for duping Murphy was a steaming up of Nescafe and a bag of Chinese Swiss Rolls, but my good luck would not last.

Overnighting on Huashan

31 August

4pm saw me ambling about on Central Peak. Central Peak sits below East, South, and West Peak, but over North Peak; however, because of the placement of trees one cannot see North Peak from Central Peak. I shared some pictures last time of Central Peak, and there was nothing of particular note to see on this peak, but I played with my camera a bit here. I'll leave those for a bit later, and move on with the tale a bit.

My room at East Peak

Rather than retrace my steps I carried on the path that had brought me to Central Peak, and wound up making my way back up to East Peak. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,/ And sorry I could not travel both/ And be one traveler, long I stood/ And looked down one as far as I could/ To where it bent in the undergrowth;..." is what went through my mind when I reached the fork in the road.

Hello from Huashan

30 August

My hiking glove waving hello from the top of East Peak.

Huashan. Well I am glad I did it, but I doubt I would ever be willing to do it again. Though they may never read this, thank you to every person who patently waited for me to stumble out a Chinese sentence, or who rephrased my bungled Chinese so that an attendant could understand me, or who took a photo of me to share here with you,  or who smiled at me and thanked me for visiting Huashan; my adventure would not have been a pleasurable without you. Huashan has been turned into a sadistic type of amusement park, no rides just punishing amounts of exercise and some perilous attractions. Like all amusement park, everything past the main entrance gets a 5x increase in price and if jammed with people. In America, you expect long lines and screaming children. On Huashan, you find the same, but with an added element of deathly peril because falling here might not just mean a scrapped knee.

Xi'an Bound

26 August

Well I did it! I made the solo weekend trip out to Xi'an to see Huashan and the Terracotta Warriors. The worst trick Murphy played on me was hiding my cheat sheet. All I had to rely for bus numbers and general information was my memory, and my Chinese; it was truly an adventure. I kept a daily journal directed towards my parents which is how I will be posting this trip, and with my Papa's pack, they never truly felt that far away. My trip it isn't over yet. Right now I am on a lay over in Beijing, waiting at LTL for my overnight train to Shanghai ... and I haven't showered in four days!

Papa's trusty pack making the trip with me.

 Friday, 23 August, it was a stressful morning. I have moved all of my belongings to LTL, and all I carry with me is some food, a camera, my boots, a change of clothes in case it rains, seven bottles of water, and a few essentials. It is a disquieting feeling looking at an empty room, only a few items on your back, and no intention of return. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of another. To add to my nervousness about the solo trip and lack of home is my visa. The visa agency is to deliver it to me today with my passport so I can board my train, but without it in hand my stomach is in knots.

Following the Wall From Hebei to Beijing

23 August

Last weekend I went out with the Beijing Hikers on yet another Great Wall hike. I assure you that it doesn't get old. As I explained two posts ago, is so much of the Great Wall to see, and around Beijing the landscape changes greatly. At Jiankou and Mutianyu the wall is wrapped in mists and the lanscape gives it a dramatic backdrop. Gubeikou and Jinshanling host a wall that clings to the spine of rolling hills before sweeping away in the distance on the back of the dragon. Both of them, vastly different, were both walls. Strong, towering and yes crumbling in places, but still a wall. The hike in Yangqing Country of Hebei Province follows a mounded pile of rocks, packed earth, and loose stones masquerading as a wall.

Now that is a great wall ....