Fifth Stop on the China 1 month runaround….
CHENGDU
The last blog post I wrote we were planning for our trip to Chengdu….oh what a trip that ended up being! Chengdu is by far the best city I have been to in China in every aspect. However, it owes me a week of my life back as it sucked everything I had from me and left me to recover in Kunming, a much needed departure otherwise I would have been stuck forever in the Bermuda triangle that is Chengdu, specifically Sim's hostel (that's a shout out to you Simon and Sam)!!
Our last night in Chongqing consisted of Dinner at a revolving restaurant high above the city. Who knew that despite the pleasure I take in thrill rides, a snail paced revolving restaurant would leave me feeling queasy and uncomfortable. I managed to consume a little dinner and a few beers to put me at ease (although that didn't help the situation), however it wasn't until I had my feet planted firmly on solid ground did I again feel at ease. We spent the rest of the night at a an outside bar and a few cheesy Chinese clubs before losing each other and making our way home! Lucky for me Kasey had purchased some Chow Cow (Chinese BBQ) and I diligently devoured it to save myself from after club starvation! Thank God for China and Chow Cow and street food! Nights out would not be the same!
Upon arising at two o'clock the next day we realised we needed to scoot to make our train to Chengdu! It was national day and it was going to be bedlham with about 99% of the chinese population thinking this was the day to travel! We made it with some serious time to spare so we thought some chilling out in our home away from home (McDonalds) would be a good idea - so did half of Chongqing! After a sympathetic Chinese family made way for us to sit we placed our orders….What? No beef?? When has McDonalds EVER run out of beef! Oh dear! After a big night out, what is better than a good old Big Mac? We were devastated and it took a long time considering other options to finally bring ourselves to eat some crappy KFC nock off burger! Well at least they had coffee! The rest of the day went pretty much the same way! No food for the foreigners! 1 billion travelling Chinese had consumed China's entire supply in their National Day pilgrimage!
Chengdu was such a pleasant surprise though! The hostel, bustling and huge became my home for the week and also the meeting place for many a foreigner who is now lucky enough to be called my friend! Haha! We saw pandas, temples, a Sichuan opera and spent some time cycling around Chengdu to hit a local tea-house (literally for the locals) complete with out door bamboo chairs on the street, rickety old tables, stained teacups and a plethora of old chinese chimneys surrounding us like the circus had just rolled into town. A few stopped to chat, take photos and blatantly stare….but it was peaceful! I have learnt to find peace and harmony within the chaos of China…although the more Chinese I learn, the more my ears prick up and the less harmonious the white noise becomes.
Seeing the pandas was educational…apart from taking snaps of the playful creatures in an eating frenzy, the rest of the outing consisted of an education of panda breeding habits, routines, interventions etc. I suppose we DID go to a panda breeding centre. What did I expect?
Sichuan food is amazing! If I wasn't eating the best hostel food I have come across in China in Sim's hostel then I was out indulging in Hot Pot, BBQ and yummy Sichuan snacks - usually at about 5 in the morning! Haha! I even mustered up the guts to take a new friend who was a newbie to China to hot pot and test my limited Chinese. Success…..it was delicious and relatively easy! A few mumbled words, a lot of pointing and we got what we needed - a delicious meal.
The nightlife in Chengdu seemed to take up most of my time! Upon forming a crew with some foreigners we frequented one club every night! One of the guys had connections so it was all you can drink each and every night! Unfortunately for me, upon asking Sam what to wear to this place…his reply was "as long as you are wearing white skin you can wear anything you like". I wish he had been more explicit. This place was the most pretentious place I had ever seen! The men were RICH and the women were BEAUTIFUL and the place was no where to be seen dressed as the daggy traveller that I am. Oh well, Sam was right…I was wearing white skin! The girls wanted to dance with me (bonus points for them), the men wanted to toast with me and generally just have me around and the foreigners couldn't care less! They were there for the local women! haha! So this was my place of choice for three nights in a row! The attraction certainly was not the club but a very cute Chinese floor manager that happened to be friends with Sam. So between him bossing his staff around and people toasting me we had some great conversations (well as far as club conversations go). It wasn't until the third night when a foreigner was a little inappropriate with me and my friends took it extremely personal that an altercation transpired and I left CC's never to return. Fortunately I had a number and a date for the following night! :)
I made some great friends in Chengdu…one of which lives only 50 mins by train from my foreignless China hometown, Cangzhou! So I will have a friend on my return. Most left around the same time but for those who remained it was sad to say goodbye! The never ending emotional rollercoaster of saying goodbye to great people again and again!
I took yet another, but my last, sleeper train to Kunming! 18 hours! Not so bad! I had the very top bunk (3rd tier) and only just fit in it! So my only venture down from my tower of bedding was to slurp on some instant noodles and use the bathroom! It was still so busy at the tail end of the National holiday, so I was avoiding the chaos at all costs! I spent the time catching up on all my sleep deprivation - too much! My sleeping patterns have been wrecked up until now.
Sixth Stop on the China 1 month runaround….
KUNMING
As I got to Kunming a few days too late my two days there consisted of recovering and the Stone Forest. I met a lovely Israeli - Dikler and we took a day trip out to this amazing, overpriced forest! It is literally a forest of giant pointy stones and we managed to get ourselves lost in it's tranquillity and peacefulness!! It was a nice day out. We happened to meet a Chinese guy on the bus who spoke perfect English. He was by himself and keen for company so we walked through the forest, had an amazing lunch and ventured back to Kunming with him. All the time with him teasing me about my Mandarin pronunciation. My comeback was that I am sure he sounded like a fool when he was first learning English!
The adrenaline rush of that day was seeing my first snake since leaving Australia! I freaked out seeing the slithery creature move right in front of me and dash into the bushes! No one could understand why I was so freaked out - to them it was worthy of dinner haha! I had to explain that in my country...you see a snake...you RUN for your pitiful little life…because in my country it is probably likely to kill you! This was the first thing I noticed when I left Aussie borders…where are the bugs and spiders and creepy crawlies that haunt our everyday lives? Oh that's right! They are all in Aus!! AH!
So that was my one month China run around! Full of adventures and mayhem and amazing experiences! I love this country! Right now I am Dubai-bound. Boarded on a plane that doesn't even have MOVIES! What the heck do I do with 7 hours of my time?? Ah! Good time to write a blog I say! I am looking forward to coming back so much! I have fallen in love with China and it's craziness! I take the good with the bad these days and am beginning to stop cringing every time someone hawks and spits or nearly runs me down in a vehicle of some sort! The next step in learning the language to provide me with a much less frustrating, more pleasant experience. I will work on that when I get back!
Until then, it is Dubai, India, Thailand and Cambodia on the agenda. I land in Dubai tonight…enough time to give me some solid catch up time before starting prac! My studies became more and more neglected throughout my one month run around but it's not too late!
Miss you all
Love to you all,
HJ xx
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