My friend that studied abroad at Eau Claire is from Kunming, so he invited me to come see his hometown and give me a personal tour. It had a great mix of history (with ancient gates surrounding the city), natural beauty (a river and a lake right in the middle of town), and of course Chinese culture. He had an electric motorbike (as does a lot of people in China), and we took it on a cruise around the city, pointing out all the historical significances of the city. One interesting fact is that there used to be a major drug trafficking scheme to get drugs into China, which ran through Kunming. Don't worry though, that was long ago, and it was as safe as can be.
My friend suggested that I go to an old town called Lijiang, which was 7 hours away from Kunming. Wanting to see an old Chinese town, I happily went. Getting there was a little difficult, however, as the train tickets were sold out for the rest of the day. A little worried on how to get there, miraculously I quickly got my answer. A bus driver, who's English vocabulary was at zero, asked (in Chinese) if I was going to Lijiang. I said yes, and just like that I instead was taking a bus to Lijiang.
While waiting for the bus, this one guy saw me reading my Chinese dictionary, and we proceeded to talk Chinese for over an hour, which was one of the two things I wanted to accomplish while in China (the other one was to see rice terraces in the mountains, which was satisfied multiple times throughout the trip).
With the suggestion and the decision to go to Lijiang being so sudden, I was not able to book a hostel before the bus left, so when I got to Lijiang I was stuck with no place to go. Luckily I had the address to one hostel, although the address that the hostel provided was incomplete, and instead consisted of an area, not a specific building. After three drivers refusing to go to the address, finally one agreed. After driving around trying to find it, the taxi driver eventually just got out of the car and literally ran up and down the road trying to ask for directions. Finding nobody, we kept driving until I spotted a little sign on a door signifying the hostel and I told the driver to stop. By this time it was 11pm, and the owner of the hostel was so incredibly nice, as he took me right in and gave me some food once he found out I hadn't eaten in over 7 hours. The hostel, and the city, ended up being one of my favorite parts of the whole trip, as the people were incredibly friendly, is was a cozy place, and the town was spectacular.
Lijiang is an old city surrounded by mountains. So the first day me and some people I met walked around the town, which luckily had some sort of festival going on that day, so we got to see traditional Chinese dancing and ceremonies, along with the scenic town itself.
The next day I was able to explore the outside of the town, going to a place called the "Tiger Leaping Gorge." The Tiger Leaping Gorge was this huge mountain range with a big river running through the middle of it. We hiked through the mountains, following the river, with nothing but incredible views along the way. Things didn't exactly go as planned today, however. I was supposed to take a bus in the afternoon back to my hostel, which was over an hour away, however when the taxi that was taking me to the bus got stuck in traffic due to a huge rockslide that completely covered the road, I had to come up with a different plan. Once things cleared and the driver dropped me off on the side of the road, I started walking, hoping I'd find something. Miraculously again, I quickly found the way back. There were three people on the side of the road who asked where I was going, and they happened to be going to the same place. They told me to wait as a public bus that I didn't know about was about to come, so I took that bus and got back perfectly okay. The people that helped me even invited me to dinner and paid for my meal! (Chinese people seemed to have a liking for white tourists, as I had multiple meals paid for and was invited to be in dozens of other people's photos. I felt like a celebrity with all of that attention!)
After Lijiang I decided to make my way over 2,000 miles to the north to a city called Xi'an, home of the famous Terracotta Warriors. Wanting to save money (over $100), I opted to take a very long train ride instead of a few hour flight. The trip was split into a 7 hour train ride and a 34 hour train ride, the latter being double the time it took to fly here from America. With 2 nights sleep, the bible, my computer, my thoughts, and sightseeing out the window, time actually went fairly fast, and I was there before I knew it.
Once in Xi'an, I quickly befriended two British guys and a German guy, and we went to the Terracotta Warriors together. It was truly spectacular, just like we've all seen on TV and in pictures. Interestingly, this emperor was one of the first to use fake soldiers to protect his grave, as previous emperors would use real human sacrifices to protect them. I also learned that although they look brown and broken, they were initially painted bright colors, but thousands of years of floods and weathering wore off the colors.
Having time left in the day, we were able to go to a building called the "Big Goose Pagoda" in order to catch a water fountain show. The water show was similar to the light show in Hong Kong, and it was equally as impressive, with lights, music, and all kinds of fountains.
Taking (yet another) overnight train to Beijing, I hit the peak of visiting famous sites. Right away, I went to the Forbidden City which is the palace where the emperors of China lived for thousands of years until 1911. Of course in the front of the entrance is a picture of Mao Zedong, as his picture is frequently seen around the city. The Forbidden City is filled with dozens of fancy buildings, each used for only a specific task or two, such as changing clothes or practicing speeches. Although it was a "home", I was pretty tired walking around it, so I couldn't imagine having a "house" that big.
Saturday was a day for the lesser known sites, yet equally impressive. The first stop was Olympic Village, where the 2008 Olympics were held. The Olympic Village was about the size of a small town, with the famous national stadium, the Water Cube where Michael Phelps won his record amount of medals, the torch tower, and a granite wall with all of the winners' names on it. After walking around an area I had seen plenty of on TV, I headed to the Summer Palace, which was essentially the emperors' cabin, only about 500 times bigger than a normal cabin and its land. As is all of the emperors' things, this place was magnificent, with an enormous lake, gardens, hills, buildings, and much more.
On Sunday I first went to the National Museum, which was impressive to see many priceless artifacts, including gifts given to the Chinese leaders from countries including the U.S. and even North Korea. After that, I was able to spend the afternoon with my cousin Stephanie, who happened to be in Beijing at the same time as me on a school trip, and this is her point of view on the evening:
Reid and I found each other!! Being in China has been an amazing experience so far, and getting together with Reid for the night made it so much better. He knew what to do and how to get there much better than me and my roommate Jess. It was only our second night here so we hadn't used the underground train systems yet, so when Reid took us there he was teaching us the ways. I can't say I remember too much (sorry Reid)! I know how to find my destination, get on the train, that bei means north, and dong means east. I think, anyway haha! Our plan was to go to the Legend of Kung Fu show, which is the story of a young boy learning to become a Monk and Kung Fu master, or "how to turn his body into steel." We ended up having to run to the Red Theater once we got off the train because we knew we were going to be late. We got there
After the show we decided to take the train downtown to explore and we ended up finding a big strip of little trinket shops. They were selling the typical Chinese souvenirs: fans, Buddhas, chopsticks, jewelry, etc. AND GUESS WHAT WE BOUGHT AS A SNACK!! FRIED SCORPIONS! People were standing around us watching as we took the picture and popped them in our mouths. The trick was to not think about it and chew as fast as you could. It ended up tasting just like chicken, just crunchy. However, unlike chicken we had little legs stuck in our teeth for a while! That was the only gross part about it. Reid and I were pretty stoked and immediately thought how proud Uncle Casey would be of us.
I definitely didn't want the night to end, but that same day I already went to the Great Wall and the Summer Palace so I was beat! Plus I needed to wake up
Like I said, China is absolutely amazing but seeing Reid here topped it off. What are the odds we would be on the other side of the world on the same day?!
My last day in Beijing I spent on the granddaddy of them all-The Great Wall of China. It was as spectacular as the pictures show, with the wall going up and over the mountains for miles and miles, out of sight. Little did I know, the wall is extremely steep in a lot of areas, making it difficult to navigate at times. At one point, a couple dropped out and stopped climbing because they couldn't continue. Once I made it to one of the high points after a few kilometers, I just sat there and basked in the enormity that is the Great Wall, trying to understand the importance of the location that I was at. Looking at the never-ending mountains in the distance, I pictured soldiers walking hundreds of miles to fight China, only to find a massive wall blocking their path.
After the great wall, the last stop was a day layover in Shanghai before finally flying back to Hong Kong. It was an extremely impressive city with skyscrapers in shapes that I never knew were possible, yet had a Chinese architectural mix to it. It was scary in a sense too to see how vastly improved the city was, and how dangerously close America is being threatened in economic, infrastructurally, and many other ways by China.
After a month of traveling, it was finally over as I landed in Hong Kong for one last day there before heading home. I didn't go to sleep at all the night before my flight in order to quickly adjust to the 13 hour time change, so I spent the night giving friends, the dorm, campus, and the city one last goodbye.
The flight home went by super fast with all the excitement, and I got to my house before I knew it. Finally in the United States, it felt so naturally unnatural. It felt odd being around other people like me, talking the same language, same customs, and same etiquette. It was a luxury I hadn't felt in five months, and I didn't know what to make of it. I felt home, but I felt like I was still in a foreign land. It feels great being home, yet I feel like there's a part of my mind still left in Hong Kong. Its only been about 24 hours being, so we'll see what the next few days have to hold. I have a feeling that I'll continue to be in this culturally confused state of mind for quite a few days, but I love it and couldn't be happier right now.
I thank you all for reading my adventures over the last five months, I had a lot of fun sharing my fun with you and I look forward to seeing all of you!
I thank you all for reading my adventures over the last five months, I had a lot of fun sharing my fun with you and I look forward to seeing all of you!
