I arrived in Shangri-La by bus from Lijiang. The ride cost 68 RMB ($10.97 USD), took about four hours, and was full of beautiful scenery.
ShangriLa China: Guishan Park and The World’s Second Largest Prayer Wheel
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Tag Archives: china
Lijiang, China: My Budget for a Three Day Visit
Lijiang, China: Round Bed, Choking on Altitude and Getting Westernered
Upon arrival in Lijiang, I was picked up by a driver my hotel set up for free, and I was brought to my hotel. I am staying at Xi Tang Exquisite Hotel. When I had booked it, I picked it because it had round beds and I had always wanted to sleep in a round bed.
Shortly after booking, I got an email letting me know that there is going to be construction going on during the day…my heart sank as I thought this was going to continue to tell me that the room is now not available. But it was! I had a reduced rate because of the construction. YAY ROUND BED!
Ganzi, Tibet: A Nice Place to Visit, But I Don’t Want to Live Here.
I am sitting here on my hotel bed typing this out. My laptop is the only thing warm in this room and I am using it as a heater on my feet as I sit Indian style. To my right is the sound of thunder and lightning shaking my windows, to my left is the sound of the shower dripping as a reminder that I now have not showered in two days. Or maybe the five or six flies buzzing all around me are the reminder. I don’t really know anymore. I do know that I am putting off showering today because I want to wait until the very last minute to discover that once again I do not have hot water. I have already verified I have no heat. I did not expect to. Actually, if we are going to list things I was not expecting, let us put “spending yet ANOTHER night in Ganzi” at the top of the list.
See, I am an independent woman who travels solo. I speak online with a lot of women who are scared to take the leap. My signature stance is that: if you are temporarily lost, just get in a taxi back to your hotel. Problem solved. No one has ever had to relocate and live in a city they traveled to because they got lost and could not get out. But I now live in Ganzi. Because I cannot get out.
Dali, China: Beautiful Scenery, Dead Butterflies and I Get Lost and Hitchhike
I woke up in Kunming this morning and had a fight with my VPN for way too long to actually admit to, so let’s just say it was a long time.
Took my hotel’s airport shuttle to the airport and checked into my flight to Dali. The flight was a short 57 minutes but I screwed up everything about it. I thought it was leaving at 9:35, but that was the time it was arriving. I also at some point thought we were leaving an hour late because it was 8:30, but that is the time my flight was supposed to leave (and I thought it was 9:35 so wouldn’t 8:30 be an hour early and not late?) Yeah.
We land in Dali and I am picked up by a prearranged driver for my hostel. This is a luxury I love affording myself because it sure beats figuring out where I have to go. Which as you read on, you will see why it is probably best I am not left to fend for myself.
I checked into my room at the Dragonfly Guesthouse. There are so many places to stay in Dali, all with amazing reviews. How do you choose? Easy. Pick the one with the Gilmore Girls related name. Easy, peasy. Lorelai would be proud.
Stopover in Xining, China and Getting Knocked Down a Stairway. Oh China.
I took my first overnight train from Xi’an to Xining. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was fortunate to have a bottom bed in a soft sleeper car. My cabin-mates were nice, did not try to speak to me, but did try to give me cookies. It appeared they were all together. The (one I assumed was the) father had the bottom bunk opposite me. He coughed nonstop all night which kept waking me up. But other than that, not bad at all.
I make it out of the train station. I attempt to walk down the steps. There is a ramp on the right side of the steps, intending for you to roll your luggage down it as you walk down the steps. I could not figure out how to use it. Neither could the woman in front of me. Unlike me though, she kept trying. This was holding up everyone. Except that this is China so by “holding up everyone” I mean “making everyone smash into me to get me to go, but I couldn’t because she wasn’t.” Next thing I know, I am pushed really hard, I still don’t want to knock the woman in front of me down, so I try to steady myself and end up falling backwards. No one stops, they all keep continuing down the steps. Sigh.
Day Trip From Xian to Mount Huashan, China
Mount Huashan is famous for some horrifying things, including the steps so steep you are basically hiking straight up (see here), and also for the plank walk which you can see here, which is just NO NEVER.
The mountain is located just outside of Xi’an, China. To get here, you can take a bus from the Xi’an train station. The bus takes about three hours and costs 22 Yuan ($3.52 USD) You can also opt for a high speed train that leaves from Xian North train station (not the same one the bus leaves from.) It takes 35 minutes, for 55 Yuan ($8.79 USD.) You can also take a regular train, but there is really no logic in that.
Going to Huashan from the Xian train station: the buses are located all the way to the right of the train station if you are facing it. You cannot miss them, there are a bunch. The the destination is written on the bus in English (read the destination as buses to the Terra Cotta Warriors also leave from here!)
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Arrival in Xi’an China: The Day Nothing Went My Way
I flew to Xi’an from Guilin. At the airport, I was doing a combination of trying to stop sweating and silently willing everyone who was staring at me to STOP STARING AT ME.
We had a meal served to us on the plane. I could not identify it so I did not eat it. As we were about halfway through our flight, there was an announcement that I had never heard in real life before: “Is there a doctor on board?” YIKES. The very young looking woman in front of me stood up to help. If she is old enough to be a doctor, then I am old enough to live in a nursing home. I don’t really know what was going on because other than the initial announcement, there was no English spoken regarding what was going on.
Arrival in Xi’an. UGH. I need to buy a lighter (yes, smoking is gross) and there is nothing open in the airport. I go outside to take a cab to my hotel. No cabs will let me get in. There are about eleventy billion cabs outside. Approximately five lanes worth of cabs, all going back way so far that I cannot see the end of the lanes. Every cab I tried to get in told me “NO.” What do you mean, NO? I’ll show YOU no.
I basically just stood in the middle of traffic (all cabs mind you) screaming about how “I NEED A FREAKING CAB. I AM FROM NEW YORK, YOU CAN’T GET AWAY WITH THIS” and “I WILL STAND HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC FLAILING MY ARMS UNTIL ONE OF YOU LETS ME GET IN YOUR CAB. LET ME SEE YOU STARE AT THAT, MOTHER FUCKERS!”
Guilin, China: Fubo Hill
My last stop in Guilin is going to be Fubo Hill. Making it here will be an accomplishment as I have tried a couple of times now and ended up lost. By now I can kind of figure out how to walk here from my hotel, but I am not leaving from my hotel. Nope, I am leaving from Yao Mountain. Boy was this a production.
I want to take a cab to Fubo Hill from Yao Mountain. There are lots of drivers in the parking lot, none of whom will pay attention to me when I approach them. A couple walked away, one was sitting in his car and rolled up the window. I find a group of cab drivers all together. One keeps putting out a huge wad of cash and flashing hundreds at me to the point I wondered if maybe “taxi” or “Fubo Hill” sounded like “hooker” in Mandarin.
Guilin, China: You Can Ride a Bobsled Down Yao Mountain!
Today is my last day in Guilin and I still have lots to do! I do not want to leave this place at all. It is so beautiful here.
