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
6 Replies
Tag Archives: solo trip to China
Lijiang, China: My Budget for a Three Day Visit
Dali, China: The Gorgeous Three Pagodas of the Congsheng Temple Grounds
If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seen me post that once upon a time, I saw a photo of Dali’s Three Pagodas and immediately thought “I need to go there.” So I did.
This is one of the many things I love about travel. That as you go further and further, you realize how attainable things are. You can be a person who looks at a picture in a magazine and thinks “Oh how pretty” before turning the page and running for your car keys when you see an ad announcing that your preferred brand of kitty litter is on sale, or you can be the person who does not turn the page and instead brings the magazine to her laptop and begins Googling to figure out the logistics of getting there. I will always be the latter. How could I not be when this exists:
31 Hours From My Apartment to Kunming via Kong Kong: Then Not Finding an ATM That Takes My Debit Card.
After taking an hour long subway ride (that includes taking three trains to avoid having to carry my bags up several flights of steps,) I missed my airport train by about two seconds. I wait half an hour for the next one, and then finally arrive at the airport. Of course I was excited to see my flight was delayed. Oh wait, no I wasn’t. Sigh.
I was a combination of exhausted and hyper and I didn’t even realize I was making some sort of scene by stamping my feet singing outloud and talking to my cute little stuffed dog. Then an airport employee came over to ask me if I was okay and then I realized I looked like a crack head.
My first flight was seventeen hours. I always read about how Cathay Pacific is a great airline so I was excited to be flying them. They do not have individual air vents at your seats, or at least they did not on this flight. I did not like that. They also didn’t do regular beverage service on this flight. I am not sure if it was because it was an overnight flight or if that is normal. Yes, you can hit the call button and someone will come, but I felt weird after eight hours of nothing, asking for a snack. I don’t even know what kind of snacks they had. It was weird.
My row only had two seats. I was in the window and my seat mate had a seat’s worth of empty space next to her, until some woman decided to start jogging in place in it. I could not stop laughing. I understand the reasoning for the jogging in place on a plane. I do not understand why you would think it was okay to do so, so close to another person.
Sometimes As A Solo Traveler, I want to Travel Solo
Once upon a time, I was in Chengdu, China. I was going to visit the Grand Leshan Buddha. I get on the bus and it is hot and smells like a homeless person. Shortly after, it begins. I hear some girl talking loudly on a cell phone. “There are no backpackers on here, only Chinese people and they all smell bad.” I shrink down in my seat a bit. It is one thing to not wish for human companionship ever, it is another to hide from someone who is rude enough to have said this aloud. Don’t assume that no one on the bus can understand you. I’m betting a bunch of them could.
We get to the town of Leshan and I make the mistake of not immediately running off the bus. I get caught. “Hi! Do you want to share a cab?” No thank you, I am taking the bus. “I will take it with you!” Argh, fine. We walk to the bus and she is joyously telling me how happy she is to have found me. Me? I don’t want to be found.
There is a thing about meeting people while traveling. That thing is that I don’t want to. Let me make this clear: I know I am the odd one here. People who want to meet other people? They are normal. YOU are normal. You should be glad I don’t want to spend time with people. Who wants to spend time with a weirdo? Go on, run off and be free!
Whenever I do meet someone, the internal dialogue starts.
Me: Ughhhhhhhhh
Me: Would it kill you to just be nice to this person?
Me: No, but I just don’t want to talk to anyone
Me: But would it kill you to just be nice to this person?
Me: But a huge part of this trip was to escape the real world and BE ALONE
Me: BUT WOULD IT KILL YOU TO BE NICE TO THIS PERSON?
Me: I DON’T WANNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Guilin, China: Sun and Moon Pagodas
Following my morning at the Reed Flute Cave, I napped. When I woke up later, I went outside and for the third time, tried to find the bus that goes to Fubo Hill. I walked around in every direction from my hotel and all it got me was sweaty. I kind of wanted to go back to my room and cry, but instead, I thought I might be near the Sun and Moon Pagodas. I did have a map, but maps are useless to people who just cannot master reading them.
I walked for a bit and made the observation that there may very well be more scooters in China than in Naples. The huge difference is that scooters in China are silent. I mean REALLY silent. So silent that at one point, I had the life scared out of me by a horn blaring at me. I turned and the scooter was less than an inch from me and I never even heard it coming up. I honestly thought at first that maybe for some reason, they were all turned off and just gliding. Nope, dead silent motors.
Hong Kong, China: Chi Lin Nunnery
Of course everyone should visit here because it is absolutely beautiful. I however, had an ulterior motive. I had read that you can get your fortune told here and then take that knowledge off to Macau with you. Since I was going to Macau later in the day, I was so excited to find out if I was going to become a bazillionaire. Unfortunately, I had to wait and find out on my own since I could not figure out at all where exactly you can get your fortune told.
It wasn’t a wasted trip though. Look how beautiful the grounds are.
This is the only time I actually saw blue sky in Hong Kong. As an extra kick in the ass, this was the same day after I spent the morning taking pictures of nothing but gloom, fog and black skies at The Peak. Sigh.
First Impressions of Mainland China
I am currently doing my laundry in Guilin so I am going to take advantage of the spare time to do a quick post on my first impressions. Side note: I will have clean clothes soon! I didn’t do any laundry at all in Macau since it was so damp there that I was scared nothing would dry. I have a washing machine in my hostel here woo hoo!
I arrived at my hotel in Guilin at midnight last night and ventured out today.
Older Chinese men LOVE to yell “HELLO” at me. It’s actually adorable. A couple of them were able to speak to me and seemed very excited to do so. One kept telling me how happy he was to talk to me.