With two weeks until I left China I had to think carefully of where I wanted to visit. My co-worker and friend suggested Jiuhuashan as it was one of his favorite places in China.

I hadn’t explored much of Anhui province besides Huangshan so I was excited to check it out. The only problem was the train left Yangzhou at 20:47 and arrived in Chizhou at 2:30 in the morning. Usually I like to arrive after 6am because I don’t like wondering around in an unfamiliar city that early. But there were no other trains Sunday night so I decided to go for it. There were bound to be a bunch of hostels or coffee shop open near the train station for me to wait until I could catch the morning bus to Jiuhuashan.

Continue reading Jiuhuashan Day 1 →

I recently visited Mt. Tai in Shangong province. Mt. Tai is the eastern mountains of the 5 greatest mountains in China. Actually according to various websites it’s the greatest of the 5 mountains. Mt. Tai symbolizes a peaceful and unified country. Supposedly many emperors would climb the mountain to give thanks for peace and prosperity. Over 70 emperors are said to have climbed Mt. Tai. In folklore climbing Mt. Tai is the first thing a new emperor would do so their reign will bring or continue peace in China.

I spent 12 hours and 12 minutes on a train. I decided to take an overnight train back to Nanjing where I would then switch to another train that goes back to Yangzhou. My train left at 20:44 (8:44pm) and got to Nanjing at 8:56am. Then I would have an hour to get to the next train into Yangzhou arriving there at 11ish. I had to be at work at 2pm so that would give me 3 hours to get home, shower and change. Looking back I was cutting it a little close if something had gone wrong. (hint nothing went wrong)

Anyway I was completely exhausted from the last couple days and looked forward to sleeping on the train. Both trains I took to get to Xi’an were very nice. They had reclining seats, power outlets, and lots of leg room. This train nowhere near resembled what I pictured riding a train would be like. Let me paint the scene because I did not take any pictures.

Still excited that I successfully made it to the terracotta warriors without getting lost once or having to ask for directions, I made my way back to the parking lot. I really enjoyed walking out of the site with the Huashan Mountians as a backdrop. I don’t know if it was smog or mist that made them look shadowy but it was pretty cool. (Later I googled that in April, Huashan is misty so it wasn’t smog!)

So where did I leave off in my trip to Xi’an. Oh right, I just spent the whole day on a bus. Finally I’m back in Xi’an at the bus station. It’s pretty late at this point so I decide to head back to the same hostel I stayed at the day before because I know where is it and my phone is almost dead. I have the address so all I need to do is find a taxi. When I get off the bus there’s a ton of people asking if any of the bus people need rides. I’ve been warned to ignore these people and get a street taxi. I make it to the street and flag a taxi, show her the address and I’m on my way. 20 minutes later we’re still not there and there’s no traffic. hmmmm. Long story short, this is where I got scammed by a taxi. I suspected it would happen at some point, but man does the universe have impeccable timing. Already feeling down about messing up the bus all I can do is sigh in frustration. Not wanting or knowing how to make a fuss I just pay the taxi and get out.

So apparently it’s Tomb Sweeping Day which means I get three days off! Since it was going to rain in Yangzhou I decided at the last minute to go somewhere else. I settled on Xi’an, home of the Terracotta Warriors, Mt. Hua and a lot of other stuff (such as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, City Wall and Muslim Quarter, and Bell tower). I wanted to see some other things like the Drum tower and a couple of temples but due to a scheduling error on my part I didn’t get into Xi’an until 4 and I had planned on 11.

After my disastrous attempt to bike across China who would have thought I would end up back in the same country.

Unfortunately I’m not doing any geology stuff but since that was going nowhere a friend bet me to that the FSOT exam with him. Turns out I passed and after an intense month of orientation in DC I am going to China for a 2 year contract working at an embassy. I can’t really say anything else.