Asia Trip: Day 150 - Zhangjiajie 张家界 （6/12/19)
Daily Highlights:
Didn’t sleep much on the train
Made friends with a real estate broker
Got out of the bus station, it was raining again, went over to the other bus station to take a one hour bus ride to Wulingyuan
Finally found my hostel! (5 MIN WALK FROM THE STATION)
Watched shot caller
Did one hundred burpees and abs
I ate actual food and IT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
I’ve been eating crappy food and not that much in general
Got lunch
I got a map and planned out y route for the park
I practiced Chinese with the old auntie of the hostel
She is very excited, helpful, and handsy
She was kind of like a small dog (she was 4’11’’) that keeps following me around in and outside of the hostel
She is a great saleswoman - she tried to sell me on everything in the hostel from the water to tickets to the dumplings
I got dinner in the same place as lunch
I came back and watched birth of the dragon
Cheezy, but good
Made me really miss San Francisco
Asia Trip: Day 151 - Zhangjiajie 张家界 （6/13/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up at 6:30am to go to the park with Jasper
Went to get the ten kuai brekkie
GOT THE STUDENT PRICE FOR THE PARK
Took the bus directly to Tianzi mountain
Actually got dropped off at the base of the elevator
Took the super tall, super fast elevator
All of the old Chinese guys were oohing and awing at all of the views, they were all toothless, gold-toothed and happy
Walked around for a bit
Had dessert for breakfast by seeing Avatar mountain in the AM
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING
Took the train to Tianzi Mounatin
Got lunch at McDonald’s
Explored the area - completely filled with tourists
Went to the western portion of the park
Met some French people and hiked together
Went to Yuanbo Mansion Lookout (not a mansion)
Left the French people to catch the bus
Took the bus back to the big elevator and cruised down
Waited for the bus back to the entrance for over an hour
THE CROWDS WERE WILD
Went to the little hole in the wall for dinner
Got the exact same thing as yesterday
Passed out
WHAT A DAY!
This landscape is so foreign and other worldly, however the park is extremely manicured and over developed with security cameras strewn in even the most remote sections of the park.
The way the trees grow vertically out of the rocks is wild. The way the forest gets so vertical from the valley floor all the way up to the pillars is a sight to see. We got lost in the vastness and uniqueness of the scenery.
SO MANY CHINESE TOURISTS!
This place is over run with people, its pretty nuts. Most are in big tour groups with leaders having a flag on a pole and a very loud microphone. They tourists are nannied around and don’t even know where to take pictures if they are not told by the tour guide.
Everyone always tends to go where the large crowds are even if it’s a shitty spot. This is true whether it’s a bad view or a bad restaurant its crazy.
Also everyone goes to the middle lanes in lines, ticket counters and turnstiles even though the ones on either ends are free of people and faster. It blows my mind. It makes no sense.
THERE ARE SO MANY CAMERAS IN THE PARK.
EVERYONE has at least one really nice and expensive camera setup (like about $4,000 USD) complete with big lenses, tripods, and safari gear and they have no idea on how to use any of it haha
USED PAI DUI SO MANY TIMES TODAY :)
Asia Trip: Day 152 - Zhangjiajie 张家界 （6/14/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up at 6:15am and had brekkie at the hole in the wall
Took cable car up to Tianzi
I forgot how much I don’t like cable cars
Walked down the mountain (took about two hours)
Hiked two hours throughout the Golden Whip Stream
Took the cable car up to Huangshi Village
Hiked around the entire place in about an hour
No one was here, we went to an echo spot, and it was v nice
Hiked two hours down the mountain
Took the ten yuan bus back to Wulingyuan station
Met a bunch of guys in the dorm
We all went to go get dinner at the hole in the wall
Ran into some other people and they joined us for dinner
We had a two hour dinner - some very good talks
Asia Trip: Day 153 - Zhangjiajie 张家界 （6/15/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up at 6:30am and walked about
Went to the ten yuan brekkie spot
Chatted with mom for 45 mins - great talk
Chatted with dad for an hour - another great talk
Watched Expendables
Planned out the rest of my trip
I will try to make it home for Grandpa Gil’s 88th Birthday in Massachusetts
Not doing Japan - WAY too expensive
MET UP WITH MARIE AND COCO
Great seeing them again
We all got dinner at the hole in the wall restaurant
Came back and we all chilled for about two hours
Asia Trip: Day 154 - Zhangjiajie 张家界 => Chengdu 成都（6/16/19)
Daily Highlights:
Woke up at 6:30am to catch the bus to Zhangjiajie
Walked ten minutes to bus station and took the hour long bus ride
Took the bus ride in the pouring rain - opened my window and stuck my head out to wake me up
Hopped on my train to Yichang East
TALKED ABOUT DATING AND NORMS IN CHINESE WITH TWO MIDDLE AGED PEOPLE
One of my proudest accomplishments speaking Chinese
Had a great hour long chat with Yang, a salty but curious old Chinese guy, about traveling at a train stop
Watched Rush Hour 3 in the station
Hopped on the fourteen hour train ride to Chengdu
Met a trio of old ladies who pestered me with questions
Met a group of young guys and chatted for about an hour
My brain hurts from speaking so much Chinese! It even feels weird writing this down in English now, like it’s somewhat foreign and feels like my brain is stuck in Chinese mode, pretty cool.