Skip to content
Menu
Gin travels
Gin travels

China in several sentences or backpacking for 9000km

Posted on 8th November 20091st August 2017

Here it is the long waited story about my trip in China. It took me some time to gather all the strength to write this. This morning I felt inspired, hence here it is. I was really tired lately after that travel for a while. Playing Sigur Ros, like that night for 17 hours in the train in China
Now when I think I flew 8,000 km to Shanghai and the same back, but in China I have travelled almost 9,000 km, so in total I have travelled 25,000 km more or less. That kind of makes me sick hahaha. Five years ago I wouldn’t have dared about such adventures and that I will manage to travel so much and to sit in a train alone for 17 h! No to mention the bus for 20 h! If I have travelled 15,000 km more that would be the same as around the world! Unbelievable isn’t it? Small steps, small wishes becomes the leaps of faith and unimaginable adventures! That’s life, full of unexpected events!

China – a country of contrasts. The cities full of modern skyscrapers reaching the clouds and suburbs  full of poor people with slums and unhygienic environment. The travel started in Shanghai and not so smoothly in the beginning, but later all went well and I reached the goal of the trip and saw Total Eclipse of he Sun!  Of course, I had to take 22 h train to Guilin and then a bamboo raft to Yangshuo (~for 3h). Furthermore, after exciting trip with motorcycles in Yangshuo, I had to take a bus for another 3 hours to rice terraces and walk to the hill for 1.5 hours. After that a bus to Sanya (Hainan island), which was another 20 h of suffering and lost a seat after a ferry (sat on a ground!). Good thing I met 4 foreigners in that bus, so at least wasn’t all alone. Surprisingly enough I met one of the guys accidentally in Beijing! That was a surprise to meet somebody you just have met thousands kilometres away in a multi-million city in a video store!

It was a bit disappointing in Sanya. I was expecting a lot of sun and spending loads of time in the beach. However, it was raining most of the time. Well that’s what you should expect in a rainy season! Good thing I went to Spain later and could have plenty of Sun in the beach! So after Sanya I took a train (which was packed into ferry to cross the canal!) to Guangzhou. At least I had a sleeping berth and 19 h was kind of normal already. Though I was counting time when I will get off the train. After I have seen the skyscrapers of Guagzhou on the shore of Canton, I went to the most important destination of my trip – Hangzhou.  Another 17 h in a seat among another 100 sitting and another 100 standing loud Chinese. They were spitting and throwing the leftovers of the food just where they sand. The most disgusting thing was those marinated eggs and when they threw what’s left on the floor.  Unforgettable 17 hours of my life!

Hangzhou we were racing the Sun! In order to see the Eclipse we had to go to mountains for 4 hours. It was a lucky guess based on weather patterns to which direction to go. Finally, we managed to see it in a perfect spot among the hills next to the lake! We couldn’t have picked a better place. My other friends I’ve met went to another direction and all they saw was rain.

Huangshan followed after Hangzhou, but just straight next to the entrance I got disapointed with my “new Iranian friends” who decided not to go up to the mountain. So I took the taxi to the city centre and asked Mr Who (the only guy in town who speaks English!) to order a bus to Shanghai. 6 h in a bus was a torture after some free watermelon. I arrived to Shanghai 11:00 pm and no place to sleep, which was a bit stressful to find a place for a night while walking around in the dodgy bus station at night. Problem solved it self very quickly. Next day I spent 19 h to Beijing (same time to go back!). I have visited some temples around Beijing and the Forbidden City, which was very busy with tourists.

In total I have spend a week in Shanghai. Mainly shopping, sightseeing and talking to people. The last night was unforgettable! Partying and clubbing until 6 am! It started in one club, then we went to another, met people and ended up in another club in VIP area, on a stage facing all the crowd! I was drinking until 6 am! Then rushed to hostel by taxi, picked up my stuff, jumped into metro and then switched to fast Maglev to the airport. However, for a moment I had doubts that they will let me pass the security as I was really drunk, but they did. I sat into the air-plane and could relax.

Here it is a short story of 9000 km journey.

I will add also the calculations of how much I spent in my travel in another post.

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

airport beach bus car China cigars clams Cuba Edinburgh ferry fish food Guangzhou Guilin Hangzhou Havana Heat Helsinki hike hiking India Italy la caldera La Palma Las Vegas Los Angeles motorbike ocean Old town playa pool road trip Route 66 Santa Monica Sanya Shanghai shopping Sicily skyscrapers temple Total Solar Eclipse train Trinidad Visa Yangshuo

November 2009
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
« Sep   Dec »

Donate

Donate to support this page going (to pay hosting costs or buy me a coffee) if you find it useful or amusing to read.

  • June 2022
  • March 2020
  • July 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • January 2018
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • September 2011
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • Canary Islands
  • China
  • Cuba
  • Egypt
  • Europe
  • Germany
  • India
  • Latvia
  • Portugal
  • Route 66
  • Scotland
  • Sicily
  • Spain
  • Total Solar Eclipse
  • USA
©2022 Gin travels | WordPress Theme by Superb WordPress Themes