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.