Chengdu

We came to Chengdu to see the giant pandas and the giant Buddha and because we heard it was a cool city, and we stayed a while to wait for our Tibet trip to start. We had to take two trains to get there, and because I made a mistake with our ticket dates, we ended up in hard seats twice, including overnight. It was not fun. We arrived in Chengdu tired and crabby, but finally managed to find our hostel when Kit, the guy we met in Zhangjiajie, had arrived the day before. A shower and some rest did us a lot of good. We just walked around a bit and went to dinner at a local restaurant. There's a veggie dish most restaurants have with eggplant and green beans (and LOTS of oil) and it's so good. We took another rest day the next day. We were staying right by Chunxi Road, the big shopping area, and walked around while Kit got some more winter clothing since he was heading to Mongolia after China. I also went to Carrefour, the huge supermarket. It was fun to walk around, and they had a lot of foreign food too. 

I tried to go swim laps, but I forgot my ID and they wouldn't let me in without it. It was a nice walk along the river, so it wasn't really a loss. I also got to see everyone doing tai chi, using the exercise parks, and walking and running along the river. 

Luckily Kit speaks and reads Chinese, so we were easily able to navigate the local busses to get to the giant panda research center. We took two busses early in the morning so we could make sure to get there while the pandas were awake and eating. We met another American named Jeff who walked around the park with us. The pandas were so funny when they were eating! They use as little energy as possible since they only eat bamboo and they have to save it all up in case they try to make baby pandas. Which, by the way, were so cute! We saw some who had just been born, and they were still in the little panda nursery. And we saw some bigger ones sleeping outside. They were on a little hill and one of them just kind of flopped down the hill without waking up. You could pay over $300 to take a picture with a baby panda but... we didn't do that. They had red pandas too. They were so cute! 

baby panda!

We took the bus to go visit a temple, and where we got off there was a Walmart! We just had to check it out. We ended up getting Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and they tasted so geed even though they were probably pretty old. Just a taste of home. The Wenshu Temple was in an older are of the city, so it was fun to walk around the streets. We got some noodles and then had tea in the tea garden in the temple. When we got back to the hostel, they were having a dumpling party! We assembled the dumplings and then after they got cooked we ate them. The veggie ones had egg and cabbage in them. We also got coconut "milkshakes" (they were just ice, milk and coconut flavoring) and put Bailey's in them. They were SO good.

The next day, Jordan had a bit of a crisis because her ATM card wasn't working anywhere. Finally, she found one that worked. We got on a bus to go to Leshan, where the giant Buddha is. We had to take a local bus to get to the actual park. There was a big line to go down to see the Buddha, so we walked around a bit before waiting to go down. It was pretty cool. They carved it straight down in the cliff, 71 meters all the way to the water. We didn't have much time to enjoy it, since we were worried we wouldn't make the last bus back to Chengdu. Luckily we did make it. 

Giant Buddha, along the river in Chengdu, dumpling party at the hostel

Leshan

Kit visited another national park for a couple days, but it was expensive so we decided not to go. We spent the next few days mostly living life, finding our favorite places to walk to and eat, catching up with people at home, and taking a cooking class. We made tofu and eggplant. It was yummy and the lady who taught us was so cute! I walked to Tianfu Square and the People's Park on our last day.

cooking class 

Finally, it was time to catch our 2-day train to Lhasa. We stayed longer in Chengdu than we meant to, but it was a good place to catch up on everything we needed to do. I also got sick there and was hoping resting would help me get better, but I was still sick on the train and in Lhasa.

Chinese Mountains: Huangshan and Zhangjiajie

We visited two different national parks in China: Huangshan and Zhangjiajie. They were both really amazing. Pictures and words can't do them justice. Plus most of my pictures were on my phone so they're not great quality.

HUANGSHAN

We arrived in Huangshan after an overnight train, and took a tuk-tuk to our hostel to drop off our bags. He tried to get us to pay double for the ride since there were 2 of us, which was annoying and slowed us down. But our hostel helped us sort it out, and once we left our big bags there were were pretty close to the bus station. We took the bus to the city closest to the entrance, and just stopped at what seemed like a random shop. We had to walk a couple minutes down the road to get to the busses that go to the park. A really nice Chinese girl who spoke English saw that we looked confused and helped us get our bus tickets. We reached the eastern entrance and said bye to her since we were walking up and she was taking the cable car. It started raining pretty hard, so we ended up getting giant yellow ponchos to help keep our stuff dry. It helped us stand out less, because everybody had one! Some people had plastic rain pants and booties too. It was pretty steamy inside our plastic bags so it got kind of sweaty, but the views whenever the clouds moved out of the way were amazing! We got to our expensive dorm room at the Baiyun Hotel in the afternoon and relaxed and had some instant noodles for lunch. The clouds were so thick you could hardly see anything in front of you. I walked around a bit more but mostly we just hung out and tried to use the internet when it was working to plan the next parts of our trip.

clouds rolling in

The next day, we got up to see the sunrise along with the rest of the Chinese tourists who were there during their national holiday (in other words, it was crowded). To avoid the crowds and the noise that comes with them, we broke off the path to a cliff that overlooked the mountains. We were lucky that it had cleared up quite a bit so we were gifted with a beautiful sunrise!

We got some cookies for breakfast (there were slim pickings up there. Don't judge) and got ready to hike. We kind of had a map but we didn't ever really know where we were and some trails didn't have names or would randomly be only in Chinese even though the last sign had English as well. We started walking one way and took our time to enjoy the views, but eventually realized it was the western trail down to the exit. So we backtracked and went down a path by our hostel. It was where I wanted to go – the fairy walking bridge. It was pretty cool! We could have gone into the Great Canyon from there but they had blocked off the entrance and it was starting to raid harder anyway, so we walked back up all the stairs and called it a day.

  

My sleep schedule was still not completely adjusted, so I had been falling asleep around 7 and waking up at 4. I got up to see what it looked like outside and it was clear there was no chance of a sunrise viewing. It was pouring rain and you couldn't see anything. So we took our time to pack up and left around 8. For the most part, it wasn't hard to find the way down but it also wasn't easy. We were never 100% sure we were going the right way. Sometimes we would try to ask one of the Chinese tour guides by miming walking with our fingers and pointing down, or else they all pointed us to the cable car. Unfortunately we missed all the views that make this longer and more difficult way worth it, but when we got low enough we could see out into the valley. It was a lot of downhill steps, and sometimes the water from the stream was just flowing down the river. We had been seeing porters the whole time but we felt especially bad for the ones going up in this weather! They are there skinny old men who carry really heavy loads on just a bamboo stick over on their shoulders. They'll even carry people in chairs on top of bamboo poles! At least they use 2 people for that. We finally made it down and followed some other people who also looked confused and managed to find the bus ticket window. We got our tickets and waited for the bus that was going to leave about 30 minutes later. It was nice to sit down in a dry bus. We got off where the bus ended and amazingly the woman at the information counter at the big bus station spoke English and told us where to go! Except them we realized it wasn't clear. We just ended up in a big parking lot. So I translated “Tunxi (the name of Huangshan City) Long-distance Bus Station” And a lady just pointed at a mini bus. We weren't sure where it would stop but we kept an eye out. We passed the bus station but luckily right after that the driver assumably asked if anyone wanted to get out so we just made an affirmative noise and ended up close to the hostel.

Fairy Walking Bridge

We checked in and our room was ready so we got settled and showered. We met Fabian, a German guy in our room who had just taken a 24-hour train in a hard seat, which he had switched off standing with an elderly lady. So he took a nap.

We pretty much lived in the lobby of the hostel for 2 days. We only stayed 1 night, but our train wasn't until 11pm. They were really nice there and we even got food from them a few times. It was pretty good. Fabian had also decided to take a day off before he went to the mountains so we hung out with him some and tried to do some more planning. We got lucky when it was time to go to the train station because one of the hostel workers was driving home and took us with him.

We got on our overnight train to Zhuzhou in a hard sleeper compartment – they have 3 beds on either side, so you don't quite have room to sit up, and there is no door so it's open to the hallway. We didn't really sleep. They came to exchange our tickets for these little cards, which we were really confused about, but later I realized they do that so they make sure you get off at your stop even if you're asleep. The next morning we switched to our next train. We had to get soft sleepers even though it was during the day, and it ruined us forever. They only have 2 bunks per side, so there's a lot more room, and there's a door so they're more private. We were both on the top and a really nice older couple was below us. I had a great nap in the train.

ZHANGJIAJIE

We got to the Zhangjiajie station and found a taxi. They all wanted to charge more than the hostel said it would cost, but when I tried to get them to lower the price they said no. Some drivers looked at the address and just shook their head. So we just took one. It cost a whole $3 instead of $1.50. We got to our room and met Kit, a guy from Singapore, and David from England. Kit was going to the mountains the next day and had a whole plan (and speaks Chinese) so we wanted to see if we could go with him, but I was planning on meeting an old friend from Germany, Saskia Kroesen. I hadn't seen her in 10 years! She was teaching English in another city in the Hunan province where I was. So we decided to figure out our Tibet trip and stay there another night.

We had a frustrating day of trying to book tickets and confirm our Tibet tour, which we decided to do. We met Saskia and her friend Tracey and they went up the longest cable car in the world to ------------ while we stayed back. I wish I could have spent more time with her but we really needed to get everything booked. When they got back we went to a restaurant for dinner and Tracey helped us order everything. It was so good!! Then we made her come to the supermarket with us and explain what everything was. We hung out a bit but everyone was tired so we said goodbye and went to bed.

We took the public bus in the morning to the train and bus station along with a few others from the hostel. Then we got on the bus to the park with Kate, who was from Germany but had been working in Xi'an and was traveling her way back to Europe.

Kate, me and Jordan after a long day hiking

Once we got our tickets, We took a detour at the bottom to walk up to the Huangxi Village, which ended up taking forever but it was really cool! It makes a loop, but we were pretty much the only ones on the way down so we kept thinking we were lost. If you're ever alone in China, it's usually not a good sign. But we made it and then took the main way up and got up to the hostel. We dropped our stuff off and found a lookout ledge nearby to watch the sunset. The rock formations are really amazing. There are just these giant pillars that go up so high. We were looking down and you can't even tell how far above the ground you are because it is so deep. Once it was dark we went back to the hostel and I had some rice and veggies from them. They gave me hot cucumber but it wasn't bad. There were a bunch of Dutch guys staying there too so we hung out with them.

pictures can't show how high we were

In the morning we walked to a lookout that Kit had messaged and said his favorite. It was called One Step to Heaven. We were pretty much on top of one of the columns! We had a bit of quiet until some Chinese people came up. I took a picture doing a handstand and them one of the ladies started doing the splits and made me do them with here! We walked back up to the road and took the free shuttle bus to another part of the park and started walking down. We giant McDonalds and saw some giant salamanders that are indigenous to the area, but unfortunately they were ones that had been bread in captivity which means they can be eaten. Once we made it down we left Kate since she was staying another night and walked along the Golden Whip Stream all the way back, which was nice and mostly flat. Constantly going up or down stairs was getting annoying. We managed to find a bus that was going back, and once we finally made it back to the bus station we got on the same local bus we had come on but going in the opposite direction. Silly us, that's not how it works. We realized we were kind of driving in circles and the bus driver even yelled at us at some point but no one spoke English. Finally this guy next to me looked at our hostel address and told the bus driver to stop at the park. Luckily we had just walked to it the day before so we got off and found our way back.

View from "One Step to Heaven" and my handstand pic for Kate

 Back at the hostel, we met Jason and Will from Canada and Cerry from Wales. We found a little bar that seemed kind of dead but they were excited to have us there and bought us a lot of beer and played a dice game with us. We also ran into the Dutch guys who had been on the mountain, met up with them at another bar. It seemed kind of sketchy to us and we realized the lady in charge was carefully counting all the drinks but continued to just open them and give them out. We left, and it's a good thing we did. They ended up getting charged a TON of money and when they payed what they thought was more appropriate, they were followed and ended up at the police station. They paid the rest of what she had charged them and were fine, but I'm so glad I wasn't there for that. We hung out of tge rooftop of our bar for a while and then went to bed. Luckily our only plans for the next day were to rest until we had to catch our train in the afternoon.

Beijing and Shanghai

Olympic Park in the rain

We got to the airport in Beijing fairly late at night and luckily got a taxi who had no problem finding my friend Evan's apartment complex. After a bit of asking we found the right building and followed some people in to go on up. I hadn't seen Evan in over 3 years so it was great to see him as well as a shower and bed!
Both Evan and Payam had to work most of the time we were there, but we got a couple meals together and they helped us do all the touristy things. We walked around the Olympic park and forest, went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, although we couldn't go in any of the rooms or the National Museum because you need your passport and Evan told us to leave turn behind...

We also found a public bus to take us to the Great Wall. We went to the most touristy and famous section, but we went the opposite way as most people and it wasn't too crowded. We even had some moments up the by ourselves! Rare in China.
Evan and Payam took us out one night to meet up with a bunch of people from Evan's class. It was fun to meet other foreigners there, and we got vegetarian food with his friend David first.

Our last morning was National Day, so we hung out and ate Kerbey Lane Cafe pancake mix before the boys took us on their scooters to eat dumplings and drop us off at the subway. We made it to the train station with plenty of time which was good because it was packed. The whole country was going on vacation!

Shanghai
We got to the train station late at night and took one of the last subways to the hostel stop. Supposedly it was only a 10 minute walk to the hostel, but the map and directions weren't great so it took us a little longer. But we finally made it to the little alleyway it was on! There were no dorms left in the whole city, so we stayed in a double room that was supposed to have 2 twin beds but just had a double.
We didn't do that much in Shanghai. We stopped by the People's Park on our way down to the big shopping street, E Nanjing Rd, and along the Bund promenade along the river. There were so many Chinese tourists. We took advantage of our free time to do some planning and look into Tibet trips.
On our last day, we got up early and jogged down to the Bund, and it was so much nicer. There were other joggers out, old people dancing and doing Tai Chi, and older men flying intense kites. And not many tourists! I walked around our neighborhood, Jing'an, and found some cool buildings and fun shops. I also stopped in Mao Zedong's former residence.

E. Nanjing Rd. in the morning

overnight train

We liked Shanghai a lot but it was still a big city, even with it's modern and more European look, so we were ready to get on our overnight train to Huangshan.

We left a bit of home in the hostel in Shanghai

Planet China

Hey! I've left for my Asia adventure and Jordan and I have been in China for almost 10 days. It feels like way longer. All in all, we've done pretty well, but China is quite different. And for a country where everyone is required to learn English in school, no one speaks it. We're been getting by with pictures, hand signals, and google translator. Oh, besides the fact that google is blocked here. And facebook, and instagram, and pretty much anything fun to do on the internet. You can download a VPN to get around this, but it was hard to find one that worked. I thought I had one on my phone before I came, but it turns out it didn't install properly, so I had to do some searching to find one that had a special download option for China (my phone's an android so pretty much every app is downloaded through the google play store - yup, you guessed it, doesn't work here). Pair this with unreliable wifi, and it's hard to live in the digital age here.
We also had somewhat bad timing, as October 1-7 was a national holiday and all the Chinese were on vacation. Most of the foreigners we met were living in China for some reason or another and were on their own little vacations. This also meant accommodations and train tickets were hard to find and significantly more expensive. But now we're in Huangshan, the holiday is over, and we've met a lot of other travelers. Traveling in China is different and can be frustrating, but based on our experience so far, very doable. People are very friendly and if they do happen to speak English, they will often come up to you and ask if you need help (spoiler alert: we pretty much always do. We look lost and confused a lot).
We haven't been that adventurous with food and have probably eaten more processed food than advisable. When we first arrived in Beijing, my friend Evan took us to several of his favorite places and we had delicious dumplings, steamed buns, and other vegetarian Chinese dishes. But we're been subsisting on a lot of cookies. We had someone write down that we were vegetarian, but even so you never really know what they're giving you. I'm excited for the food in pretty much every other country we're going to, but nothing really excites me about China. I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible, but I'm not sure it's going to be my favorite country and I think it was a hard one to start in.

I'll write more detailed reports of all the cities we went to once we've made it through China and I have all my pictures more easily accessible and everything. Right now we're trying to figure out if we can make it to Tibet on our way to Nepal. I'm still hopeful, but the trip from Lhasa to Kathmandu is proving to be the most complicated. We can't do an overland tour, because the road to Nepal is closed due to the earthquake that happened in April. You wouldn't think it'd be so hard to fly such a short distance, but they don't even have a flight every day! But first we're off to some more mountains! Here's a sneak peak:

Here we go!

We're on the plane about to take off for Seoul and then Beijing! Talk to you all from China next!

Asia Adventures

A lot of people have asked me my route in Asia, and while most of it isn't set in stone yet, we have an idea. I didn't even include cities at all except in China. We're starting in Beijing, and then we ended up having a few extra days we didn't know we'd have, so we're going to one of the busiest cities in China during one of the busiest times of the year - Shanghai during Golden Week. We might leave early. Then we're making our way west to Huangshan to hike in the Yellow Mountains.

Then it's on to Zhangjiajie and the National Forest or the same name.

Our last official stop in China is Chengdu, which is kind of a hub for some day trips, including the Giant Buddha.

Then we're going to try to go to Tibet. We'll get back to you on that one.
After about a month in China/Tibet, we'll arrive in Nepal for our first workaway host site on a farm a couple hours outside of Kathmandu. Our plans in Nepal can be flexible but we'll probably stay around 3 weeks.
Then we don't have specific plans yet, but we want to travel and hopefully volunteer through Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar/Burma on our way to Thailand. There we'll be spending time in both the north and the south, with the idea being that we can take trips to Cambodia and Laos and probably Vietnam as well on the weekends when we won't have work. Then we intend to finish in the Phillipines.

I could only fit so many locations on this map, but you get the idea. First west, then back east.

Changes

A lot has happened since I last blogged. I had big intentions for blog posts, but life just kept happening. I was going to write about going to South Carolina for my sister Laura's graduation from Furman University, quitting (kinda) my job, going to Germany for a month, all the visitors I've had since I got back, how my marathon training was going (hint: not great) and finally, the marathon. But here I am.

And I'm leaving for China in one week. That's right. I'm traveling with my friend/roommate/ex-coworker Jordan through Southeast Asia for about 5-6 months. And we leave on Sunday! I'm excited and nervous and stressed out because of all the packing I still need to do and things I need to take care of before I leave and trying to make plans for one of the biggest weeks for Chinese tourists in China while not knowing the language and doing everything over the internet. After we make our way through China for the first few weeks, we will have more opportunities to volunteer in exchange for room and board so we won't have to spend as much money. I'm hoping to keep blogging as much as possible, but I'll also be posting pictures on my instagram https://instagram.com/elizabeth_lt/. I won't have a working phone so I'll only be able to use the internet when I can find wifi. And I'm still debating taking my laptop so it might be difficult to write long posts.

There are still a lot of unknowns for this trip but it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time and I decided there won't be a better time in my life! Just for reading this, here are a bunch of pictures from the last 5 months of my life.

Laura's graduation!

Tough Mudder in Germany

finally saw Neuschwanstein!

Hiking in the German Alps

Outing with the twins and Rachel

Friends from Hannover!

Twinsies on top of the Rathaus

Laura came to Seattle!

and so did my parents

Hanging with baby Max and his kitten friend. His mama is my friend Claire from high school who came to visit me and run Beat the Blerch!

The full marathon start. I'm in the blue shirt. 

and the finish. I wasn't so happy here