I had my usual breakfast at the hotel (it was bustling this morning) and then I packed up for my trip to Dengfeng. I had some free time so I decided to splurge for another 30 RMB latte. I was wondering why I was so beat yesterday and I realized it was my first day coffee free! I'd been planning to wean myself off of coffee for this trip, so I decided to count the experiment as a success and get back on my coffee habit. The barrista (I don't know the Chinese term for barrista, and I'm not even sure the English spelling is correct) was excited to find out that I was learning Chinese, and gave me a book to read while I waited for my "na tie". It was something like a children's encyclopedia of China, with lots of pictures. (He gave me a big explanation, but I only caught every third word.) Anyways I posted a pic of the cafe a couple of days ago but here it is again:
Who wouldn't want to spend a relaxing morning n here sipping on a "na tie"? The women back in Victoria will be excited to hear that they were playing Leonard Cohen!
I didn't take any pics of the bus station or bus, but if you've ever taken the bus anywhere in the world imagine a scene bigger and more chaotic. The bus seats were small even for the locals, so imagine me jammed into one for over 4 hours! The bus trip was only an hour and a half, but they boarded me an hour early (the schedule is the schedule but the buses leave when they're full!) and then we got caught in the biggest traffic jam in China outside of the Shaulin Monestary. (By the way everyone thought I should be going to the Shaulin Monestary. The ticket lady tried to sell me a ticket for "shau lin si" but I had to argue "bu shi, deng feng" and then the bus conductor tried to make be get off at the monestary. Do I look like a tourist or something?) Here are a couple of pics of the "du che":
I think this stretched all the way to Deng Feng, about 10 km. When I visit the monestary I may just walk, it will be quicker! It was very hot on the bus and everyone was falling asleep:
Awww ... kind of reminds me of my seatmate on the train trip to Luoyang.
Here is my first view of Dengfeng:
Beautiful, eh? I'm glad I'm here for 6 days. I plan to do a lot of sleeping and relaxing, mixed in with a little bit of hiking. I figure I can get all the hardcore touristing out of the way in a day or 2.
My adventure started after I got off the bus. I grabbed a taxi to my hotel (actually hostel) and the driver took me to the wrong place - a scenic park outside of town. "Is this the right place?" I asked just about everybody, and they all said sure, sure, so I bought a ticket and went into the park. After all, why wouldn't "Dengfeng Climb International Youth Hostel" be inside a park?
Well it wasn't.
Once I realized this I found the nearest place with tables and shelter and food so I could sit and rest. And eat. "我快饿死了！" (I'm starving!) I chatted with some of the locals, and they had a good laugh at my adventure. I bought some food and water (it was delicious!) and made my way to the park exit where I grabbed a massively overpriced cab to my hostel. It was about 2 blocks, I could have walked in 10 minutes.
Anyways I got my room and now I'm sitting in the lounge with a beer. Does it not look nice? I love China!
Tomorrow I'm going to chill, wander about town and maybe to the park where I found myself stranded today.
PS Here's a picture of the park across the street from my hostel:
And here's where I had dinner tonight:
It works on the "card system" - you buy a card with 100 RMB (of course immediately they deduct 10 RMB for the card, way to go China) and then you shop around each of the vendors around the square. If you order their dish they zap 15 or 20 RMB off your card and someone delivers the dish to your table. Check out the last pic, to the right, how they serve pitchers here!
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