Zhongdian, China - "No Bus!"
Yesterday afternoon I had tried to get a bus ticket to Daocheng. At the bus station the lady just said, "No bus!". I asked about a bus the following day, writing down the date, still the response, "No bus!".
Today I dropped by a guest house that will book a bus for you. The lady went to the bus station for me and found out that there are no buses traveling to Xiancheng or Daocheng because both roads to those towns are closed, one due to a landslide and the other due to flooding.
The good news is I'm feeling quite a bit better. I just have to figure out where to go from here. A major Chinese holiday begins on October 1st and you need to have things booked before then if you're going to be anywhere popular.
I met three Israelis today, Lala, Noa and Rei. They kindly invited me to join them on a trip to hot springs 1/2 hour from Zhongdian. It was a beautiful area and the hot springs had beautiful surroundings. I joined them for dinner at a small local Tibetan street cafe. They pointed to the vegetables they wanted and the cook cooked them up with garlic and hot peppers as appropriate. We had four dishes, onions and cabbage, mushrooms with garlic, corn with red peppers and brocolli along with servings of rice. They were all excellent! The bill came to less than a dollar a piece (7 Yuan).
When we returned to the guest house the manager, Becky, had checked back at the bus station and the afternoon bus from Daocheng had arrived. She was able to get tickets for the four of us for the trip to Daocheng tomorrow! I will have a couple days there before the Chinese holiday starts.
Lala suggested, since I was leaving Zhongdian the next day, that I make a trip to the largest monastery in Zhoongdian by local bus. I found the bus and took it, as directed, until the last stop. Unfortuately, the bus driver after leaving off the 2nd to last passenger, decided to just turn around and return instead of going to the monastery. He indiacted for me to leave and I ended up walking another two miles to the monastery. It may have turned out as well. I think I got some good shots that I never would have gotten if I took the bus and I got a lot of the local flavor as I was walking. I did get the bus coming back and it took me ALL the way back.
Tonight I go through the worst part of traveling, deciding what I need and packing up again. We need to be at the bus station at 6:45 a.m. It's a 12-hour trip to Daocheng.
Yesterday afternoon I had tried to get a bus ticket to Daocheng. At the bus station the lady just said, "No bus!". I asked about a bus the following day, writing down the date, still the response, "No bus!".
Today I dropped by a guest house that will book a bus for you. The lady went to the bus station for me and found out that there are no buses traveling to Xiancheng or Daocheng because both roads to those towns are closed, one due to a landslide and the other due to flooding.
The good news is I'm feeling quite a bit better. I just have to figure out where to go from here. A major Chinese holiday begins on October 1st and you need to have things booked before then if you're going to be anywhere popular.
I met three Israelis today, Lala, Noa and Rei. They kindly invited me to join them on a trip to hot springs 1/2 hour from Zhongdian. It was a beautiful area and the hot springs had beautiful surroundings. I joined them for dinner at a small local Tibetan street cafe. They pointed to the vegetables they wanted and the cook cooked them up with garlic and hot peppers as appropriate. We had four dishes, onions and cabbage, mushrooms with garlic, corn with red peppers and brocolli along with servings of rice. They were all excellent! The bill came to less than a dollar a piece (7 Yuan).
When we returned to the guest house the manager, Becky, had checked back at the bus station and the afternoon bus from Daocheng had arrived. She was able to get tickets for the four of us for the trip to Daocheng tomorrow! I will have a couple days there before the Chinese holiday starts.
Lala suggested, since I was leaving Zhongdian the next day, that I make a trip to the largest monastery in Zhoongdian by local bus. I found the bus and took it, as directed, until the last stop. Unfortuately, the bus driver after leaving off the 2nd to last passenger, decided to just turn around and return instead of going to the monastery. He indiacted for me to leave and I ended up walking another two miles to the monastery. It may have turned out as well. I think I got some good shots that I never would have gotten if I took the bus and I got a lot of the local flavor as I was walking. I did get the bus coming back and it took me ALL the way back.
Tonight I go through the worst part of traveling, deciding what I need and packing up again. We need to be at the bus station at 6:45 a.m. It's a 12-hour trip to Daocheng.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home