National Day

October 1st was National Day here in China, and this year was the celebration of the 60th anniversary since Chairman Mao established communism in China. For the holiday I got eight days off of work, but in normal Chinese fashion, didn’t find out the precise dates of this break until about three days before hand. Unfortunately, all billion of the other people living in China get a similar break, so traveling in the country during this time can be difficult, especially if you are trying to make plans just three days ahead of your planned departure date. We had to clear a few roadblocks, but seven of the other foreign teachers and I managed to get tickets to go to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain). There are three different types of train tickets a person can acquire: soft sleepers, hard sleepers, and the cheap seats: hard seats; which of course were the only seats still available. And this is no lie, those seats are hard. About four hours before leaving, it was brought to our attention that the train ride to Huang Shan was more like 17 hours each way, rather than the ten we’d been expecting. After hearing this news we had one person drop out, and the team was down to seven.
The train ride was everything I expected it to be. Long, hard, and a bit painful. The really great thing about the trains in China is that you are allowed to smoke on them. l mean, there are some rules, you are really only supposed to smoke between the cars, but this rule is apparently not well enforced, and even if it is, it only manages to put about 10 feet of distance between you and 15 chain smoking Chinese men. Not to mention all the sunflower seeds spit all about the train car…In all reality, the train ride wasn’t that bad. It was definitely an experience, and I was happy that I got to see more of the country. Plus about half-way through our trip most of the people got off and we were able to stretch out a bit. It also helped greatly that there were six other friends on the trip to help with entertainment. At one point we even found ourselves playing charades in the isle of a fairly full train car. Oh well, everyone is always staring at us anyway, might as well give them reason to look.
Due to our train issue, we got to the mountain a bit later than anticipated, and had to take the cable car to the top of the mountain rather than hiking. We got to the top right at sunset, checked into our sweet hotel room (a nine person bunk in the basement of the hotel) and then work up early the next morning for sunrise. The mountain was absolutely beautiful. The top of the mountain was packed with people, as we had been told it would be. But we decided (based on lonely planets excellent recommendation) to hike down the western steps of the mountain. It was a 15-18 kilometer descent (based on which sign you decided to trust), and the whole way was walking down, down, down carved stone stairs. I found the path to be utterly remarkable, unlike anything I’ve ever done before. There were times we were walking on shifty stone stairs carved right into the edge of the cliff without any sort of railing. Any second any one of us could have tumbled to our doom; and while there was one close incident involving a bee and a particularly steep section of stairways, luckily no one did. I loved the mountain. The day was beautiful, warm but not hot, and I saw clear blue sky with no signs of smog for my first time in China. The air smelled fresh and green, the water was clear, it was all quite lovely. Sigh, I want to go back already.
The next day we split into a few groups and Lili, Cary and I went to the hot springs at the base of the mountain. We had intended to only spend the morning there, but didn’t come home until after dinner. The springs were great, there was a coffee bath, a red wine bath, a milk bath (though that one was way too hot for us to go in) a weird sand bath, and tea baths etc. etc. Each separate bath had a little placard in front with its benefits listed. Thanks to that hot spring I think I shall live for all eternity with a cleansed soul and especially strong fingernails. My favorite part of that day was around lunch, we had decided to head back to our hostel and get some food, but instead we were ushered into the shower rooms where we were told to shower and given matching green canvas uniforms to change into, complete with disposable underwear. Newly dressed we were then sent to a room full of recliners where we were served platters of fruit with all the other guests who were similarly dressed in their awesome green outfits. Four hours later we peeled ourselves off the recliners and enjoyed the free dinner.
We stayed for two nights at a great hostel in Tangkou, which is a little village at the base of Huang Shan that I loved and would live in for the rest of my life, or at least a month or two. It was a touristy spot, so there were many foreign tourists along with tons of Chinese tourists. This was such a novelty to all of us from Zhengzhou. Since I have been living in Zhengzhou, I have only seen other non-Chinese people (besides the ones I work with) on two occasions, once I saw one from a bus window and once walking down the street near the train station. Then, all of a sudden, we were in Tangkou and we were seeing foreign people all over. It was a little ridiculous, because us Zhengzhouers were so taken by the novelty of it we invited every foreign person we saw to our hostel for dinner and drinks. Many of them came, and we had an awesome time. There were probably about 15 people or so, from all over, including Holland, Germany, Ireland, France, England, and one from the US, that came to hang out with us. Almost all of them were students or teachers or had a job of some sort in China, and many of them are living in Shanghai. So at least I know some people when I visit Shanghai. It was really a lot of fun.
Sadly, my first trip into the country had to come to an end. And now I’m back at work. Of course, the Chinese don’t really believe in taking breaks, so all the classes that were missed during our holiday have to be made up at some point. Consequently, I came back from my vacation to face an eight day work week. Yep, Saturday and Sunday classes for me. Awesome…