Surprise Vacation!

Since work has decided that they don’t need me there 2 weeks earlier than expected, I have a couple weeks to kill before my big summer vacation to the North.

My first week, catching up on sleep is the priority. I’m exhausted from my semester of teaching. But, there’s only so much sleeping you can do before you’re bored. I also had a couple work things to do – going away dinner for some coworkers (yummy, massive buffet) and a meeting to discuss my next semester (hello, public school).

And now, I’m out of stuff to do. I could float around Shenzhen, as there are still a few things I want to see and do, and watch TV, but I watched too much during 2020 and quarantine. I need something new to do.

What’s better than an impromptu trip?

The Choices

Zhangjiajie, also known as the Avatar mountains, Tibet, and Yangshuo are the major cities on my must-see places in China list. Whichever one I decided on, I have to make sure to get back in time to do a couple loads of laundry.

Tibet needs a special permit that is not currently being given out, or I would already be going, and a group tour, which I don’t have the money for right now. Going to Tibet was my first priority when planning my main summer trip. I’m just going to have to keep waiting to go.

Yangshuo is a pretty little town/area. It’s famous for being on the back of the 20 yuan note. It’s only a few hours away by train and there’s not all that much to do around there. You could easily do it in a 3-day weekend.

Zhangjiajie is a bit further. I could take an overnight train or fly, but all the flights going and coming back land around midnight. I’d also need 4 or 5 days to see everything properly.

With a week and a half of nothing to do, the choice is clear. I’m going to Zhangjiajie!

The Planning

The first thing I need to do is figure out what I want to see there, from which, I can figure out how long I should stay. To the travel sites and other blogs!

After a few hours of reading, I’ve learned a lot about the area. The main tourist attractions in Zhangjiajie are in two different areas – one with Zhangjiajie national park and the outlying Glass Bridge/grand canyon and the other is in the downtown area of Zhangjiajie city. Yes, the city and park both have the same name. There are a few other places nearby that I could visit but they’re a few hours drive away.

I decided that I’m going to stay near and visit the park with the weird Avatar mountains for 3 days and stay in the downtown area for another day to visit the mountain with the hole and see The Fox Show.

Now that I need 4 days for sightseeing, time to work on transport. I could fly, but I’d land in both Zhangjiajie and Shenzhen around midnight. No, thanks. I could take a high-speed train to Changsha, the closest major city, and a slow train the rest of the way, but it would take most of the day.

Or, I can take one overnight train the whole way there. While it takes the longest, it also makes the most sense, as I’d get to my destinations in the morning, leaving the whole day for activities. And, it’s also the cheapest. Not by much, but I’m happy to save my yuan.

So far, with the train and the two hotels (technically an inn and a hostel), my trip has so far cost me ¥1,036 (US$160).

The Departure

Because we are still technically in a pandemic and because when traveling in China sometimes they want a recent Covid test, I rushed off to the local hospital to see how far they can stab a swab down my throat this time. It wasn’t because the site I booked my trip through had an old notice up saying that I needed one to get out of the province and spent the day nearly giving myself a panic attack because I wouldn’t get the results before I left. Nothing like that at all.

Shenzhen has at least 3 train stations. After I figured out which one I was leaving from and what the nearest metro station was, it was easy to get MetroMan to figure out how I get there. I also discovered that the metro goes above ground!

And finding the train station was as easy as looking at the signs. It was attached to the metro station. There were plenty of people milling about between the stations, getting receipts from the machines, and buying tickets.

The security was kind of interesting. First, I had to get past a guard checking health codes (he wasn’t paying much attention), then get around ID checking machines that only scan Chinese ID cards (there was a guard on the side that just waved me through), then make it past the x-ray machine and guard with a metal detector (maybe) and a wand (everyone got wanded and let in).

Finally, I was inside the station! It’s just a big room with a lot of chairs, lots of people, and a big board. One tiny convenience store, no vending machines, no TVs. I definitely don’t recommend getting to a train station, especially Shenzhen East, more than half an hour early. It’s boring!

After a thankfully short wait, I got in line to pass through more security that couldn’t deal with a foreign passport. Luckily, finding my carriage was also easy – I just had to follow the numbers to the one on my ticket.

Waiting outside each carriage door was a conductor and a special phone to scan your ID. Once again, it was foiled by the foreign passport. But this time, they actually looked at my “ticket” which was really just my seat/bed information on the app I booked through.

Finding my bed was easier. It was the first one. At the top. I hope I don’t fall out.

Well, let’s see how many times I hit my head on the ceiling. I say 10. Who wants to take the over or under?