From Traveling Alone in Guizhou

By Jessica Atwater
December 2008

Today I woke up at 6:15am, only to lay in bed for another hour as usual, thinking to myself, "this better not happen tomorrow or I'll miss my train to Beijing..."
Finally I made my way in the freezing cold of the morning to the bus stop (right next to a giant trench in the sidewalk, of course) and took the number 2 to the bus station, which was a lot closer than I imagined. I feel very disoriented here, that will come in later. At the bus station I discovered I could not buy a ticket to the giant waterfall I wanted to go to, despite what lonely planet told me (it is actually out of date for quite a lot in Guizhou), and so just bought a ticket to the station halfway there, and THEN to the waterfall. At the waterfall admission was twice what lonely planet said it would be (not surprised) but I got a 50% discount cause I remembered my xueshengka (student card), hell yes xueshenka! And for some reason, it had not occurred to me that I might have to hike to the waterfall. I have been exhausted from being sick and not eating enough, because of the sick, so I was worried about the hike. However, it turned out to be more of a walk with stairs in some parts, so I didn't die, which was good. And on the way there was this really weird banzai/bizarre rock (that's what it was called) garden, strange. The waterfall was beautiful and the walking warmed me up. Not as big as I'd thought, but it is winter so it's at it's smallest, so still pretty big. It was really cool, there is a cave behind the waterfall that you walk through can see out of, which I did. There are pictures up on the picasa site. I also talked to some older men on the way out (in Chinese) a little about the economic crisis actually. They said that it would start to have an effect on China when the people in the U.S. started buying less, which is probably true. I was very glad we had had a chapter on economic related topics. Also, a lady grabbed by the arm on my way out and took a picture with me, of course.
On bus back, I was watching TV when I noticed the guy across the aisle was blatantly staring at me. He said hello, I said ni hao, and then he plopped down in the seat next to me. We were the only two on the bus aside from the driver. Although these sorts of things make me uncomfortable at first, we talked for a while and it was ok. He's 23 with a wife and baby, and asked if I was married. I laughed and said, “No, I'm 20 and still in school,” and then he said something along the lines of, “Oh yeah, Americans don't get married until they're like 30.” He then told me that I was his first American friend, and gave me his phone number and invited me to come to dinner at his house if I were ever in Guizhou again. I gave him my email in case he ever came to the U.S. It was funny, and he was very nice. We talked about how helpful and nice people are in China, and it is true, if people didn't help me here I'd often be screwed.
For example, this afternoon, when I got back to Guiyang and tried to take the bus back to the hotel, but caught it the wrong direction (there’s where disorientedness comes in). I only had 5 mao, and the bus is 2 kuai, and pretended I didn't understand the bus driver when he said to put more money in (first time I've done that I think). Then, after pretty much leaving the city, going through the slums, and THEN to the end of the line, at which point I was the only passenger on the bus, the driver chuckled and asked me where I was supposed to be going. He let me stay on for free and go back the right direction, even though I didn't pay enough, and after like another hour or so, I made it back to my hotel. Fun times. There was a live goose on the bus today. I may fear geese more than chickens.
Luckily the goose did not kill me (that's twice I evaded death today), and I made it back to my hotel and then finally ate (I'd only been eating almonds and oranges all day due to the bus factor). I then went grocery shopping for train food, and got excited to go back to Beijing, then remembered I have to entertain myself for 30 hours or so, and I already finished my book. So, now I'm downloading The Lion King while I write this (oh no, I almost wrote 'right' instead of 'write'), to my “iPod.” Hopefully I’ll sleep a lot on the train.