The number of “Y u no write on blog?” questions that I have heard in the last week regarding my apparent disappearance from the internet is comforting (because it proves that somebody is actually reading this) albeit a little annoying (because the things I am currently dealing with in Fenyang are far beyond my maturity level and are taking up most of my time). But I will reserve my current issues for another post. For now, welcome to three weeks ago when I was still traveling and meeting new people and doing exciting things! Yaaaaaay!
In a deep, narrator voice: Previously, on Zhongguo Jaunt…
Amber had been in Guilin and Yangshuo, riding bamboo rafts and getting her friends lost…
From Guilin, I took a train to Shenzhen and walked over the border into Hong Kong. When I say I walked over the border, I mean I was stopped by customs and held for three hours due to my Chinese residence permit. The permit, by the way, looks like this:
As you can see, somebody made a mistake in spelling my name at the permit office and then decided that it would be best to just…you know…write over it in pen. Super legit. I’m not sure if this was just a sign of laziness or if the person at the office genuinely believed that doing this was okay. In any case, customs held me for about three hours and asked me a grand total of two questions.
“Is this your name?”
“Yes.”
“Is this you in the photo?”
“Yes.”
Three hours later, I was walking into Hong Kong.
In HK, I reunited with Rhys for two days. He was staying in the same hostel, so we went out and saw the city together. After he left for Shanghai, I really wanted to move on to my next location. Unfortunately, I still had three days until my flight to Sanya, so I tried to make the best of it. I think the main issue I had in HK was the organization of the hostel. Unlike my previous hostel stays, this hostel was a massive, 9-floor building with no community area, which made it incredibly difficult to meet people. Hong Kong is a great place to go out at night, but not by yourself. I wandered in the city for my remaining days and did a little shopping, but my main focus was on Sanya, my next (and last) destination.
The Sanya Airport: Literally one big room
My flight from Hong Kong to Sanya was great. I arrived in the Sanya airport, which is probably the quaintest airport I have ever seen, and I was slightly apprehensive about going through Chinese customs. In HK, it made sense that they had let me go through because Americans don’t need a visa to get into Hong Kong. Getting back into China, however, requires them to look closely at my visa. Or so I thought. The customs officer paused for like, 30 seconds longer, when he looked at my passport, but I had absolutely no problems getting back in. Classic China.
Sanya was gorgeous. I was expecting it, but I was still pretty blown away. I have never gone on a vacation where I can just relax on a beach for days, so that was a new experience. There was slight disappointment about the weather, which turned cloudy after the first couple days, but I still had a great time. I absolutely loved my hostel, Sanya Backpackers, and would recommend it to anyone. It was less than five minutes walk from the beach, it had a maximum capacity of around 30 people (which meant lots and lots of socializing), and the staff was amazing. Phenomenal experience.
In terms of what I actually did in Sanya, other than trying (and failing) to learn how to surf for one day, I just sat on the beach and hung out with the friends I made at the hostel. It was exactly how I imagined spending the last week of my trip (though with slightly worse weather). If I got the chance, I would go back in a heartbeat. I feel like I’m harking on about it a little too much, but in comparison to my experience in Hong Kong, Sanya was the bee’s knees.
And now I’ll move on to the extremely embarrassing story of how I missed my flight home from Sanya…
As I have said, I made lots of friends at my hostel. At night, we would go to the hostel bar before either going out or going to the beach. Without going into too much detail, I really should not have gone to the bar the night before my 7:30 am flight. I woke up the next morning and saw that first, I had forgotten to set an alarm and second, my flight was leaving in two minutes. My reaction to this discovery very closely resembled the five stages of grief.
Denial
Inner monologue: I couldn’t possibly have missed a flight. Only irresponsible and disorganized people miss flights.
I quickly started checking to see if my flight was delayed. Nope. Right on time.
Anger
Inner monologue: HOW could you be so stupid? WHY ON EARTH didn’t you set an alarm? WHAT WAS IN THAT MIXED DRINK!?!
Numerous expletives were whispered to avoid waking my bunkmates. I had to go downstairs. Proceeded to bang my head on a table.
Bargaining
I called the place I had booked my ticket and tried to get it refunded. No dice. I tried to get a new flight for that day, the next day, the day after… Nothing within my price range. Eff.
Depression
Inner monologue: Everyone knows that you were supposed to get on that flight. You know everyone in this hostel, and everyone knows that your flight left this morning. They are all going to know why you didn’t make your plane because they were all at the bar with you last night. You start classes in two days, and there are no available flights for at least 4 days. You are a sad, sad human being.
During this lovely portion of the morning, people started waking up and saw me at the front desk with my head hanging in embarrassment. Ugh. At least the presence of other people helped me move on to the final stage…
Acceptance
Inner monologue: Alright. So you really got yourself into a pickle this time. Maybe next time you’ll make some grown-up decisions? Just maybe? Like not getting drunk hours before you have to wake up? (Note: While my subconscious is clearly a voice of reason, she is a lot like that designated driver who sits around judging everybody after volunteering to drive them home) You’ve exhausted your options in terms of getting on a flight today, so it’s time you started figuring out how you’re going to get home. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get to work. This is a good story for your blog, at the very least.
From this point, I just started researching any possible way of getting off the island that day. I was told that I could take a bus to Guangzhou (which is near Hong Kong) and then take a train from Guangzhou to Taiyuan (my intended destination). With that in mind, I headed to the bus station to book a ticket. Upon arrival, I realized in my rush that I had forgotten to bring money with me. UGH. Back to the hostel, grabbed money, back to the bus station, bought a ticket, back to the hostel, grabbed my things, hugged everyone (who I’m pretty sure were slightly afraid I was losing my mind, given my haggard appearance and manic behavior), back to the bus station, jumped on my bus.
And then, I realized I was going to a city where I needed to stay overnight to catch my train the next day, and I hadn’t booked a hostel. Also, I had no means of looking up a hostel because there was no Wifi on the bus. I started to sweat and was pretty close to breaking down at this point, when I remembered I had met someone who worked near Guangzhou and presumably knew a few places to stay. I had managed to get his number before leaving Sanya, so I called him up and he helped me get the number of a hostel.
And then I slept. I arrived in Guangzhou at about 4 am, went to my hostel, randomly (and extraordinarily) ran into someone I knew in the hostel lobby at 5 am. I had met him in Guilin, and we were both blown away that we were in the same place again. I spent the next day waiting for my train, hopped on, arrived in Taiyuan, and got back to Fenyang the night before I needed to start classes.
And that, kids, is why you don’t drink the night before a flight.
中国 Jaunt 