China Plan:
1. Take Ferry from Incheon, South Korea ($80 -
2. Take train or bus to Tai Shan (natural Buddhist Mecca) for some hiking and nature.
3. Head up to Beijing. Visit The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall, and Museums.
4. See Chengde and do some Great Wall Hiking.
5. Datong in Shanxi to see Yungang Caves. (Canceled) (Replaced with #10)
6. Check out Wutai Shan Mountain (another major Buddhist area of worship) (Canceled) (too expensive)
7. Then go to Taiyuan for a Shanxi Museum. (Canceled) (on travelers recommendations)
8. Bus it to Pingyao for awesome looking walled city. (Canceled) (replaced with Xi’an walls = Mistake)
9. Train it to Xian for the legendary Army of Terracotta soldiers
10. Go to see the Longmen Caves at Luoyang
Take another long train back east to Nanking, where the WWII atrocities were. The documentary was really hard to watch .... Check it out here. (Canceled). (No time)
11. Suzhou, Hangzhoa & Tongli to see the canals and art areas. (#11 and #12 switched/train problems)
12. Shanghai to see French sectors, the Bund, Skyscrapers, and busy street-
13. Guilin on the recommendation of a couch-
14. Yangshuo on the recommendation of many travel sites and guides. Supposed to be quaint and beautiful. (After Hong Kong) (Canceled)
15. Macau for the Las Vegas of China. (After Hong Kong)
16. Hong Kong .... I’ve always wanted to see it and don’t even know why.
(Cancelled) = China won’t extend our visas so we had to hurry to Hong Kong and skip a lot of stuff we originally wanted to do. We don’t want to pay for another visa. They are too expensive.
It’s not you China, it’s me. You were a good cook and easy to drink with. You filled my head with exotic experiences, bittersweet frustration, and a new perspective. I’ll never forget the times we spent together on the Great Wall and by the West Lake in Hangzhao. You introduced me to some excellent people, and taught me so much.
Maybe we shouldn’t have started seeing each other so soon after my break up with South Korea. You’re going to hate me for saying it, but you two are a lot alike. The problem is, you had very little of what made her endearing and seemed to amplify everything that made her frustrating.
You filled my eyes with concrete, steel, litter, rubble, and expressionless faces that would stare unabashedly. You filled my lungs with an industrial fog that stretched across your body like a never ending cloud. You spit, you smoked. You honked, and barked “Hello”, very rarely without strings attached. You were pushy and impatient. When we tried to compromise, your delusional optimism about my wealth and ignorance was a turn off. You couldn’t’ talk to me, and all too often, didn’t even try.
I’m a sad that we met? . . . No.
Do I regret the time we spent together? . . . Not at all.
But it’s hard to like someone that doesn’t particularly like you. Your government’s immigration office made it difficult for us to be together longer, and all things told, you were kind of a selfish companion.
So, it’s time for me to move on.
Goodbye.
Summary
Writing a summary of China feels like writing a break-
Regardless, here we go: