Traveling the World

Malaysian sunset

You’re en route from the center of a beautiful modern city to the outskirts almost 150km outside of town. You’ve spent the entire day running around trying to experience as much as you can, because tomorrow you’ll be on a plane to Australia. As the sun descends in the sky and is replaced by its sister Moon, you feel strangely happy being in this foreign land. You can’t remember the last time you enjoyed the heat coming off the surface of the sun and gently baking your skin at a nice temperature of 88F, just enough to make you a light brown but not enough to bake you all the way. It’s a great introduction to the following month you’ve been waiting to happen for almost a year.

The bus gently rolls along the highway as you pass suburban homes that remind you of your own home so far away. You long to return to the arms of your family and friends, but know it’s just a distant dream. You realize this is the best you have and enjoy it all you can before you return to the monotony of the daily grind. It is with this enjoyment of travel that keeps you going, and with it your eyes close to the gentle hum of the wheels along the road.

When you think of city life, it’s kind of hard to imagine the idea of poor people being there. It’s the opposite for life in the countryside. On the way to Fenghuang from Huaihua via the private car, we saw many children walking very long distances on the mountain roads by themselves, just to get to school. Later on, we were fortunate enough to see a school bus, except this is no ordinary school bus. This bus picks up kids (I don’t know if they have to pay money or if it’s free) who have to stand for a very long time just to reach school.

This situation is in dire need of being changed, but who can change it? It’s not like foreigners are jumping at the chance to teach in a rural setting, especially because there isn’t any money to pay them for their time. I feel bad saying that all foreigners only care about money, because I quit my high paying job due to not agreeing with their business policies and how they treated their staff. My point is that, people in the countryside are poor and lack proper education, especially English classes. The bigger problem is that there is no money to make it an incentive for someone to move out there and do something about it.

As much as foreigners love China, village settings would just drive us crazy, even if the kids are adorable and hard-working. If the government would pump more money into the tiny economies of the villages in the countryside, we might see them in a better situation sooner rather than later.

Lily on the train

The two lane journey through the mountains took us passed small farming villages, giving us the chance to see beautiful rice paddies. We saw the sun rising in one of the most beautiful ways I’ve ever seen. I fell asleep listening to the sounds of the people fully active at 6 in the morning coupled with my iPod, something that should always be with you when traveling!

Children on their way to school

By this time, I had needed to use the bathroom since the day before, as I’ve never indulged in using the squat toilet to do my duty. It was until after I arrived at the final destination, that I realized the town was so ancient indeed that Western sitting toilets don’t exist here. Because of this, I was forced to teach myself how to properly use the Chinese traditional squat toilets. I don’t know whether to be proud of ashamed of not trying it until the one year anniversary of my arrival in this country! It was such an odd experience, and I realize now how strong Chinese legs must be! It takes perseverance and strength to hold your body up to go to the bathroom!

Hong qiao Bridge

Boat ride

After getting off the boat, we strolled along to try the stepping stones across the river. I highly recommend wearing sandals, as my shoes got soaking wet. It’s tricky, because it looks like you won’t get wet, but most of the steps closer to the center and further on to the other side don’t have any grass above water to block the water from pouring over the steps. When we finally reached the other side, I took off my shoes and socks, and walked back again, but this time to the hotel so I could put sandals on and explore more!

Later in the day, Lily and I grabbed the bottle of rice wine and went for a walk to the center of the new town situated along the river. I bought her a flower crown and we took some pictures and sat down and put our feet in the river and drank the wine. That lasted for only a few minutes, as it began pouring. Without an umbrella, we ran to safety underneath the large umbrellas of the vendors several feet away. I said what the hell, I won’t let some rain ruin my day. I pulled out the cups and poured us some more wine. We drank for the next 10 minutes, until finally a random man walked by selling umbrellas. We bought one and began our long return back to the hotel. Along the way, we had to cross the river on a different set of stepping stones, and walk through the now flooded streets. We were absolutely soaked.

Look for the next part, coming soon.

*For the number of the man who drove us in his private car to Fenghuang for 30rmb a person each way, dial 15115260757