Traveling the World

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

Early in the morning, we arrived at the Huaihua train station. From there, we took a private bus almost 3 hours to the small town of Fenghuang, in western Hunan province. Tired yet perky, we listened to our iPods as we watched the sun rise and tried to stay awake to take in the beautiful country scenery we’re so unaccustomed to.

The amazing fog lifted high into the sky, and mixing in with the clouds, made the sun look so tiny and far off into the distance. The effects of all these things coming together showed me just how powerful Mother Nature works to make the world beautiful to us in different ways each and every day. I hope you can take rides out into the countryside to see it for yourself, because city life can be exciting, but it just can’t compare to the beauty outside.