This trip was similar to my past trips except that this time I came alone, and I didn't have a host to show me around. I should have known it was going to be a rough trip when the taxi driver couldn't find my hotel first thing. Apparently I had the wrong address printed off for the hotel, so we drove around some shady alleyways for about a half hour (it was about 1 in the morning) before finally coming upon my hotel. Once there, they had no record of my reservation. I tried giving them my name, my professors name, the name of the bienalle, the name of the person who booked my room....nothing. It turns out, my room was under the name "Time and Architecture" (seriously? why would anybody think that that is a good idea?) So I just went ahead and booked a room anyway, and figured I could sort it out later.
So the following day I had to install the exhibition. It went pretty smoothly and I had two 'helpers' to aid in the installation. They really did help, but their english wasn't very good...so many of my attempts at small talk and or legitimate instructions were met with giggles and shy smiles.
Nothing of any real consequence happened, although I did have to teach a few people how to use a laser level so they could install their exhibit, and so when we finished up I took a taxi home and spent the rest of the day in my hotel room doing trying to figure out what I was going to do in the next two days before the opening. Well as it turns out, there were a few cool things in the area one being a two thousand year old irrigation system, and the other being Mt. Qingcheng, an important mountain in Taoism. So I planned on going to the irrigation system on Tuesday and the mountain on Wednesday and went to bed.
In the morning, I wrote down all the directions to get the the irrigation system and struck out on my own....and promptly got lost. There is a train station semi-close to my hotel, so I figured I could walk there and take a bus from that train station to Dujiangyan. Well, in drawing out my map to get to the train station, I forgot where I was and drew the map as if I were in the States. The problem with that is that in China, roads do not have the same name along their length. So, if you are walking down one road, it could change names from block to block...and probably will. So about an hour into a 15 minute walk I ended up back at my hotel (not sure how). I should have taken that as a sign and stayed home but I got in a taxi instead.
After a little time in the taxi, and one stop at the wrong bus station...I finally got to the proper depot. I stood in line, bought my ticket then wandered over to the buses. Lucky for me, the buses had signs in front of them that had the names of their destinations in Pinyin so I at least could read where I was going. Unlucky for me, the bus I was supposed to get on was full...so they shuttled me onto a different bus that was NOT labeled with the city I was trying to get to.
So there I am, sitting on this bus thinking that maybe I should get off and just wait for the next bus that is properly labeled when it drives off. It was a fairly stressful 45 minutes. However, it all worked out in the end and I eventually made it to Dujiangyan. So I get off the bus - feeling pretty confident in my ability to get around in China - hop in taxi, barter for a price, and I'm back on the rode headed to the irrigation system. About twenty minutes later, the taxi driver pulls over and tells me we have arrived. The problem is, we haven't arrived at the irrigation system...somehow I ended up at Mt. Qingcheng. It could have been worse though, I at least knew of the place I ended up at and so I figured I't make the most of it and explore Mt. Qingcheng.
Mt. Qingcheng is essentially a 1 to 6 mile hike up this mountain that has small pagodas, shrines and temples built into it. I took the long route because it was much less crowded and it wasn't like I was under any time constraints. Needless to say, the hike was fantastic and in the end I think it was probably way more fun than an irrigation system would have been.
As I said, the hike was about 6 miles or so...and all of it looked like this. Needless to say, I was extremely tired by the end of it...and my feet hurt since I wasn't wearing the proper foot wear.
This pagoda was the culmination of the entire hike and well worth the hike. Although once I got to the top and started heading back down...I decided to take the short way since it was getting late and I realized why everyone takes that route instead. First there was a gondola that takes you most of the way, and second....you could hire these guys. (be patient, the video is only a minute long)
One other thing that is important to note. I stopped to buy a tiny watermelon at one point because I was getting hungry and while doing so I stopped to talk to this Taiwanese family who spoke some english. They were very nice and that I was a little crazy for traveling on my own. But it was a good thing I made friends with them.
So, when I made it to the bottom of the mountain, I walked back to the parking lot and realized something critical....I had no idea about how to get home. All of my instructions and maps that I wrote down were about the irrigation system, not this mountain. So I was wandering around looking lost, when finally a taxi pulled up. I tried to get her to take me back to the bus station but she wanted to charge me 60RMB for what should have been a 20RMB ride at most. I was just about to give in to her persistance when I hear someone behind me ask if I needed help...in english. I turn around and there stood that Taiwanese family. I told him I needed to get to the bus station but this taxi driver was trying to rip me off thinking maybe he could barter with her for me since he also spoke Chinese. Well he did one better....his family had hired a private car to take them around so they shuttled me into their van and drove me to the train station where they purchased my ticket for me and put me on the correct train. Thank goodness for them, otherwise I would probably still be sitting at the base of that mountain.
Needless to say, after finally stumbling back to my hotel room after a long day, I decided against going out into the countryside for a second time the next day. So most of the rest of the trip involved watching movies and eating McDonalds. (McDonalds was easy to eat at since one of the 3 phrases I can say in Mandarin is "I would like the number 7 please").
The opening of the exhibit was pretty fun though. They carted us around the city on tour busses and took us to a few different venues with art and then, of course, the architecture exhibits. One thing of note was that during the opening ceremony, they finished the last speech with a display of fireworks and smoke. We were all pretty surprised and pretty impressed, until the smoke all settled and came back down on us. Whatever it was, was definitely not healthy to breathe in.
All in all it was a good trip...I even ate frog on my last night there; wich was delicious (Oh, speaking about the food; it was all incredibly spicy...even breakfast). However, as fun as the trip turned out to be, I have to say - I am not itching to go back. And so if I never make it back to China.....that will be fine by me.
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