Last week, out of the blue, we found out it was the Mid Autumn Moon Festival so naturally classes were cancelled for the week. I decided to take this opportunity to get out of the city with a few friends and do some first time traveling, thinking it would be a nice first step to gear me up before my incredibly intense National Week trip. So four of us got together and talked about some places we wanted to go. Amongst the winners were Beijing (to sleep on the wall), Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Xi’an. Well we got to the train terminal to buy our tickets and what do we fine? Everything has been sold out! We must have tried for about 6 hours asking about place after place train after train until we finally found a return trip to the city of Ningbo in the province of Zhejiang. It was an extremely taxing ordeal but our extreme dedication to traveling and perseverance eventually led to success. So kids, everything our parents told us about working hard to get what you want ... well it’s true!
One obstacle down 30 something more to go...
Because I had my internship all day we had planned to meet each other at the train station one hour before departure. Well this was a bad idea considering the Shanghai South Train Station is a massive piece of architecture with multiple levels and a weird inner spiral design. Long story short we got lost and I was stranded alone in this train station while my 3 friends were running around a completely different level in total chaos trying to locate me. Thus the inevitable occurred and we missed our train.
New plan! We decided to reconvene at the Shanghai South Long Distance Departures Bus Station (try saying that ten times fast!). Finally we all met up bought a bus ticket to Ningbo and were on our way!
Upon Arrival in Ningbo we really had no plan as to where we would spend the night. The Lonely Planet only gives one option, Zee’s Hostel, and doesn’t even give the address of the place; it just tells you it’s close to the bus station (which by the way...it is NOT!). So we arrive at this sketchy dark bus terminal around 12am to be greeted most pleasantly by a pack of old Chinese men, who proceeded to swarm us speaking rapidly in Mandarin, laughing and poking us... yes I said poking! Word to the wise; do not travel late at night in China with no plan and 3 blondes!
Now these people were not malicious by any means I have come to the conclusion that they were all taxi drivers and since we were their only potential customers they were being aggressive to get our business... that and I was travelling with 3 blondes. I immediately bee-lined it to the only white person that was on the bus (I know, I know, that may sound bad but it turned out to be a very smart decision and in my defence at that point I just wanted someone who I knew would be able to speak English)and asked him for help. He was luckily traveling with a woman who was native to Ningbo and they were happy to help us. The woman’s name was Maggie and she demonstrated the most kindness that I have every experienced in my life. Not only did she call us a cab to Zee’s Hostel but she gave us her phone number in case we ran into any problems during our stay...which of course we did!
One of my traveling partners had been going through some issues in regards to her Chinese Visa, thus she did not have her passport, only a photocopy. Another word to the wise, always, ALWAYS, carry your passport while travelling in China because no hostel or hotel will take you in without it. Such was the case with Zee’s, so once again we were stranded and it was breeching 1 am. We called Maggie explained the situation and she set us up in the same local hotel her American friend was staying at. She met us at the hotel, kindly explained my friend’s situation, showed us where we could eat, wrote out all of our traveling spots in Mandarin so we could show our cab drivers and told us how to get to the Ningbo train station for our return trip to Shanghai. She was absolutely lovely and asked for nothing in return from us; it was an act of selfless kindness that I will not forget!
After a wonderful night’s sleep in a pretty nice Hotel room we all got up bright and early ready to travel to a local mountain located about 2.5 hours outside of the city. Well of course it was raining, but a little rain never hurt anyone so we continued on with the same plans and hoped on a bus. Funny enough this bus ride was probably my most interesting experience of the whole trip. As we started to leave Ningbo I noticed construction everywhere, dirty roads and buildings, patches of utter nothingness followed by half developed towns with buildings that looked as though they were on their way to becoming beautiful structures but were now left half constructed, baron and falling apart. There were urban development’s mixed with slum like conditions and I swear to you I saw what could have very well been a sweat shop factory just out in the middle of nowhere. This was the first time I had seen anything like this and the first time I had really thought of China as a developing country. The thing about Shanghai is it is a mask, a bubble that makes you forget about what the vast majority of China is really like. The big modernized cities are not adequate representations of China as a whole; instead they intentionally cover up the harsh realities that still plague the nation. It was definitely an eye opener. 
When we arrived in the mountain town we had to purchase a return ticket back to Ningbo. After 30 minutes struggling to ask the ticket guy when the last bus leaves we realised that we really didn’t have enough time to climb the mountain after all. The hike itself was 2 hours long we had arrived around 2pm and the Last bus left at 4, basically all that traveling for what seemed like nothing at the time. Determined to make the best out of situation we hired a cab driver to drive us up the mountain so we could take some pictures and then drive us back down. So at least I can say that I saw it and I didn’t wimp out and sulk at the bus terminal for our remaining time in the town! The next day we made our way to the Buddhist Island of Pu Tou Shan. It is remarkably beautiful, small and can be done in 2 days, 1 day if you’re really ambitious. As soon as you step on the Island your greeted with magnificent temple arches, elegant garden walk ways and quaint little shops selling nick-knacks of all kinds (literally I found a plastic singing corn). We spent 2 days on the Island and it was the most peaceful 2 days since I have been in China. There was tranquil music with chanting monks magically playing out of rocks along the side of the road, caves for prayer, temples galore, beautiful beaches and the best, a giant statue of the Goddess Avalokiteshvara otherwise known as the Bhodisattva or to the monks on the Island, Guānyīn.
We lied on the beach, hiked all around the Island, were finally greeted with some sun and hot weather, peaceful monk music and of course we can’t forget the Chinese and their un-stealthy paparazzi photography. What started off a very chaotic weekend ended up being an extremely rewarding experience that not only challenged me physically but emotionally, testing my limits and pushing my button’s. I learned that you can control absolutely nothing here and that the best plan is to have no plan at all, because you are not going to stick to it. Everything is constantly changing and there new challenges everywhere you look you can only just mentally prepare yourself for them and laugh it off. That is until you have to climb into an unmarked cab (aka a random dude who approaches you off the street offering to drive you somewhere for a fee) for a two hour drive through the middle of nowhere in order to catch your train home... in this situation I suggest keeping calm, staying very much alert to your surroundings and keeping your fists up ready to strike at any moment.
Don’t worry mom no one was injured or put through any distress over the trip and the unmarked taxi man turned out to be very nice and thankful that we gave him some business. The thing about people in China is that everyone is willing to help out a foreigner. They may want to rip you off for more money but in the long run they only want to portray themselves in a good light so when we go home to our friends and family we can talk about how helpful and nice the Chinese people really are... and from my experiences, this is one of the truest statements I can make.
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