Her I'm again back in Shanghai after 6 days traveling and having a great time.

In these 6 days there happened a lot and I got to know a lot of people. The weather was great and I saw a lot but now of course you want to know what exactly so again I will start at the beginning.
Before I left Shanghai I did a lot of research about what the tourist attractions in the cities where and what kind and which hostels there where if I needed one. The bad thing was that I could not book a hostel before because you could only book it via internet by credit card and I don't have one. So I had written everything down in a small note book.
On Thursday I took my train at 17:00 so I had to miss my Chinese class. I would leave from Shanghai and go to Changsha. I had a seat train so I didn't have a really good sleep. It was also very hot and crowded in the train so. At 7:30 I arrived in Changsha. First I bought a map and because they didn't had a English one I bought one in Chinese. The bad thing was that it was a very complicated map. The attractions I wrote down I could not find on the map but there were some pictures of attractions on the map so I went to some park. When I left the park I got lost. A Chinese girl (Mei) asked me in English if she could help me. Her English was not that good but at least I could understand. She took me to her university and when we met her teacher she asked him if he could help me.
On Saturday I would take the train to Guiyang so I had to look for a place to sleep. He knew one place near the Yuelu mountain which I wanted to visit. He also told me that it was pretty expansive and after a while he suggested to stay at the dormitory of Mei. She lives in a dormitory with 12 girls. I don't know why but there were only 11 so there was one bed left so I could use that. All the girls were very pleased to have me there. They were all very kind to me. Mei called a friend (angel) because her English was better as hers so after having lunch in the canteen we went with the 3 of us to see the city. They really liked it to show me around and they also didn't see much of the touristic spots in the City so it was also new for them. First we went to Hunan no.1 teachers training school. This was the school Mao had studied. Mei and Angel knew stuff about it so they told me. They were like my private guide which was very nice. After that we went to the Yuelu mountain which had a beautiful view over the city. In the evening they arranged for me that I could take a shower at the boys dormitory because they had a shower in their room and the girls had to go somewhere else.
They next day we would wake up very early to go to the museum because it would be very crowded. So the next they it was 6:00 to wake up and together with Mei, Vivian (roommate of Mei)and Tao(In his room I took a shower.) We went to the museum where Angel was already waiting in the line. And it was true it was very very crowded and it would open at 9:00 and we where there already at 7:00. The museum was very nice they all explained a lot about the history and stuff to me . There was also a gallery with a lot of paintings which was really beautiful. After that we went to some place to eat. They let me taste some traditional food from Changsha and it was delicious. Outside there was a Chinese opera that was also nice.
At 15:30 I had to take the train to Guiyang (again a seat) so after I bought some bread and drinks I had to leave. Thanks to the students my stay in Changsha was amazing and without them it would not have been so great and I would not have seen so much.
At 5:00 I arrived in Guiyang. Again I went to look for a map and this time there where the bus lines on so the whole day I traveled by bus (I'm pretty proud of that because her the bus is pretty complicated if you compare it to Holland and everything is in Chinese). The research I did before I left also told me which bus to take to where so that was good. The first bus left at 6:00 so first I eat something and then took the bus to Hongfu temple which was inside some park. Because it was so early it was very quiet. The park consisted of mountains and the temple was also on the mountain so I went to climb the mountain. Although it was so early it was already pretty hot. Halfway the temple was but is was closed so I went t the top. When I walked up I got surprised because I was just walking between the monkeys and actually that was amazing to see them jump from to tree to tree and hear them fight. After I had seen the top I went back and at then the temple was open. It was not allowed to take pictures but I can tell you the temple was wonderful. When I walked down I met 2 elder people who showed me the lake in the park. They couldn't speak English but still it was nice that they wanted to help me. On the other side of the mountain with the temple was another mountain which was also more high. I went to the top which was 1396m. When I went down it was already very crowded and all the monkeys where sitting on the side way and where stealing the food and the drinks of the people.
Around 13:00 I went to the provincial museum. It was not that big but it explained a lot about the cultures in China and I learned that there are 17 different kind of people in China. My camera was empty so I could not make any pictures. After I went to another temple I went to the train station because my train to Chongqing would leave at 18:30. At the train station I met 6 Chinese students. It is funny because a lot of Chinese people are very happy and enthusiastic meeting you so also the students.
This train was a sleep train so actually I was happy with that because I was pretty tired of the bad sleeps and the waking up early. Almost immediately when I saw the bed I felt asleep. The train staff woke me up at 4:00 because we would arrive Chongqing soon. Finally at 5:00 we arrived.
After I bought a map I took the taxi to the pipa Mountain. Very small but nice mountain. After that I went to a hostel I found on the internet so I made a reservation for that night putted my stuff there and recharged my camera. I asked them how I could go to the zhazi dong (prison). It is a prison in the middle of a mountain and it was nice to see. There was a lot information about the Japanese war and not only the prison to see but around it there were also a lot things to see. I was pretty intense so read all that history. Then I went to Ciqikou (磁器口) (Asian town) just like China town. I wanted to go to the baolun temple but it was very hard to find so during my searching I eat some Indian roti which was really really delicious. The temple was nice and some Chinese guy teaches me how to pray in front of a Buddha which was pretty funny.
I went to the beach for a while and then to the three gorges museum. This was again very nice with a lot of history and I found out that the start of china especially started in Chongqing. I really think Chongqing is a wonderful city. Back at the hostel they booked a hostel for my in Chengdu (my next and last stop). I took a very nice shower because it was very hot everything was wet.
The next day I had to take the train to Chengdu at 8:00 so again I woke up at 6:00. I took the taxi to the train station and arrived in Chengdu at 10:00. I took the taxi to my hostel to drop my stuff and ask them about how to go to the Giant Panda breeding Research base. The bus stopped just in front of the hostel so that was great. It took me like 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there but because it was already in the afternoon (13:00) all the panda's where inside and I saw maybe 5 of them. Also almost everything was closed. Finally I went to the museum in the park and decided to go back the next day because I went to Chengdu to see the panda's so. In the bus back I asked some people to help me and they showed me where to get out to go to the wenshu temple. It was in an Asian town again and I tried some sweet coconut but I didn't really like it. After that I went back to the hostel and from there I went to the Mao statue near the hostel. When I came back at the hostel they guy who helped me with going to the panda, came to me looking very worried and asked if I already had dinner and he gave me a drink. Apparently I looked pretty bad/ tired. Not that strange after all that days although I didn't really feel tired at all.
The next day I woke up again at 6:00 because I had to take my plane at 13:30 I didn't have that much time. First I went to the Zhaojue temple which was in the direction of the panda's so after that I took the taxi again to the panda's. This time I saw more. I saw the red panda's, the cubs and the big once. It was really beautiful to see. Because I wanted to go to the tomb of wang jian I couldn't stay that long so I didn't see all the panda's because there were still some inside but at least what I saw was amazing. The tomb was also nice to just see.
I had to get back to the hostel soon to take my stuff, check out and take a taxi to the airport. At 16:00 I was back at the airport in shanghai. I took the Maglev train which goes like 301 km/h. after that I had t take the metro for 1 ½ hour. It was crazy hot in the metro and very crowded. Finally back at the right station I immediately went to my Chinese class because that already started for 1 hour. After that I went finally back to my room.
I really enjoyed my trip. I had a very good time and saw a lot and learned a lot. The taxi's in the cities where also much cheaper as here so I liked that. Although my Chinese is not that good the people where really willing to help me. Especially in Guiyang they were really willing to help. Like every 10 minutes at least one person asked me if he/ she could help me. Because I was at some temples or parks so early it was free so that I also really liked.

This story is again much to long but just describe these 6 days even 10 pages would not be enough. Traveling alone in China is a great experience and although in the beginning it was a little bit scary that feeling faded away very soon and I would just do it again if I get the change.

For this weekend I will just relax and see a little bit around in Shanghai I think. Next weekend the parents of Anouk will come to visit here and then I will probably go to Wuhan together with Carol for the weekend. So plans enough.

I almost forgot but last Wednesday I received my last mark for Chinese reading and I had a 9.1.

Lots of love