The new year has started, but didn't go quite so well for me on this first day. I didn't have a place to sleep twice and got some problems during my journey back to Jinan.

It actually started yestderday evening when I went to the train in Hanshan. There I was just in time for the train and I got my ticket to Jinan via Hefei. Unfortunately when I arrived in Hefei I wasn't able to get my ticket for the next train because they said there was no reservation in the system. Buying a ticket for that train wasn't possible anymore so I missed the last train of the day back to Jinan. The strange thing was that this ticket was already paid for and I had to buy a new one. They didn't speak English there so everything went via the phone and Rosa helped me with that. The best option now was to take the earliest train in the morning because I have to be back in Jinan as soon as possible due to the trip that I am going to make. So I got a ticket for the morning train but it leaves from a different station. I went to this station by taxi and that was in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile it was already passed midnight, but there weren't much fireworks or celebrations here. When I arrived at the station it was closed and I had to wait outside from 1 am to 6 am. That was a really long night, it was just above 0 degrees and tried to sleep a bit on the ground but that didn't work too well.

Eventually the station opened and I could wait inside for my train. I took the train back to Jinan and took a taxi home, it would take too long by bus. Usually this ride costs 60 yuan but this driver didn't know where the university was and had to call several people and charged me 120 yuan. I explained that it's twice the price as what I paid before and of course she didn't understand but she wouldn't unlock the door. After 15 min arguing and 110 yuan she eventually unlocked the door. That was bad but at least I had some time to pack my stuff and not miss my flight tomorrow.

I was back home for about two hours and I could pack my backpack with stuff that I need for my two months trip. Then I took a bus to the city and a second bus to the airport. I made a reservation for a hostel near the airport but when I walked there the hostel didn't exist. It was just an abundant house in the woods. So again no place to sleep. I didn't want to sleep outside again and the airport was closing at night so I went to another hotel close to the airport and stayed there. But that was of course way more expensive.

The photo by the way is taken at sunrise and it is very polluted in Jinan right now. That is very bad. So yeah, not such a good start of the year but hopefully it will get better soon. Then I'm starting my two-month backpacking trip for real.