How'd You Get There?
On Fridays the school day ends, for teachers, at 2:45 which makes it possible to get an early start on weekend trips. I took a high-speed train 4 1/2 hours northwest, before taking a taxi for about an hour to my hotel. The trains are comfortable, so I napped and read, as usual.
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| Would you stand on this? |
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That is the same walkway from far away.
I love how they make my stomach drop. |
Mountain Weather
Typically I get great weather on my hikes. Only Tianmen mountain, which I visited in Hunan province, was socked in with fog the whole time I was there. I tend to have early morning fog which rolls out shortly after. I've had clear blue skies and the desired 'sea of fog' at many locations.
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| The 'trails' are man-made paths build on the mountain side. |
Aren't You Tired?
People tell me they are too tired to travel on the weekends. "Aren't you tired?", they ask. Though I do get a lot of photos and see much on my trips, I also take a lot of down time. This weekend excursion was particularly relaxing. Saturday morning, I left my hotel around 7:30 am and walked the few minutes to the ticket counter and chairlift. Thankfully, the chairlift takes you up part of the way. I was ascending stairs on the mountain by 8. I exerted enough energy climbing, walking and picture taking that, spent, I was back in my plushy hotel room before 3, where I ordered room service and layed around watching YouTube videos. I ate the buffet breakfast the next morning and arrived back to Xiamen late afternoon. It was actually an incredibly refreshing weekend.
Convenient
Xiamen now has metro transportation, so I was happy to take it directly home from the train station. I ordered my groceries as I rode they underground. They were delivered to my apartment shortly after I arrived home. China is very convenient in these kind of ways. I also order lunch and occasionally dinner to my apartment door for less than it would cost to go through a drive through in America. For example my cheapskate staple lunch is delivered my school's security gate for the equivalent of 2.49 USD. Generally a meal, including delivery fee, is under 5 dollars.
You Travel A Lot
If you're wondering, even my co-workers think I travel "all the time" and "every weekend". Which is not true. If I travel on a weekend, I bookend it with weekends where I have relatively no commitments and I mostly stay in my apartment and hermit. And actually, I usually just travel one weekend in between our normal school holidays. As a teacher I typically get a week off at fall, aka fall break, 2 weeks off at Christmas/Winter break, a week for spring break, and a few more during summer break. As a teacher in China, my summer break is 2 weeks shorter in order to give me an additional 2 week long 'Chinese New Year' break. If I didn't have those breaks from teaching, I would most definitely burnout as I completely deplete by energy most days, though I love my job. But that is a lot of breaks. So I travel. During this season I have had the amazing privilege of traveling a lot. But not, "all the time". Today though, after work, I'm heading to Korea(spring break).
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