Tea island

04.10.2013

I had enough of lines so I decided to go to less touristy places the rest of the time I had off. The next day, I headed to Yueyang, where I would attempt to board a ferry to a mysterious island where a very special tea is grown. When you make it, the leaves stand up straight, like needles in your pot. Ok, so Yueyang is only 1.5 hours away. I got there at about 10:30 but got hopelessly lost in a crazy, smelly Chinese market. I was so traumatized I couldn't even take pictures. Another hour or so later I finally ended up at the place I needed to go. I printed a map this time and it was wrong so I got lost one more time. Ha! This probably sounds HILARIOUS to you, but it's really not. Being lost in china sucks. A lot. Anyway, eventually I found a tour guide who attempted to sell me a ferry ticket at double the price. I showed her my book which said the real price and she backed down. Yeah, go try and screw someone else less informed, lady! She told me where to get the cheaper ticket and I got on the boat with everyone else. Guess what?! No lines or crazy crowds on the island! It was cool, I bought some tea for Joe because he was working and I'm cool like that. Plus I think he hates me for putting him through trauma on Thursday. This is a tiny island, folks. But surprise surprise, I managed to get lost once again. Five hours of wandering after I got off the boat, I found the boat again. I dunno what is going on with the geographers around here but the maps they make are ridiculously inaccurate. Agh! Somehow I ended up in a weird construction site, and then went around in a giant crazy circle a few times, feeling like I was going nuts, all alone in the middle of giant tea fields somewhere on an island in the middle of a giant lake. Just crazy. Again, starving and frazzled I found a lady selling ice cream and knew I was getting close! She pointed where the ferry was and I found it and went back to the train. I was too tired to go and see the Yueyang tower or any other ancient sites in the city. I was two hours early for my train home and they wouldn't let me switch the time, so I went for noodles which took me at least an hour to order. That killed some time and before I knew it, it was time to board my train home. Without a seat again, harrumph.<br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: normal;">

The train was packeddddd