Bed bus ride!

16.01.2014

This weekend started off different than others, because I had to do a lot of research to figure out how to get to Wudang. At first I attempted to buy a train ticket and showed the ticket lady the Chinese letters for Wudang. She just shook her head. Then, I showed her the Chinese letters for Shiyan. Again, she shook her head. I'm going to tell myself all the trains were absolutely full, because of Spring festival, and not just because she didn't want to deal with me. Later, I found out the train was pretty much empty.

So, it would be a bus then. I looked up the bus schedule (which is all in Chinese) and translated Wudang in Google translate. There it was, one bus a day. I knew it would also fill up, so I went all the way to the west bus station (which takes at least an hour) on a Monday night and bought my ticket for Friday. At first, they also shook their head at me, but I wisely had brought a screen print of the schedule and the ticket lady reluctantly sold it to me. Lesson: Never take no for an answer and always bring proof!

On Friday, my bus left at 3 p.m. and I got there just in time. The bus station was completely full of people, going home for the holidays, I'm assuming. I went immediately to the bus they pointed me to and to my astonishment and surprise....it was a BED BUS!

The moment I had been waiting for was here. I had seen these bed buses and always wanted to ride in one. I knew it was only a matter of time before I went on a trip long enough! I climbed onto the bus, amidst elbowing peasants and crying babies, but didn't take off my shoes and got yelled at by the bus driver. Really! You have to put your shoes in a little plastic bag before you get onto the bed bus. Another lesson learned!

So I excitedly climbed into my barely padded bed with flat pillow and musty blanket and fell right asleep. Every couple hours however, my feet fell asleep or my bum got really cold from pushing up against the window. Your feet are encased in a metal box, because your bag has to sit on a rack on top of your feet (this is why my feet fell asleep a lot). So, I'd have to re-position myself and fall back asleep again. They played a bunch of Chinese movies, which I ignored and then at 1 a.m. they dropped me off on the side of the highway... Yep... Luckily there was a hotel right there, and I was so tired I paid for two nights on the spot. Big mistake.

The room was nice, but even though the heat was cranked, it all went out the poorly insulated window. I was freezing and probably got about three hours of sleep... click next entry for why!

The bed bus!