But it was an experience. It sure was.
See? Still pulling myself from doing it. Only now, I can't possibly deliver a story that lives up to the level of horribleness I've led on, so I better just tell it.
THIS IS THE STORY ABOUT
HOW WE GOT LOCKED IN A NATIONAL PARK
HOW WE GOT LOCKED IN A NATIONAL PARK
...IN INNER CHINA
The day started with me, Felicia, being to cheap to pay for another cable car ride. That just annoys me, first paying about 30$ for an entrence card and then realize that you get nowhere without flashing some more cash.
In retrospect, those 70 Y would have spared us a lot of anxiety and fear later that day.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This was a long anticipated part of our trip. We were going to go up to Pandora, almost literally - we had travel for hours to the small town of Zhangjiajie to see the national park where Avatar got their fantastic landscape from.
We had done our research - or so we thought, but more on that later - and knew what bus to take, how to get in, what to pay and what to see and the previous day had been the test run.
Today, we were ready to explore the park by foot; we were going upwards for over an hour to see the mystic mountains and its enchanting fog, and nothing could stop us.
The climb was steep and our fitnesslevel nowhere near the one that would have made the upwards walk somewhat pleasant, but that didn't bother us (so much).
Slow and steady wins the race as one say and after a great 1,5 hours constantly taking on stairs, we were up and a magestic view waited for us as a reward. We took our sweet time strolling around on the mountains, encountering monkeys and singing chinese men.
Slow and steady wins the race as one say and after a great 1,5 hours constantly taking on stairs, we were up and a magestic view waited for us as a reward. We took our sweet time strolling around on the mountains, encountering monkeys and singing chinese men.
_____________
We stopped for food. Fried bread and corn was just what we wanted after having unvoluntarily exercised, and refueled, we went on to master the photos of the Tianzi Mountains.
We were in luck this time - the crowds had drastically decreased and we didn't have to deal with any people in the corner of our pictures.
It wasn't until dawn we realized we were practically alone. The last few tourists were now out of sight and we realized we had to go back to the in-parc buses. The previous long lines were gone - and so were the buses. I felt a small inch of panic in my chest but told myself it was nothing. And there, there was a bus. Jonathan stopped it and with sign langugage, a map and extremely limited English, we asked if he could take us to the glass elevator so we could leave the park. The shook his head but said "only three minutes. Close seven!" and pointed at the road, so we started walking.
Time was then seven minutes before 7 pm so we would have time. A brisk walk started with no other people meeting us, but we kept cool. The darkness came faster and soon it would be completely dark, but Jonathan told me to keep cool and keep on. "They couldn't possibly just... close the thing down when people are still in. They couldn't." He told me, and maybe, himself.
Some men appeared at a crossroad. "Want to sleep here?" they signed and grinned. We shook our heads. The stories of the accommondations inside the parc where not good, and what's maybe more relevant: we only had a couple of hundred Yen on us. Not that that mathered. We were NOT going to sleep in the park.
We picked up the pace and started running.
Time was then seven minutes before 7 pm so we would have time. A brisk walk started with no other people meeting us, but we kept cool. The darkness came faster and soon it would be completely dark, but Jonathan told me to keep cool and keep on. "They couldn't possibly just... close the thing down when people are still in. They couldn't." He told me, and maybe, himself.
Some men appeared at a crossroad. "Want to sleep here?" they signed and grinned. We shook our heads. The stories of the accommondations inside the parc where not good, and what's maybe more relevant: we only had a couple of hundred Yen on us. Not that that mathered. We were NOT going to sleep in the park.
We picked up the pace and started running.
The area of the glass elevator came closer and Jonathan was positive.
"We are just going to go in here, and get down the elevator, and take a bus down and then we're out" he calmed me as I thought my heart was going to jump out of mouth, along with some other intestines. We were going to have to sleep in the park. Or walk.
But first it seemed we had to climb, since the elevator was completly unmanned.
"This is not good this is not good this is not good this in not good", the same words rung on repeat in my head as we jumped over the bar and rushed to the elevators, trying to push the buttons ourselves, only to see that didn't work. Of course it didn't work.
"We are just going to go in here, and get down the elevator, and take a bus down and then we're out" he calmed me as I thought my heart was going to jump out of mouth, along with some other intestines. We were going to have to sleep in the park. Or walk.
But first it seemed we had to climb, since the elevator was completly unmanned.
"This is not good this is not good this is not good this in not good", the same words rung on repeat in my head as we jumped over the bar and rushed to the elevators, trying to push the buttons ourselves, only to see that didn't work. Of course it didn't work.
A man appeared from a room to the right, with a police badge on his shirt. He signed to us to go down to his office with him and with no other alternatives in sight, we did so. I sat down on the wooden bench, wondering if this would be my bed for tonight and thought that in any other scenario, that would have been a nightmare. But in comparison to sleep outside with the monkeys and God-knows-what-more, it still felt safe-ish. But most off all I more than anything wanted to be home in our hostel bed.
Jonathan turned on his app for translating into chinese as the man didn't know a word English, and he tried multiple times to tell the police what we wanted. After minutes that felt like hours, he finally seemed to understand.
Something that sounded like "uff" came out of his mouth as he pointed to the price sign. Even though the weirdness of this situation, he still did his job and charged us. Fine, fair, we gave him the money and Jonathan typed into the app Will there be a bus down there waiting for us?. The police nodded and then led us to the elevator.
We had descened with the elevator the day before and were even less impressed that they took 70 Y for a one minut ride, in a fricking elevevator, but that was the least of our problems right now. Finally things started to look brighter.
We exited the glass cage and began running the long corridors towards the bus station at the foot of this mountain. It was a road filled with ins and outs of balconies and KÖFÅLLOR, and at one point we could see the bus with a few people left waiting.
"Maybe we should shout, so they know to wait for us?" I asked. Jonathan thought it wasn't necesary - the policemen had said they would wait, so we kept descending.
With a few meters left, we could se the bus... leaving. And we waved and screamed at the top of our lungs but the bus didn't noticed, or didn't care. Left with us was another policeman staring at us with wide open mouth, a rare mixture of shock and gloat. He seemed to stop himself from laughing out loud, whereas I tried to hold in the tears.
Were we, for real, stuck in a forest in a very foreign country surrounded by unhelpful people and probably wild animals? The police is supposed to help, we thought, and there were a couple of cars parked on the grounds. Another policeman were doing leaps around on the parking lot. The first man looked at us once again and then shook his head. He said something in Chinese to us and then lit a cigarett.
I were more scared than I'd even been. Not that we were in a real danger - but the feeling that these men were so unwilling to help us made me uncomfortable. They could not care less if we spent the night on a park bench or not.
"We walk!" Jonathan said, determined. It was intressting to see because we had shifted roles. Usually, I was the driven one, the problem solver, but here, Jonathan wa calm for the both of us. He walked up to the smoking police man and tried his app again, tried with gestures and sounds and every possible way to communicate to see if the man understood what seemed so obvious to us - that we just wanted out of the park. It was now pitch black. Jonathan returned to me, shaking his head.
"I don't understand shit right now. Why the fudge is he standing there smoking a cigarett? Seriously Felicia, we can walk. It'll take an hour or so but at least we will get out.." He stopped talking when he saw my face. Instead, he took our pouch and together we counted our bills and coins. Not even 300 Yen there. Would it be enough?
Jonathan took two hundred yen bills and offered them to the police. The man took them but stood still, finishing off his cigarette before he even moved. Then he started to scream something to the running man in the background, and started walking to one of the cars.
"Seriously?" I whispered. "If the policemen took bribes in Sweden, it would be on the news in a second."
I don't remember breathing in the car. I remember holding my breath until everything started spinning and Jonathan took my hand to comfort me. Not until we saw the big entrence to the park, I exhaled. The sight of the tower and the banner was probably the most relieveing I've even seen.
Finally, we were out.
Yes. Yes we did.
First, sadly, we learned that not every culture is alike, if we didn't know that before. In Sweden, things like this would never happen. The police are paid by the government to help people, regardless of their nationality, but naturally, now afterwards we can remember having to bribe guards in Indonesia or my godfather trying to bribe himself out of a speeding ticket in Lituhiania. Of course no every country has the same culture and standard. It was just kind of a reality slap.
So we learned to be - EVEN MORE - prepared before going anywhere. Read up on closing time, make sure you know that you can get out of a place in the right time.
Another thing we have been better at is having more cash with us. Always have a 50 extra, You never know when you'll need them to bribe someone.
Most importantly, I learned that Jonathan is my rock when uncomfortable things are about to happen, and that we together will handle any obsticle that may come in our way. I mean, if we got out of a forest in the middle of the night in the middle of China, just by using body language, desperation and a couple of bucks.
We exited the glass cage and began running the long corridors towards the bus station at the foot of this mountain. It was a road filled with ins and outs of balconies and KÖFÅLLOR, and at one point we could see the bus with a few people left waiting.
"Maybe we should shout, so they know to wait for us?" I asked. Jonathan thought it wasn't necesary - the policemen had said they would wait, so we kept descending.
With a few meters left, we could se the bus... leaving. And we waved and screamed at the top of our lungs but the bus didn't noticed, or didn't care. Left with us was another policeman staring at us with wide open mouth, a rare mixture of shock and gloat. He seemed to stop himself from laughing out loud, whereas I tried to hold in the tears.
Were we, for real, stuck in a forest in a very foreign country surrounded by unhelpful people and probably wild animals? The police is supposed to help, we thought, and there were a couple of cars parked on the grounds. Another policeman were doing leaps around on the parking lot. The first man looked at us once again and then shook his head. He said something in Chinese to us and then lit a cigarett.
I were more scared than I'd even been. Not that we were in a real danger - but the feeling that these men were so unwilling to help us made me uncomfortable. They could not care less if we spent the night on a park bench or not.
"We walk!" Jonathan said, determined. It was intressting to see because we had shifted roles. Usually, I was the driven one, the problem solver, but here, Jonathan wa calm for the both of us. He walked up to the smoking police man and tried his app again, tried with gestures and sounds and every possible way to communicate to see if the man understood what seemed so obvious to us - that we just wanted out of the park. It was now pitch black. Jonathan returned to me, shaking his head.
"I don't understand shit right now. Why the fudge is he standing there smoking a cigarett? Seriously Felicia, we can walk. It'll take an hour or so but at least we will get out.." He stopped talking when he saw my face. Instead, he took our pouch and together we counted our bills and coins. Not even 300 Yen there. Would it be enough?
Jonathan took two hundred yen bills and offered them to the police. The man took them but stood still, finishing off his cigarette before he even moved. Then he started to scream something to the running man in the background, and started walking to one of the cars.
"Seriously?" I whispered. "If the policemen took bribes in Sweden, it would be on the news in a second."
I don't remember breathing in the car. I remember holding my breath until everything started spinning and Jonathan took my hand to comfort me. Not until we saw the big entrence to the park, I exhaled. The sight of the tower and the banner was probably the most relieveing I've even seen.
Finally, we were out.
_______________
DID WE LEARN SOMETHING FROM THIS?
First, sadly, we learned that not every culture is alike, if we didn't know that before. In Sweden, things like this would never happen. The police are paid by the government to help people, regardless of their nationality, but naturally, now afterwards we can remember having to bribe guards in Indonesia or my godfather trying to bribe himself out of a speeding ticket in Lituhiania. Of course no every country has the same culture and standard. It was just kind of a reality slap.
So we learned to be - EVEN MORE - prepared before going anywhere. Read up on closing time, make sure you know that you can get out of a place in the right time.
Another thing we have been better at is having more cash with us. Always have a 50 extra, You never know when you'll need them to bribe someone.
Most importantly, I learned that Jonathan is my rock when uncomfortable things are about to happen, and that we together will handle any obsticle that may come in our way. I mean, if we got out of a forest in the middle of the night in the middle of China, just by using body language, desperation and a couple of bucks.
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