Journey to the West: Baoshan pt. 1
Before I begin a few disclaimers: First, my computer died on me a few weeks ago and all of my photos are gone. I have some saved in various places but I am currently sorting through them and won’t be able to post any to accompany this post. Second, it has been 3, maybe 4 months since this happened now so my memory isn’t 100% on every detail. Lastly, this is the first in a series of posts detailing the last few days of travel I had in Yunnan following my CET program in Kunming.
After final exams, CET throws its students a typical Chinese feast/hours long meal which you wait for by sitting through performance after performance and speech after speech. After the food was finally served, people went outside to take pictures, eat cake, and linger. My friend Weihao pulled me aside and told me he was going to his cousin’s house and asked if I wanted to join. The rest of the group was going to KTV in a few hours, but I was much more interested in seeing his cousin’s home so I got on the back of his electric bike and we rode through the city to his family’s home. Despite having already eaten an entire feast, his family (which was more a cousin of a cousin situation with the actual cousin not even there - regardless, it was family) insisted I had a bite. When they realized I didn’t eat pork they quickly made me an egg dish and watched happily as I gulped down bite after bite of every non-pork dish at the table.
It was an amazing experience to meet his family and to be a guest in their home; their kindness was unbelievable. Apart from having second dinner, the reason Weihao was going to their home in the first place was to drop off his ebike as he would be leaving the next day for a few weeks of summer vacation. He was returning to his home town outside of Baoshan, and I would be going with him. Later on, Weihao and I rode the bus back to Yunnan University, getting out far too early and walking another half hour or more back to campus to enjoy the summer night. As we walked, I was struck with how much I enjoyed this friend that I had grown closer to over the last two months, replacing the bittersweetness of the program ending with excitement for the opportunity to see my good friend’s hometown.
The next evening, after spending the day packing and finding temporary homes for my luggage, I donned a way-overstuffed backpack and hugged goodbye to whoever was still around. Saying goodbye is always strange when they come in dribs and drabs and you aren’t really sure when the *real* goodbye is going to happen, but this was even more strange because I knew when I returned none of my American friends would be there.
We (Weihao, my American classmate Alex, and I) set out down the street, hailed a taxi, and set off for the bus station. Alex was in the lower level and at first his Chinese was sometimes hard to understand so it was the first time we had a chance to have a real long conversation together. As we drove towards the station, he told me about his dream and we discussed the future. At that moment, having just completed one of the best and most rewarding experiences of my life, I had an indescribable excitement for my future and the clarity that I was sure it would involve China and Chinese in some capacity.
In order to get to Baoshan, a western city between Kunming and Myanmar, you have to take a bus for over six hours. That is what Google Maps says at least, but when we were booking busses Weihao definitely said it would be 8. And it would be smelly. So we took the most painless route and we donned face masks for the smell (it really wasn’t bad but I’ve also become desensitized to these things) and boarded ourselves onto an OVERNIGHT BUS! What is an overnight bus, you might ask? Good question! This bus had actual beds on it! They were tiny, uncomfortable, and half the people have to sleep on a top bunk level, but they are actual beds. The way it works is behind the driver the bus is divided into the three rows, two along the side and one down the middle, making two aisles to access the double-layered beds. Each bed overlaps the other so the first person’s head is on top of the person’s behind it’s feet (the feet go under a covering thing so not actually on top), and so on.
I was in the center bed at the very front. To my right was Weihao, who spent the first hour of the bus ride adorably texting all his friends and meticulously editing photos for a message on Wechat about how he would miss all of his American friends so much. Alex, on my left, was not a happy camper. Alex is like 7 feet tall and his bed was about 4 feet long so he had to curl himself up just to kind sorta fit. It was late so I quickly closed my eyes, but I had a very difficult time sleeping and kept waking up. If I recall, I was having insane back issues at the time that made every minute, regardless of the activity, excruciatingly painful, and this trip, with all the “roughing it” didn’t help things very much.
At 3am, the bus parked at a roadside stop and the driver closed his eyes. I rushed for the chance to go to the bathroom, but after an hour I realized that we would be sitting there for longer than I thought. Overnight busses, I was told, usually stop around that time because it is dangerous in China to drive on the highways (or at least this one) at night. There are many drunk drivers and people often drive dangerously fast. As evidenced by the number of busses parked, I was happy the driver was looking out for our safety.
A few hours of rest later, the drive resumed and as the sun rose we were about an hour out of Baoshan. It was an incredibly picturesque moment to wake up to the front bus window filled with gorgeous green mountains and a carless strip of asphalt. As the entire bus slept behind me, I admired the cloudy and wet morning as we drove through the mountains.
Looking back on it, the half hour or so of watching that front window remains one of my most peaceful memories. Imagine waking up in the morning, still snuggled under your warm comforter, and peering out the window to see an early winter’s snow falling from the sky, or a dew-covered lawn shrouded by haze. Now imagine that scene is moving and you can follow it along around bends and turns, more peaceful than a movie and more dreamlike than a walk outside. That was how it felt to lie there and watch the scenery go by, not knowing what the town I was headed to would look like or what would await me when I arrived.
Baoshan and Lincang were my two main stops for my “Journey to the West”. Baoshan, the home of Weihao, and Lincang, the home of Li Taixiong, will be the focus of this post series. When I first thought of visiting my friends’ hometowns, I was told by everyone that going to two places in the span of about four days would be insane, and that both places, but especially Lincang, were very boring. I was told by both my friends that they would be happy to have me but they were worried that I would feel bored at their homes. These posts, I hope, will prove how completely wrong everyone was. This trip was one of the greatest trips I have ever taken, and my best traveling experience by far in China.
I am currently trying hard to recover photos from that time period so for now the best I can provide are screenshots from a social media post (apologies for the Chinese characters). Enjoy!
Feeling peaceful as we drive into Baoshan. On the right you might see some white shapes and those are the homes/buildings as we got closer into the city. Still beautiful.
Early morning along an empty highway through the mountains.
Weihao the moment he woke up, clearly enjoying the view as I was and BEYOND ecstatic to be going home. Weihao was so so excited to share with us his hometown and introduce us to his family. He may have shaved the side of his head but he is a huge sweetheart and loves his family SO much, it is obvious if you spend any time with him!
We all made sure to buy face masks for the *smelly* bus ride, though it was really not that bad. I ended up using mine as an eye mask. In the background you can see what one aisle of the sleeper bus looks like. Another interesting fact: everyone has to take off their shoes at the front of the bus. This ended up being an especially good call when it started raining.
Alex, clearly excited to squish into his sleeper bed!
