The road to perseverance
Perseverance : continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.
I have a hard time knowing when to quit. I admire when somebody throws the towel, retreats to fight another day. It takes wisdom to recognize when you are in those situations and a lot of strength to actually stop and quit.
I remember having a discussion with my friend Virginie about this during our Chinese trip.
A — When is it time to stop, give up, and move to something else? When does it become a liability instead of a quality?
V — Don’t really know, I have the same problem myself. Maybe it’s easier if someone outside of the issue helps you taking a step back, with another point of view. Try me.
A — But then what happens if it’s two persevering people, won’t they agree to “persevere”?
That was put through the test.
November 2015, Xi’An, capital of the Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China. Our target today is Huashan mountain. Not that complicated to get there but, well, it’s China. And I’m French. I only know how to count up to 10 in mandarin (and also how to count 9 with only one hand). I’ve been mainly relying on Virginie’s knowledge (close to kindergarten) and her precious English/Mandarin book.
To get to Huashan, I decided to take the 7:15 bullet train from the north station. Getting there fast and early as I expect to lose some time there to get where we want. Getting awake around 6 am, eating one or two cereal bars. By 6:30 we were all set and left the room, ready for our expedition, embraced with the feeling of adventure, excited to step into the unknown.
Trying not to disturb the unusual silence of the backpacker hostel, I stealthily went for the main door. It dawns on me now how naive that was, to bluntly reach for the doorknob expecting it to be open.
You see, when I noticed that the hostel was unusually silent, ghostly even, I didn’t realized that the reception was clear too. And of course that meant that the door was closed.
V — Hello? Anybody there?
A — Damn it, we should have told them about our plan to leave early. Of course they won’t be awake this early without reason. Do you know where the owners stay?
V — No, and we’re not going through each room to find them…
A — OK, plan B then
V — What’s plan B?
I go behind the counter, looking for keys.
A — Try these, I’m still looking
V — I hope there’s no camera…
A — There is, look at the top right and smile
V — WHAT?!
Of course there was nothing. I’m not stupid enough to check the hotel counter while being filmed. But stupid enough to get the keys back to my face.
A — Hmmpf
V — Put them back, none work
She tries a few other that I find, without success. At that moment we sit, strategy time.
A — What about windows? Not from our 3rd floor room but maybe somewhere else?
V — Nothing comes to mind from the first floor. I’ve been to the roof but didn’t look for a way out. Maybe we will have some luck there?
It’s November, winter is coming and the wind is chilling me to the bone. Hard to believe that in summer there are campers on the roof of this hostel. The view of the sky must be worth it though. But not with today’s fog. I start looking around for a deus ex machina, between the hanging laundry.
V — Hey ! There’s a ladder here!
A — Jackpot! Do you see where it leads?
V — Seems to be a balcony down under. I don’t think it’s inside a house, so it must lead outside somehow.
A — I’m in if you are.
V — I’m in.
A — I’ll go first without my bag. If the ladder makes it with me there will be no problem with you. You throw our bags and follow suit?
V — Ok. Be careful, it doesn’t look that steady
Here we go! I reach for the first step, trying not to put my weight all at once with the help of my arms. Good. Going for the second now. Apparently the ladder holds better than it looks. Going for the third, and
Welcome to Abdul’s Tip of the day.
Whenever you climb a ladder, try to divide your weight on the left and right part of the step. Don’t ever put it all in the perfect middle of it. That’s the best way to break it.
So that’s what happened. I won’t lie : I freaked out as I was hanging with my both arms, legs in the air. I put my right foot on the remaining step to relieve some pressure, then reached for the fourth step, having learn my lesson. Went on like this until the 15th or so without any problem.
Virginie threw me the bags and went for the ladder too, without trouble. As soon as I took my bag from the floor, I heard locks from the door nearby the balcony. One look at Virginie, then on the exit: we were on the run, down the stairs. Another door in front of us. We push through it, it’s open. We are finally on ````````street, right next to our hostel entrance. Next stop : Xi’An North train station.
To balance our delay, we took a cab instead of the usual bus to the north station. At last a smooth part of our journey.
The closer we get, the busier it gets. We meet a huge crowd, I’m guessing we’re the only foreigners around here. With a few questions mainly based on “Huashan please?”, police officers lead us to 4 lines of customers. Now we wait.
Maybe I’m used to the slowness of our European receptions, cause I didn’t expect our turn to come this fast. Transactions go smoothly from customer request, few back and forth questions, then pay-and-you-go. Or maybe we were just lucky…
I ask when is the next bullet train for Huashan, and if it’s worth the wait as we can just take the regular one. Bullet train it is, leaving in 12 minutes. Apparently 12 minutes is enough to get to the train from here (it’s definitely not). Or maybe she doesn’t care about that (it’s definitely this).
R — Now I’m gonna need an ID. Passport please?
A — Here.
V — …
R — Second passport please?
V — Abdul?
A — Yes?
V — You’re gonna kill me…
A — What?
V — …
A — You’re kidding?
V — …
A — Can I have my passport back please? Sorry but well have to cancel this order. We will be back shortly. 30 minutes at least.
Going back to our hostel now, laughing at the idea of climbing our way back through the broken ladder. Fortunately the city has awaken now, which is another way to say that our hostel is presently open. With our friendly manager behind the reception. He’s used to seing us come and go now, but at this time we usually leave. Not come back. Never mind, it’s not like we’re leaving him time to think about it, nor to ask about it for that matter.
Virginie is rushing to her bed, finding the guilty document laying there. Warmingly wrapped under the sheets, trying to resist the freezing weather, I bet it wasn’t expecting us to come back for it. But rest assured: we leave no man behind. Armed with this token of identity, it’s time for episode three of Huashan Adventures®!
Long story short:
- Goodbye Hostel Manager
- Hello Taxi
- Hi again friendly train station cashier.
Almost no questions asked, but this time we had 18 minutes to get to the train. Confortable timing, but kids: These stunts are performed by trained professionals, don’t try this at home.
I’m s tarting to getting used to trains around the world, China did a pretty good job there. Like for instance when you get in, you have a copy of your ticket, with your name, put at your place, easing the search — or in case of a reclamation. I was already briefed about the omnipresence of hot water fountains in China, but even the train had one. Mainly for a quick noodles snack, or for a hot beverage.
A hot beverage was all I needed now. Cold and fatigue had taken a toll on us. It’s been a few days that I was traveling, coming straight from a busy work week, had some trouble with the jet lag. I wasn’t sick but closer to that than to full health.
As for Virginie, she was already a few weeks into her Asian journey. Fatigue was definitively there as our visiting rhythm was pretty intense. But whether it was running to get somewhere in time, or trekking through the few mountains we visited, she didn’t show any sign of slowing down. True Amazon in the land of the Red Dragon.
A — But then what happens if it’s two persevering people, won’t they agree to “persevere”?
Nevertheless I went for a scouting mission, to harvest one aforementioned hot beverage if possible. Tea preferably for me, coffee for Virginie. The quest was met with astounding success, one standard trade of 30 Yuans for the necessary drinks. Two things that europeans will certainly miss in China is the salt and sugar. You really feel the difference. Sure you can add soy sauce to balance a little, but you really feel nothing short of a weaning.
Traveling always has this effect on us, in addition to enabling us to learn about foreign cultures and local history, it puts in perspective what we consume, how we live, and everything we usually take for granted. And I try to be as local as possible to get as much as I can from a traveling experience.
All this to say that when I saw the sugar bags that I missed for days, even though it’s barbaric according to some cultures (hello Japan!), I took 4 with a small hesitation. One for Virginie, and the rest for me as a quest rewards.
We were separated by a few people. They instinctively proposed to switch places, with big smiles and questions of where we are from. It was truly a splendid travel. I took it as an opportunity to relax, get some energy back while enjoying the drinks. I refiled the cup three more times with only hot water. At that time I started getting used to the local custom of drinking mostly hot water. I have been maintaining this habit ever since. Surely placebo effect has its role here, but I feel it does me good. And that’s what matters, isn’t it?
Upon arrival we simply followed the crowd, until we got to the tourist center. The weather was bad, thick with fog. I had the experience of our second day in Huangshan (we spend the night on the mountain), a mist like this means no view at all, no landscape, nothing. On high grounds I would only be able to see a few meters in front of us, so no sun set today. I guess Virginie saw my grim face (or I didn’t catch hers).
V — Here we are
A— Here it is
V — It’s worse than we tought
A — Yeah, around this time to fog has already risen. I feel like we are too late
V — We should continue though, right? We got to this point
A — Agreed. It wouldn’t make sense to stop at the foot of the mountain
Unlike what we did for Huangshan, this time we had nothing planned. So we took a little time to study the duration of each route to build a nice visiting which loop. Then we bought the entrance tickets (2 * 180 Yuan), then bus to Donggoukou (2*80 Yuan), and a nice map of Huagshan (100 Yuan) that I wanted to keep as a souvenir.
Around Donggoukou were several shops, we took this last opportunity to buy our lunches and snack for the day. As I waited for Virginie to finish her shopping, I took a few minutes to count our remaining money. Then I did a few calculations. We were very late, so our initial plan to walk to the top is canceled. We have to get the cable car going up. And we already wanted it to get down. Which meant that at this point with the unexpected expenses we were broke. Or at least without enough money to do the roundtrip without the risk of getting short of a few Yuans.
A — Virginie?
V — Yes? I almost finished
A — I don’t think we have enough money now
V — What?
A — Well, let’s do the math. We don’t have enough to make it back. We’ll be stuck on top. And even then we won’t be sure to be able to get back to train station if we don’t find an ATM in the meantime
V — There’s no ATM around here?
A — No, I asked…
V — …
A — …
V — So…We have to go back to the tourist center?
A — …
V — We have to go back to the tourist center…
What happens if it’s two persevering people…
Only one of us could have done the roundtrip, but we agreed to do it together. Fuck the extra roundtrip ticket. At that point we were on “Whatever” mode. Whatever extra hardship fate (or carelessness) would throw on us we would be so casual about it. Come at me bro.
Back to the tourism center (Whatever). Going to the fucking ATM (Whatever). Withdrew the maximum amount (Whatever). Bought again two round trip bus tickets (Whatever). Back to Donggoukou, and straight to the cable car, up to the top (Finally).
By the way, you should really admire the strength and the scale of the engineering beauty of the cable cars. Rising from improbables cliffs and valleys. It totally felt like the landscape of Avatar. Up to the 5–10 meters that the fog lets us see. Spirit was here, but the morale was down. I expected much more than a see of white cloud, even though it was impressive to be in this mystical atmosphere, not knowing what was around us. Nonetheless, we climbed for a short while until we found a nice resting spot. It was noon, so the timing was great to devour what we bought down. We were unusually quiet. It’s been a few days that we’d have been traveling together and we never hit an impasse. Yet.
…won’t they agree to “persevere”?
A — Virginie?
V — Hmm?
A — Are you feeling something? I don’t know. Like, now?
V — What do you mean?
A — I don’t know. It’s either getting warm…or it’s something else. Something is changing…
And it wasn’t just me. There was quite a few other tourists and a lot of wind, so the area wasn’t particularly quiet. But just now everything settled, like everybody was expecting something, and holding their breath. Virginie felt it too now. She put her lunch on the rock and stood up, looking around. In fact we were all looking around, trying to understand what was going on, to put rationality on this collective feeling.
A — Hey look there, there’s someth-
Blue. I wanted to say that a small spot in the sky was turning blue. Except it wasn’t a small spot. After a few hours spent in this dense fog, it magically disappeared in mere seconds. No. Less than seconds. In less time than I need to say “ing blue”.
And boy was it worth it!
This adventure has become one of my favorite travel story, and it went on to be an exiting sunny day. Besides the incredible tip on how to climb a ladder, it reminds me that a small checks and preparation can go a long way (passport, money, and of course hostel hours…).
Also for a long time I tended to travel alone and this was the first of a long series of friends trip. Traveling with someone close pushed me outside my comfort zone, how ironic.
Plus now I have somebody to testify, otherwise every part of the story sounds made up…Doesn’t it?
