Saved by the View (Part 1)

So this weekend was an emotional rollercoaster. I will start from the beginning. So Thursday, Ankit, Nikhil, Orin, Julie, Kat, and I bought bus tickets for Huangshan (Yellow Mountains). Julie, Kat, and I had different plans from the boys; we were planning on a day trip there and back. We left on Friday (June 28, 2013) at 6am and planned to be back the same day at 11pm or 12am, but once we got there, we find out the bus does not run that late. Only way we can make this work is to stay overnight and the earliest bus for us is 6am Saturday. Through the state of frustration and panic, we booked a hotel room and our returning bus ticket.

So this is already making us flustered and worried, but we were still okay. A short guy in a gold and black sweat suit helped us out with some of the logistics of the mountain, so we get on a second bus to get to the entrance of the mountain. From here we separated with Ankit, Nikhil, and Orin, and we took the cable car up to the top of the mountain. The view from the top was fantastic! The pictures don’t do this place justice. It was breath taking. Going through the clouds and watching it roll through the mountain as we sit up at the summit.

After an hour or so, we needed to get back for the last bus back to our hotel, but little did we know, we were really short on cash money… like didn’t have a dime…

We get down to the bottom and we believe the tickets for the bus are round trip but little did we know it was only one way. Excuse my French, but this is where shit hit the fan. We didn’t have the 57-Yuan ($9) to get on this bus back to our hotel. We rounded up every single change we could find in our pockets and bags. We got to 47-Yuan, and all the sudden, Kat found a 50-Yuan bill in one of the side pocket, and we screamed in joy! After this disaster, the ticket booth try to deny our coins we rounded up, and I flipped my shit and got the tickets with our coins. Now we are literally flat broke.

From the frying pan into the fire, I guess we got on the wrong bus because we were not dropped off at our hotel. We were dropped off in the opposite side of town with no money… We have no idea where we are with no data plan, no money, and no Chinese. People are talking to us and trying to hustle us, and we are just looking for an ATM.

If this wasn’t frustrating enough, from the distance we see the similar gold and black sweatshirt from earlier. The short guy (who spoke really good English) offered us to take us to the ATM and the hotel for 20-Yuan. For some reason, I didn’t get a good vive from him.

To be Continued.