After spending some time in Kunming we booked an overnight bus to Shang-ri-la – a twelve hour trip northwest. We had budgeted plenty of time to try and take local buses to the train station but, like as is common for us, we ended up getting completely lost and after wasting time fighting about it we had to take a taxi. The local bus would have only cost about 15 cents each and we had thought that the taxi was going to be super expensive, but fortunately it was only about three bucks. I know that blog posts can sometimes make it seem like everything is perfect and hunky-dory all the time when traveling or between Sean and I, but we have our moments. When we do fight it's almost always about directions/getting lost, money or how early to get up in the morning.
Though overnight buses have advantages like being incredibly cheap and allowing you to save money by not paying for a night's accommodation, they have some distinct disadvantages such as being a little dangerous because of driving at night, people can steal your stuff easier and you never really know how comfortable you are going to be. This bus was decent with three rows of bunks stacked two high. Unfortunately, each bunk was only about 5 feet long – perfect for the average Chinese person but really short for us. Add the fact that smoking is allowed on the bus, it smelled like stinky feet and spicy chicken claws, there were a lot of babies crying and loud talking on cell phones and the whole 12 hours can make your nerves a little raw.
But it was fine. We read and listened to music and slept a little bit while our bus bumped and jangled over crazy roads. By the time we reached Shang-ri-la, we had increased in altitude significantly and our guidebook warned us to be careful of altitude sickness. The scenery was amazing up in the mountains – there were views unlike I had ever seen in China before. Once we reached the bus station we walked the two or so miles into town and checked into "Kevin's Trekking Hostel". After a huge breakfast and a hot shower we collapsed into our bunks and napped for the remainder of the morning. I know that the town of Shang-ri-la is just China's claim to the mythical paradise, but so far this tiny mountain village with the smallest number of people I have seen in months certainly feels like heaven to me.
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