A breather, Jiangxi.

I had some time on my hands and wanted to escape the tight hug of Beijing's summer smoggy heat. I bought a ticket to Nanchang, Jiangxi, after buying some slacks one afternoon. The storekeeper had told me that a train ticket office was just around the corner. She had just sold me some really great slacks so I figured that was a good sign, right?

Jiangxi is not high on tourists' (or Chinese locals') list of places to visit. Unlike Henan, where most people thought I said Hunan every time they asked me where I went, nobody mixed up Jiangxi with another place. They simply asked,"Uh...Jiangxi? Really?...Why?"

This reminded me of when I went to Bandung in Indonesia and every time I met a local Indonesian and they found out I was American, they would simply ask,"Why are you not in Bali?!"

Turns out all these people are missing out, Jiangxi is a great place simply to absorb. And have some really great fish soup.

The next day, took a sleeper train to Nanchang. Arrived bright and early and was lost in the throng of people yelling out items, buses, and hellos. I knew I wanted to head to Sanqingshan, one of Jiangxi's famous Taoist mountains, with a temple buried into the mountaintop. Except no idea how to get there. So I wandered around, asking people for the bus. Finally, found the bus ticket office. Turns out there are no buses there (thanks Lonely Planet) but I needed to go to Sangrao. Get the ticket, wait.

Bus starts rumbling off and I and the 20 other men on the bus wave by to Nanchang. We passed the time mainly bouncing along the bumpy roads and watching really awkward KTV videos on the bus' TV. There was one with a Chinese pop star singing while alternating with clips of American cowboys in chaps, dancing and lassoing things. To save your eyes, I included a more PG cut of the video below.

Most of the scenery outside showed the industrious side to Jiangxi. Most houses were built out of concrete, smoggy air spewed every where. My face was either doused in sweat from the humidity that hung in the air or a thick layer of dust from the roads and factories. Front yards were either filled with trash or some kind of mechanical item.

And tons of factories everywhere. Most things with the "made in China" label should really say, "made in Jiangxi."

Finally arrived in Yushan (bus driver took pity on me after a 5-hr ride to Sangrao and took me a bit further). There, I had to wait for another bus to the actual mountain. Waited, chatted with a local student.

And then onto another bus into the mountains--bumpy rides and neck-twisting swerves at no extra charge. I chatted with some of the other bus riders. Upon finding out that I was traveling alone, they took pity on me and said they would help me out.

Next thing I know, they drop me off in front of a random house in the mountain village. Hmm...

The bus driver though talks with another man and turns out he's touring through Jiangxi with his wife and they were also visiting Sanqingshan. He was staying a homestay/make-shift hostel and helped me out. The bus driver refused to take me to the mountain that afternoon since it was already past 4 PM and too late to climb the mountain. So I had to nix my plan of camping out on the mountain, which in hindsight is probably for the better.

So I stayed with this lovely family and hung out with my new Chinese friends--I was a total third wheel (or light bulb, as the Chinese saying goes).

"See you later," the bus driver says.

Um...where am I?

at least the house had  a yang-yang--can't be that dangerous, right?

And of course, no household is complete without: