Shangri-La, Shane, Spiky Mountains

Today we traded Shangri-La for spiky mountains. The postcard kind of spiky mountains. A seemingly endless karst landscape that feels impossible, even after double and triple takes. Yangshuo is awesome. Shangri-La was just as cool. The breadth of natural beauty here in China is difficult to overstate. I suppose you would expect that in a landmass of such a magnitude.

There’s a con to this though. Travel. Long days of travel. Despite an unfathomably punctual and well-connected rail network, myriad airlines, and taxis cheap enough for me to justify their use, hours of moving seemingly moves you only a speck over on the map. Today was one such example. Yet, a train, plane, bus, and three DiDi rides later—we’re here.

Funnily enough, so is Shane, reminding me of an aspect of travel I adore. After our early train, we took refuge under the golden arches. To our surprise, a tall, bearded white guy was among the only other customers. Not an expected sight at 8am in Lijiang. Nevertheless. We return from getting snacks at the airport to find two empty seats next to this mysterious figure. Sure. After boarding the flight to Guilin, I assume my middle seat position and wait for the aisle passenger to show up. To my surprise, Shane sits down in the aisle across the walkway. Uncanny. Even more so when the flight attendant notes that 44C is actually on my side of the plane. By pure coincidence, we’re seated next to each other. Then, after parting ways post baggage collection, Mary and I scramble to purchase bus tickets to Yangshuo. Just in time. Funnily enough, Shane awaits us outside the bus, just about the only other person travelling to the land of spiky mountains. Naturally, we have a solid yarn for most of the ride. Too intertwined were our paths not to. I hope he found a pub to watch the Premier League in tonight. Such is the beauty of travel.