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Welcome to Changsha
Monday, July 11, 2005-8:46 PM
After an eleven hour, overnight hard seat train ride with a few fellow passengers who I eventually partially forgave for using the train window as a garbage can when they started offering me signature Hunan food like "Bing Lang" and "Ma La Tofu", I arrived in Changsha and started looking for a hotel.
All the information I read from the internet and guide books suggested that it would be difficult to find budget accommodations.
The rain didn't make it any easier.
But I wanted to find something for 50 renminbi. I definitely didn't want to spend more than 100 renminbi a night.
I tried about seven hotels before I found a place for 90 renminbi. At around noon, I was tired of walking and decided just to take the place for 90 renminbi.
The rest of the afternoon I walked around the city. I found a street with about a dozen people selling live snakes. One guy even let me tough his snake.
I acted like a real girl when, out of genuine fear, I yanked my hand back after touching the snake.
I ate some spicy Hunan beef to pass time when I found myself stranded on the other side of the Xiang River in the middle of a downpour with no umbrella.
On my way back, I stumbled on a group of amateur Chinese opera musicians performing in a park.
Finally, I tracked down the middle school in Changsha Mao Zedong attended. But, there was another downpour. This time there was nowhere to take cover. I got soaked.
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