May 17
In the morning, I updated this journal. Since I needed to publish an episode of my podcast, I recorded and uploaded it. Because of the Wi-Fi issues I have had in China, I had to publish it in a different way than usual, which was a bit difficult. I have published 13 episodes so far, and I am going to keep going until I reach 20. I was listening to a podcast saying that most people give up before publishing 20 episodes, and that fired me up. I became determined to reach 20 episodes no matter what.
I also uploaded some YouTube videos. The reason I have been doing podcasts, blogs, and YouTube is not because I want to become famous or make money from them, but because I hope that what I am doing and my thoughts about it can contribute to others in some way. I know that what I have been doing is not very common, generally speaking, so I thought it might be interesting to someone. That is why I do not really care about how many views my content gets. Instead, I am more curious about who consumes my content and how they feel about it.
This may sound idealistic, but this is honestly how I feel. As long as there is even one person who enjoys my content, I will continue. Of course, I would be happy if I could monetize it someday, but I know it is not easy, nor is it my main purpose. If anything, I do not feel comfortable with the idea of being famous. More importantly, these are valuable memories that I will be able to look back on in the future.
Anyway, I also trained my back and abs. I took advantage of the fact that the hotel had a gym. There was always someone exercising there, but luckily I was still able to use the equipment. That is how I spent my morning. I tend to be very productive in the morning.
In the afternoon, I checked out of the hotel. There was a young girl at the front desk who looked to be in her early twenties. She had been there from morning until afternoon. I found her attractive, so I told her she was beautiful. I did not ask for her contact information since I was leaving Beijing that day. She simply said thank you, and I left the hotel.
I took a taxi to Wangfujing Pedestrian Street, the central area of Beijing, to have lunch. It was raining heavily, so I bought an umbrella after I arrived. It cost 20 yuan (about $3). While walking down the street, I found a noodle place called No.69 Fangzhuanchang Zhajiangmian. I had seen the name on a website before, so I decided to try it.
The restaurant was located on the third floor. The energy inside the restaurant was great. As soon as customers came in, all the staff shouted something together. I am not sure what they said, but I assume it was some kind of greeting.
I ordered a popular Chinese dish: noodles with a bunch of ingredients served on the side. The taste was not bad. I liked the noodles, although I was not sure about the flavors overall. It cost about $10.
After leaving the restaurant, I headed somewhere else, but since it was raining so heavily, I did not want to stay outside. I entered a nearby building to kill time. Inside, I found a Starbucks and went in. It was not very crowded, although the building itself was packed. There were many people in the shop right next to Starbucks.
I ordered a grande Americano. The staff member spoke English, which honestly surprised me because I think she was the first person I had met who could speak English since I arrived in Beijing. It made sense because the street is a very touristy area, and I saw many tourists there. I relaxed there for a couple of hours and even took a short nap.
After that, I went outside to check whether it was still raining. It was — and even worse than before. I went back inside the building and entered a Häagen-Dazs shop to kill more time. It was expensive, by the way.
I stayed there until dinner time, and then I had dinner at a Japanese curry restaurant called Coco Ichibanya. I think it is kind of silly to eat food that you can easily have in your home country while traveling. However, seeing Japanese chain restaurants abroad excites me every time, and I cannot help but try them. I did the same thing in Mongolia. I found a Yoshinoya there and tried it. The menu was different, though. I had a mutton bowl, which was delicious. It is interesting to see how restaurants adjust their menus to local tastes.
The menu at Coco Ichibanya was basically the same as in Japan. I ordered beef curry with extra rice, cheese, and chicken. It was about 6 PM, and I knew I would not be able to eat anything until the next lunch because I was about to take a train ride lasting over 14 hours.
After finishing dinner, I took a taxi to Beijing West Railway Station. It was still raining heavily. The station was much larger than the one where I had arrived previously. I headed to the assigned waiting room and boarded the train.
The train departed from Beijing and arrived in Kunming as its final destination. The journey took 14 hours and 30 minutes and covered more than 2,500 kilometers. Inside the train compartment, there were four beds: two upper and two lower bunks. My bed was the lower right one.
When the train departed, there were only me and another passenger, a salaryman who worked for an AI company. He said he was from Inner Mongolia and was heading to Kunming for work. He was a nice guy. At the second or third station, two women entered our compartment and took the upper beds, making the room full.
The bed was much more comfortable than the one I had used on the train from Mongolia to Erenhot. I slept very well. Honestly, the trip did not even feel like it lasted more than 14 hours.
May 18
The train arrived on time at around 10:30 AM. From the station, I headed toward the hotel I had booked. I followed one of the drivers trying to get customers. First, I made sure to confirm the price. She initially said it would cost 100 yuan (about $15). I thought that was expensive, so I said no and tried to leave. However, she followed me and showed me “80.” I replied with “60.” In the end, we agreed on 70 yuan (about $10).
I got into the car and left the station. It took around 45 minutes to reach the hotel. When I paid the driver using Alipay, she suddenly showed me “80.” I had anticipated something like this, so I had already prepared a translation saying, “We agreed on 70 when we left the station.” I paid 70 yuan.
The area around the hotel did not feel urban at all. In fact, it felt a little creepy, and I became worried about what the hotel would be like. When I arrived, nobody was at the front desk, so I decided to walk around and have lunch somewhere nearby.
I found a restaurant with a decent number of customers and decided to go in. As soon as I looked at the menu, I noticed that the prices were much lower than in Beijing. In Beijing, noodles cost around 30 yuan, but here they were only 13 yuan. I ordered noodles and an appetizer.
The appetizer, pickled cucumber, was delicious, although the noodles themselves lacked flavor. Still, considering the price and portion size, I enjoyed the meal. I also noticed that many people ate outside on the street, which I liked.
When I returned to the hotel, I found a woman at the front desk who looked to be in her thirties. She seemed very kind. I gave her my passport and entered my room.
Surprisingly, the room was equipped with modern technology. As soon as I entered, a speaker started talking, and the curtains opened automatically. The room was clean as well, although it smelled strongly of cigarettes. All the rooms in the hotel allow smoking, which I had already known, so I had expected it. When I booked the room, I left a comment saying, “I would prefer a room with less cigarette smell if possible.”
I decided to rest for a while before going sightseeing. However, I realized that I could not charge my phone. To check whether the problem was with the charger or the phone itself, I asked the woman at the front desk to charge my phone with her charger. It turned out that my iPhone was the problem.
I panicked because the battery was already at around 30%. If it died and I could no longer charge it, it would become a huge problem. I searched online for possible causes and found that overheating could sometimes prevent charging. So, I turned on the air conditioner, powered off the phone, and let it cool down for a while.
Meanwhile, I decided to buy a new device just in case my iPhone stopped working completely. I still had a Chinese SIM card with a local phone number, so even with another phone, I would at least be able to use GPS and continue traveling.
I entered a Xiaomi store and asked a young employee how much the cheapest model cost. He kindly helped me using a translation app. The cheapest one was about $150. I convinced myself it was worth it and bought it.
After returning to the hotel, I turned my iPhone back on and plugged it in — and it started charging normally. I was so relieved that I almost forgot I had just spent $150 on a device I no longer needed.
I tried to justify my decision, but honestly, I still regret it. This is part of my personality. When serious problems happen, I panic so much that I sometimes make stupid decisions. I am trying to forget about it, but it is difficult.
By then, it was already around 6 PM, so I decided to have dinner at a night market I had found near the hotel. There were countless street food stalls and huge crowds of people. It may sound like a tourist spot, but I did not see any tourists at all. The atmosphere of the street was amazing. I was genuinely happy to discover such a massive food area filled mostly with locals.
I ate a lot. Each dish cost around 15 yuan (about $2) on average. The market is called Shuangqiao Night Market Style Street, so if you ever have the chance to visit Kunming, I highly recommend it.
I stuffed myself with food, returned to the hotel, took a shower, and went to bed.
