Downs and Ups...

Today is a way, way downer...in a two aspects.  Chengdu is around 2000ft. above sea level, and Zhangjiajie is 500.  That’s insignificant thought.  What’s a huge downer is the fact that I am sick on my 2nd of only a 3 1/2 day vaca!  Ack!  

I have learned a few more lessons from Our Great Leader (LOL), aka, China.  First, coffee shops are very hard to find outside of HUGE metro areas (unless you can read Mandarin!).  We spent the first hour of our day -long  layover in Changsha seeking coffee, and had to settle for the burnt flavour of Starbutt’s ;-)  
Second, smoking is allowed on the trains, in a space between the cars, where the door remains open.  We were 3 seats from the conjoining-cars.  Third, make sure there is no construction near your hotel.  Fourth, book flights instead of trains (due to the damn smoking).  Fourth, wear a damn mask whenever pollution count is above 50, even when the sun is shining and it looks deceptively clear. Fifth, take antihistamine, sinus, and headache meds on every trip.
Select “read more”, to the right...and tons of photos coming!

The pollution in Chengdu got bad again this week, but because it was sunny, I kept forgetting to wear my mask.  Plus, if pollution measures below 100, the locals consider that a “clear” day with “low” pollution levels, and open all the windows at school.  My lungs, immune system, and sinuses have still not adjusted to the pollution factor, so I have been coughing all week.  Add in breathing cigarette smoke for 4 1/2 hours on an enclosed train, and boom... I am sick again.  Damnit!  All night, sniffling and could not breathe through my nose.  Woke with a tremendously painful headache, and feeling like someone beat on me all night long.  Add that to a week of poor sleep due to coughing, and almost no sleep the previous night (crummy hotel, recycled air, arrived late, got up early...) and I feel like hell this morning.  After not getting checked in until 1am, I had to have some tea and settle.  I knew there was no way I wanted to get up to take the hour-long bus ride to the mountains at 8am, so I told my companions I would sleep in and join them later.  Well, it’s nearly 1pm, still feeling like poop and I still can’t breathe and I still have a horrid ache in my sinuses, so forget it.  I ​found a grand historic temple 3km from our boutique hotel, and then a “tradition village” near as well, so after an extremely hot shower, I’ll try to eat and grab a Dudu to the Puguang Temple, which is near Huilong mountain park.  After studying google maps and deciphering a bit of Mandarin, I discovered some trails that lead through a neighborhood and into the park up the mountains.   It looks amazing!