On a sunny Saturday, I got up at 6 AM, put a towel, sunscreen, flip-flops, and a swimming suit in a backpack. It took me 30 minutes to get to the bus station. Before heading out I wrote on a piece of paper Shangsi Islands in Chinese characters, so I was prepared. Now the story begins.

At the bus station, the soonest available ticket was in an hour and a half. I bought it. By noon we approached a ferry building. Only then I’ve realized the ticket for a ferry ride was for 3:30 PM. Another 1.5 hours of a ferry ride, and at 5 PM I’m finally at Shanxi island. I decided to buy a return ticket immediately since I was in the ferry building. When I approached a ticket window, a woman pointed to a piece of paper, which said ticket purchasing is at this and that location. Ok… I saw a bus station and a line of people, so I figured it goes to a city where the ticket office is located. In 30 minutes I was at a final stop (the bus station) where ferry tickets were sold. When I asked for a return ticket (I showed my ticket to the island and moved my hands showing a return), a lady understood and wrote on a piece of paper the next ferry back is tomorrow at 7 AM. And that was the only time available. Everything else was sold out. Did I have a choice? Got the 7 AM ticket.

Now I had to find a hotel. It was close to 7 PM at that point. I walked around looking for hotels, but couldn’t find many. One place that looked like a hotel after I’ve entered it, an angry lady rushed out and gesticulated for me to get out. Then I started asking around where the hotels are. One lady pointed to a small yellow building. I’m entering the building and asking girls at reception about room prices. They don’t understand. So I drew a sign yuan and pointed up. One girl wrote amount (I assume it was a number) in Chinese Characters. I tried to tell her that I only understand roman numerology. She kept writing the same character over and over. Then I pulled out my phone and asked her to dial a number. It was close to 100$. I completely disagreed with such a price for such a place. We started arguing. I didn’t want to pay over 50$. Anyway, I left. At that point, the sun was going down and I had nothing with me for an overnight trip. I was about to start hysterically crying. My phone battery was about to die and I had no clue what to do next.

Then I texted a friend to check Bookings.com to see where available hotels are in this town. He sent me an address. So I got to the hotel. Checked in. I was very stressed out. After a shower, I went out to look for a dinner place. Actually, I found a very decent restaurant with tasty seafood. On my way back I grabbed a bottle of beer to drink in my room.

As soon as my body got into a horizontal position, someone knocked on a door. A receptionist (who didn’t speak a word in English) started repeating one word over and over. Obviously, I had no idea what he was talking about. In 5 minutes a woman (his wife?) came in and began doing the same: repeating one word. Then a third guy came in, I guess also a hotel employee, and did just exactly the same. I’m on my bed looking at three people who in cacophonic chorus repeat one word over and over. By that time other visitors started popping their heads into my doorway trying to see why all this noise. Finally, one guy got an idea. He waved his hand showing to follow him. He walks to the reception desk and opens an image of a passport on a monitor. I didn’t have a passport with me because I wasn’t planning to stay overnight. Finally, I was able to pull a picture of my passport on my phone and showed those people. That’s not it!

Next day early morning I go back to the bus station. I miscalculated and instead of 30 minutes to the ferry building, we rode a bus for 50 minutes. I was late for the ferry. I’m at the ticket office at the ferry building again. The lady points back to the sign saying where to buy tickets. I go back to the center of the city. The next available ticket is the next day only. I opened maps on my phone and put in satellite mode. I found a spot on the island with a wide yellow stripe: the sand/beach. Then I walked to an employee of the bus station and pointed to that beach, moving my hand over to a row of buses. He walked me to a bus I needed and told a driver what I need. In 15 minutes of riding the bus, it stopped and the driver yells for me to get out. I’m perplexed because it’s a top of a ridge with no houses around. Immediately I saw a city down the hill.

While walking down I began searching for HOTEL signs. Got it! A room was 70$ and it was incredibly dirty. It was still morning. Across the street from my hotel, I saw people eating. I walked in showing I’m hungry. in 5 minutes I had a bowl of plain rice porridge, fried bread, and 1 hard-boiled egg.

Luckily one young girl that worked at that place spoke some English. She was incredibly sweet and nice. She told me the beach down below is the best spot on the island (water was very dirty and many diesel boats, they sounded as diesel with black smoke, cruised in front of the beach). Then she walked me to a lady who was renting scooters. There were no signs whatsoever for the rental. I’ve got a scooter for a couple of hours and headed inland to see what else is on the island. A temple on the top of a hill was very pretty. Nothing else notable that I’ve seen. After I returned the scooter, I went to the beach.

Finally, after 24 hours of traveling, I’m finally at the beach to swim. No so quick. Few minutes after I’ve entered the water, a guy rushed with a whistle to me, screaming to go to a buoyed area. That area was filled with swimmers and women with umbrellas. I had to move to the very end of the area to finally swim. I got all burned. For dinner, I picked a place right on the beach. One nice woman took my hand and walked me toward aquariums with lots of live fishes and seafood. I guessed I had to pick my dinner. Then my eye caught a bag of chopped octopus in a fridge. I pointed to the octopus. After that, she walked me to a table where different vegetables were laid out. I picked a few. You know what? It wasn’t a dish made out of all these ingredients that I’ve picked. There were 3 separate plates with each item I chose. I asked for a beer and a guy brought me a bottle of warm beer. I pointed to a fridge saying I wanted a cold one. Got my cold beer!

The night was uneventful. Next day I reached my apartment in Shanghai toward the end of the day.

That’s how one day trip to swim turned into a 3-day trip and some new white hair.