冒险娘之旅 Part 18 The Missing Tianmen Cave

清明时节雨纷纷
路上行人欲断魂
借问酒家何处有
牧童遥指杏花村

My interpretation of what the Shepherd boy was thinking:
Qingming festival is freaking always raining which you should have the common sense to avoid.
But since you are out, of course everywhere are crowded by senseless people like yourself.
Now if you freaking ask my humble opinion, you should cancel all your outdoor activities 
and get a beer in a bar instead.

Now even the shepherd boy had more sense then me. I should had just slept away instead of paying 258rmb to take the cable car up Tianmen Mountain 天门山 early in the morning on Qingming day. But like any Asian, we need to cover every destinations in our intinarery in order not to leave any regrets. Of cos the rain and fog made the trip utterly fruitless. Water soaked through my shoes as I fighted my way around the peak covered with thick fog. I realised my folly soon and made my way down like a defeated soldier. Should had just grab a beer and chill at one corner like how a Caucasian would do. Lesson learned, if you cannot see the Tianmen hole from below, you cannot see it from above either so don't bother paying to go up. Guess Tianmen cave will always be a mystery to me till my next visit.

In the evening, I took a train to Liuzhou. There was no more soft sleeper ticket due to the holiday so I got a hard sleeper middle bunk. Surprisingly it was better than I expected. Since I got a bunk away from the toilets this time, it smelled pretty sane. And the fact that I was tormented earlier by rain so anywhere dry will be a haven for me. I guessed this trip made me tougher than I used to be. In fact I had never planned to travel budget or stay in hostels initially. But through my conversations with my new found Chinese friends, I learned that was how they travelled so I wanted to experience as they do. Along the way, I had been canceling all my 4 and 5 stars hotel bookings and replacing them with hostels and inns. I had no regrets though, hostels and inns actually felt more lively as you got to interact with staffs and fellow travellers.