At 3am the bus took a quick pit stop at a gas station in the very exotic, Mauston Wisconsin. Coincidentally enough, my friend is on a similar road trip coming from Chicago to Minneapolis so I was able to chat with him midway at the gas station which definitely woke me up and gave this short trip a sort of small world feeling since we didn’t coordinate the meeting.
I was starving and my only choice for hot food was Wendy’s so I had to take it or eat my emergency cliff bar I brought along and risk needing it later in the day.
So I was thinking about my food choices lately because I’ve been rushing to and from point A to point B. Just today I had wendy’s and arbys and they weren’t my actual meal either. This past week I’ve also had White Castle, Red Robin, and Mesa Pizza to name a few. Usually people are eating ridiculously unhealthy fast food when they’re on a trip and I haven’t even started mine yet!
My hope…nay my priority when I get to china is to not touch anything deep fat fried or from an American based chain restaurant. I cannot wait to eat Yoshinoya, Korean BBQ, and craploads of sushi.
The entire bus ride to chicago was fantastic, I got a good 6 hours of sleep, woke up when we stopped in Madison and Milwaukee but I fell back asleep right away. I was kind of weirded out when I woke up at 6:30 to this lady totally sprawled out into my row though…
I arrived at 7:45 and immediately got on the bus around the corner to the Chinese consulate. I was talking with my mom while I was on the bus and missed my stop and had to walk back 7 blocks. Got to the consulate at 8:45 and was 5th in line. By the time I left at 9:15 there were at least 30 people in there.
I was told to come back at 2pm to pick up the visa which is perfect because my bus doesn’t leave chicago until 3.
I used the bathroom to brush my teeth and clean up, random chinese guy walks in and asks if I came from a different place in mandarin while I had a toothbrush in my mouth. I totally understood what he said but I haven’t spoken to a stranger in years in chinese. It feels bad since I spent 3 1/2 years learning it.
The first and only place I wanted to go to kill time was to Chinatown to grab some lunch at Joy Yee Noodle, one of my favorite restaurants in the whole city. I intentionally skipped breakfast and took the subway red line there which was about 15 minutes and arrived exactly at 11am when they were unlocking their doors. I ordered the coconut curry chicken with rice. I had to be conscious about how much I was eating because i wanted to save part of it for dinner and I wanted to order a drink as well. I got the avocado freeze with small bubbles…so delicious
Right now I’m back on the bus and it’s about 3:30pm, arrival time will be midnight. My dad called and said that my credit card arrived this morning which is great news because I won’t have to worry about money so much on this trip.
This will definitely feel like a longer trip since I’m not so tired so if I think of something I’ll add it to this post.
For now, here’s a neat panorama picture of the bus.
