Two major problems today. One was temporary, and one more persistent. It is day 4 of being crammed on a bus with 60 asian people is really making me hate asian people. One of the worst things is eating. We tend to go 6 hours between meals, 6am noon and 6-7pm for dinner. So imagine 60 hungry asians all invading whatever buffet or resteraunt we are there to eat at, and being told you have one hour to get your food, eat, and get back on the bus.
Dont forget the line to get to the restroom after all of us have been packed into the bus for 3 hours. There is this sense of desperation in all of the people trying to all pile out of the bus, get into line, find a seat at the resturant, then getting up to get a drink, pay.... whatever. By today even Greg was like "It kind of makes you lose your appetite." The anxiety is causes in everyone is high. It's "group think" at its worst. Sure I am hungry... but the tension is so bad... it is getting me to the point I just want to get away.
hungry chinese line up to eat....
the tour bus and a few of its riders
Getting breakfast, getting 60 keys for the hotels, getting luggage on the bus each day, and off each night. Getting to the bathroom when everyone needs to go, and there is only one toilet at the rest stop. I am seriously starting to go crazy. I dont want to eat, or drink anything lest i have the need to go to the bathroom. It could be fighting for one bathroom, or waiting for hours to relieve yourself.
Every stop is like this, you have a strict time limit, everyone desperately trying to pile in and out of the bus, get all their crap out... Ughh, i am really ready to just get the hell out of there and get away... but then you cant.
here they congregate around the antler arch in Jackson hole
Sightseeing at Yellowstone on a time limit, when you have 60 other people on the same trail as you making a racket... well you don't get to see much life other than things that can't run away. You cant really get away either, you have so little time, you are forced to see the same things as most everyone else.
Oh one more thing before I stop my ranting. Our tour guide sucks. I thought it was just a language barrier problem, but after the first couple of days I then realized everyone else who did understand the language was lost too. She talked about things that are days away, and you wonder what bear soup, what IMAX movie, what city she is talking about, only to realize she is talking about things that are days away like you are going to be seeing them later in the day. We all spend a good deal of time lost and confused. Her time planning seems to really blow too. She talks too much and out of context. Once i fell asleep when she was on one of her spiels, and woke up 40 min later and she was STILL talking. Everyone had long since passed out too.... I think she likes the sound of her own voice.
At first all these things didn't bother me that much, but now, they are really taxing my patients. The 6 hr breaks without food, the, bathroom lines, the Chinese music they Pipe in the bus while site seeing. Todays bitching cold snow didn't help my mood much either, nor the 4-5 hrs of sleep i have been getting each night (that one is partly my fault) Oh, you are really missing out. Thank god I brought my trusty headphones to drown out the Asian Karaoke on the bus trip! Okay I am done bitching. I did get away for a while at Yellowstone, and once at the hotel I am just with Greg and Gary which is much easier.
Breakfast today: continental at the hotel (60 people plus the regular hotel people all trying to get food at 6am) noon we had food from the cafeteria at Yellowstone (again huge lines because you have the bus dump of people on top of the regular yellowstoners there), then dinner again, Chinese buffet (yummy ;-/, well there was Bear soup there tonight, but it was not really my thing.)
As for the day, we spent most of it in Yellowstone in Montana. It snowed all morning which made much photo-shooting shit, as well as long distance site seeing. Not to mention 7am hikes through the wilderness lose a touch of appeal when its cold, wet, cloudy, super freaking early your sleep deprived, and there are 60 people you are tired of being around (Greg and his family excluded of course ;P).
We saw the grand canyon, and some hot springs in various locations. The snow, and cold made them not ideal viewing conditions though. We then drove back through Idaho and stopped at some "bear show" something she talked about the first day, and we all said no, because we thought she wanted us to see a bear show in Las Vegas that DAY... and I was like... why do we want to see a show about bears in Vegas? Anyway days later I am not that sorry I didnt end up going, I played around in a petting zoo instead, with all the other people who also said not to the "vegas" bear show which was actually in Idaho outside Yellowstone. Oh well. Note to Yellowstone visitors, go in JULY if you don't want to be in snowy conditions. :)
After the Bear thing, we drove to Pocatello City in Idaho, had Chinese buffet for dinner, and now I am back at the hotel. I am almost done with my books... which is depressing. I really hope i don't finish them before the plane ride home. So there is my day.
