Adrian Landsberg started The Lifestyle Compound for his love of entrepreneurship and travel. In October 2103 he quit his job of ten years to chase his dream of going on a multi-country, bucket list smashing mission. Recently he has bungee jumped, walked the most dangerous hike in the world and trekked to Mount Everest Base camp. Adrian enjoys writing about building passive income, travelling, and living life against the grain of society. Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Adrian whittling down his bucket list in Thailand and China!
This post was originally published in 2014. It has since been updated for accuracy of links.
DAY 1 – SUNDAY
8:00 am – Awake and ready for my last day in Chiang Mai, Thailand and I wanted it to be a memorable one, how else to do it but go bungee jumping…..naked!
I figured if I got out to the bungee site early there would be less people to see me naked; I was out there and stripped off by 10am.
10:15 am – Standing there on that platform was a heck of a lot harder than I thought; I kept getting ready and then backing out telling the guy in charge I couldn’t do it. On about the fifth attempt I think he realised that I may not do it, so of course what does he do?
He pushed me!
Definitely for the best because I may not have done it, but what a great way to finish off my month in Chiang Mai.
(See also: How to Rent an Apartment in Chiang Mai for $250/month)
2:00 pm – Dropped my hired scooter back to the shop, got some lunch and walked back to the hostel ready for my flight to Beijing, China.
4:15 pm – Caught my taxi to the airport and had an early dinner.
6:40 pm – Jumped on my plane ready for the next adventure.
DAY 2 – MONDAY
6:00 am – ‘Woke up’, I guess if you can call it that. I had a 9 hour layover in Kunming airport so I slept, ate and watched movies on my laptop.
8:40 am – Caught my flight onward to Beijing.
11:45 am – Landed in Beijing, decided I would get a taxi which I later realised wasn’t the best decision. My taxi man must have seen an easy target and decided to charge me 480 yuan (about $80 AU). The hostel workers later said it should have cost 150 yuan tops!
12:30 pm – Had a nice lunch at the hostel and responded to a few emails.
2:30 pm – Thought I would have just enough time to see the Forbidden city so I got directions and set off with map in hand.
2:55 pm – A rickshaw driver was hassling me to take me to the entry and I thought (stupidly) that it would be a good idea to get in. I’d already been ripped off that morning so I made absolutely sure that it was only going to be 2 yuan like he’d said.
3:10 pm – The driver had been taking me through all different little alleys and my gut was telling me something wasn’t right. Sure enough he pulled into an alley, got out and demanded 300 yuan from me. We started arguing, two more guys walked into the alley and surrounded me and the driver stepped towards me and punched me in the stomach. At this moment I decided my life was worth more than 300 yuan so I pulled out the notes and got the hell out of there.
I felt so annoyed and mad. Definitely a bad way to start out in Beijing.
7:00 pm – A guy from my hostel and I decided we’d go out for a meal, play some pool and have a few beers because of my day. Was a good way to finish a really bad start to China.
DAY 3 – TUESDAY
7:55 am – I woke up to someone banging on the dorm room door, realising that I’d slept through my alarm for my bus to to see the Great Wall.
8:00 am – Quickly wolfed down my breakfast and was out the door onto my bus which was already waiting.
10:20 am – Arrived at the Wall, where we all took the chairlift up and then started exploring at our own leisure. After the previous bad day, today was great, to see this wonder of the world had been a dream come true, truly awesome. Catching the toboggan down was a cool way to get back down as well.
1:15 pm – We all met up and had a nice buffet lunch.
2:30 pm – Back on the bus for the ride back to Beijing.
7:00 pm – Grabbed some dinner and had an early night.
DAY 4 – WEDNESDAY
6:00 am – Up early for my flight to Xian. I’d been scared off taxi’s in China so I decided to take the subway and what a good decision that was as it’s very easy to get around.
8:40 am – Just caught my flight in time, had to be hurried through the express lane.
12:00 pm – Decided to get a taxi package from the airport (fixed price this time at least) to go see the Terracotta warriors. Ended up being a good afternoon, walking around taking photos and video and checking out all the ‘pits’.
5:00 pm – Checked into my new hostel which turned out to be more like a hotel, definitely one of the better hostels I’ve ever stayed in.
6:00 pm – The big reason I came to Xian was to visit Mount Huashan, so I booked a bus to do that and another guy, Jeroen, from the hostel decided to come along as well.
7:00 pm – Dinner at the hostel which was delicious.
10:00 pm – In bed ready for a big day tomorrow.
DAY 5 – THURSDAY
6:30 am – Woke up and started eating our pre-made breakfast.
7:00 am – Caught our bus to start the 3 hour ride out to the mountain, making several stops along the way. After the 10:30 mark we realised that by the time we actually got up to the top of the mountain it would be well past lunch time.
12:10 pm – We got all our required tickets and caught the bus up to the base of the mountain.
12:45 pm – We jumped on the chairlift which took us up to the most amazing views I’ve ever seen.
1:00 pm – Finally we made it ! The whole reason for coming to this mountain for me was to do the ‘Plank Walk’, voted by many as the most dangerous hike in the world. We located a map and we were on our way.
1:20 pm – We had our harnesses on and set off on the plank. After all the travelling to get here, being on that plank was one of the most amazing experience I’ve ever done. We took a heap of photos and videos, even ‘planking’ on the plank.
3:15 pm – We headed back to the chairlift and took it back down, got the next bus back to our bigger bus and waited.
5:15 pm – Jumped on the bus and slept nearly the whole way home.
8:30 pm – Ordered a big feast and edited photos and watched the GoPro footage we got for the day.
12:30 pm – After a big, long day I finally rolled into bed to get in some sleep for my early morning flight.
DAY 6 – FRIDAY
5:00 am – Up and again ate my pre-prepared breakfast and jumped in the taxi.
6:00 am – Arrived at the airport to realise that my flight had been delayed by 4 hours, so I read and ate until we were ready to leave.
11:20 am – Finally got on the plane to take me to Katmandu, Nepal! I’m here to do the trek to Mount Everest Base Camp and I couldn’t be more excited!
5:40 pm – A guy I met in the airport and I shared a taxi to Thamal, the tourist district to get to our hostel. The sheer amount of traffic here was insane; plenty of horn honking and car mirrors rubbing each other.
6:30 pm – Had some dinner, talked to a woman at the hostel who recommended a guide for my trek and had an early night.
DAY 7 – SATURDAY
8:00 am – Woke up and had some breakfast at the hostel and checked out a bit of the city for a few hours while getting heckled by plenty of shawl/drug/jewellery selling people.
1:00 pm – Had some lunch and met up with the guy I was told was a great guide for my trek. We talked about all the details, what I’d need, the price and how well prepared I was.
4:30 pm – Did a bit of emailing, blogging and banking and met a group of girls who invited us out to dinner.
7:00 pm – We went to a nice Nepalese restaurant that served us an amazing meal. Back home for an early night so I can start preparing tomorrow for my trip!
Adrian completed the Mount Everest Base Camp trek just before Christmas, and is now in Thailand for some sun, sand, beach and relaxation after two and a half months of full-on traveling. He is also working on a book and other location independent streams of income so he can continue his journey – to Malaysia next, and hopefully to Africa. Follow his adventures and musings on The LifeStyle Compound.
Adrian! I’m so sorry that happened to you in Beijing. I lived there for the last three years and I wish I had known you’d be going! I could have sent friends of mine to take care of you! It’s a great place once you find your footing. Let me know for next time 🙂