This past weekend, three friends and I went to Taishan (泰山), the holiest mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains in China. It was a standard budget weekend trip in China what with taking trains, staying in cheap hostels, eating street food, etc. The mountain was great and all (the climb not so much, but no one ever said climbing a mountain was easy) but the main thing I am taking away from “Taishan weekend” is that money, friends, and travel don’t necessarily mixed well. Especially when you are traveling abroad and there are extremely mixed levels of language ability.

I went with three other friends to Taishan. Two of them speak extremely limited Chinese, the other speaks just as well as I do. Not surprisingly, it was my one friend and I who did most of our communicating and navigating and guiding for the weekend in our various travels and excursions up, down, and around Taishan. And also not surprisingly, it was also my friend and I who foot the bill for about 85% of our expenses during the trip.

We are all poor students. It’s not like we traveled extravagantly during our time in Taishan. We took trains instead of planes, public transport instead of taxis, hostels instead of hotels, street food instead of restaurants. But still, those costs add up. And when the bill for four is split between two people, traveling becomes even more expensive. And it becomes even more expensive when the thought of paying back each share of the bill seems to conveniently slip people’s minds.

Is it really that much to ask for people to pay their own way when traveling? And to remember to pay back people who covered for them when they had no cash? And, when the question of repayment comes up, to actually pay back someone rather than just saying you will?

It is all just very frustrating. Money is such an awkward subject.

Tags: money