Huanghe Jingdu Hotel Yuanping

Wutaishan was one of our greatest disasters to date.Hee and there's been a few. I booked a hostel which gave directions to Wutaishan bus station but was in fact in Nanning- a whole other provence. Oops.
Pretty place, once we'd finally checked into somewhere in our price range. It was the coldest place I've ever been. The water in the river had frozen solid! We had pot noodles in bed and tried some rice wine, (evil smelling stuff) and quickly got on a bus out of there!
Love Lucy xxx

... strange events as the bus driver began to drive again!

Five minutes up the road from where we had parked for the night, we turned into a bus station. Final destination! We were there in Taiyuan!! We had spent the night parked just metres from where we had wanted to be all along!! AArg!! Lost in translation!! The crew had a grand ole laugh at my confused and angry questioning!! Free nights accomodation all the same!

Love ye lots
Lucy and Adele! xxx

... city.
*This is a very western opinion, the Chinese seem to be obsessed with modernization, and take more pride in skyscrapers and new highways.

Once we reached Xibaipo we took a tour of the village/compound. It was mostly 1 story brick building that had housed party generals. We saw the map and room from which the war was fought against the nationalists. The neatest part of the village was a very long cave/tunnel we explored that ran ...

... br>Taiyuan mel byt pro nas jen prestupni stanice, ale nakonec jsme v nem stravili cele odpoledne. Taiyaun je vice nezmilionove mesto, prestavbu centra dokoncili pred 2 roky. Hlavni ulice je misty az dvanacti proudova dalnice. Nikde tu nikdy nedelaji nic maleho. Asi sem nejezdi moc turistu. Vsude na nas zirali a v obchodech se nas ani nesnazili moc natahnout, takze jsme tam vubec nesmlouvali. Zasli jsme na jidlo, do muzea umeni provnicie Shanxi a posedeli v mistnim parku.

... vesnicky. Vyrazili jsme nejprimejsi cestou kamenim a bodlacim a shora se za nas modlil mistni mnich. Bucel jak sirena. Plan byl, ze po par kilometrech odbocime na zkratku a dorazime akorat za svetla. Bohuzel mraky sestoupily o par set metru nize a tak sme videli prd. Zkratku jsme proste nenasli a tak nam nezbylo, nez jit delsi cestou. Bohuzel cesta mela celkem asi 25 km k nejblizsimu autobusu a zbyvalo nam pouze 3 hodiny svetla. Ve chvili nouze ...

... si nas prehazuji jako horky brambor. Nakonec se rozdelujeme do dvou skupin. Ja s Adelou jdeme do hospody a hlidame krosny vsech. Jenda a Stavi jdou hledat ubytovani i do odlehlejsich mist.
Mezi nasi objednavkou si Adela odskoci na toaletu. Ta je vyresena jako cerna dira, kde se..te spolecne se psiky a za ohradkou se.e mistni krava. (stezovat si na zachododiry spolecne sdilene s ostatnimi lidmi byl ...

Two things I forgot to mention yesterday: First, we were trying to find a restaurant using an inadequate map on Thursday night in Datong and couldn't find it, so we stopped to ask who we assumed to be a member of the general public. It was when he offered to take us there in a police car that we realised he was an (off duty) police man. We accepted, although this did mean that the restaurant staff looked at us suspiciously when we ...

"Look at the beautiful red-head boy! Can I have my picture taken with him?" This seemed to be the general theme we heard as Nate became famous throughout the semi-arid hill country of Shanxi Province: the land of Buddhist caves, coal mining cities, and holy mountains. After the first dozen photoshoots with Nate and groups of Chinese tourists, Nate accepted his fame and the incessant paparazzi. Kevin and I, his entourage, were just along for the ride. Our first stop of the ...

... s not even the super-crazy part!! Near the top we pass a man in a strange, monk-like outfit and we learn that he's a Tibetan on a pilgrimage to Wutai Shan and this temple. He walked from Tibet for 3000 miles, stopping at various holy temples along the way, and it takes three years of walking to complete this pilgrimage! And the super-super crazy part is now that he's gotten here, he'll turn around and walk back! Being that I can't top that we ended the day by looking ...

We woke up early and hired a taxi to drive us the 5 or so hours to Wutai Shan, which cost us about 7 bucks each. Wutai Shan is one of China's sacred mountain areas and the oldest of the four Buddhist holy lands in China. Wu (Five) Tai (terrace) Shan (mountain) is the only mountain in China where both Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Lamaism (more on this next entry) are practiced. After losing his way a few times our taxi driver finally got us on the ...