West End of the Great Wall, Jiayuguan

There isn't just ONE Great Wall Of China - there are many. Jiayuguan is the western end part of one of the important sections. Nice fort here and a popular tourist attraction with a 4 star toilet (a rarity in this area of China)

XiNing & LanZhou

Sorry Georgia - Lanzhou had the best peaches I have ever tasted. We only bought 2 - wish it had been more.

The boat ride on the Yellow River was made from blown-up pig skin. We passed on this adventure.

Overnight Train

This was my first time on an overnight train. We upgraded and got a "soft bed" which really means that 4 people are in the cabin- not 6 as in a "hard bed".  But as you can see from the picture many more people were in the cabin most of the time. Also they don't count children under 12 as a body so 2 people may be sleeping in one bed. This leg of our trip was 23 hours.  It was not too bad - we were in a car with a grandma and grandpa of a big family, also on the train, so she ended up taking care of us as well as her family - I was stuffed with all her food and snacks she brought by the time we left. No one snored too loud. Bathrooms were sort of gross but still useable. I got the bottom bunk which was pretty comfortable except that it was the community sofa during the day. I tried but I could NOT get up on the top bunk - you have to really really stretch those legs and have strong arms. I gotta work out more!

After the train we were taken to a hotel - it was HORRIBLE. I went downstairs to get a hairdryer and the receptionist was putting on her makeup and refused to turn around to help me. No hot water until they turned it on at a specific time. The rooms were occupied with lots of men playing Mahjong (they gamble on the game).  

The next morning we hopped in a car and did a tour of this area - temples, lakes, and the Yellow River. Then another 12 hour overnight train. It was drizzling a little and I fell on my BUTT on a slippery sidewalk outside of the temple, butt no permanent damage just sore and purple in some unmentionable places.

More Shopping in Tibet

OK down to the important stuff - what did I buy?  I bought a couple of cheap scarves, three Thankas (sp?), which is sort of a religious painting/shape,  that are very colorful and very detailed. I also bought some key/phone dangly things, another tea container with a picture of the Potala Palace in it, some dried yak for the train trip, and a cheap sandlewood bracelet.   I bought Zac a Tibetan style door for his NY house. The cloth door were being made by handicapped people. 

Last night we took a taxi to the park across the street from the Palace to take some pre dusk and post dusk pictures -- it was sort of drizzling so wasn't the greatest night sky but it was impressive. 

Shopping and Praying

Yesterday we had the whole day off so we wandered around and shopped and took more pictures. This is probably the most religious place I have ever visited. The people are truly devoted to their beliefs. One of the things the religious people do in the morning is walk clockwise in a large circle around this temple and couple of blocks -(maybe a quarter mile in distance)  hard to explain unless you see this mass parade. A very few devote people do it by sort of "inch worming" along and standing up in between. There are lots of cops and armed soldiers that monitor this behavior. In front of the temple is a short wall by the edge of the large cemented square.  Cynthia was still in the picture taking mode (she has a new camera)  so I sat down (remember altitude problems) ... No more than 2 minutes later a cop comes up and tells me "do not sit" even though there are many people sitting on the wall on the other side of the square --- guess I looked dangerous with my purse and camera. A little more paranoia setting in.

Blind Massage

Good Blind massage in the early evening and Dicos (Chinese version of KFC) for dinner - we were home before 9 before a big thunderstorm hit)

Side Note - The Dicos was across the street from the Blind Massage place - They had soldiers posted on the roof - with cameras and telescopes. They had a direct view into the massage place. The soldiers came over after we were done to check on our activities. They asked questions of the massage people. Paranoia was starting to set in.....

Yak not Yuck

Lunch was on our own we had Yak meat which is great, yak tea which HORRIBLE is like drinking butter with milk in it and lots of beggars that walked thru the restaurant (i always have my right pocket full of small bills for them ) some even asked for food - sad - we figured they were foraging for the winter cause in a couple of months there wont be any tourists to harvest from.