Middle China

26 July 2008
Chengdu, China
                The both of us woke up to people rustling around the train getting their things ready to unload off the train.  The train arrived in Chengdu early around 9:30.  We unloaded ourselves, and our bags off exiting the train station.
                The hostel we wanted to stay at was (what we thought) about a mile away.  Well after walking about 30+ minutes Anna was feeling worse than ever.  The elevation in Chengdu is only about 500 meters, or 1500 feet.  The weather was not cold and rainy as Lhasa had been, but hot, very humid, and smoggy.  This was the first China city we had been in where we could not clearly see the sun.  It was fogged/smogged over by smoke.  We eventually caught a taxi to the hostel.  The fair ended up only setting us back 9yuan, or $1.40US.  Doug checked in at the front desk.  Then it was up to the room.
                The first item on the check list was a much needed shower.  Living on a train with many other people for 48 hours can be unpleasant, especially if you are sick.  After showering we went downstairs to check email.  The last thing before going back to the room was food.  We had not brought as many snacks as we needed on the train, and we were starving.  The last thing both of us had eaten was a cup of noodle we shared the day before (almost 24 hours ago). 
                We desperately looked for a decent restaurant with some English words, but we didn’t have this much luck.  There was a bakery on the next street, we bought a couple items.  On the way back to the hostel we bought two large bottles of Minute Maid orange juice, and a bottle of water.  After eating our odd baked items Doug began reading while Anna took a long nap. 
                Anna woke up a couple hours later feeling a little better, but still really hungry.  Our guide book suggested a Tex-Mex restaurant in the city.  Doug was dying for some good Mexican food.  He has not had a good burrito or nachos since we left Mexico, almost 6 months ago.  We asked the girl at the front desk the best way to get to a dot on the map.  She said to take the #62 bus, and it would drop us off almost right in front.  This was too easy.
                We walked around the block, and jumped onto the #62 bus.  And sure enough it took us across town to almost right in front of the restaurant.  The both of us hopped off the bus, and walked over to the restaurant. The menu looked very appetizing with its different descriptive items.  We ended up ordering chicken nachos, and chicken rancheros (grilled chicken wrapped in a tortilla).  Along with the food Doug ordered an ice cold A&W root beer, and for Anna a lemonade.  First of all we have not had a root beer since Cambodia, and second of all, every time we order a lemonade anywhere except the States, we get limeade.  Real lemonade was ordered, and was delivered.  This was very exciting for the both of us. 
                The food was delivered; it smelled pretty good, now the taste test.  Doug was more than impressed, Anna was not convinced, but helped finish the meal.  We left the restaurant with full bellies, and took the bus back towards the hostel getting off a little sooner to stroll in the city a bit.
                Arriving back at the hostel we were happy to get into our air conditioned room away from the bad air.  The smog and humidity gave our skin a weird sticky feeling, and with our lungs still recuperating for being sick, the bad air did not help with any healing.  We were in for the night.

27 July 2008
Chengdu, China
                Our friends Amanda and Chris dropped us an email saying they would like to meet us at a local bookstore around 2 pm.  We took our time getting up and headed off into town.  Walking along we came across a big square with a huge statue of Chairman Mao that looked oddly like the statue of Saddam Hussein that got tore down by a tank during the second gulf war.  The rest of the square was pretty fancy with a water fountain show going off occasionally.  Even more impressive, there was a McDonald’s on the corner.  Recently we decided Anna is “home sick,” but Doug is “food sick.”  Doug’s condition is easier to fix with a Mickey D’s cheeseburger and fries.
                The next couple hours were spent wandering through the Sichuan University on our way towards the bookstore.  We arrived about an hour early and spent the time going through the books.  Doug picked out three books but was shot down we found out this bookstore was essentially a library.  People pay a fee to check out books, and you have 2 weeks to return the book.  This is great if you live in Chengdu, but a huge tease if you are just visiting.
                Chris and Amanda showed up a bit after 2 pm.  We spent the next hour or so catching up.  They told us about an accident they got into on a bus ride out of Shangri La.  Thankfully they were fine, and were quickly taken out of the area with a replacement bus.
                The four of us caught a bus to a French grocery store (kind of like Fred Meyer).  Chris and Amanda explained this was a European store so it was possible to get such delicacies as real bread and peanut butter.  In the store we got ourselves some food and other items.  On the way out Doug found a Swiss Army knife store and replaced his other knife.  Anna made a few things clear before the purchase was final.
                Outside we parted ways with Chris and Amanda making plans to meet up the next day on the way to the Panda Breeding center.  On the way back to the room we saw a Pizza Hut and decided to round out the day as “taste of America day.”  We started with McDonalds and were finishing with Pizza Hut.  As we got to the front entrance a lady stopped us and said, “Sorry.”  This was odd, can’t we even get into a Pizza Hut?  Then she said, “There are no tables.”  Then it dawned on us, “How long?”  She said 5 minutes and we decided we could manage to wait.
                We ordered some okay wings and a large pizza.  When the pizza they brought us looked a little small, Doug asked if it was a small pizza, but the girl who was bringing it was confused so she took off.  A few minutes later another lady came and explained that somehow they are out of large pizzas and only have small ones.  We were starving, and told them it was fine.
                Back at the room we cleaned up and worked on downloading photos from our train ride through Tibet before going to bed.

28 July 2008
Chengdu, China
                The alarm went off at 6:15.  We had a fool proof plan to call our families before going to the Panda Breeding center.  The plan started to fall apart when we couldn’t find the head set we use for Skype.  After about 15 minutes of tearing apart our bags we found it under a magazine.  Doug ran down to call his parents.  The two free computers in the hostel both had Skype downloaded.  Doug got the first computer booted up and tried the test call, but there was no sound and the mic didn’t work.  Doug booted up the second computer and had the same problem.  Doug ran back upstairs and grabbed the laptop and ran back downstairs to plug it in.  Once he plugged in the lan line, the internet wouldn’t connect to the laptop.  We both resigned to sending email to our families to let them know we were alive.
                We ran outside, around the corner to the #62 bus stop and caught it down to near the square.  We found a bus stop right near the #1 bus which would take us to a bus terminal where we would meet Chris and Amanda, then catch another bus.  At the terminal Chris and Amanda soon arrived and then we all jumped on the #532 bus taking us right to the Panda Breeding Center.  After reviewing the entrance fee to the center we were all very excited because our hostels sell tours to the Panda Breeding center for 80 yuan per person.  We just spent 6 yuan to get there, and another 60 yuan for two tickets to get in.  We saved near 100 yuan just catching the busses and best of all, we didn’t have to follow somebody around holding a stupid yellow flag throughout the breeding center.
                The feeding hour for the pandas was at 9 am.  We first arrived and saw a small glass holding area where a big panda was gorging itself on bamboo.  Unfortunately the glass wasn’t conducive to photos.  The next holding area had an older panda that put on a quite a show of scratching its rear end on a door frame.
                Thankfully the next area was an open air pen and we could see couple pandas wrestling.  Eventually a third panda joined in the fracas. 
                We made it to a nursery next where we watched (but couldn’t photo) a couple of new born pandas nurse inside a couple of incubators.  One pulled its head out from underneath a cloth and we got to see the whole body.  These things were no longer than a 5 or 6 inches and had a very thin coat of white hair over their bodies.
                Before we came to China we had never heard of Red Pandas.  Our next stop brought us to a holding area where we got to see a few of them.  These guys look like a cross between a raccoon and panda bear with really red fur.  After a little miss navigation we found a place where Anna could hold one.  The museums price to hold a white/black panda bear was 1200 yuan ($175 USD), to pet a panda bear is 400 yuan (almost $60 USD), but to hold a red panda bear was only 50 yuan ($7 USD).  The workers dressed Anna up in a medical smock, gave her some plastic gloves and then started trying to get the attention of one of the red pandas.  They used some sliced apples to finally draw one out.  Once the panda had the apple they picked it up and plopped it right in Anna’s lap.  Doug took about 50 photos while Chris and Amanda did a short movie clip.  After a couple minutes of Anna petting the panda and Doug firing away with the camera, they put “How How” (the panda’s name) back into his holding area.
                We caught a bus back to the bus terminal and had some lunch.  Thankfully Chris speaks some Chinese assisting us with ordering a bowl of noodles, and an order of dumplings.  The restaurant tried to scam us, but thankfully Chris was on to them and got us out of being overcharged.
                At the bus terminal we said our goodbye and split off from Amanda and Chris.  We made our way back to our hostel and then planned out the next couple days.  We decided to get a train to ticket to a city up north, Xian.
                The front desk said to catch the #54 bus to the train station.  At the station we were able to book tickets for the following day’s night train.  We made our way back to the hostel getting some refreshments on the way.  The rest of the evening was spent updating the website and relaxing.

29 July 2008
Chengdu, China
                The morning was spent packing up our bags, then checking out of the hostel.  Today we were catching an 8:50pm train out of Chengdu to a city more northern, Xi’an.  After dropping off our bags behind the reception counter we headed to one of the monasteries in the city.  It took us a little over an hour until we finally found the monastery. 
                We wandered around the monastery taking photos of different things.  They had a little pond with frogs.  After about 30 minutes it began to rain.  We sat down underneath an awning.  Doug attempted to take a nap during the rain.  Once the rain was over we walked around about five more minutes then left.
                Anna really wanted a cup of coffee, so we set out to find a coffee shop.  Arriving back at the big square we found a coffee shop listed in one of the city magazines.  We went in and sat down.  Looking at the menu, Anna was not about to pay 30yuan, or $5US for a cup of coffee.  So, we then left.  There was a Starbucks around the corner.  Anna ordered a blended tea, since she can’t stand their coffee.  We sat down for a short while, being our feet were throbbing from walking around everywhere.  Chengdu is a city of 4 million people, and the city is quite large.
                After tea, we went back to the French grocery store to get some drinks, and another loaf of bread.  Then we began walking back to the hostel.  On the way it (of course) began to rain again.  We came across a little café close to the hostel, and decided to get a bite to eat.  Anna ordered a bowl of soup, and Doug got a club sandwich.  Doug club sandwich was interesting with a fried egg, and spam.  Anna’s soup warmed her stomach.  Once dinner was over we headed back to the hostel to hang out until it was time to head to the train station.
                We waited until around 6:30pm, then headed out to catch a bus to the train station, and arrived about a quarter past seven.  Arriving at the station, we went through security without any issues, and sat upstairs until it was time to board the train.
                The boarding began about 20 minutes before the scheduled time to depart.  We all loaded on, and soon found our sleeping berth.  The train left promptly on time.  We both read for an hour or so before the lights went out, and went to sleep.

30 July 2008
Xi’an, China
                The both of us woke up before 8:00, and read for a while.  Soon we broke out the PB&J, and had breakfast.  The train arrived in Xi’an on time around 12:30.
                Doug had emailed a hostel the day before making a reservation with a place who offered free train station pickup.  We looked around for someone who looked like they were waiting for people like us.  There was no one to be found.  A Chinese couple we had met the day before asked if we needed any assistance.  They were really nice, and told us we just needed to take the K600 bus, and it would take us near our hostel.  We said thank you, and walked to the bus stop.
                The K600 bus soon arrived, and we got on.  We rode about 15 minutes on the bus to the other side of town, and got off.  Arriving in the hostel, they finally found our reservation after we told them we were arriving from Chengdu.  The girl didn’t apologize for not picking us up from the station, and proceeded to check us in.  Anna mentioned we would like to pay for 3 nights instead of the 2 we had reserved.  She then informed us the price after August 1st, goes up to $260yuan.  The price right now was $160…WOW!!  We only paid for the two nights, and decided to check into another place after the 2 days was over.
                We went to our room, dropped our bags, and took much needed showers.  After settling in, we went out to find some food.  Doug was pretty happy, this city again had McDonalds.  We ended up going there for lunch.  After eating we walked around for a while longer, and then went back to the room to relax.  Even though on the train we had sleeping berths, neither of us really slept very well. 
                After a couple hours we ventured out of the room to wander around, and have a bite to eat before turning in.

31 July 2008
Xi’an, China
                After getting ready we headed out to look at the “small goose pagoda.”  This was located outside the city wall.  When we reached it we saw that it was co-located with the Xian Museum.  Furthermore, the two required an entrance fee to go visit.  We have seen a lot of pagodas and didn’t feel this one was going to be any more special than the others so we decided to not pay and took a photo from outside the wall.
                On our way back we passed by a barber.  Doug hadn’t had a haircut in quite a long time and he was looking a bit shaggy.  He sat down in the barber chair, pointed at a pair of clippers, showed the barber “3,” and then made a big circle around his head.  Anna was a bit shocked by the reemergence of a “military type” haircut.  However, Doug thought this had to be done.
                After some exploring we came across the “temple of the 8 immortals.”  This is a large Taoist Temple originally built on an ancient wine shop.  We spent the next hour or so wandering around taking photos.
                We wanted to take a bus back to the room but the bus that would take us was packed to the gills.  The first one that came by only took on about two people and wouldn’t allow any others.  The next one didn’t look any better, so we walked.
                On the way back we stopped by some stores and inquired into some items, but didn’t purchase anything.  We had seen a bar (and possible German restaurant) the day before and we wanted to swing by and see if we could get a “hot brat and cold beer.”  Unfortunately they were closed.  We went back to the room for a bit to relax and clean up before coming back.  We went back a couple hours later to find the bar open.  The menu only had drinks on it.  Oddly enough they had Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR).  Not surprising, it was the cheapest beer on the menu.  Neither of us actually ever had PBR before so we decided to give it shot.  The beer was alright, but compared to Chinese beer, it was quite good.
                Still looking for diner, we headed off into some back streets.  We came across a restaurant with zero English.  We took a table and after the initial confusion a guest that could speak very good English came over to help us.  We told him we were looking for one dish of some sort of chicken.  She told the staff our order and then disappeared.  The bowl that arrived was practically overflowing with hot peppers.  And in true local Chinese fashion, the chicken had more bone than meat.  Anna seemed to enjoy it a bit more than Doug.  After dinner we went back to the room for the night.

1 August 2008
Xian, China
                The guest house we were staying at was practically doubling the price of their rooms starting today.  Normally this would have been enough for us to change towns completely, however we still needed to see the Terracotta warriors today and also today was the day of the Total Solar Eclipse.  We packed our things, hopped a bus and went to our replacement guest house…Bob’s guesthouse.
                The room was not nearly as nice as the other but sufficient.  We dropped our bags and went to the train station where we could catch a bus to the Terracotta warriors.  After an hour long bus ride or so we arrived.  Getting off we were pretty hungry.  Anna was approached by a lady selling peaches.  Anna did some feeling and found a ripe one.  She enjoyed the fresh fruit while we found a restaurant for lunch. 
                We came across one restaurant that had outrageous prices…except their club sandwich, which was only 25 yuan (not cheap, but much less than everything else on the menu).  We decided to split the club.  The sandwich turned out to not be a club at all and instead was a tuna sandwich with roof tiles instead of bread.  Somehow we managed to finish it without chipping any teeth.
                Tour guides kept bugging us before and after we bought our tickets to The Terracotta Warriors.  We were trying to keep this cheap though, so we kept brushing them aside.  After a little walk to the site, we arrived. 
                The Terracotta Warriors were only discovered back in 1974 when a farmer was digging a well.  During the process they came across some pottery.  Once excavators showed up they discovered that buried underground was entire army of life size…pottery… warriors.  Additionally, each warrior was created uniquely, they all have different faces, and hairstyles…it was quite impressive.  There are three pits where the warriors are buried.  Our guide book said to head to the third one, first.  Each pit is covered by an aircraft type hangar.  Inside the third one was a large excavated hole with, supposedly, 75 warriors.  About half of the warriors were close to being in one piece; the others were pretty busted up.  This third pit supposedly served as the “headquarters” for the pottery army.  The historians were able to identify a lot of high ranking officers in this group.
                The second pit was much larger than the third pit, however this one was more of a “work in progress” and there wasn’t much to see inside.  On the side, they have pulled out 5 preserved warriors.  The first was kneeling and used to have a crossbow.  The second was a mid ranking officer, the third was a high ranking officer, the fourth a cavalryman, and the fifth was a longbow archer.
                The first pit was huge and supposedly had around 6,000 warriors inside.  There were rows of warriors in battle formation.  When these warriors were discovered they all had armament with them (the other pits as well).  Some had spears, bows, crossbows, even chariots attached to the horses.  Unfortunately all the weapons had been removed; it would have made what was an amazing site…spectacular.  We worked our way around getting lots of pictures.  It was only when you saw the warriors side by side that you could truly appreciate the differences between them.
                On the bus back we were able to catch a nap.  Once the bus dropped us off we went to the ticket line at the train station.  After about an hour of waiting in line we got to the front.  We tried to book an overnight train to Pingyao.  Unfortunately all they had was an afternoon train leaving at noon and arriving at 8pm.  They also only had the most expensive seat available (but that also means the most comfortable). 
                After a rest back at the room we headed out to see the Total Solar Eclipse.  Xian is surrounded by a wall that you can walk on top of, and Anna had the great idea to go up on top to watch.  When we arrived we found that there was a whole tour group up there.  They all had solar viewing glasses.  One man we met had what looked like aluminum foil over his camera lens.  Doug stopped a kid and asked where he got the glasses from and was led to a lady from Minnesota.  She apparently bought a 25 pack for a couple bucks and had a bunch leftover.  She gladly gave us two pair and outright refused any compensation.  With the glasses on you could look directly at the sun.  If you looked anywhere else it was complete dark, but the sun appeared as a yellow circle.  Doug walked by a gentleman with a very nice Nikon camera and some foil over his lens.  Doug asked what it was and the guy said it would keep us from frying our lens/CCD chips.  Then he pulled out the sheet and gave us chunk.  Doug had the idea to use Anna’s hair tie to hold it over the lens…worked like a charm.  We got to chatting with the guy that had just given us the foil and he said that his name was Rafael; he was from Italy…and Australia.  He also mentioned later that he worked for the Italian Olympic sailing team as an organizer.  We were quite impressed.  He pulled out a huge pair of Cannon binoculars and was trying to figure out how to attach foil to them.  Doug went over to the vending cart and when Rafael arrived they pulled out some scotch tape.  With this he was able to cover up his binoculars. 
                A bit later another gentleman arrived and began chatting.  This was his 5th total solar eclipse.  Him and Rafael talked about past eclipses and future ones as well (next year it will be in Shanghai and Iwo Jima, but there will be one on Easter Island in a few years that is supposed to be the longest of the century).  They also said that once the sun is blocked out the temperature will drop, the bugs will stop chirping, and other strange things.
                Rafael had done his research.  He had time charts, maps, GPS and even a palm pilot that showed (relative to our position) where the sun and moon were.  As the moon made first contact we started taking photos.  The process seemed quite slow but it was amazing. 
                About 10 minutes in we saw some of the Chinese tour organizers start calling out locations (Shanghai, Beijing).  It turned out that when this tour was organized they didn’t plan on these people staying overnight in Xian.  Instead they had train tickets out on the same day.  But worse, the tickets were right after the eclipse was done.  The organizers didn’t take into account that people in the tour group had to check in, so they were carting people off before the eclipse had barely started, and before it reached the “total eclipse.” 
                About 45 to 50 minutes in, the moon was blocking most of the sun and we could look at the eclipse directly.  Slowly the moon blocked out the sun and the sky went dark.  We did notice the temperature did drop, but neither of us noticed if the bugs stopped chirping.  Our eyes were consumed by the awe of the eclipse.  Some people started cheering.  It was pretty unbelievable.  The total eclipse only lasted a few seconds before the sun started to sneak around the corner of the moon again.  We grabbed some more photos as they separated.  Rafael was nice enough to take a photo of us with the fading eclipse in the background.
                Back at the room we downloaded photos, had some instant noodles, thought about how lucky we were to just stumble into this eclipse, and went to bed.

2 August 2008
Xian, China
                There wasn’t much on the agenda today.  We started by going down to the Muslim Quarter.  Oddly enough, it wasn’t very “muslimy.”  We decided to try a Chinese pizza dish at one of the restaurants.  They took some batter (tortilla like), fried it in oil then put in some type of stuffing and then covered it in more fried dough.  When it arrived the first bite tasted ok…then each bite got worse.  We had ordered one each and by the end we asked for a “to-go” box and brought the rest to the trash.
                Although shopping wasn’t our plan, that is exactly what happened.  Doug wanted to get a Mahjong set and Anna wanted to get a nice Chopsticks and placemats set.  We had negotiated with a lady a couple days before for the same items.  That particular negotiation ended with her running after us outside to offer us one last deal…which we turned down.  With that particular number in mind Doug negotiated 10 Yuan less than what that other ladies final offer had been.  They weren’t particularly happy about the final price, but they wouldn’t have sold it if they weren’t going to make a profit.
                On the way out a lady stopped us and invited us to her art studio.  She and her husband were painters.  Her husband was also a teacher and they sold a number of paintings by the students along with the husband and wife’s.  Many of the pieces were quite good.  Although we have become fairly decent and negotiating everyday items (water, Mahjong sets…) art is another matter.  We feel a bit bad telling an artist “Sorry, your art isn’t worth that much, how about this price instead?”  Thankfully the prices were pretty reasonable to start with.  However we knew we should have pushed a little harder when she started throwing in free items because she was so happy.
                Our next stop was the post office to mail off all of our new purchases.  Then it was off to lunch.  We came across Pizza Hut and decided to splurge.  After a large pepperoni pizza we started back.  On the way we found a video place and bought some movies.  We needed to plan ahead for our Trans-Mongolian rail journey.  From Ulaanbaatar to Moscow is 4 straight days on the train…movies will be worth their weight in gold.
                Back at the room we cleaned up and watch “Ratatouille” which was quite good, but ultimately just made us wish we were in Europe where we could get some good cheese, bread and wine.

3 August 2008
Xian/Pingyao, China
                The morning began with people knocking at our door at 7:30 in the morning.  Police officers were going through the hostel this early in the morning checking people’s passports for some reason.  The police officer checking our passports first asked what we were doing in Xi’an.  The second question was why we were in China.  This was craziness.  Why did they think we were in China of all places?
                After the passport check we were awake, and began packing things.  Our train was scheduled to leave at 12:20.  At 11:00 we checked out of the hostel, and went to the train station.  Everyone was able to board the train around 11:45.  The seats we had were soft sleeper seats (a berth with 4 beds).  These were much more comfortable than the hard sleeper, and with air conditioning.  Viewing all the other cars while getting on the train, it looked as if only the soft sleeper cars had air conditioning.  This was a very old train.  It left promptly on time.
                The train arrived in Pingyao around 9:00 pm.  We negotiated with an electric motor cart thing for 10 Yuan to take us to the Harmony guesthouse.  This accommodation looked the best in the guidebook, and was the cheapest.  Arriving at the guesthouse, we unloaded our things with the help of some people from the guesthouse, and then checked in.  Anna was able to view a couple rooms, and take which one was more appealing.  This guesthouse was very friendly from the moment we checked in.  It is run by a really nice family.
                After getting settled in our room, we went out to the restaurant to have dinner.  We ordered a plate of sweet and sour chicken with a couple orders of white rice, along with a liter of beer.  After finishing our meal we were joined by some people from Barcelona, Spain.  We chatted with them while they ordered, and ate their meals.  It was now almost 11:00, and we were tired for the long day…time for bed.

4 August 2008
Pingyao, China
                Anna took advantage of there not being any plans, and slept in a little.  We left the room mid-morning, and went to the restaurant for breakfast.  We each ordered a banana pancake, Doug had orange juice and Anna had her coffee.  She was very excited to be ordering “fresh brewed coffee,” not Nescafe.
                After breakfast we wandered around town.  This was a very old city, enclosed by a wall much like Xi’an, but smaller and less congested.  There is a tourist ticket that can be purchased for 120 Yuan which gets you in to a bunch of different sites throughout the city.  We purchased this ticket, and began checking things off the list.  We wandered around the town for about 4 hours, looking at different things.  It was time to eat.  Anna dragged Doug to a local restaurant, and ordered a plate of the Pingyao dumplings.  Doug ordered a beer to go with the snack.  We have discovered in every region in China the dumplings are different.  They tasted decent enough, a little bland.  Then we went back to the room for a while to rest our feet, and shower.
                For dinner we decided to go back to the guesthouse restaurant.  The food was ok.  The girl suggested the “famous” Pingyao beef.  So this is what we ordered and shared.  It wasn’t the best meal.  Doug said it tasted like stew meat.  We hung out in the courtyard chatting with the people from Spain.  Doug met a guy from Texas.  He is an English teacher in South Korea.  After a while we said our goodbyes and went to bed.

5 August 2008
Pingyao, China
                Our first stop in the morning was the train station to get tickets to Tiayuan for the next day.  They had a bunch available so we decided on the first one in the morning, 6:30am.  Then we decided to go see more of the residences and temples around the town.  As we looked through them all we started having difficulty remembering if we had already visited them or not.  All of them were very beautiful, but they were all starting to blend together.
                While we looking around we found a theater that had a nightly show which was included with our ticket.  We had heard good things about the show from some other travelers, but we couldn’t find the theater the day before.
                Inside of the martial arts temple our camera ran out juice.  We finished looking around and headed back to the room to rest and recharge ourselves and the battery.  After resting a bit the electricity went out.  We were trying to check email when it went out, so we waited a bit.  While we were waiting we talked to a couple that was about to go get a full body massage across the street.  They said they both had foot massages the day before and that they were fantastic.  We needed to go back to the theater to get our tickets for the evening’s performance.
                At the theater we got in line with a bunch of tour group operators.  They all had stacks of tickets for the tour groups.  In traditional Chinese fashion, the locals ignore the line and rush the front.  A couple of tourists told them to get in the back.
                On the way back to the hostel we decided to get the foot massages.  We were shown to a couple seats.  The other tourist couple was in the middle of the full body massage.  The guy seemed to have a permanent grimace on his face.  The ladies working there had to call in two more ladies to do our foot massages.  One lady arrived promptly; the other took about 15 minutes or so to show up.
                They started by soaking our feet in warm water with some sort of Chinese herbs, then they started the massage.  The big difference we noticed right away with Chinese massage is they really focus on using their knuckles instead of the pads of their fingers to do the massage.  This can make the massage extremely uncomfortable, especially when they are focusing on boney parts like the balls of your feet.  Overall the massage was not that great.  When we talked with the couple that got the full body massage, the girl said she enjoyed it, while the guy was in pain the whole time.
                For dinner we ate at our guest house again.  This kitchen had served us the best Chinese food Doug has had in China.  The most appealing feature was that the meat in this restaurant was boneless…a rarity in China we’ve found.  While we were eating we met a trio of girls from Italy.  Soon we were joined by our friend from Texas and he was joined by a girl from France.  When it was time to go to the 8 pm show we found out the Italian girls were also going.  At the theater (and throughout the town) the power was still out.  Rumor had it that Beijing was taking power from other towns to fill their requirements (no basis for this, just rumor).  Our friend from Texas and France soon joined us and a guy from Chicago also joined our group.
                At 8:45 the power came back on and within about 15 minutes or so we were directed to our seats.  The seating was set up like a lounge act in Vegas.  We all had tables with chairs instead of a row of seats.  The Italians were sitting just below us and we convinced the ushers to let the others sit at our table.
                The show was above and beyond what we expected.  The performance was a mixture of ballet, gymnastics and ancient Chinese culture.  It was about a farmer who falls in love with a girl who is betrothed to a mentally challenged master.  Throughout the play the young farmer shows him prosper until he is extremely well off.  Eventually the play ends in tragedy when the Master’s “right hand man” (who also turns out to be the father of the girl) poisons the farmer and the girl then poisons herself.  Overall we were quite impressed with the sets, the costumes, and general overall performance.
                It was near 11 pm when we returned, and since we were getting up at 5:15 am, we went to bed.

6 August 2008
Pingyao/Datong, China
                The alarm went off at 5:00am.  Our train tickets were for 6:35am, we needed to be there around 6:00 or so.  After we got our bags packed it took us a while to get out of the guest house.  Because it was so early everyone was pretty much locked in until the owners woke up.  We made as little amount of noise as we could, and finally someone woke up to let us out.  Walking down the street we came across a man with a bicycle carrying a cart.  He agreed to take us to the train station.
                We made it to the train station 15 minutes later.  The man riding the bicycle was not young, his vehicle looked older then he was.  Arriving at the train station we waited in line until all the passengers were allowed through to the boarding area.  The train arrived on time, and we all pilled in.  The train tickets were only 8 Yuan each.  We soon found out why they were so cheap.  The tickets were “hard seat” tickets.  The seats are on a first come first serve basis, none the less, we were standing.  The train tickets were to a city called Taiyuan.  From here we had originally planned to go to a city in the mountains.  But according to our guide book, to hike around the town was expensive.  So we decided to go to another city called Datong.  There were supposed to be some really cool caves to visit.
                The train arrived in Taiyuan 90 minutes later.  We exited the train station, and were going to enter again to buy tickets to Datong.  But the line to get inside just to buy tickets was very long, and they were making everyone put their baggage through the x-ray.  The decision was then made to walk a block to the bus station, and get tickets to Datong.  The bus was only 3 hours, and the train ride was 5 ½ hours.  This way we would be in Datong by noon.
                Arriving at the bus station we purchased tickets for the 9:00 am bus.  The time was now 8:45 am, this was perfect.  Anna went to buy a couple drinks, and then we loaded on to the bus.
                At 12:15 we arrived in the wonderful (sarcastically) city of Datong.  The bus arrived at the southern most station, so we boarded another bus to take us north by the train station.  The guide book only listed a couple of accommodation options and the two cheapest ones were close to the train station. 
                30 minutes later we were let off at the train station.  Anna wanted to check out the 3 star hotel, if the guide book price was still the same we could afford.  Arriving at the hotel, we asked the price, it had been raised an additional 100 Yuan.  So we went to the cheapest accommodation listed.  The guide book didn’t really have anything good to say about it, just that it wasn’t that bad.  We checked in, and went to our room.  The room wasn’t the nicest but would do.
                The next thing to do was get some food.  We went across the street to a local restaurant, and ordered a bowl of dumplings.  Doug also got a beer.  The food wasn’t too bad.  After lunch we walked around the hotel block looking for a place that would do our laundry.  The two places we found were pretty expensive.  Laundry mats are nowhere to be found in Asian countries.  Everyone either hand washed their clothes, or takes them to a dry cleaner.  We went back to the room, and washed our underwear in the sink.  The next city was going to Beijing, and we shouldn’t have any issues getting laundry done there.  Or so we thought.
                On the way back to the room we stopped by a convenience store to get some noodle, and snacks.  Back at the room we ended up watching a couple movies, then turning in for the night.

7 August 2008
Datong, China
                Once we got ourselves up, and dressed we went down the hall to our free hotel breakfast.  We were not getting our hopes up.  Arriving in the dining area we were each given one hard-boiled egg.  Then the guy pointed to some big metal pans full of food.  None of the food looked appealing.  But to give them the benefit of the doubt we each took a couple things.  To say the least we would not be going back there for breakfast the next day.
                After breakfast we went down to the internet café to check email, and then to the train station.  We decided to go to Beijing a couple days early.  The news “said” the city was cleaned, along with the air.  Luckily we were able to buy tickets for the following evening leaving at 11:00pm.  This was perfect.
                The Yungang caves were the thing to see in Datong so we boarded the bus to take us there.  Arriving at the entrance we purchased our tickets, and went inside.  The caves were pretty cool to see.  These were some of the earliest Buddhist carvings in China.  We hung out here for a couple hours taking photos.  The both of us were pretty tired from the day before, so we jumped back on the bus, and headed into town.
                Once in town Doug saw the golden arches, and convinced Anna to stop by.  We got off the bus, and walked a couple blocks to lunch.  After lunch while walking back to the bus stop we came across an HP store.  Our laptop was acting up, the wireless wasn’t working, and we wanted to try to get it fixed.  Doug walked in and asked about repair.  The guy who ran the place told us to bring the laptop back, and they would see what they could do.
                We hoped on the bus, went to the room grabbed the laptop, and then hoped back on the bus to the HP store.  The service guy fiddled with the computer for about 30 minutes.  He was able to get the wireless “blue” light to come one so we were happy.  Doug went around the corner, and brought back a case of beer as appreciation for their work since they didn’t want any payment. 
                After the computer was done we decided to walk back to the room, and see some of the city.  Arriving back at the room we understood what the guide book said about the city and it was all true.  This is what the book says: “Datong is the poster child for all that’s environmentally wrong with fossil-fuel addiction.  The uplifting remains of times past are balanced out by the sulfurous air pollution, contaminated groundwater and suburban slag heaps that grow by 80 million tons annually.”  In the room we relaxed for a while, since we had been on our feet most of the day.  For dinner decided to have noodle once again. 

8 August 2008
Datong, China
                The day began a little later.  Anna wanted to lie in bed.  Doug examined the computer again, and after a restart the wireless “red” light came back on.   First we went down to the internet café to check internet.  And then we took the bus down to the HP store to see if they would once again take a look at the laptop.  And of course they did.  We ended up being there until almost 4:00, and we got there at 12:00ish.  It was a long afternoon!!!!  After they reinstalled the operating system, we installed all that they could.  We thanked them again and left.  Doug left them another case of beer. 
                Next we went to a coffee shop the guide booked suggested was good.  It turned out their whole upstairs was full so we sat downstairs next to some guys smoking up a storm, and playing cards.  Doug pulled out the computer, and began installing everything he could off of the portable hard drive.  By now the wireless was off again, and reinstalling the operating system was worthless.  We hung out at the coffee shop for a couple hours, or until Anna could drag Doug off the computer.  By now it was almost 7:00.  Our train was scheduled for 10:50, and the opening ceremonies started at 8:00. 
                We went to the hotel to get our bags.  Along the way we found a local restaurant with a television.  Doug asked if they would be showing the Olympic ceremonies, and they nodded.  We brought the bags back to the restaurant just in time to watch the ceremonies begin.  At 10:00 the ceremonies were in the middle of the different country competitors entering the stadium, but we had to leave for the train station.
                The last couple of train stations we were at had televisions; we were hoping this one also did.  We soon found out this one didn’t, and the US still hadn’t come into the stadium.  Everyone started to board the train at 10:30.  After we got on there was a guy watching the ceremonies from his portable television.  We were able to catch most of it, but the US had already gone through.  (Later we watched them enter online).  After watching the ceremonies it was about midnight, and we were tired.  Time to go to sleep.

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