Jiaguyuan 30.9.13

We were off the train at 6.15am and driven to the hotel where we had breakfast.  Then onto another bus to be driven to Jiaguyuan Fort and Museum.  The fort is being restored and is a mighty structure built during the Ming Dynasty.  It is at the most western point of the Great Wall and known as "the most impregnable pass under heaven".  It was the last major stronghold of the empire to the west and remains an impressive and formidable sight. I climbed all over it and walked a short way into the Gobi Desert.  The museum was excellent.  Then onto the western end of the Great Wall.  We were too tired to walk very far as it was quite warm.  The wall here is made of mud and straw (only materials available on the edge of the desert) not the stone of the wall near Beijing.  After a late lunch we took a stroll into the town which is most unprepossessing.  Bought 3 bottles of water and got some laundry done when we returned to the hotel.  It was returned a couple of hours later all beautifully washed and folded.  Very efficient.  Lovely big hotel.  Some of us had dinner in the hotel restaurant and shared a sponge cake provided by Frank to celebrate Willie's birthday.

Sitting on the western end of the Great Wall at Jiaguyuan

 

Diorama in the museum of the generals discussing strategies

 

Bactrian camels in the desert outside the fort.  Note the two humps

 

Fort view giving some indication of height of walls as gateway is about 15 feet high

 

A view of fort and people climbing the steps

 

Courtyard of fort

Labrang Monastery 29.9.13

We managed a quick shower this morning with the water situation.  Breakfast wasn't so bad, some yogurt and an omelette.  Then onto the bus for a visit to the Labrang Monastery.  What an amazing place. 99 men live and learn here. The decorations are superb but photos are not allowed except outside and in a small area inside.  We quietly and respectfully walked through the various areas watching monks at prayer, debating and in preparation for different religious ceremonies etc. Labrang is an important place of pilgrimage and is second in size to the Potala Monastery in Lhasa. The Lamasery, built in1709 has more than 10,000 rooms and has a collection of more than 65,000 books.  Lunched on snacks on the bus as we travelled back to Linxia to collect Judy and John.  Judy, thank goodness, is looking so much better. Then a long bus trip back to Lanzhou where we had dinner before catching the overnight train to Jiayuguan.  We shared a "soft sleeper"? with Judy and John.  It was a tight squeeze but we managed to fit in with careful placing of the luggage.  I slept well but the others slept fitfully.  The soft sleepers are tiny cabins with 4 narrow bunks, 2 on each side and a narrow space between with a small table between the lower bunks under the window. Very flat and hard with a pillow and doona of somewhat dubious cleanliness provided. Fortunately Bill and I had silk sleeping bag liners to sleep in and cover the pillow.

Monks in traditional dress at Labrang Monastery

 

Monks coming out for lunch and gathering their shoes

 

Waiting for the monks to come out. Shoes on steps

 

Entrance to our hotel in Xiahe. Owned by Tibetans

 

Interior courtyard of hotel

 

Ceiling in our lavishly decorated room at Xiahe

 

Bing LIng Monastery 28.9.13

Yesterday we visited the Gansu Provincial Museum home to cultural relics of the Silk Road.  It has some beautiful artifacts and a skeleton of a giant mammoth.
Our breakfast this morning was revolting, a thick piece of dry bread, no butter, minimal jam. Later an egg arrived fried so hard you could have soled your shoes with it.  Fortunately, we had eaten a banana before going down to breakfast.
This morning we travelled about 3/4 hour by bus to a large man made lake and took a fast boat to Bing Ling Temple.  This is a series of grottoes filled with sculptures and paintings set in natural caves and caverns in a canyon along the Yellow River.  As we were unable to enter any of these caves it was often difficult to see into the dim recesses or to take photos.  There is a very large Buddha carved into the hillside.  The scenery going across the lake was spectacular with sheer barren mountainsides coming down into the lake often in strange twisted shapes.  Unfortunately, while at Bing Ling Judy began feeling very unwell with tummy problems.  When we regained the wharf she was so unwell she fainted.  On our return to Lanzchou, guide, Frank, organized for Judy and John to stay overnight in the hotel we had just left.  After quite a delay, including time spent waiting for a rock fall to be cleared from the road, we continued on to Xiahe arriving about 7pm.  Bill still has severe back pain and the very bumpy roads did not help.  Dinner as soon as we arrived and straight to our very hard beds.  No water in shower or toilet at first but eventually the problem was solved and water appeared.

The famous "flying horse" sculpture in the museum at Lanzchou.

Giant mammoth skeleton in museum

Gianr Buddha carved into mountainside at Bing Ling Temple

Another ancient sculpture in museum

Terraced hillside between Lanzchou and Linxia

To Linxia via Langzhou 27.0.13

A very early start today.  Up at 5.45am to check out before breakfast inorder to leave by 7.30am for the airport.  Got to the airport at 8.30am to find our plane was delayed.  Eventually took off just before 12pm.  Onto a bus at Lanzchou and drove to to Linxia.  The drive was quite long, (several hours) through interesting scenery.  High hills, very dry and terraced all the way to the top.  There is quite a lot of land slippage.  Gansu Province is a Muslim area so in places there is a proliferation of of mosques and towers with gold tops.  Saw lots of shepherds minding there sheep, anything from a couple to a dozen sheep.
The hotel in Linxia is a Government one and the beds are like concrete.  We doubled up the doona and put a light one on top to try and make it more comfortable.  Tonight we went to a colourful and highly decorated Muslim restaurant for dinner.   The food was interesting, with nice soups and plenty of vegetables.  The meat was not up too much. 

The Muslim restaurant in Linxia

 

The TerracottaWarriors 26.9.13

Today we went to view the Terracotta Warriors.  Obviously one of the awaited highlights of the trip.  So very amazing.  Amazing that they were made in the first place, taking a huge number of years to do so.  Each figure being different and representing accurately the soldier, horse, etc and his rank in the scheme of things.  Even more amazing is the work that is being done restoring them from, mostly,piles of rubble.  They  were initially destroyed by an earthquake in 1556 and by fire by the Qin dynasty of the time and reburied, then were rediscovered by a farmer in the 20th century.  A beautiful complex  has been built to house the sculptures.  A nice lunch in the restaurant there. 
After we returned to Xian John and Judy and we two went for a walk along the City Wall. Most impressive wide high and solid wall with a roadway/walkway along the top. We were lucky enough to time our visit to a drum display in a courtyard beneath us. Fantastic display of drumming by male and female soldiers in dress uniform of bright reds.  Then took our lives in our hands and crossed the intersection through the milling traffic safely and found our way to the Muslim Quarter.  Had a look at the market street!! Narrow alleyways crowded with small shops and people selling all manner of goods.  Eventually found our way to the food and restaurant street and chose a mutton soup restaurant that looked very well patronized.  Made our wants known mostly by sign language and sat upstairs with the locals.  We were objects of some interest and amusement as we tackled big bowls of mutton soup.  It consisted of a tasty broth with a lot of glass noodles and breadlike sippets as well as pieces of tender mutton. Substantial.  Wandered back to the hotel enjoying the night scenes and completed the night with an ice cream at a Dairy Queen.  Yum.  A very good day. 

Restoration workshop

 

Warriors

 

The most famous warrior of all, "The Archer".

 

Horses in the carriage house

Bill with a soldier/guard at the gate to the City wall, Xian

 

The top of the City Wall and many bikes for hire

 

The drum display

Judy, John, and me on the City Wall. A Guard house in the background.

 

Muslim Quarter food stalls

 

Drumming display

Mutton soup

 

Bill slurping up the soup

Huashan Mountains

We met Puma at 7.45am and went by car to Huashan Mountains, about a 2 hour drive.  Three tickets were needed, 1st for a bus ride of 40 minutes in a shuttle bus to a Cable Car, 2nd to go into the park, and the 3rd for the Cable car. There were many many steps to get from where the bus dropped us off to the Cable Car entrance.  Then even more steps to get to where we boarded the Cable Car.  The Cable Car is absolutely amazing and stunning. It travels 4 kms in a W Shape up vertical rock faces and over humungous ravines, and through a tunnel.  We reached the top at 12pm and had our snacks then started walking. Well formed tracks high in the mountains.  Lovely forest and, surprisingly, several varieties of lovely little birds. At the East Peak I waited while the others climbed up the very steep uneven steps to the next lookout.  Then we continued to the North Peak. People have placed red ribbons and padlocks in vast numbers on the trees and barriers.  These signify "love forever". Puma then tried to take us to the West Peak but we rebelled after climbing endless steps and not getting close. Turned round and walked down all those steps, then up another lot which were better spread out but still an awful lot of them.  Impressive views from the lookouts out over mountain peaks and valleys.  Really a very lovely area. Eventually got back to the Cable Car and down the mountain by bus back to the car.  By then it was 3.30pm so we had a very late lunch in a restaurant where we were the only patrons.  The toilet was appalling and the handle came off in my hand but the food wasn't too bad.  Back to Xian about 6.15pm after a very worthwhile side trip to an area few people see.  The Cable Car was only recently opened and the road up to it is another engineering marvel.  We were met by Frank who said we could have dessert in the hotel restaurant in lieu of dinner.

Bill in  the Cable Car

 

Going up sheer rock faces

 

Heading for the tunnel

 

Birdlife

 

Red ribbons and padlocks signifying love forever

 

Jenny, Bill, Judy, and John safely down from an energetic day on the mountains

Such a fuss when we wanted ice cream with our order!  Had a short stroll to the supermarket then a shower and bed.

To Mt Huashan 24.9.13

The four of us were ready at 6.30 am to be taken to the very fast train to Xian.  We were left at the door of the station and found our way to the correct waiting room, then boarded the train without incident.  All very efficient.  The train was spacious, comfortable, with excellent  seating and views through the windows. Ladies came along at regular intervals with food and for rubbish collection. Toilets good and western.  The train reached speeds of 300 kmph.  We passed through many areas of corn growing.  Also passed many huge cities with enormous numbers of high rise apartment buildings, all seemingly identical.  Quite an eye opening train ride over 6 hours. 
We were met in Xian by our guide "Puma".  Seems a nice guy.  The hotel didn't have our rooms ready so we went walking to see the Bell and Drum Towers. Found our way through underpasses.  Xian appeals to us all. 8 million people here. It is much more attractive than Beijing. At the Drum Tower we were fortunate to coincide with a demonstration of drum playing. Very loud.  Spectacular costumes. 
We went to a pancake restaurant for dinner for dinner with Puma.  Like Peking Duck pancakes with egg and pork and potato dishes to wrap in the pancakes.  Fairly ordinary food.   

Line up of drums outside the Tower

 

Drums in variety

 

A beautifully decorated drum