Hey Ya'll -
I'm back in Lanzhou. For two days I tried to get to Xiahe and then Langmusi. Both of these are small Tibetan villages outside of Tibet that are supposed to have amazing hiking. Also you get a taste for Tibet without actually going to Tibet--Buddhist monks, colorful architecture, etc. I was so excited to go that I tried two bus stations in two different towns to get to Xiahe. The women at the stations didn't speak too much English but they screamed at me and the two girls I'm currently travelling with (we met tryng to get to Xiahe), "NO BUS!" We would not be told why, although it definitely has to do with the CCP's concern about the Olympics going smoothly. So we gave up on Xiahe, travelled to another city and tried ot get into Langmusi. We bought our bus ticket, showed up at the depot, and rode for 2.5 hours on the bus until military police came on and escorted us off! They were very nice, not scary at all but told us to continue on to wherever we were going. Obviously we complied. We asked the one soldier who spoke some English why and he said, "The big earthquake! Foreigners are forbidden. It's very dangerous." Now if you believed that bunk, I'll tell you I'm the tooth fairy! I'm a bit concerned about what is actually going on in those towns--martial law? house arrests of monks? Regardless, this was not the time or place for me to find out.
Today the girls and I split the cost of a fancy room in a hotel in Lanzhou for the equivalent of $11 each! We have an awesome shower, two separate bedrooms and time to relax and email. We are feeling better and tomorrow we wll head to Xian(Terracotta soldiers! Woo!) where we will part ways.
I feel like I have so many stories to share but I'll leave you with jsut one for now. In the town where we were stuck waiting to get to Langmusi we went to a temple named Washou. It had Taoist influences (yinyang symbols, etc). The temple was okay, good views of Linxia (another dingy China city), but behind the temple was a forest amd garden. There old CHinese people were playing cards, drinking tea and eating sun flower seeds. We joined in on the tea and chilled out at the top of this beautiful hill where we couldn't see one bit of smog. It was more awesome than I'd imagined.
Love,
Christina
PS I still have the same problem with pics. I promise as soon as I can I will post some!
2 comments:
Sorry about your "no go" experience but how did you get back to wherever when they took you off the bus? (For the blog readers-I knew yesterday about this removal! To say we were slightly stressed is to put it mildly. Fortunately, Christina called to calm our nerves and hearng that all was well was certainly a relief.) Glad that you continue to be safe and sound and that you had a relaxing night at good hotel. We love you!! MOM and DAD
yeah i wanna know how you got back to wherever after being escorted off, too.
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