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We battled our way through the hellish journey to Lijiashan. Never again would we do the 9 hours train journey in a seated cabin. The smokey cabin was packed with unruly people who were constantly loud, spitting, and chewing away their cold chicken feet. Ugly fat man showcasing his bare belly walking up and down the aisle because it was getting warm in the cabin. We tried our best to calm the agitation but it didn't help when the Chinese woman wanting me to translate the whole English magazine. Luckily, our ever so agonizing painful journey was helped by a cute little kid sitting in front of us.
We arrived at Taiyuan about 9pm and looked for the hostel we found from lonely planet. Our nightmare only got worse when we checked into this dingy motel situated on a street full of sex shops. Well, it was the worst room I've ever stayed in! Errr...How amusing it is when we first got into the room and found a cleaner was lounging on our bed and watching tv. Not to mention all the dirty bathroom and smelly bed, we merely just survived our horrendous night stay.
In the morning, we boarded our bus to Qikou. We covered 5 hours journey through the very dry, lifeless and dusty area. I nearly threw up after the awful toilet break. It was a big concrete hole with no flush, piled up with...err...use your own imagination.
We got off the bus at qikou. The dust storm meant that we abandoned our plan to trek to lijiashan, the ancient cave village that would be our home for a night or two. Instead we were lucky enough to get a taxi, something that wasn't possible a couple of years ago when a useable road was built. We reached the top of the mountain (Shan) and were met by Mr Li. Lijiashan means "mountain home of the Li family". 80 percent of people here share the same surname. That's 32 people out of the population of 40!
As we rounded the mountain top the village emerged through the clouds of dust. It was a breathtaking moment and we immediately felt the journey had been worth it.
It is indeed a very picturesque mountain village where the people live in caves. Apparently 1.5 million people in the Shanxi area live this way. Their homes have electric and are warmer than ordinary houses in winter and cooler in summer. The downside though is the lack of running water! The toilets are basic, to be polite, and taking a wash is a bit of a struggle.
However, it's lovely and peaceful here, and just walking around the village listening to to sound of the birds singing and the chickens clucking is good medicine for the soul.
We've enjoyed a nice trek around the mountain after breakfast with the two other travellers, an old man from Tianjin who's a professional photographer and a young guy from Hong Kong.
We had a lovely time sitting on the wall outside Mr Li's home, admiring the view of this ancient village, soaking ip the sun, drinking tea and chatting.
After a fantastic lunch, me, KC and the Honky head down the mountain towards the ancient Ming town of Qikou...
- comments
Rick Your description of the toilet reminds me of Karl Pilkington in "an idiot abroad" :D