Where is she now? 2
A web caff in Chengdu (capital of Sichuan province). And the vehicles again:
Pingyao to Linfen, two and a half hours, day. Hard seat. 20 yuan. Shanxi province.
Linfen to Xi'an, six hours, day. Bus. 100 yuan. Via Xiangfen, Houma, Wenxi, Yuncheng, Huashan. Shanxi, Shaanxi provinces.
Xi'an to Chengdu, sixteen hours, day. Bus. 226.5 yuan. Via Taibai, lots of twisting roads through mountains and gorges, Hanzhong, Mianyang. Shaanxi, Sichuan provinces.
Linfen: We expected to get train tickets to Xi'an easily here, but there were none left. Had two hours, ate, got the bus to Xi'an at two o'clock. This bus goes through Jia Zhangke's hometown Xiangfen and lots more of that flat brown Shanxi landscape dotted with villages and tombs like gates. As you near the border with Shaanxi the mountains pile up, full of 窑洞 yao2dong4 cave dwellings.
Xi'an: The Muslim quarter, Muslim food! (The city government and police must love halal kebabs, since they've all got their headquarters nearby.) And the beautiful mosque complex, built in the Chinese style thirteen hundred years ago or so. Xi'an is Chang'an, many times capital of China. Intact city wall from the Ming, like a lot of towns in this part of the country. Perfect weather, grand city full of friendly people who know they're from Chang'an, shame I ate something dodgy and wasted days recovering.
Chengdu: I've just arrived, but the air is southern, the soil on the way here looked like it meant rich business, there are plants everywhere, the dialect is different again, the map is more durable than in Xi'an (that one fell apart), the city is imaginative. There are gardens and endless swarms of teahouses. 茶! I'm going to explore and look for art galleries, and buy clothes.
LKQ x
Pingyao to Linfen, two and a half hours, day. Hard seat. 20 yuan. Shanxi province.
Linfen to Xi'an, six hours, day. Bus. 100 yuan. Via Xiangfen, Houma, Wenxi, Yuncheng, Huashan. Shanxi, Shaanxi provinces.
Xi'an to Chengdu, sixteen hours, day. Bus. 226.5 yuan. Via Taibai, lots of twisting roads through mountains and gorges, Hanzhong, Mianyang. Shaanxi, Sichuan provinces.
Linfen: We expected to get train tickets to Xi'an easily here, but there were none left. Had two hours, ate, got the bus to Xi'an at two o'clock. This bus goes through Jia Zhangke's hometown Xiangfen and lots more of that flat brown Shanxi landscape dotted with villages and tombs like gates. As you near the border with Shaanxi the mountains pile up, full of 窑洞 yao2dong4 cave dwellings.
Xi'an: The Muslim quarter, Muslim food! (The city government and police must love halal kebabs, since they've all got their headquarters nearby.) And the beautiful mosque complex, built in the Chinese style thirteen hundred years ago or so. Xi'an is Chang'an, many times capital of China. Intact city wall from the Ming, like a lot of towns in this part of the country. Perfect weather, grand city full of friendly people who know they're from Chang'an, shame I ate something dodgy and wasted days recovering.
Chengdu: I've just arrived, but the air is southern, the soil on the way here looked like it meant rich business, there are plants everywhere, the dialect is different again, the map is more durable than in Xi'an (that one fell apart), the city is imaginative. There are gardens and endless swarms of teahouses. 茶! I'm going to explore and look for art galleries, and buy clothes.
LKQ x