...and they did.
It's been an interesting week off. One more day left.
The plan on Thursday was to go to Li Mountain - which is on the way to the Terracotta warriors, then zip over to the warriors. Skye and I left at 6:30 in the morning to catch the bus to the main train/bus terminal. The bus terminal was a literal sea of people - there's a huge plaza out front and there was a person on every square foot. We found the line for the Terracotta warrior bus (it stops off at Li Mountain on the way) and it weaved back and forth like a snake all over the place. I thought it would take forever but the line actually moved pretty fast (and it grew even longer as we were there) and bus after bus kept coming in to take people away. There was security policing the lines to keep them straight, and they were shouting things like "act like civilized people and do not cut in line". Once all the seats on a bus are full, they then have a second line of people who are willing to stand up (for the same price but the hope is they'll get on a bus faster). Then they pack them in. I already had a feeling that the warrior part was not going to happen that day.
Li Mountain was a place where a former emperor stayed. There are also some hot springs there (which as far as I could tell are not used any more). There is a cable car which you can take about 2/3 the way up the mountain. We decided to do that which was a good move, although the lines were again horrendous. Skye was telling me that they were announcing things like don't have sex over the p.a. system. Captive audience I guess. You literally have to scurry to get on the cable car when it comes around - they don't stop it for anything! Skye was not convinced it was safe...
Then there is a bird sanctuary to walk through on the rest of the way up the mountain (they have huge nets that are strung over all the trees to keep the birds in). It was not impressive.
We were determined to get to the top and it was one series of steps after another. I don't remember ever going up so many steps. Thankfully, it was not very hot that day. I can't imagine doing it on a hot day. We also stopped at some Buddhist temples on the way up that were impressive (too bad no photos allowed inside) and there was a ton of incense being burned (people buy sticks of incense and light them up for good luck and fortune). By the time we got back down I told Skye we should forget the warrior part - it was already into the afternoon and the crowd situation was making it not so enjoyable. Good thing we did because some other teachers went for it that day and they said it was a big mistake - people and lines everywhere. So I'll save the Terracota warriors for a quick Saturday or Sunday trip one of these weekends when there's no national holiday!
We were then going to go to Hua Shan (one of 5 sacred mountains) today, but after talking to some more people again decided to wait. People were not kidding when they said travel during the national holidays is packed! So I've got some pics of Li Mountain to share, but other than that stayed close to home. Gone to a large supermarket and got some items so that I can actually cook something and I made grilled cheese sandwiches yesterday (first time Skye has had one).
Ate a new Hot Pot Fish restuarant with Skye and his fiance's family. They bring the live fish to the table where you approve it and then they take it back and slice it all up into incredibly thin slices. You have a hot pot in the middle of the table that is boiling with all sorts of food and spices, and then you take a slice of raw fish in your chopsticks, dip it into the hot pot for 10 seconds, and eat it! It was interesting and again I ate stuff that I have no idea what it was, but it wasn't as good as the Peking duck last week.
Speaking of duck, what happened to the Ducks this week???
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