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Cheng Zuo and Shi Lin Saturday, February 17

On arrival at Da Xin bus station, we asked about getting a bus to Cheng Zuo and were immediately ushered onto the bus right next to ours. Gerry had to make them wait a bit so that he could buy us at least a couple of apples and tangerines to keep us going until we got to Cheng Zuo. The bus ride was not as scenic as the previous day’s but was still through some pleasant countryside.

On arrival at Cheng Zuo, we hired a tricyle taxi to take us and our bags to the best hotel in town (zui hao de da jiu dian) and were taken to the local binguan. The room there was reasonable and very cheap at Y80 after discount. We also ate a very nice lunch there of duck, pork with snow peas, and Gerry’s favorite stir-fried tomatoes and eggs.

We had arranged with the taxi driver that he would pick us up and take us to the stone forest, which he did. It was a quite pleasant park although after only a few years in operation, it was already showing signs of wear and tear. Parts of the water features were dry, perhaps for maintenance or perhaps through neglect. In so many places in China, it seems that there is plenty of money to build new attractions, but once they are built not enough money is allocated for their maintenance so they quickly start to look run down.

Our taxi driver picked us up again and took us back into town where we had him drop us off near the river. After sitting around reading for half an hour, we set off back to the hotel and found to our embarassment that we didn’t know where it was. We luckily had a card with the hotel name on it and did eventually succeed in getting directions to it but not before Jan was reduced to asking a beauty salon for permission to use their loo. Back at the hotel, we snacked in lieu of supper and relaxed in our room.

Ningming and Huashan Monday, February 19

Early the next morning we took yet another tricycle taxi to the bus station and took the first bus we found to Ningming. We expected the trip to take only an hour or so, but found ourselves not on the main highway but on a backroads bus that visited many small villages picking up and dropping off people and goods along the way. We weren’t bothered about the extra hour and a half the journey took because it was all so interesting to watch.

When we got to Ningming, we saw that there was a hotel right next to the bus station, so Gerry went off to arrange a room then came back for Jan and the bags. Just as Jan got to the hotel, she noticed another hotel next door that looked to her eyes bigger and better. We then got into an argument as Jan tried to persuade Gerry to consider the other place and he complained that Jan was reneging on a deal to accept his decision if he went to look at hotels. Jan gave in and we moved into the first hotel. The beds were clean but the bathroom was a bit grungy. Anyway it was for only one night.

The rest of the day was spent getting to and from the Huashan Rock Paintings. On our return we easily found a taxi to take us back into town and once there we looked around for a restaurant for supper. Just outside of the hotel next to ours we came across a sidewalk restaurant that had all of its ingredients on display on a lighted cart. Because that meant that we could point at what we wanted, we decided to eat there and had a very nice meal of pork and vegetables, grilled fish, noodle soup and rice.

Ningming to Pingxiang to the Vietnamese border Tuesday, February 20

The next morning we were up early and had breakfast where we ate supper the night before. We picked up our bags and walked next door to the bus station and quickly found a minibus going to Pingxiang. We were the first on board and so had to wait a while until they could round up enough passengers to fill the bus. But once filled, the ride was quick and uneventful except for the usual boarding and alighting of passengers.

At Pingxiang we were immediately accosted by tricyle taxis asking to take us to the border. In the end we agreed with one woman driver to take us for Y10. Gerry wanted to go for a walk first, so we arranged for her to come back in half an hour.

The ride to the border was not very pleasant as the fumes from the overburdened motorcycle engine caused us some discomfort. Jan was beginning to show some signs of catching the cold that Gerry had had for the past week and that he now showed signs of shaking off.

When we arrived at the border we found a long line of trucks waiting to be processed and hoped that we would not have to wait in any such line. We did not. We trundled our bags through the Friendship gate and into the Chinese exit building. We filled out our departure cards and apart from some agro with other passengers jumping the queue and a question about Jan’s Vietnamese visa (in her US passport) everything was simple.

From the emigration building, we trundled our bags a 100m to the border itself and showed our passports to the Chinese guard and then walked on into Vietnam. SEE 2nVietnam for continuation.