Goodbye, Lanzhou!

Farewell to Lanzhou! I am excited to be moving on to Xian, one of my favorite cities in China! Before I get there, I will have to endure one more long train ride, 9-hours. At least it will be an overnight train, so by the time I get up tomorrow morning, I should be in Xian. Wish me luck with my luggage tonight and pray that I don't get kicked off the train, especially since Lier is back in the States right now and can't bail me out of trouble anymore. LOL!

Today, we visited Five Springs Mountain. I was so disappointed because it is supposed to be temples built on the side of the mountain because of the five springs that flow down the mountain, but it was nothing more than a glorified amusement park. There were Buddhist temples located up the mountain, but right next to the temples would be pool tables, bumper cars or other types of amusements. I felt like it was a bit disrespectful to the temples and the faithful who worship at those temples. This was definitely a good example of Chinese capitalism at its best.

Five Springs Mountain



Boys playing by one of the springs.



I had to sneak in a sunflower I found at one of the springs.




I cut our visit to Five Spring Mountain short, and headed over to White Pagoda Park. We took a cable car up to the summit of the park. I know I have a penchant for wanting to be in high places and riding cable cars or balloons in the sky. If I had to choose a power to have, it would definitely be flying! When we reached the top of the mountain, we decided to take in the view and walk down the mountain and back to the Yellow River. The view of Lanzhou from the top was amazing! As we started walking down, we encountered a more impoverished area that looked run down and on the verge of being torn down, but people were still living there. There was massive construction around this area - a new hotel for the tourists. The people living in those buildings were probably in the process of getting kicked out of their homes because the land was needed for the new development. The government did the same thing in Beijing to build up for the Olympics. That is progress for you.


View from the Cable Car above the Yellow River


Kids playing in the Yellow River, not sure how clean it is.



View of Lanzhou



View of Lanzhou from the summit of White Pagoda Park



Are there any signs of life here?



Signs of life.




I have to run and catch a train! Catch you when I get to Xian!