I slept fairly well and was awake by 5:30AM. I got up to make myself a coffee in bed. I was scheduled to go on a tour at 10:00AM and wouldn't have another room until sometime the next day in the afternoon. I was hesitant to leave until absolutely needed.
I took a shower around 8:30AM and went for breakfast. Breakfast was included with the room and while I don’t normally eat breakfast, I tried to eat as much as I could so that I didn’t have to stop and pay for lunch later. The buffet breakfast was exactly the same as the day before. I filled my face, then went to get my things so that I could check out. My driver was waiting for me when I got to the front desk.
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| One of the pathways at Binggou Danxia |
Our first stop of the day was at the Binggou Danxia Geopark or Ice Valley in English. It is located inside the Danxia National Geological Park. Entry fee: 60RMB. Unfortunately, many parts of the park were closed but the few viewing areas that were open were wonderful! There were very few tourists there. Not sure why but it was nice to have the place to myself!
I was in the park for about three hours. After that, I met up with my driver. We stopped to get some fruit and chips and then made our way almost two hours away to the Pingshan Grand Canyon. Entry fee: 130RMB.
The day was hot and and I was already exhausted from climbing up and down all the stairs at Binggou Danxia. Upon arrival I wanted to say I wasn’t actually interested but I had nowhere else to go. I thought I could take it easy and sit and enjoy the views.
After the entrance booth, there was a bus that took us about fifteen minutes into the hills. The views were stunning. The bus dropped us off at a platform and we were to walk through all the sites. Although tired, the beauty of my surroundings made me forget how tired I was.
I eventually came to some stairs that led down into the canyon. There were many steep steps down and zero English to really understand what I was getting myself into if I went down all those steps. Did I need to come back up them? And what was down there, exactly?
I decided to go for it as this was most likely to be a once in a lifetime thing. I would probably never go back to that part of China so I just needed to suck it up.
A group followed me down there, thankfully, so at least if anything happened or I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do, I could ask. The trail was fairly straightforward and very cool. I was happy with my decision to go down there. At some point, the trail split into two. One way said it was to a ladder climb and one way said it was to the great canyon. I asked a lady about the trails and she said they both went to the same place.
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| One of the ladders out of the canyon |
She told me the ladder trail was more fun and that her friends didn’t want to go that way so she told me to go with her. I made a new friend! The climb through the thin parts of the canyon was awesome. I had to duck down and waddle like a duck at times. We finally came to a ladder that went straight up for quite some time. It was so fun! After we came out of the canyon, there was a bus waiting to take us back to the entrance.
My driver was waiting there and he said our next stop would be the train station. One thing I was starting to notice was that most people in China are still driving standard cars. My driver seemed to get a good speed going, then he would put the car in neutral and coast down to almost a snail’s pace. I don’t know if he thought it would help me enjoy the scenery, or? My train wasn't until 11:30PM, so I had plenty of time.
It took us about an hour to get to the city. We went for a quick dinner of delicious noodles and veggies. A huge plate of noodles cost 12RMB. I didn’t think the noodles would be enough so I ordered a vegetable dish that I had never seen before. It was quite yummy and I am still not sure what it was!
My driver then took me to the train station. It was 8:00PM. I had 3.5 hours to wait for my night train to Dunhuang. I was exhausted. I could smell myself from being sweaty most of the day. I felt sorry for the people I was going to be sharing my berth with. They were coming from Lanzhou and most likely would be sleeping. It was a long wait with a lot of people stopping and blatantly staring at me. I was the only foreigner there, but still. Manners, people, manners!
The train arrived on time. My berth was dark and thankfully my bed was empty and waiting for me. I climbed up to the top bunk and hoped to get some much needed sleep.
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