I woke up at 5:00AM after a nice, long sleep. I stayed in bed until 6:00AM and then got up to shower. Apparently the hotel has no hot water in the morning. I quickly splashed myself to rinse off. This may be the first of many cold showers (or no showers at all) over the next month so no time like the present to get used to it!
I went downstairs at 6:30AM, checked out and got my 200RMB deposit back. I was planning to take the train to the Lanzhou West Station but there were a ton of cars and taxis in front of the train station.
The lady at the hotel said it would be 20RMB to get to the West Station. I approached a lady who said it would be 50RMB. I told her that the hotel said it would 20-30RMB and she said she couldn’t do it. I decided to take the train and began walking away. The lady chased after me and agreed to 30RMB. She probably could’ve done it for 20RMB but I wasn’t about to argue for 10RMB.
I hopped in her car and she told me to wait. She wasn’t a taxi driver and she ran around the area looking for more people to go in the car with us. The amount of honking going on at 7:00AM was shocking. The roads had no lanes and drivers seemed to be making their own.
We dropped off the other two passengers at different places and they both paid 20RMB. I was starting to notice that China is a cash free country. Everyone uses WeChat to pay for things. The lady that drove me to the station asked if I was going to pay by WeChat but I told her cash. She looked at my money with her nose turned up but accepted it.
I had to show my passport to get into the train station and put my bags through a screening process. I had a little knife with me that had a cover over it for fruit but they confiscated it. Damn.
Navigating the train station was easy. I got myself a cold coffee and a bacon and egg sandwich. The train to Zhangye was about four hours. I was the only white person on the train and people were taking triple checks and smiling and giggling.
The lady beside me on the train was very friendly. When she realized I could speak Chinese, she looked relieved! She gave me a delicious juicy peach, a tomato and two packets of cookies. I refused each time she offered but she insisted. Her and her friends keep giggling at me. Perhaps it was their first time to be this close to a foreigner?!
Security found me twice and asked to see my ID. They also inquired about where I was going. I don’t know why the security is so intense around these parts. It did say on my arrival card that I was to have my ID with me at all times as I could be asked to present it at any time. I don’t recall that happening in Shanghai or Nanjing.
I arrived in Zhangye at 12:30. My driver was waiting outside the entrance with a sign that said my name. She seemed very nervous. So nervous, in fact, that she couldn’t get her car to move forward. She put it in gear and it either did nothing or went backwards. I was wondering if we were going to go anywhere at all. She finally got it to move forward and away we went. Our first stop was the Dafo Temple. Entry fee: 40RMB. It’s in the city center and was recommended if you were in the area.
I wandered around the temple grounds for an hour and a half. It is a gorgeous old wooden temple that dates back to the 12th century. It was so dark inside it was hard to take photos. Nor were you supposed to take pictures of the Giant Buddha.
I was to meet my driver at 2:00PM but I had trouble finding her. The driver was arranged through my accommodations so I contacted them via WeChat and asked them to get in touch with her. Minutes later, I saw my driver in the distance frantically waving her arms at me. Even after I acknowledged that I saw her and starting walking towards her, she continued running and waving in a panic. She apologized a ton of times for making me wait and I told her I probably just misunderstood. The people in this part of China have extremely thick accents with a whole lot of ‘ar’s at the end of their words. They seem to understand my Chinese perfectly and I’ve had many compliments on how nice it sounds but I am having trouble understanding them a bit.
My accommodation was an hour away from the city. I was staying at the base of the Zhangye Danxia Geopark. As we pulled into the park, I could hardly contain my excitement. The area is stunning!
I was staying at the Kaoshan Tents, which is within walking distance of the west entrance. The tent itself was awesome! It was big and extremely comfortable. They provided you with everything you could possibly need. The people working there were super friendly and they had a ton of activities to keep the guests busy and happy.
I was starving upon my arrival, so I ate and then set off to buy a ticket to the park. Entry fee: 75RMB. The ticket is good for 24 hours. There are buses that continually circle the road and you can get on and off at four different viewing points.
I made it to three out of four viewing points that day. The third viewing point was crammed packed with people. There was a whole lot of pushing and shoving going on. It was slightly annoying. The views made up for the madness. That place was unreal. The colors on those mountains were so vibrant. It was an amazing site to see and they exceeded my expectations.
I got back to my tent just after sundown. There were different colored lights on the mountains near our tents. Cute! People were enjoying an outside buffet BBQ. I went to my yurt, got my stuff together, grabbed a shower and that was it for me. I called my mom on FT and was out.
I had a bit of trouble sleeping. I was struggling with what I thought might have been a cold and a sore throat. It was very dry there and the tents sit at almost 1,800m. Perhaps the way I was feeling had to do with the elevation. I was certainly looking forward to the next day’s activities!
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