The 365 Day Challenge of 2011

Day 167 June 16, 2010

Last city in China. The capital. The last time I was here was 3 years ago. What a different experience indeed.

We jumped on the subway and got off a little to early. 2 sweaty hours later we found a hostel near the Tienanmen Square. In the afternoon we headed to the Forbidden City and only covered about a quarter of it....

Picture: Enda being Enda at 6 in the morning... :)

Day 166

Back at the mini amusement park....

When we arrived back at our hostel, to our great delight, the hostel owner pulled out an overhead projector and their big screen T.V. outside to watch the world cup! They set up chairs and couches, had the grill and beer opener working away.

Day 165

Datong is known for the famous the Hanging Monastery as well as the Yungang Caves. After talking to some other backpackers, we decided against going to the Hanging Temples, due to the cost/view/overall experience.

Yungang caves: 100 Yuan. They recently increased their price, but it's worth it.

Day 164

Two pictures today. I couldn't decide.

While we checked out the city we came across a random mini amusement park....

and an amusing dog.

Day 163

Ah yes. Datong. The city that we spent too much time in...

Once again, as soon as we arrived we searched out a hostel. The problem was, all the hostels listed in our Rough Guide were either under re-construction or were torn down. The maps didn't help us much at all either... Once we did settle in and get a hostel, we searched for a bar that was listed in the book so we could watch the World Cup.

Surprise surprise, after about an hour of walking we realized that the Bar was torn down as well.

Picture: Random Chicken picture...

Day 162

There's so much to see in Xi'an and not enough time. We went and visited the Music Fountain by the Big Wild Goose Pagoda during the day. (I believe they present a laser and music show every night at 8 p.m)

We then wandered through the back alleys of Xi'an and ate some amazing Mandu and bought some ginormous bread for the train ride.

Day 161

Finally! The day we have been oh so looking forward to! Terracotta Soldier Day!! We grabbed our breakfast at 6.45 A.M., made our way to bus 306 by the train station, and left promptly at 7 a.m. It's great not to be restricted by schedules and tour groups.

After becoming a little frustrated with the audio tour guide, we sorted things out and began our long and amazing journey through the 3 pits and the museum.

It was hard to choose only one picture today....

Day 160

We made our way to the Bell Tower Hostel and decided to stay in the dorms. It was a great location and it gave us a chance to brush up on our pool skills.

Picture: Self-explanatory. They love their BBQ on a stick! Mmm...

Day 159

More train rides, more Ramyen, and more reading time. Nice :) We are off to Xi'an!!! :)

Day 158

Recommended to us by some friends, we decided to head out to the Tea Museum which was about an hour bus ride from the city center. We walked around the tea fields and realized that it was rather quiet. Ah yes, that would be because the museum wasn't open on Mondays. Thank you Rough Guide which said it was open every day....

We still managed to make the most out of the day. We rented a boat on the Lake and steered our way around, and then watched some rather impressive Musical fountains near the Lake, followed by a lot of walking... :)