So lovely to wake up naturally, with no alarm to get you on a train or a coach on time. This was a splendid day – sometimes you just need one where you ramble around aimlessly and rest mind and body. And this was quite aimless, spent in local streets looking at shops, buying the odd thing (two tops – I’m thoroughly fed up with what I have after wearing them to death for weeks) and taking loads of photos.
Everything is so colourful and exotic – just lends itself to being snapped. Some of the painted decoration was just fabulous – given me a few ideas for home…..I just wandered for a few hours, had a coffee with Pat in a KFC (still had squat toilets though, so not that western!) and then meandered some more before returning to the bar of the hotel – to find several fellow travellers asleep on the sofas.
Later we went out to a great little theatre to see ‘The Legend of Kung Fu’ – which was excellent. And just the right surroundings to see it in. Amazingly it was in English with Chinese surtitles. Apparently they’ve performed it a few thousand times in Beijing and abroad. Very energetic, some startling kung fu feats – even the little boys in the cast were fantastic. The Irish embassador, or some such, saw it and proclaimed it more energetic than Lord of the Dance. Anyway, a great bit of story-telling and I almost wish I’d bought the DVD.
Back to the hotel to pack up belongings and decide what to take on the next stage of the journey. Tomorrow we’re off by train to Xian for a couple of days, before travelling by coach across country to Pingyao and Datong and back to Beijing. As I hate trundling my large bag around, I’ve bought a small cylindrical holdall and together with my rucksack, that should do for 6 days. Leaving my large case in storage in Beijing is very attractive!
Patamateria 