7 October

Today it was up at 0630, prepare, then head off for breakfast. But then I found the time had changed – 0730 to 1030. So it was read and wait and then at 0725 I went in and started.
This morning’s campanions were: a woman from San Francisco, married to a man from Beijing, who was meeting the in-laws for the first time; a man from Los Angeles, originally from Iran, who was here on his two week vacation, and was returning home to get married (he had booked all this before he met his wife-to-be) and three from Germany (a girl from Stuttgart and a couple from Hamburg. With all the conversations, time flew fast at breakfast.
On the way back to my room I ordered a taxi for tomorrow morning (0610) to take me to Beijing station. I catch the Trans-Mongolian at 0745 and have to be there at least an hour before boarding time (I hope the train is!). I gathered my materials for today (cap and camera – no jacket as it is cool but will warm up during the day) and went back to the lobby – and saw Eugene and the driver chatting outside. Into the car (a VW Santana 3000, black) and off.
We headed out of Dengcao Hutong in a westerly direction, went past Tianamen Square and continued out through the suburbs. Along the way we passed what I presume was a military college, complete with what looked like a gunboat with cruise missiles mounted on the deck next to the parade area.
We took a long time to clear the suburbs (partly because the traffic was slow and thick, partly because there are so many of them) and were onto country roads, through smaller settlements, by 1000. Even so, because of slow agricultural vehicles and bicycles (and tricycles) on the road, we didn’t arrive at our destination until 1130.
Chuandixiacun (or Cuan Di Xia, as it is called on the local signs) was a small settlement of about one hundred people and went into decline, presumably in or soon after the 1940s. Some villagers continued to live there and it regained prominence as a setting for a traditional Chinese movie made not too long ago. Since then the village has been a tourist centre, with entry fees charged, villagers restoring buildings and the town made accessible for tourists (especially Chinese tourists, who today were there by the coachload but there were only a few Western tourists.
As well as seeing parts of the town and visiting old (partly restored) buildings, it was possible to see a temple, a farm and have lunch in a village inn. Just north of the town, the road cuts through a washaway, so the sides nearly meet over the road. Eugene and I walked up there (about a kilometre from the town) and then we all had lunch when we walked back. Although I was full after mine, I found that Chinese traditional cuisine is not too my liking. We had native wild vegetables (very hot to my taste), dried pumpkin, pork and another green vegetable (too much flavour in the pumpkin – I imagine it was marinated in some way before being dried and that flavour came out when it was mixed and boiled with the others), boiled rice (yes, OK) and corn cakes (very sweet). All this was washed down with Chinese tea (about three cups – I could get used to it, but I prefer what I am used to and know). By about 1430 we headed off back to Beijing and arrived at the hotel about 1730.
I said goodbye to my driver and Eugene (in the photo the driver has a jacket on), gave the driver a kangaroo pin (I had already given Eugene one) and went inside. I started downloading the photos and then went to the post office to get some postcard stamps. I posted one to my aunt in Perth and one to an ex-student (who was from China).
Then it was back, process the photos, check the washing (still not dry!!), upload the photos, write this blog, have a bit of a rest, then order my packing for the train (except for the wet stuff) and generally prepare for five nights on the train. I am scheduled to arrive in Moscow at 1428 on Monday 13 October and I’m staying at the Cosmos Hotel for two nights. I hope I can get Internet access there, otherwise I will have to keep my fingers crossed for the ASKOC hotel in Istanbul, where I stay from 13 October until I start my tour of Turkey with COSMOS on Sunday 19 October.
If I can’t get Internet access, I’ll try to send out emails and just have to wait to post photos and blogs.
Farewell for six nights – and to my photo audience, don’t desert me just because I’m not posting each day!