ROAD TRIP!

Jeff and Graham monitoring the traffic situation from the back of the bus

Our first look at the Great Wall

Myself and Li Ting (Margaret) from the Gansu Foreign Affairs Office

Around 8am we all met in the lobby of the Guest House and boarded the bus for a week long road trip around Gansu Province. Our first stop was Wuwei, around four hours away. The traffic in Lanzhou city has been a little difficult to get used to, but we have developed a theory that the bigger the vehicle you are traveling in, the more likely it is that you have the right of way. Thus, we felt very safe on the coach! We had lunch in Wuwei and visited Leitai Si, the place where the town's single most famous object, the Han-dynasty Flying Horse of Wuwei, was discovered in 1969. We had our first look at remains of the Great Wall after getting back on the road, and arrived in Shandan late in the afternoon. Not many tourists seem to pass through Shandan so we attracted quite a lot of attention. After dinner at the hotel we all went for a walk through the small township and soon a small crowd gathered behind us. Jeff, Graham and I were beaten by some kids at Ping-Pong. And although our rendition of "Do-re-mi" for the kids wasn't exactly top-notch, the crowd clapped anyway!