Buses, buses, buses

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Another day spent mostly in transit

Okay so we went to the disco again last night but unfortunately were not treated to any singing, however both Pierre and I were propositioned or so we think...But the real story comes after we left the disco and got back to the hotel. The 'security' man who opened the back gate for us (they locked us out again) told us that we should be careful on the streets late at night, its not safe for foreigners and to top it all off some guys came around asking questions about Pierre earlier in the day...So, who knows whether he was pissed off that we woke him up and he was trying to get us to stop going out or whether we were actually being watched from afar. Anyway, I think it was good timing that I was heading out of there today, Pierre thought it was a good idea too so he came along as well.

So as the title suggests today was spent mostly on buses, and mostly passing scenery which is becomig increasingly familiar, so that coupled with the fact that for one of the bus trips the windows were frozen, no photos were taken from the buses. The first bus was from Xiahe to Hezuo, which I was expecting to be another reaonably small place but it was actually quite large and in true Chinese style they had communist statues in huge town squares and kitschy castle looking school buildings with scary looking teletubbies on the gate. Weird.

The second bus was from Hezuo to Langmusi, but it departed from the south bus station so we had to get a motorcycle taxi to the other bus station, the old guy seemed like he was poushing for money when we got there: he took us to the ticket window, queued with us, even took the money and pushed in and got us the tickets, and then he showed us to the bus and here we were sure he would ask for more money but he disappeared! The bus ride was pretty uneventful really.

So, here I am in Langmusi. From what I know it is higher than Xiahe, about 3300m (thanks TMac) and it definitely feels colder than Xiahe (I can't find any weather information though) and it is a lot smaller than Xiahe. However, being small does not necessarily mean that it is more remote, as it is full of restaurants and hotels with signs written in English which are closed now for winter, so in the summer I imagine that this place would be quite a busy spot. I think I will have to come back and check it out in summer.

We have found another disco/bar and will probably check that out later tonight. Tomorrow will be spent wandering around the monastery and maybe some walking in the surrouding hills.

Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments.

Matt out

END TRANSMISSION

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Comments

[Debbie Lambert]

great reading
Matt, great reading and photo's are brilliant.I feel like I'm on the trip with you !

[MattyV]

Thanks!
Thanks Debbie, I'm glad that you are enjoying reading it! It has been amazing so far and if it keeps up like this I wll find it very hard to come back for work!