Escape from Zhenyuen

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If I didn't mention it earlier, Zhenyuen is a busy tourist town. It is summer break and the Chinese travel, sometimes in large groups. I targeted today as an escape from town.

First stop, after my morning noodles, Tiexi, in the opposite direction of Wuyang. Small buses wait at the old bridge to take people up to this gorge, about 20 minutes outside of town. It's quiet and has well-maintained rock trails. Enterprising Chinese vendors set up stands all along the way. It takes away from the feeling of being away from everything, but you're never far from the next snack. In another demonstration of hospitality, when I stopped to have a rest along the way, a few Chinese had a vendor send a cucumber over to me. Here, as elsewhere this visit to China, there were Chinese stopping to have their photos taken with me. Just another sight along the way.

While there are vendors everywhere in Tiexi, it was still a nice, cool walk away from Zhenyuen. A welcome 2.5 hour break.

Later in the day, I headed up an alley up the hill off the main tourist street where there are more than 150 still occupied ancient homes. The neighborhood is picturesque and it leads, eventually, to the remains of the Miaojiang Great Wall. It would seem the steep hills would be sufficient to protect Zhenyuen, but apparently not. The wall offers spectacular views of the town.

While I've enjoyed my stay here, tomorrow morning, I'm off to my next destination with hopes it will be slightly less touristy and quieter than Zhenyuen.

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