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Published: August 7th 2007
The bus journey to Jianshui gave us evidence that perhaps so far we'd been really lucky with public transport in China. This one left late, there was vomit on the outside of the bus and every so often a faint whiff inside, it was completely full, the driver tried to move us from our seats with legroom to ones without (but we insisted that people climbed over us instead), and almost all the guys chain-smoked, leaving me marvelling at how our lungs still functioned on 78% cigarette smoke and 22% vomit-tinged air. (I've hardly seen any women smoking, but they spit with as much gusto as the men.) The road was rough for most of the way (as in passengers were airborne occasionally).
In the 2 years since my RG was published, things have clearly moved on as the hotel was about 3 times the price we were expecting, and the entry fees to a couple of sights had more than doubled. I went into the Zhu Clan Gardens, a merchant's home from the Qing dynasty, but wasn't struck dumb by it.
The highlight of Jianshui was the dinner we had of various things on skewers in a small
alleyway. A table at the entrance to the cafe groaned under the weight of skewered potatoes, spring onions, bacon, chicken, dragonflies, larvae, and anything else that could be cooked on a grill, and we stuffed ourselves for a very reasonable price.
Dull but possibly useful info Getting there: Take a bus from Yuanyang to Jianshui (we took the 10:20AM), costing 35 yuan and taking about 4 hours.
Stayed at: Garden Hotel. Cost 130 yuan for a double with lukewarm "hot" water. Would try somewhere else.
Ate at: There are numerous "things on sticks" places where you can point at the items you'd like grilled.
Notes: i. I wouldn't bother seeing the Zhu Clan Gardens.
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