Rainbow Mountain – here we come! (Zhangye Danxia Geopark)

30 April –

So…here's the scoop.  Mark is out on a super doooooooper long business trip to Peru, Argentina and the USA.  His trip will last about one stinking month.  (yikes!  That's a long darn time)

To keep the girls and me from going stir-crazy AND our friend Julia offered us spots on the tour she planned AND this tour was going to part of China I've had on my Pinterest Asia Bucket Wishlist – we went on a long weekend-getaway with friends.

Now, just to let you know, as Julia points out – this is NOT a vacation.  We're going on an adventure.  This is China and anything can happen.  

We're leaving the house at 12:30pm (flight is at 2:30pm).  Since it's Wednesday the kids will only miss two hours of school.  Plus, this week the kids have Thursday and Friday off (May 1st is a holiday here in China…do you remember the wedding Mark and Ava participated one year ago????).  We've got Francine and Anais in the car with us and we're heading to the Tianjin airport.  There we'll meet up with the two other families.  There's Julia and Jean Paul plus their four  (!) kids and Silvia and Lutz and their two small cuties.  Plus us.  I'm really thankful that we're traveling in a group – it makes life so much easier (especially because Mark isn't around to act as a buffer!! LOL!).

Ah, and we're only doing carry-on.  That means I've left behind my big Canon camera even though I'm fairly certain this trip would be an awesome use for it.  I just don't want the extra added stress of remembering suitcases and extra belongings. So….we're going light.  (and, as it turns out – TOO light!!! whoops.)

Oh, and we're heading to Lanzhou.  That information might be useful!!!

These girls are ready to go:

We've arrived in Lanzhou.  The air looks thick, doesn't it?  After having lived in nasty, air-polluted, smoggy Tianjin I can reassure you that is NOT smog.  It's a sand-storm!  The air is loaded with sand and every once in a while it'll get in to your eyes and sting.  It's still not the best for breathing but at least it's not stinky!

Hmmmm….it appears that the Lanzhou airport is WELL OUTSIDE of Lanzhou.  We're heading to Lanzhou for two reasons: 1) pay CITS (travel company Julia hired to make all necessary train and driver arrangements for us) and 2) we're taking the overnight train from here to LinZe.  

Whoa!  Where are we???????  I haven't seen a school bus like this since we left the USA!!!!:

I think we were all hoping to see clear blue skies.  Oh well.  At least this isn't nasty smelling air!

The kids found their own source of entertainment throughout the entire trip: themselves!

We're up on the something-th floor of some random building – we're in the head office of CITS in Lanzhou.  

Here's one of the sweet ladies that helped Julia make the arrangements (also with Francine and Anais):

 

Jean Paul (from now on referred to as JP…as Julia calls him) wanted to eat western food for dinner.  After asking the CITS ladies and the driver we found a restaurant in the same building as CITS that makes pizzas and fries.  The girls and I ate Chinese noodles.  I'm a big fan of noodles (but it's not waist friendly!). 

Now it's off to the train station.  Wow!  It's kind of a zoo here – long line (which went quickly) and it's already time to board the train!  We're heading to LinZe and we've got a soft sleeper – i.e. First Class.  We're in Car 10.

After some shuffling around the girls and I + Francine ended up in one compartment.  Honestly, this isn't bad!  The sheets and bedding are clean, you can lock the door, there is a Western style toilet and a separate room with sinks.  It's clean, warm and comfortable.  And it's also very late!  Time to get these super excited girls calmed down and off to bed!

Annika begged with us to have the top bunk.  She looks pretty happy to be up there, doesn't she?

Ava's definitely amused by this.  It's the girls' first overnight train ride.

Ava took this photo of me (I look ready for bed, don't I?):

1 May 2014- We arrived in LinZe in the WEEEEE hours of the morning- as you can tell it's still dark out.  I think we arrived between 5 and 6am.  We had hoped to stop somewhere for breakfast but NOTHING was open.  Our driver drove around and around for quite some time until we decided to just skip breakfast and head out to Zhangye Danxia Geopark (Rainbown Mountain).  Perhaps it might be useful for you to know that even as BIG as China is China is on ONE time zone.  So, while we flew west we didn't change times.  Which explains the difference in how early sunrise is or how late sunset is (in Tianjin the sun would have been up at this hour): 

  As you can tell, some of us are NOT ready to be awake yet!  I know I didn't get a lot of sleep last night on the train.  The sounds and the constant starting and stopping made it almost impossible to relax and fall asleep.

Ava is defintely a morning person. Annika, however, is not. 😉

I have no clue what this structure is…but it's kind of neat looking as we're zipping by heading out to the park:

Changes in the landscape:

We're at the park's entrance:

We're the first ones here.  Is the park even open yet?  (yes it is!) 

WHOOOPS!!!  The girls and I did NOT pack enough warm clothes for this trip!  I'm so glad I made the bring one pair of pants and one long-sleeved shirt and a sweatshirt but it's not enough.  I did look at the temperatures for Lanzhou and Zhangye but I didn't take into consideration that we're going up into the mountains and that it'd be colder.  So, the girls and I are a little chilly.  Hopefully a little walking and running around will warm everyone up.  I am, however, glad I packed a bunch of snacks with us as those granola bars ended up being our breakfast.

Annika and Francine bundled up:

The park's employees getting their Morning Orders:

Ticket entry fees include a bus ride.  We've been told there will be four stops and we can get out at each stop and take photos.  I plan on taking lots of photos…even if it's with my iPhone!

GORGEOUS!!!!!  Do you see the snow covered peaks off in the distance?

Our not-so-little group:

As Julia explained, the brighter rainbow colors show up after a rainfall.  However, July is when it starts raining – so in the mean time we get to see the muted stripe-y rocks.  I still think it's beautiful even if it's not exactly what I'd pictured.

 Amusing Chingrish signs everywhere:

(I think this one is just stressing you to be careful)

JP taking a photo of his lovely wife:

At one of the stops there was this fun bridge to cross over:

And one of the very helpful signs at the start of the bridge.  Make whatever of it you will:

After the bridge the steps go up UP UP…

Until you get to the tippy top.  Lovely view!

 

Check out the stripey rocks:

The girls playing a little rock tumbling game while the adults go walk out to yet another scenic spot.

 

Well, that was phenomenal!  True it wasn't what I'd expected but it was still amazingly gorgeous.  

We're back on our tour bus and Julia says we're going to head to another entrance of this park that is supposed to be even more colorful than this one.  She said it'll be a long drive (it's supposedly 2+ hours away).  So sit back and relax!