Stop #2 on our tour of Zhangye Danxia Geopark

1 May 2014 –

So…this is supposed to be entrance #2???  Julia said it would be a long ride to the next entrance and it only took ten minutes to get here.  Something tells us this isN'T what Julia had in mind.  However, since we're here let's go ahead and take a look.  

Our driver is trying to convince Julia that this is the right place but we're not convinced.  Hmmm…lots of phone calls to the CITS office in Lanzhou.

 

Check out the color of the road in this park:

It's RED.  Bright RED.

And wow…check out the pretty rock formations and the ….the…the SNOW! 

Isn't that a neat looking rock formation.  This place reminds me of Bryce Canyon in Utah.  

The girls got out of the bus and joined me for a walk up the hill:

Our group (minus Richard…Julia & JP's oldest son):

Ava scurried off back to the van while Annika stayed up here with me:

Annika is helping Enya down the hill (it is rather steep):

The kids "wrote" words ont he red pavement using rocks and sticks:Stop 2- I think we could have explored this stop for hours!  The trails kept going and there was so much other exploring to do. 

What is it???

A camel?  A dinosaur?  A dog???

It's Camel Rock. Camel wins!

Climbing and exploring the rocks:

Well, that was fun!  We finally were able to communicate with CITS and the driver and confirm that this was NOT the place he was supposed to take us.  Grr.  He wants an additional 600RMB to take us to that place.  Hmmm…how very stinky…he's trying to get more money out of us.  We finally agreed to each pay the fee.  This driver isn't exactly filling me with an overwhelming happy feelings.  He seems to be trying to cheat us. We agreed to pay the money IF he could get us to the next stop before it closes (since he's wasted so much of our time arguing with us to begin with).

We're heading to Zhangye – something about changing busses.

Oh yeah.  We've swapped busses in Zhangye.  The others are still moving stuff from one bus to the other and I see bathrooms just across the street.  I'm just going to do a quick potty stop, okay?

HEY!!!! WAIT!!!!!!!!!

What the heck?????

The bus is driving off….without me!!?!>!  Am I really that invisible?????

I don't have anything with me – no cell phone, no wallet, no money, nothing!  

What did I do???  

I ran after the bus and – Thank Heavens- traffic was slow I was able to catch up with it.

*sigh*

I think I need to breathe.  And someone please tell me that I'm not invisible.  Okay?  It's not exactly a happy feeling.

Just breathe.

We're heading to the next location.  It's going to be a long drive.  

This is a very dry and barren landscape with a few sheep thrown in:

We're finally there.  Wherever there is.  It seems we're still out in the middle of nowhere!

Do you see the guys hanging on the bill board?

Strange, for being so far out in the middle of nowhere the ticket prices are incredibly steep.  Maybe that's why there are so few tourists here???? The tickets also include a ride in a shuttle bus.

It is lovely out here:

And as you can tell ….it was really windy too!

REALLY windy!!!!

It was a little confusing but it appears there are only two bus stops.  I think we can spend as much time as we want at each stop and take the shuttle bus but it's not super clear.  The area kind of reminds me of the Grand Canyon…but definitely not as grand. It's pretty though.

At the second stop there are trails leading down into the canyon.  The kids are tired and are staying on the bus.  Some of the grown ups are heading into the canyon. 

Julia managed to clear up some confusion- the rainbow mountain view she had heard was more beautiful than the first is actually a two HOUR walk into the canyon. Oops.  Yeah…not going to make it there to see it.  Bummer!  Wish we'd known that in advance.

I did run down the steep steps and into the canyon.  It appears to keep going and going and going…

Here's looking back up from down below:

You know what…I'm not interested in walking in the canyon. Yes, it's pretty but I'm by myself and I'm really not in the best mood nor do I feel like getting left behind.  So…I'm turning back and running up the steps back to the bus.

JP and Julia went down another path and we're waiting for them to return.  Okay! They're here.  Let's head back to our bus and head back to Zhangye.  

The drum tower (we think?) in Zhangye:

We had dinner in Zhangye (more noodles for the Breutzman girls) before heading to the train station.  We quickly stepped into a bakery that was *just* about to close its doors for the evening and pick up replacement snacks and breakfast items for tomorrow.  You should have seen us in there- it seemed that we were animals in a zoo.  People stopped and stared at us through the window.  And…so many people flooded the tiny bakery too!  I wonder how much business we brought in just by our presence.  Crazy!

Okay.  Time to get rid of this driver and head to the train station.  We've got a nearly midnight departure.  Heading back to LanZhou.  For being this late I'm so surprised how well the kids (especially the littlest ones) held up:

although, having iThingies certainly helps keep some of the kids pacified and entertained:

Enya and Silas are all ready for bed …in their pajamas!

No photos this time on the train.  As it turns out the compartment the girls and I were in already had someone in there – and he was sleeping.  We quickly got in and jumped into bed.  At first the girls were frightened to share a compartment with a stranger but after having such a long and full day we all fell asleep quickly.  I managed to get some real sleep too…thank goodness.  I really needed it.  Ava got to sleep on the top bunk this time.  (the gentleman slept on the other top bunk).  

Lanzhou was the end stop…and our driver isn't here yet.  But check out this dog wearing an interesting collar: (we're in front of the big train station and he seems to know where he's going)

Walking to our bus.  

 Lanzhou train station:

The driver recommended that we eat breakfast here, at the train station, instead of stopping elsewhere.  There's a KFC…do they even have breakfast foods????

It turns out…not really.

And I'm reminded of the fact that I really don't like fast food joints. 

I got a "chicken" sandwich and the girls got random mish-mash of eggs, fried dough and egg tartlets.

I know Annika doesn't look amused but she did say the egg tartlet was tasty (it's sweet and eggy):

It turns out the rest of the gang found a place called Dicos…it's pretty much identical to KFC.  LOL!  Another cup of coffee for me please!After breakfast we're heading to a town called Xiahe.  We're going to see a Tibetan monastery….but it'll be about a four+ hour drive to get there.  Time to sit back, relax and take a snooze!