train to kaili
tucked aboard in hard sleeper class, letting a family use the lower berth to sit together, we met a travelling monk. he and hu discussed a great many things, I managed to catch about 60 percent of what they were saying, enough to follow the general gist, but chose to listen rather than join. intriguing. the scenery out the window was startlingly beautiful.
we arrived late morning to a small city built into the side of a hill. while munching on the most outstanding dumplings of my short life the chef told us to head up the hill, so off we went. after a few pictures of a roadside shrine to the mountain spirits and the view below we decided to hop the bus the rest of the way up. it took us, somewhat surprisingly, into a modern small city, complete with pointy shoes and lipstick. we found a bookstore, no maps, but a newspaper stand provided and we chose langde as our destination for the night.
filed under :: winter 04-05 :: annie carr @ 12:09 pm