Lijiashan

This was a real highlight of my trip in China, a chance to stay in a real cave dwelling! It took me three buses and an hours walk to get to Lijiashan but it was really worth it. The journey there was also interesting. After arriving in Lishi, I got on a no.1 local bus to try to get to the West bus station which isn't really a bus station at all which is why I missed it on the first loop around Lishi. The bus driver and all the passengers were really helpful (whilst also laughing at me) and eventually via much humour I arrived in the right place. There was an impromptu gathering of street food vendors nearby and they sold delicious Baozi and spicy noodles, all the better for sitting in the sunshine to eat them. Eventually I arrived in Qikou and began walking to Lijiashan asking locals for directions along the way. When I arrived it was like finding a magical fairytale place and I was suprised to find people still living there. I walked up the hill and was met by a lady who had a kind of guesthouse where I decided to stay. I walked around admiring the scenery only bumping into a couple of Chinese artists and an Australian/Chinese couple. It was incredibly peaceful. Later on I was called in for dinner of stir fried vegetables and rice and discovered a couple from Sunderland were also staying there, we got on really well and the next day made the return trip to Lishi and then Taiyuan together.

Arriving in Qikou





Along the walk to Lijiashan

Arriving in the village





A local cat

Lijiashan from above

Where I was staying in a traditional courtyard pit dwelling

With a traditional pit toilet (and cat for company)

The scenery that looks like you are on another planet, I think the terracing is man made

Where I stayed viewed from above, a traditional pit dwelling holed out of the earth behind

A traditional cave dwelling house frontage still occupied

Real Martian country

The school, not sure how often it is used now

Some painters from Guangdong province (Southern China)

The man they were painting

Inside his house

Where the owners of where I stayed lived. You can see a traditional K'ang bed with the stove (where she cooked me delicious food) on the right

Traditional paper windows

Where I stayed, also on a traditional K'ang but unfortunately heated by electric blanket seeing as I did not cook in there.

Me and the owner of the courtyard pit dwelling

Walking along the river on the way back, there is a temple on the hillside

The scenery from the bus leaving Qikou and returning to Lishi