Warning – another long post.

We woke up this morning to hooting, shouting, revving cars, and the occasional megafone which was mostly blocked out by the earplugs thankfully. Our grim bathroom had decided to flood itself during the night so having to wade to the loo was not fun. When we discovered that there was no water and that the loo no longer flushed, we packed up our bits and left. I could have handled the grubby place another night but the flooded bathroom and loo problem was just too much.

As we walked down the road the owner tried to get us to eat breakfast at his restaurant. We don’t think he realized we were actually leaving.

You don’t have to try very hard to look for a hotel in this place. As we walked along we had a couple of people try to show us some rooms. We landed up in one off of the main road. Much cleaner and the lady spoke a bit of English. We offered her the same price (£8) as the rubbish one and she accepted it with a laugh. I suspect she was laughing at my pathetic bargaining skills. Still we are pleased with the room. We were brought a flask of hot water for us to make tea with and told what time tomorrows bus to Taiyuan is. We still don’t know the name of the place but it is run by the owners of the farmhouse restaurant which is directly downs the alleyway opposite the bridge to the big car park.

Wutai Shan is known for it’s temples which practcally cover the area. To get a better view we started up Dailuo Peak. Most people take the chair lift but we walked it because it really isn’t that high. To get up you just have to dodge the horses that people hire (and the piles of horse poo), the loads of Chinese tourists walking down, the dozens of hawkers all trying to sell you the same prayer beads and trinkets and the occasional monk either begging or doing the crazy take a step then lie down and repeat pilgrimage thing.

The track itself is falling apart and we still can’t understad how this place can have world heritage status or justify the entrance fee. It’s a bit of a mess really. Can’t say I’m very impressed so far. The view was pretty hazy. We were expecting the air to be a bit clearer out this way but it seems the dust and pollution from the neighbouring cities is encroaching.

At the top we paid an extra 7 Yuan (70p) each to go inside yet another temple. This time it’s the monks charging you to get in. We were wondering how they feel about the masses of tourist gawking at their temples. Do they welcome the extra cash it brings in or do they resent it? I also thought they were supposed to renounce their worldly goods but many of them had digital cameras and even more had cell phones on them. Would love to be able ask an English speaking monk some of these questions.

Next it was onto Tayuan temple and the big white stupa (and another entrance fee) that is on all the pictures of Wutai Shan. The Stuppa needs a good scrub in our opinion, but there is a very large white budda statue outside the temple that was worth the foto. A Chinese man thought it was also worth a foto of him and Simon in front of it. I guess we are a bit of a novelty here. We have not seen a single Caucasian here at all. Can just imagine that guy proudly showing his mates back home the foto of him and the ‘waiguoren’ from ‘Nouwn fee’ he met on holiday.

Next on our list was Xiantong temple. I think this one was one of the nicest ones we have seen so far on our trip. There seemed to be more trees and grassy patches and it seemed more spacious. So far most of the temple courtyards have been completely paved over with maybe the occasional potted plant. Such a difference a little greenery makes. The feature point of the temple is the 50 ton brass pavillion filled with 10,000 tiny buddahs cast into the walls inside.

We walked part of the way up to Bodhisattva Peak intending to do the 108 steps to the top, but the rain and the thought of having to pay yet another entrance fee (however small it may seem) put us off and we headed in search of a pharmacy. My cough is driving Simon up the wall and we are fast running out of tissues for my altenating running and blocked nose.

The drugstore stocked mainly herbal remedies, but I am so desperate I will try anything. It tastes horrible so maybe it will do some good. We will have to see if I am still allive tomorrow. As soon as we come across a pharmacy selling western drugs ( hopefully in Xi’an but more likely in Shanghai) we are going to stock up on cold and flu meds as I suspect this will not be the last time I get sick. We want to save our antibiotics for real emergencies.

P.S Sim has come up with an ingenious idea. We have photographed the English menu from tonight as it also has the Chinese words for the dishes. Next time we are in a place that has only a local menu at least we can ask them if they can russle up some stir fried noodles and spicy chicken.

[Pictures: White Stupa,Bronze pavillion,New umbrella, Chinese medicine]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi