Taiyuan

The train ride to Taiyuan was on one of the new bullet trains and in first class.  We were comfortable and well dressed attendants brought a little bag of free unrecognizable snacks.  The countryside was just as polluted as the city and so with the cloud cover, everything was a little hazy.  We saw a lot of rice fields. As we neared Taiyuan the terrain became hilly and we went through quite a few tunnels. At each city we passed, we saw twelve or thirteen new 20+ story apartment buildings being built in groups. 

Tonight we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant and didn't find anything that particularly excited us.  By which I mean, there were no subtitles and we didn't know what most of the stuff was.  There were some fish that looked like they were still swimming. Everything was very artistically arrayed and devoid of taste. Tomorrow we will try the noodle restaurant nearby.

We ventured out for a walk to the park after dinner, risking our lives in traffic, in an effort not to go to bed at 7:00 again.  It was mostly a big stone paved area in the center of town.  There were a lot of little children roller skating.  It looks like a good place to let Timothy run off some steam while I limp along behind with my twisted swollen ankle.  I hope he is not too disappointed in us.

We leave tomorrow morning around 9:00 to go the government office to get him!  So excited!

Train station

Outside Beijing

Flat Hope and Flat Faith enjoy the view from our room.

I want our other room back.