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I took a bus to the city of Qingdao, over 4 hours away on the coast. From 1898 to 1914, Germany built and controlled Qingdao, so it is fairly different from other cities in China.

From a friend’s recommendation, I was able to stay in a unique place. The first thing I notice is a kayak above the door, many odds and ends everywhere. Inside, I see over 30 ticking clocks in the first room. I counted at least five steering wheels from ships. The owner took a flash photo of me as soon as I walked in. He really likes taking photos.

He showed me one room, over 10 clocks on the walls ticking and ringing. I said no thanks to this one, a little too much for me. I took a really tiny room instead. The shared bathroom/shower were so small that it made living conditions here fairly bad. The soft floor under the sinks didn’t give me a good feeling as well as the toilet which wouldn’t fit me standing all the way up.  Difficult to walk anywhere, since everything was so narrow and there were things everywhere. I found the cooking area, literally less than one square meter in size.

One thing I’ve noticed in China lately is the size of the sheets they put on beds. If it isn’t an official hostel or hotel, the sheet is smaller than the bed itself. So it means your head and your feet may not be on a sheet. Also pillows rarely have a proper cover. Instead you get something that looks like a towel placed over the pillow.

Anyway, I got to see some of the new and old of Qingdao. In some areas it looks like you are in Europe, in others it looks like you are in a normal Chinese city.

On the list of five famous mountains in China, Mt. Tai is ranked #1. After finding some food, I visited Dai Temple, the traditional starting point to climbing the mountain. Right away I noticed there was a really long history here. There were stone inscriptions going back to the Qin dynasty, over 2000 years ago. The mountain was famous back then too. It has been a tradition for Chinese emperors and normal people to climb the mountain over the centuries. Some people take buses and cable cars, but I decided to walk the entire distance.

The past couple days I caught a little cold, but nothing serious. After climbing over 6000 stairs, walking about 9km uphill over 3 hours, and feeling the cold air at the top of the mountain, I was feeling a lot worse.

Being sick made it the hardest mountain for me to walk up yet and it was the coldest place I’ve been on my trip so far. There was nice scenery though. Lots of trees shaded the path and Chinese characters carved into the rocks everywhere.

After a couple hours at the peak of the mountain, I walked all the way back. The whole day quite a few people tried talking to me, saying “Hello” or saying something about “laowai” or foreigner in Chinese.

I got down the mountain had had some food in a local restaurant. School was ending, so there were a lot of kids walking on the street and many were surprised to see me. One boy and his mother came in to say “Hi” to me.

It was a long day, so I went to sleep early.

I took at 11:45AM train from Beijing to Tai Shan, which is a station at the base of a famous mountain in China in Shandong Province. It is seven hours southeast of Beijing.

Upon arrival, of course taxi drivers were trying to get me as a customer. It was dark by now and I didn’t know the bus system too well. One taxi driver speaking English said there are no buses and would take me to my hotel for 5 yuan, which was a good price. Instead he took me to a different hotel so he could get a commission, I wasn’t surprised. Couldn’t hurt to look at this hotel, so I walked up to the top floor and down again, but decided against it and just walked away to find my hotel myself. The driver told me which road we stopped a few times, the same as the road with my hotel; he even pointed to it in my book. But he was lying. We actually stopped on a different road and I had a 3km walk in the dark to my hotel. It is rare to find a taxi driver that will help you instead of hurting you. Next time I’ll take my chances with the buses or just walk.

I found the hotel I wanted to stay at, got a simple room and some instant noodles from the store nearby. At this time of night it seemed like all the restaurants were closing down. I tried my best to sleep even though the walls did not block much noise from the other rooms and all the loud voiced Chinese people.

I got my visa to Malaysia. When I arrived at the office, I found out it wasn’t ready at all. They didn’t accept because I didn’t put down a job. So I and to write my old job and company to get the visa and make them happy. After a two hour wait, I finally got my passport back.

I got to visit the 90th anniversary of the China Academy of Art in Beijing. There was a special panel of five heads of art schools in the US there. There were some special exhibitions and also a free Beijing opera performance.

I got to visit two English schools that two friends work at. Giving me a little taste of this in case I want to try this as a job.

I saw a UFO over Beijing one night. Three triangular objects with flashing lights were just above the building I just came out of. I thought they were the top of an antenna, but I did not see any tall antennas. One of them was moving, the other two stayed very still. I was thinking balloons? But wouldn’t they all move the same direction and speed if that was the case? How could this object stay almost completely still, not make any sound, and be lit up with these lights? Later I saw a series of five lights in a straight line on an angle, which also looked out of place. Finally I saw these lights were in a line that matched up with one of the objects. They were kites.

My 50mm lens broke. It is in two pieces now. I don’t have a special camera case, so I just had that lens at the bottom of one of my bags. I had some books and a big bottle of water in the bag too and I guess the lens got smashed and came apart. This is the cheaper of my two lenses, so maybe no big deal.

I bought a ticket to my next destination finally. I first tried to go to Qingdao, but too expensive, then Jinan, all sold out. Now I have one to Tai Shan station, at the bottom of Mount Tai.

I didn’t sleep too comfortably in my cheap room. I left in the morning and gave the Shanxi Museum another chance. At least I knew how to get there easily this time. In front of the sign in front there was a group of maybe 50 all female students. I kind of interrupted their photo because they all started saying "hi" to me and I gave a little wave and got a big reaction.

I spent the rest of the morning in the museum and then headed back to the train station. When I boarded this train I noticed it was a lot better than the last one I took. Everyone here had a seat, so I knew it would be more comfortable for the next 8 hours to Beijing.

In the middle of the journey, the train just stopped and didn’t move for 90 minutes. This delayed my arrival in Beijing. Many of the buses and subways were beginning to shut down since it was nearing 11:00 at night. First I searched for the bus numbers that were listed in my guide book, but everything changed since it was printed a year and a half ago. So I did a long walk to the nearest subway station. I just missed the train inside, which I learned was the 2nd to last train. I got on the very last train and then got off to transfer to another line. The second subway line was closed and then there were no more trains for the first line, so an employee kicked me out of the station onto the street.

Luckily there was a night bus running the same route as one of the subway lines. So that got me fairly close to my destination. When I arrived, they said I couldn’t check-in because I had only copies of my passport, not the real passport. I explained it was in the Myanmar embassy (no one has even heard of this country). I couldn’t pick it up because the embassy is closed at this time of night. I asked them if I’m supposed to sleep on the street outside? Finally I got some friends to help and talked to the manager and they let me stay.

My hostel must be one of the tourist attractions in town since I noticed a lot of people taking photos of the building. The room I stayed in was on the upper floor and gave me a good look at the roof structure. There is a huge wooden beam going through the center of the room, which is something you don’t have in modern buildings.

I walked around the city some more. Pingyao is one of the most preserved ancient cities in China, which includes a wall surrounding the entire town. It was time for me to leave, so I walked out of the city and found the bus station and took that back to Taiyuan. I didn’t want to make the mistake of taking that train again. The bus was pleasant.

The one stop I wanted to make in Taiyuan was the Shanxi Museum. So I ended up taking a few more buses and then walked quite a ways to get there. The gates were all closed. The museum was closed on Mondays. My guidebook was wrong, it only said the museum was closed only on the 15th and 30th of each month. I just gave up and sat on the ground for a while.

I had a train ticket to leave the city tonight, so I had an idea to change the date of my ticket. I headed back to the train station and tried to find the right line. Some other guy was looking at my ticket and was asking me about it. By chance, I was holding the ticket he needed for today, and he was holding the ticket I needed for tomorrow. He was happy when we traded without dealing with the station.

Now I just needed to find someplace to stay. I went to the hotel recommended in the book since it had a 50 yuan room. When I got there, the only room available was the most expensive: 208 yuan. Another big problem, but I knew there had to be another place in the city with a good price. I tried asking in a travel agency for a hotel, they pointed next door to some big 4 star hotel. I said small and they said go around the corner. I started walking and I knew I could always sleep inside the train station if I couldn’t find anything. I saw some signs on some buildings, all in Chinese characters. I took out my travel guide, which lists some of the words for "guest house" and found some of the signs matched up. I tried one and they kind of said no. I tried another and they said yes. Only 20 yuan, small and dirty, but better than the train station I thought.

In these particular guesthouses I’m pretty sure it is illegal for foreigners to stay. You’re supposed to have a special license, and that’s why they don’t show up in my book. Luckily someone took me anyway. In my room I watched the movie Hancock, and there was a scene where he was sleeping in a prison cell. I laughed when I noticed my room was smaller than his prison cell.

Another early morning and bus down the mountain. I could smell the breaks on the bus burning from the full capacity bus of people going downhill. I was heading to the city of Taiyuan first.

Almost 5 hours later, I arrived at the East Taiyuan bus station. My book says take a bus to the train station. I waited around but no bus was coming. I noticed some people yelling out "Train Station, 2 yuan" and I understood their Chinese. After I while I took the deal in these private taxis. Mine was actually a car with three wheels.

I got two tickets. One from Taiyuan to Pingyao. And a second from Taiyuan to Beijing. The second one ended up being a seat in an all night train, not ideal.

The train from Taiyuan to Pingyao was a nightmare. The most crowded one I’ve taken yet. I did get a numbered seat, but there were people squeezed up and down the aisle, so many bags under my seat I couldn’t place my feet flat on the floor, and sweating because I had all my coldest weather clothes on. When  they pushed carts through the aisle with food, everyone was pressed against my face and side. So for two hours it wasn’t a fun ride. I noticed this could be a good opportunity for pickpockets, so I moved my wallet from the aisle side to the window side of my pants. At my stop, I was the only person getting off, so I had to push my way off the train, nearly stepping on people sitting on the floor. There was barely any space on the floor for me to step, just all people.

I arrived at the ancient town of Pingyao. Out of the station a tricycle driver approached me and tried to get me to stay at a particular hostel. I ended up running away from him and he chased me for a while on his tricycle. I think he had the last laugh though because I ended up getting a little lost trying to find my destination. All the buildings in this town are hundreds of years old and look similar. There are no street signs, so I took some wrong turns on my supposed to be 1.5km walk. I did have a map and I came across a tourist attraction place, got the name and matched it up to the map.

The hostel I stayed at was pretty nice, a traditional style building. I had the choice of a 3 bed dorm, 5 bed, and 7 bed, but they were all empty! I chose the cheapest one.

I woke up, took a hike up Dailuo Peak for a nice overview of the valley and town, surrounded by the five main peaks. The trees are all turning yellow at the time I visited. Next I visited Xiantong, Yuanzhao, Bodhisattva Peak, and Guangzong Temples. By the way, there was a fairly expensive 168 yuan ($25) entrance fee to the Wutai Shan National Park.

After some lunch, I visited Shuxiang, Puhua, and Nanshan Temples. The last one was the most impressive, situated on a steep hillside, I had to walk up a road and then up steps, and then through many levels of courtyards and and buildings. At the top I could get a good view of the whole area.

I made the walk back, had some dinner, washed some clothes in the sink and dried them near the radiator and went to bed.

One thing I noticed in this province is all treeless hills and mountains. you can tell they have all been cut down centuries ago. But there are some areas where they are really trying to get some trees back. It looks like most trees have been planted in the past few years. I notice Chinese people take trees and lakes as rare things. Hopefully they won’t be so rare forever.

Last night I was the only person in my dormitory room. I don’t think there are many people staying in this hotel. I’ve seen more staff than guests. I got up early again and got on a 7:30AM bus to Wutai shan, a famous mountain. The 5 hour bus ride was surprisingly good. The bus wasn’t full and it moved quickly to get all the way there.

On the way, the bus passed Mt. Heng, one of the Five Famous Mountains of China. For a few seconds the bus stopped at the base of this mountain and I could see the Hanging Monastery in the distance. I was hoping the bus would stop longer, but no luck.

After arriving in at Mt. Wutai, some hotel owners tried getting me into their rooms.I declined and wanted to look some more. I ended up staying at the place listed in Lonely Planet. There was a large radiator and it was warm in there, so I was sold. However, there was a strange thing, they did not give me a key. I had to ask them every time to lock and unlock my door.

I took a look around town, visiting Shancai Dong, Qifo, Tayuan, Wanfo, Luohou, and Guangren Temples. Then it was back to my warm room and first hot shower in a couple days.

I was warm enough last night, thankfully. The main attraction in the area is the Yungang Caves, which I took a bus to in the morning. I did start raining lightly, so it could have been more fun.

The Yungang Caves were impressive. Carved 1500 years ago and containing about 50000 carvings, big and small,  in 21 main caves and many more small ones. It was nice to be there without a tour guide, so I could avoid the big crowds look at them in a different order. One of the caves was unfinished and it was interesting to see how they were cut out by hand. In the floor they would basically quarry out a 1m or so square stones and then carry them out.

The caves are across the street from a huge coal mine, which looks like a city. Datong is known as one of the biggest coal producing cities in China, so it isn’t the cleanest. On the bus back to the city, I heard some really loud fireworks. It was coming from the middle of the street and sounded like a war zone, smoke going everywhere, cars trying to pass. I was thinking, is this safe? I think someone got married.

Today I fed myself on $2 of food, some noodles and some other snacks.