So the breakfast yesterday was definitely worth getting up for, we have a six hour drive today and we need to leave at 8am. In the restaurant are loads of military men. All from different nationalities; Nigerian, Canadian, Japanese. I have no idea what they're meeting for but there's a lady barking orders in the lobby who I think is the organiser on the army side.
All piled into Xara, bags thrown into the back locker, we head of for Yanan. The journey goes surprisingly quickly. I suppose it's because we've all just met and can spend the time getting to know one another. Just outside of Yanan we stop, in what feels like the arse end of nowhere, for lunch. It's such a good job Jason is there because the menu is all in Chinese symbols and the waiter doesn't understand my request for water. An hour later, bellies full, we carry on to our hotel. Tonight I'm bunking with Michelle. The hotel is on the first floor of a building and has one very very long corridor that all bedrooms come off.
We came to to Yanan because of its communist importance so we go straight to the museum. Outside of the museum is an enormous statue of General Mao, and just inside a statue of the march. I imagine the museum would be quite impressive if any of the captions were written in English. There are large pieces of texts at the beginning of each section, but again the translations aren't entirely correct and generally the sentences don't really make sense. Most of the captions talks about glorious China, the survival of China's people and so on. It gets boring very quickly and Annlee and I decide that we will see the headquarters and then a bar.
Leaving the museum, positioned just in front of the Mao statue, we see a group of people and bright colours. Three groups of children are performing dance routines. These dance routines are all from memory and last about three minutes long! One little girl is crying and Loes gets a brilliant photo of her, another has a cold and is doing her dance sniffing every few seconds. The kids are great. The last group to perform are young women. I'm expecting an acrobatic masterpiece. I'm really very wrong. It's an contemporary interpretive piece, which we think is on the communist march and struggle. Abandoning the adult performance, we walk in search of the headquarters which Helen said were to the left of the museum entrance. Unfortunately we didn't find the headquarters, but we did find a bar! Annlee, Michelle, Loes, Victoria, Linda and I have a couple of beers, much to the owners excitement. She poses, holding a beer, standing in front of the table, with us at the table, and then behind the table…so many poses and photos. All of us play cards, minus Linda ‘she doesn't play cards’, and head back to the hotel to meet the others. Dunn and Zach are near the entrance to the hotel speaking to children…in Chinese? Turns out Dunn and Zach are Mormons and Dunn has just finished a two year posting as a missionary in China town in New York, so he can speak fluent Chinese. Their father is an army doctor which is why they're currently living in Japan (Zach can speak Japanese too) and they move to Germany at the end of the summer. Dunn is heading off to uni in Utah to study (and he jokes, to find a wife).
We go back to the hotel to nap before heading out to the town centre and finding street food. To be honest, I think we were very spoilt in Xi-an. The stalls on offer just aren't the same calibre or variety as in Xi-an and Annlee and I find ourselves saying goodbye to to the group and wandering away from the main strip to see if we can find any better options. All we can find is a bakery, where I purchase an amazing cream cake. Feeling a little disappointed by Yannan, we head back to the hotel.
While waiting to cross a street corner we spot a group of teenagers heading into a building, with a security guard wearing a burgundy and gold sash. I tell Annlee that we should follow them- she takes no persuading at all. We are ushered into a lift and adorning the walls are images of various groups of people holding microphones. ANNLEE, I THINK THIS IS KARAOKE! And it was.
Money handed over and 15 minutes later Annlee and I are serenading one another with our dulcit tones in our private booth. Annlee's sweet child of mine is a masterpiece, may I add. Before we realise it, it's midnight and we've been singing our hearts out for three hours. Reluctantly leaving, we walk back to the hotel along the river and eventually make it to bed.
We go back to the hotel to nap before heading out to the town centre and finding street food. To be honest, I think we were very spoilt in Xi-an. The stalls on offer just aren't the same calibre or variety as in Xi-an and Annlee and I find ourselves saying goodbye to to the group and wandering away from the main strip to see if we can find any better options. All we can find is a bakery, where I purchase an amazing cream cake. Feeling a little disappointed by Yannan, we head back to the hotel.
While waiting to cross a street corner we spot a group of teenagers heading into a building, with a security guard wearing a burgundy and gold sash. I tell Annlee that we should follow them- she takes no persuading at all. We are ushered into a lift and adorning the walls are images of various groups of people holding microphones. ANNLEE, I THINK THIS IS KARAOKE! And it was.
Money handed over and 15 minutes later Annlee and I are serenading one another with our dulcit tones in our private booth. Annlee's sweet child of mine is a masterpiece, may I add. Before we realise it, it's midnight and we've been singing our hearts out for three hours. Reluctantly leaving, we walk back to the hotel along the river and eventually make it to bed.