The cave flooded with light, I wake up to the girls getting ready all around me. My mouth is dryer than Ghandi’s flip flop and the unappealing taste of rice wine mixed with Tsingtao lingers in my mouth. 3am? 3am? With a 7:30am departure? I lie there watching people busy around. Apparently someone has been sick in the already grim long drop toilet during the night and Helen had partaken in some sleep walking- but she's adamant she wasn't ill. Someone up there must have taken pity on me because I sit up and actually feel ok, just craving water. I pack up my stuff and walk out side for my just-what-I-wanted-the-morning-after scrumptious Chinese breakfast, there's no sign of Hamish and Becs yet. I throw two Nestle 3-in-1 coffee sachets into a mug and wait to be told to leave. Helen and Duncan start to get everyone together and discuss how they're going to wake up Hamish and Bec's when we hear ‘we’re up’ come from their cave. It's a reluctant we’re up. It's a ‘Ive felt better’ we’re up. A few minutes later they both appear looking worse for wear, and we all head for the taxis down the hill to Xara. I avoid the psycho driver from my upward trip and climb into another…the drivers swap cars though and I'm back with the psycho driver. Good. The descent isn't half as bad surprisingly and we get into Xara. I go straight back to sleep. Hamish and Becs take the seats nearest the bin and go back to sleep too.
An hour later we stop at the Black Temple. An imposing black temple (clues in the title I suppose), a top a small hill with beautiful views of the water. I reluctantly trudge up the windy cobbled pathway to the temple. There's an elderly man, dressed in all navy, with no teeth selling incense at the entrance. He smiles and says something to us as we walk by- no idea what he was saying though, and then he chuckles to himself. I walk around the temple but the thick clouds of smoke from the burning incense reminds me that I've been drinking and after running through each room and courtyard I quickly head back to the truck. As I walk around the truck I find Hamish laid out, sleeping on his back in the gravel car park, Bec is at the edge of the car park, bending over a ditch trying to be sick. This must be what I look like with my hangovers. I get on the bus, back into my seat and go back to sleep. Bec gets on soon after ‘Don't you get hangovers?’ She whimpers to me. Oh Becs, if only you knew! I could write a book on my hangovers! I assure her that for some reason unbeknown to me I have been let off and go back to sleep.
I wake up again as Xara turns into Pingyao City car park. Quickly scanning the others in the bus, I see Hamish and Becs wake up, both looking fragile. Bodies and bags off the bus Hamish and Becs sit on the pavement, dry heaving. This really is what my hangovers must look like for an outsider. Annlee and I decide to carry their bags to the Disney style shuttle bus for them. (These are the only vehicles allowed with the ancient city walls.) The bus whizzes off towards the guesthouse with our bags and we follow behind, reaching the ancient walls in five minutes and our home for the night in ten. The town is how I imagine China looking in my mind. Red and gold lanterns, ornate wooden carved door ways, roofs with patterned and intricate tiles, deep red, jade green and mustard yellow lacquered buildings and statutes with dark wooden frames and bases. Walkways that are only wide enough for one car with grand gateways that have tall pagodas type embellishment above them. We have thirty minutes to settle in before we go on a walking tour of the town. As the walled town is UNESCO protected all the structures are maintained to their original state. No ugly concrete buildings, nothing tall or shiny. Single story, all dark wooden framed buildings with open courtyards and rooms off of them. The beds are similar to the ones in the cave, an entire wall of bed. The bedroom that Annlee and I were to share was ten foot by ten foot. As you walked into the room you could see the wall facing you was all bed with crisp white sheets on it. On the left side a green and gold satin bedspread neatly folded. On the right side a pink and gold version. The small coffee table was in the centre of the bed to stop me from spooning Annlee, I'm joking Nana, I don't know what it was there for, but I'm pretty sure it was for some sort of divide in the bed. After taking in the bed, the next thing we noticed was a gold wallpaper. On all of the walls from floor to ceiling. Thick gold wallpaper with grey and black images of what I would consider to be traditional Chinese life. By the time we’ve composed ourselves, it's time for the tour. This is where William came into my life. William had been recommended to Helen as ‘the best guide in the town’. We had high hopes- some of us were also struggling and really just wanted to be in bed. From ‘Hello, my name is William…’ I was lost. I did not understand a single word this man said. He was obsessed with Helen. The walk lasted three hours, around the walls, through the karaoke strip (an visual oxymoron of beautiful traditional buildings adorned with bright neon lights and signs, with all the high tech equipment inside), through the temples (where I dressed up as a princess and apparently that now means that I will be a number one scholar) and the finale- the first ‘bank’ in China. Initially I was quite intrigued what this bank would look like, you'll be surprised to know; it looks just like any bank does now. But with no equipment. Funny that. The excitement of that place wore off very quickly and even tour leader Helen was spent by then. William bellowing ‘one more room Heeeleeeeen…. Ten more minutes Heeeeeleeeeen’. Eventually we were dismissed and Helen said she was going to call her friend who had recommended William to see if it was a wind up.
We get back to the guesthouse ASAP and book ourselves in for the local castle tour which has tunnels underneath and go in search of food. Preferably, the stodgy and greasy kind. After five minutes of wandering we find a Western style restaurant, gorge on pizzas and make our way back for bed.