Rewi Alley/George Hogg trip 21.7.17

The late nights followed by early mornings are really beginning to take their toll on me now. Everyone else seems to be quite capable of falling asleep on any form of transport, I on the other hand have singularly failed as usual, despite overwhelming fatigue and making efforts to nod off.

Thankfully todays visits were close to our hotel, the first being a former residence of Alley (with another school he founded close by) and surprisingly both he and Hogg resided there simultaneously for a number of years.

One may be forgiven for assuming the residence would be one of imposing grandeur when in fact it is quite the opposite. It is small, out of the way and single storey. What makes it unusual is that half the dwelling is traditional facade but the rest is hewn into the mountainside, making the rooms more cave-like than anything else. Doubtless quite cool in summer!

With the site being so small the visit never took long and we were soon on our way to a cultural type of small museum which consisted mainly of photographs. Very quickly afterwards we were at a primary school which is still operating and with a plaque stating it is the former site of a Bailie school, of the Rewi franchise. Naturally there were no kids, it being summer holidays.

Another three hours on the coach to return to Baoji for lunch preparatory to a 6 hour train ride to Zhangye. I shall make little comment on the lunch other than to say that I declined. Fruit and vegetables mixed together with cream, corn, cold fried egg and spam sausage accompanied by bread that tastes like cake is not my idea of food. The really annoying thing is, it was a soup dumpling restaurant and the foreigners were all looking forward to trying them. The dumplings have meat inside but are also filled with soup that you drink before eating the dumpling. I like them and had I known in advance what the menu was I would ave ordered and paid for my own. Never mind.

And so as I type we have about 100 mins left until we arrive in Zhangye.

LATER

A very late arrival and the fact that for some reason the travel agent had failed to arrange dinner (possibly planned) meant it was a case of fending for ourselves. Effectively we split into three groups: the Chinese students sallied forth on their own no doubt rejuvenated by having slept on the train, the rest started out together and Zhang Leitou my ultimate boss offered me the option to join the leaders. I considered doing so but ultimately decided to stick with the Kiwis as unofficial boatswain. So the larger group split into two also.

And you know what? Brief though it was, it was FUN! Ok we paid ourselves but we went to a large street food market where there was something for everyone. All too quickly though the thought of the early rise saw everyone head for the comfort of their hotel rooms.