For Chinese National Day holiday, we went to visit our friend, Tina, who used to work with us at school. She is now back living in her hometown of Taiyuan. It is the capital city of Shanxi Province, and we met her to do some traveling around the province as well.
We flew from Guangzhou to Taiyuan. The flight was about three hours but from door to door it almost took six hours. We stayed at various hotels during our trip and ate at various restaurants. We visited two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Wutaishan and Datong. Shanxi has one of oldest histories in China. It contains many of oldest temples mixed with Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism. Jinju (Shanxi opera) is also the origin of the Peking opera. Although we knew a bit of Chinese history, it was surely a great opportunity to witness first hand some historical sites. We also experienced a lot of good food. Shanxi people love to eat noodles. There are many different types of noodles you can choose from. Local people say “when you get off a bus, you eat noodles, and when you get on a bus, you eat dumping.” Yes, we had amazingly delicious noodles and dumpling homemade by Tina’s mother.
Both of us enjoyed the trip, but what we really enjoyed the most was spending time with our friend and seeing where she lives. She is not only a good friend of ours but also a great translator and guide, helping us learn during our trip. Thanks to our lovely friend, Tina!
