Waiting

We caught the bus to Xining (西宁) from Heimahe (黑马河）with the help of a nice monk who was also attempting to catch that bus. Uneventful ride; 2 movies and a baby slept on my lap the whole times.

After lunch we attempted to catch the 3pm bus to Tongren （同仁）. All was going well, and the scenery was insane - jagged mountains, fall foliage, etc - when the cops pulled our bus over. They made all the foreigners get off (ie us), examined our passports, and then took us into the police tent where we had out temperature taken. All was normal (thank God) but then they told us we were forbidden from going to Tongren. Apparently (according to my shoddy Chinese), Tongren has the swine so the government wasn't letting foreigners in. This blew. They gave us a bunch of pears and put us on the swine-ridden bus back from whence we came.

So, uneventful evening in Xining, and now we're blowing through a lazy rainy day until our bus leaves for the hot springs at 6 pm. I'm a bit nervous about that ride because I don't know how long the bus is, what to expect and if we'll be able to find somewhere to stay at midnight or whenever we're getting in. I'm willing to roll with the punches (TIC), but I hope everyone isn't freaking out in about 12 hours. Keep you posted.

~L