Happy Mid-Autumn

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, enjoying mooncakes with family and friends

World's most polluted province

On the way back to Lanzhou, I stopped in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, the center of the Chinese coal mining industry and home to a few contenders to the title of most polluted city in the world, Taiyuan having held the crown before being overtaken by Lanzhou which was then passed by another Shanxi-town, Linfen. The city of Taiyuan is more pleasant now, although on arriving by train the dammages of the coal could be seen on buildings. The provincial museum is really great and worth a morning or an afternoon for any visitor. A temple dedicated to Confucius was being rebuilt. The food is mainly based on noodles, and there are enough to choose from to accomodate every taste. Nearby Datong is a great place to visit some nearby Buddhist monasteries, as some of my classmates recommended, though my trip went to Wutaishan, a mountain full of Buddhits monasteries, enoughto keep a westerner busy for a few days.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Pictures of Wutaishan