19 March 2008 - Xianfan to Luoyang

Our local bus leaves the village late and our driver speeds down the mountain road making each turn an intimate meeting with one's seat neighbour. We are grateful when the bus stops to pick up two Female Daoists and we feel that the rest of our journey is protected. (It is interesting to note that there are mostly women Daoists at the Temple). We do arrive safely, but only to be hurled into another transportation experience - travel by train. We are fortunate that we have a collective group ticket and the station personnel are obliged to herd us through to the correct platform. Chaos occurs as we pile on to the train in a car with open compartments and rows of bunks that reach to the ceiling. We quickly adapt to the system of 'Confucianism' and realize that we are providing entertainment to the Chinese passengers who were surely not used to foreigners accompanying them. However, we soon settle in and find our place among our fellow passengers and share songs and laughs and even a game of Mah-jong.