Our Very Last Trip to Yinchuan, I Swear!

Well, at least for this year.

After our Sha Hu stop over (see previous post), we wanted to take refuge in the lovely Yinchuan. Such a great city!

We got in before noon and checked in to the good ol' Gulou Hotel. Then we head down to Napoli's for the pizza buffet. I don't think that the restaurant was ready for the crowds. It was around 11 AM and they were out of everything! The soda machine wasn't working and the pizza was not coming out fast enough. So, we were a little disappointed with our lunch.

Since this is our last time here, we think that we should try to see some more of the sights just outside of the city. We hire a cab to take us out there First stop, Zhenbeibu - Zhang Yimou's set for the movie, "Red Sorghum". It was cheesy, but a lot of fun. We have some good pictures of us goofing off on the set, which I hope to get loaded up onto my flickr site soon (see sidebar - Unsinkable Photos). Our cab driver was awesome! We worked out a deal with him so we could make sure to get home (the studio was farther out of the city than we had expected). After, we met him out by one of the exit gates and we asked him to take us out to see the Baisikou Shuang Ta - a pair of pagodas. They were cool! He stopped alongside the road so we could get some good pictures and grab a couple of Helan Shan rocks. Then we went up to the pagodas and looked around the area. One of the reasons we wanted to see these pagodas was because our PD, Michelle, went here and was told by a couple of local men that they had spotted a UFO hovering in the sky between the two structures. No aliens today, well, besides Matt and me.

I do have to say, that we have always been very happy with the sites we have seen in Ningxia. Not so much with the resorts, but the sites have been really worth seeing. Not a lot of the regular tourist stuff, souvenirs, concession stands, women chasing you around the park with postcards. Just the site. Not a lot of alteration, some signage, at times in English. Peaceful. You can just take it all in and enjoy it.

After, back to the hotel, we went out for dinner at the new International Hotel - Mr. David's Restaurant, very pleasing western menu and excellent pizza (tomato sauce and all). Then, DVD shopping and back to the room to be lulled to sleep and woken up to the sound of people yelling, screaming and singing in the hall.

The next day was all about cheese. The new underground grocery store there carries processed cheese singles. Then, a KFC mashed potato and gravy lunch, more DVD shopping and back home.

Ahhhh...Yinchuan! What a great escape!