Jixian

The day before the race we were staying in a pretty small town about 20 minutes from the Great Wall.  The idea was to just chill and take it easy to rest up, but being in a new country that wasn't about to happen as far as I was concerned.

Jixian was a very interesting town, I actually rather enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.


Our first stop was the Dule temple, which dated back to 984 AD.  It had a very tall Buddha that I thought to be very impressive, and I have seen alot of Buddhas!

a very happy Buddha

The tall Buddha, that I was not supposed to be taking pictures of...oh well.

One thing I learned in a hurry is that the Chinese people seem to disregard rules.  Driving was crazy, it really appeared that there was no laws.  So taking pictures here was not a big deal.

Sometimes the order and obedience of Japan drives me crazy...if there aren't any cars coming, can't I just cross the road!?  China was chaos all the time...and I liked it

After the temple we just wandered the town...and enjoyed the sights and smells...

We ran into our fellow runner, Roberto, everywhere it seemed...he was always stinky, I think he wore his running shorts the whole vacation

The town looked like a giant China town, the architecture was incredible!

so much food to try...but we couldn't take the risk with the run the next day

because every KFC needs an ornately carved and painted facade out front, right?  The Chinese are just as fanatical about KFC as the Japanese!

Love this bike

It was very much a day wandering around seeing the Chinese living their every day life, what I wanted to see, not the super touristy spots...(did I mention we were just about the only people at that temple)...it was fascinating.  

This last picture I love.  This money seemed just like monopoly money to me...even more so than Canadian.  I found it very easy to spend, not being familiar with the conversion rate, and the bright colors!

In the morning we are off to the race!