taibai mountain

we drove two hours outside of xi'an and stayed in a different hotel to be near taibai mountain. then we drove up narrow winding switchback roads for two hours from there to get to near the top of the mountain.

we stopped at a couple of places on the way up. because we were in these busses whose engines were probably overheating going up all those switchbacks. (then on the way down, i sure hoped their brakes were ok!)

once we got to the place near the top where we could take a cable car almost to the top, we only got to stay up there about 1 hour, because we'd taken the rest of the day driving from xi'an, checking into the new hotel, eating lunch, driving up all the switchbacks, and going up the cable car. it was worth it to go up there anyway though, even though we didn't have a lot of time once we got up there. i could've stayed up there for days. and there were TREES. real trees.

it's interesting the things i take for granted, or don't realize how much i miss until i see them again. and it's weird that i don't mind living in a city. i like to look at buildings too. usually i feel fine living city of 9 million people. but when i leave the city... i could've stayed on the mountain for days.