Cow Back Gorge

                                       


We love to spend time in the mountains. Luckily, Xi'an is surrounded by mountains. We took a drive to a town called Zhashui, which is an hour and half away. The road to get there had several tunnels which cut through the mountain. The longest tunnel was 18 kilometers (11 miles) long.
Mr. Kungfuyankee found a "nice hotel" online. When we got there it was nice and new, however the awesome swimming pool was not as advertised, in fact it had never been built. The kids were disappointed but they liked the karaoke stage.
We spent Saturday morning at a cave. We took an elevator up to the entrance and went through the cave. At one point it was full of stalactites and stalagmites but they had been destroyed. Plastic ones were erected in their place, a typical Chinese thing to do. The highlight of the cave was riding down a huge granite slide.
We then went to Cow Back Gorge, a beautiful hike up the mountains. We went to the top of one mountain and then took a gondola up to the top of the peak.
After our hike we bought $2 fish nets and let the kids try to catch fish in a small stream. I think this was the highlight of their weekend.