]We took the motorway through a weird landscape of conical hills which are similar to the stone forest but where the surrounding soft rock has not yet been worn away by wind and water erosion. The small town of Jianshui is lovely, with comparatively few high-rise flats and a lovely old town. Green had found us an excellent hostel for only £12 a night (£6 each!) within walking distance of the old town, dominated by the largest Confucian temple complex in China and by the glorious Family Zhu Garden.
The centrepiece of the temple was the Xianshi Hall (“The Hall for Consecrating Confucius”), which is the formal place for offering sacrifice to Confucius and the 12 philosophers of all the dynasties. It was rebuilt in 1809 during the Qing Dynasty. The Xintan Altar was built in 1461 during the Ming Dynasty and marks the place where Confucius preached.
We then visited the Zhu Family Garden which as a delight, party because of the beautiful pavilions, goldfish ponds, canals and covered walkways and partly because we were practically the only people there. Green then took us to one of the nicest looking restaurants we have seen where we had one of the worst meals I have ever eaten. I had duck which was 70% bone and I ate Jennifers which was over-cooked beef strips but was at least edible. We then walked to the illuminated and very impressive East Gate of the old town.
