A night in a cave.

After walking in Mao Zedong's footsteps it only seemed appropriate to sleep in a cave similar to his Yan'an digs.

We drove north 400km.  Along the way we passed countless villages with houses dug into the mountains and hillside. We reached the small hillside village of Lijishuan where over 600 people used to live, mostly all with the surname of "Li."  Now only about 40 occupy some of the many cave dwellings.

People have been living in caves in this region for over 5,000 years. Today it is estimated that over 1,000,000 still do. It's cheap, efficient, cool/warm, and safe.

Tonight we were guests of Mr. and Mrs, Li who converted their cave home into a guest house when their kids grew up and moved away.

Stone platform beds, a remote village (we rode a van part of the way then walked the rest of the way) and a quaint setting in a small canyon made the frustrating drive worth the effort-Tao got us lost again :-(.

Mrs. Li made us a lovely vegetarian dinner. That mixed with beer and the local hooch made for memorable night.

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