By the way, Tomb Sweeping Day, as far as I understand it, is when the people go visit the graves of deceased family members and clean it up.
It was pretty interesting driving up to Benxi. We passed a lot of empty fields, abandoned farms, houses and shacks. It just makes me wonder who used to live and work there and why they are no longer there.
Everything was fine until we were about 25km from Benxi. I couldn't tell you how many miles that is. I'm still that ignorant American who hasnt' bothered to learn the metric system. The traffic came to a standstill. There was so much congestion. All of the kids on the bus (there were 10 kids among the 3 families there) were starting to get antsy. Then I realized that the bus was a STICK SHIFT because it stalled several times and we started to smell the clutch burning out. Never heard of a bus being stick shift! We were stuck on the hill and no one was letting us through so the bus kept getting stuck. But after some "I think I can, I think I can" chugging along, we finally made it over the hill! The bus driver was so patient and gracious. After a few minutes we saw what was causing the traffic jam- a graveyard! Everyone was going to the tombs to sweep them out. After we passed the graveyard, we were home free.
We arrived at the park where the caves were and rode a small shuttle down to the caves. We walked some, passed by some random displays (fake dinosaurs, animals) and came to an area where we could ride motor boats to see all the stalactites and stalagmites. They were pretty grand. They had installed some colored lights to add to the effect. I can't decide if they were cool or corny.
Afterwards, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and had a picnic at a gazebo right outside the caves. I think this was everyone's favorite part. It was nice to get away from it all and relax with friends.
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