GUYUAN is a useful place to base yourself for a visit to the Xumi Shan Grottoes, but itself is of no special interest - in fact tourists are so rare here that you are likely to be mobbed wherever you go. Although trains now pass through Guyuan on their way between Zhongwei and Baoji in Shaanxi Province, the train station is inconveniently located several kilometres from town. It's easier to rely on long-distance buses : to the east, buses connect Guyuan with Xi'an and Luoyang; west, there are buses from Lanzhou, Tianshui and Pingliang in Gansu. The great Taoist temple Kongtang Shan at Pingliang is only two hours from Guyuan, another possible day trip. There is also one daily connection to Zhongwei and Yinchuan, leaving at 9am.

 

Accommodation is available at the affable East Hotel (three-bed dorms up to ¥30, rooms ¥75-100). Come out of the bus station, turn left, and the hotel is about a hundred metres down the road, on the opposite side. Though it's a little creaky, the staff are trying their best - the blankets sculpted into scallop shapes on the beds every morning is a nice touch. There's hot water in the evening. Alternatively, turning right out of the bus station, a couple of minutes' walk brings you to the very primitive Yongxiang Fandian (dorms up to ¥30, rooms ¥30-75).

The restaurant of the East Hotel is pretty good but gets very busy. Alternatively, the street in front of the bus station transforms into quite a lively night market in the evening, with kebabs, noodles and hundun soup all available. There's some excellent fruit including melons and peaches here in summer, too. If you get tired of the locals' friendly but overbearing curiosity, you could take refuge in the cinema, two hundred metres farther down the road from the Yongxiang.

Guyuan's post office is a short walk from the bus station: turn right out of the station and continue past the cinema to the first intersection, then turn right. Continue walking and it's on the right just past the traffic circle. For the Bank of China , walk left from the bus station for a few minutes, and you'll see it on the left.