#2: [07-Jul-12]

25-Mar-2006 --

39 N – 112 E Shanxi(山西), China

Line Hunting Date: March 25, 2006

The 2nd point of the Shanxi 39th parallel expedition

After our visit to 39N 111E located on the Yellow River between Shanxi (山西) and Shaaxi (陕西) province around 9.30 am, we headed east toward the 2nd confluence point. Except for many coal laden trucks we had to pass, the main highway led us within 6 km north of this point. We found an unpaved road leading to Hu Bei village (虎北村) which located very near the confluence point and we started walking with 400 meters further to go.

This confluence point located on a gentle hill of farm land with a good view of the village. We found the all zeros point with ease around 1 pm and headed back to the main highway searching for a place for lunch.

The perfect restaurant for the hungry line hunters - The Longitude and Latitude Restaurant (经纬饭店)

When we reached the main highway, one restaurant caught our attention right away –The Jin Wei Restaurant. Jin (经) is longitude and Wei (纬) is latitude. In fact, the very location of the restaurant only about 5.5 km from the confluence point we just visited. Even though it was late for lunch hour, the place was packed and most people had very red face from serious drinking during meal. We had a good chat with the owner and he was most pleased to learn that his establishment actually very nears the longitude and latitude lines. We had a photo with the owner and his wife in front of the restaurant before we push off for the 3rd point of the day. The lunch and visit at restaurant took a bit longer than expected, we left the “Confluence Restaurant” around 2.30 pm which turned out had a great deal of implication for the next hunt.

Rating of this hunt:

Degree of Challenge: 1 – An easy drive up with a pleasant hike. (1= very easy - drive to the point; to 5= a death march – glad it is over)

Scenery: 2– farmland with gentle hills (Scale: 1= not interesting at all; 5= take your breath away)

Culture-social factors: 2– Typical rural northern China setting (Scale: 1=dull; 5= most stimulating)