Blogs from Datong, Shanxi, China, Asia - page 7

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Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong August 22nd 2006

another night in the train that was pretty relaxing. this time i had the upper bed end again no air condition (but since most of the shanxi province is on higher altitudes the there nights are cool anyway). arriving in tianjin i still had no real plan how to get to the fairy to dalian or how to buy the ticket. from lonely planet i knew that the fairy terminal was about one hour away from tianjin and that the busses would leave from the main train station. i was was at the norther train station. lonely planet also said, that if you are in tianjin it would probably a good idea to buy the tickets there. but the only ticket selling office i could find on the map eas the CITS, which was pretty far ... read more
my chinese friend and me

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong August 19th 2006

a day that turned out to be for sight seeing. my actual plan was to stay this day in datong and maybe visit some sights here. of course my plan changed. arriving by train i was planning to go directly to CITS (china international travel service) since i heard that datong is one of the places where thay could help. the first woman that asked me if i needed accomaodation really gave up when i told her that i'm heading for CITS. but already at the second guy i got weak. he told me that CITS will open at 8. i know, i should have had a look anyway but instead i asked how much it would cost if i stayed at the place he was proposing. he said, he had rooms for 60 or 120 ... read more
yungang caves
another buddha at yungang caves
another perspective

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong July 29th 2006

Atravesamos Datong para desayunar. A aquellas horas solo había abiertos lugares en los que desayunar como un chino, y, lo siento por mis amigos que querían otra cosa, me empeñé en tomar un café con algo de comer. Lo que el guía aprovechó para llevarnos al hotel, como creo que era su intención desde el principio. No hizo caso a mis explicaciones de lo que pensaba que era un desayuno. Solo se podía tomar lo que yo quería en el hotel. Mientras llegamos al hotel, me voy haciendo la primera impresión, una ciudad poco cuidada, llena de tiendas estilo occidental, despertándose. El temor de que China no me va a gustar va apareciendo. Primera escena, una chica estilo Gong Li, la popular e internacionalmente conocida actriz china, con unos cuantos kilos encima, se pelea con un ... read more
Niño vendiendo recuerdos chinos
El Templo Suspendido o Colgante
El Templo Suspendido o Colgante

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong July 17th 2006

Our only fear on our trip to Datong is that we had to buy return train tickets back to Beijing for the next day, and we couldn't do it until we were in Datong. We were afraid that the train would be sold out or we'd have difficulties purchasing the tickets due to the language barrier. We leave the platform and have to lug our huge rollie bags down a huge flight of steps and them back up three more! By the time I got to the top into the lobby, Brian had been approached by an English speaking CITS travel agent. He was able to book our soft sleeper return train tickets with the greatest of ease. He also booked us on the tour that brought us to see the Yungong Grottos and the Hanging ... read more

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong July 12th 2006

Catching the hard sleeper train from Beijing (West) to Datong for the princely sum of 68 Yuan (about five pounds), was a little more eventful than intended. We left it a little late and ended up dashing across town in a taxi and running across four lanes of traffic, before joining the queue for our train. It seemed as if the entire 1.3 billion population of China had chosen to go to Datong with us. Chinese railways stations are a lot like an airport departure lounge, you wait in a designated waiting area until your train is ready for boarding and then you do the easy jet rush to board. We eventually settled into our allocated bunks and arrived safely in Datong five and a half hours later. We had pre-booked our accommodation and were happily ... read more
The Hanging Monastery
From the very BIG!!!
.... to the very small (3cm).

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong June 1st 2006

We arrived in Datong at 7am after a rather 'interesting' night spent getting next to no sleep on the sleeper train from Beijing. Somewhat wearily we went in search of the station travel agency that the LP described as being really helpful. We found it easily (....it was full of westerners) and within 30 mins we were booked onto a tour for the day, had a hotel room organised and were sat eating brekky. At 9am we were on a bus meeting our guide and tour group... yep, after nearly three weeks in China spent actively avoiding the follow the flag tour groups here I was on one. Ahh the shame ;0) It was a great day though and considering how tired we both felt it was the only way we could have done it... trying ... read more
Yungang Caves
Yungang Caves
Yungang Caves

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong May 21st 2006

We took the overnight sleeper train and arrived nice and early in Datong. What a culture shock, unlike Beijing this place is an industrial coal mining city. The train station was heaving with Chinese peasants migrating in search of work and unlike their Beijing counterparts these guys are not used to Westerners. With their belongings in a sack, they walk up to us and just stand staring. Having walked around this town which is stained black with coal dust, and shows no signs of any westernisation, we quickly made a decision this wasn't a place we were going to be staying the night, and booked another sleeper train out. We knew Datong was going to be a bit rough but that's not why we are here. Just out of the town are 2 two sites that ... read more
Inside Yungang Grottos
Buddha Yungang Grottos
Buddha Paul

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong May 12th 2006

10th May Laura - Got the train to Datong. It was a hard seat, and when they say hard they really do mean HARD!!! It was more or less a bench with a high back, which me and Paul shared with some guy who kept clearing his throat every 10 seconds. Fortunately he got off half way through the journey (which was 6 hours long). The people sitting opposite us were apparently allergic to fresh air and when we opened the window the woman sitting next to it cowered away and looked like she was going to cry. So we had to spend most of the journey in 100 degree heat (I exaggerate, but only slightly) and breathing in stuffy, sweaty air. Needless to say when we finally arrived we both had headaches and I felt ... read more
Yungang Caves
Hanging Temple
Room with a view

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong April 20th 2006

Arrived in Datong, 7 hours on a train west of Beijing near the Great Wall. Went on a day trip to the Yungang Caves and Hanging Temple. The Yungang caves are a set of Buddhist grottoes caved into the side of a sandstone cliff built around 400 AD. The Hanging Monastery (or named in Chinese "Temple Suspended in the Void") is anchored to the cliff walls with wooden beams set into the rock. The tour group got fed a selection of local dishes at lunch time, which were really good. Of course it was only AFTER we had finished that they informed us that one of the dishes, which tasted like really tender lamb, was really dog! Ah well, it was bound to happen sooner or later... Datong is quite a small town in China (only ... read more
Hanging temple
hanging temple II
Yungang Caves

Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong March 31st 2006

We never really thought we would be able make it Datong as a day trip- it's 400 km from Beijing and the terrain is on the mountainous side. They said it was too far, too cold, not enough transport links, etc. We knew better and are living proof that where there is a will there is a way. We took an overnight train (8 hours) from Beijing to Datong, hooked up with another pair of tourists and shared a car around the sights and then shared a taxi back to Beijing (4 hours) with some Chinese girl arriving at 8:30 pm. You should have seen the look on the receptionist's mug when I walked back into our hostel after only being away 24 hours. So....what is the beef on Datong I hear you say. Cave Temples ... read more
Cave Pagoda
Cave Buddha
One in the open




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