http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Shanxi en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:08:08 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:08:08 BST I travel to Datong passing through the huge industrial areas of Northern CHina. This is where much of the country's coal comes from and hence where many of the massive powerstations are. They're a blight on the landscape but in such a growing powerhungry country they've got to put them somewhere.Just West of Datong are the Yungang caves a huge site of over 51000 Buddhist carvings in a sand http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-297361.html So this is my entry on Xi'an our train from Beijing to Xi'an was a hard sleeper train which meant that instead of 4 beds per room it was 6 beds per room and the amount of room you get is significantly less...but I still slept even if it wasn't as long as I wanted. The beds weren't as soft appropriately named hard sleeper and there were three other people in our room that we didn't know http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-295078.html Hello everyoneI am still having an amazing time here in China since I last wrote I have been to a really lovely town called Pingyao which is about 12 hours on the bus from Tiayuan. When we got there the bus stopped and we were instructed to get off where we were duly instructed to follow this guy where we would find cheap hotel so we followed him for a bit and just kept him hanging while http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-293025.html A Hundred Evil Ones Should Be Forgotten.The Chinese have not had a great 2008 year so far. The Chinese New Year kicked things off in February with freezing sub zero blizzards that killed off a lot of the countries live stock and farming produce this devastated the countries food supplies. In March the violent rioting escalated with the monks and lay people in Tibet then Chinese security forces mo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-284065.html We left Shanghai on Wednesday for the beautiful canal town of Xitang. Here we had the opportunity to stay in a traditional Chinese guest house four poster bed inculded if you dont mind and sample the local rice wine smelt much worse than it tasted After spending a week in the busteling city it was a nice change to visit a relaxed traditional Chinese town. We then took the night train to Xi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-275372.html So...having met my amazing intrepid crew consisting of a wide age range all the way from 18 me to 65 we got to know each other being herded around the major sites in Beijing Forbidden city Summer palace with what might as well have been a cattle prod. There appears to be no people more into tourism than the chinese ...they walk around in massive tour groups being identified by their matching http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-267352.html My next stop hadn't made it on my initial plan but I'd heard through a couple of other people about an ancient town north of Xian named Pingyao which is covientantly placed therefore allowing me to to break up the trip onto Beijing.Having waxed lyrical about my experiences of travelling on trains in China in my previous blog. My opinion has altered slightly after my journey from Xian to Pingyao. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-262896.html My next stop hadn't made it on my initial plan but I'd heard through a couple of other people about an ancient town north of Xian named Pingyao which is covientantly placed therefore allowing me to to break up the trip onto Beijing.Having waxed lyrical about my experiences of travelling on trains in China in my previous blog. My opinion has altered slightly after my journey from Xian to Pingyao. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-262787.html HelloAfter Yantze river cruise terra cotta army longmen caves we're entering Shanxi by the back door. Last step before Pingyao. We're in Yungcheng rural china as the lonely planet says. actually a 200 000 inhabitants town between Xi'An and PingYao.We visited a near by temple dedicated to a general who was promoted a powerful god after his death.The temple shows some exemple of fine chinese http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-261577.html NeilWe've now left Beijing and arrived in a small town called Pingyao an ancient town with a 6.7km wall surrounding the old part very nice First though a word about taxi drivers. In India and most of China they are all over the place. India especially you get pestered by them all the time offering their services. It becomes a real pain at times. When we left Beijing we decided to ta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-249449.html Day two was reserved for the famous hanging monastry located some 65 km's south east of Datong and build into the Heng Shan sacred mountain. It's a pretty impressive sight although very touristy.The weather on this day was absolutely freezing so my enjoyment of the monastry was tampered a bit by not being able to feel my hands and face. Taking photo's becomes slightly difficult as well but l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-244794.html Lucky for me the train from Hohhot to Datong only took 4 hours so that's not too bad. Upon arrival in Datong I sort of immediately knew that I wasn't going to like the city. The Lonely Planet says the following about DatongDatong isn't going to win any beauty pageants but who needs good looks when you've got artAnd that's very right the city is just a big industrial coal mine city and the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-244782.html Taiyuan stad der drakenEen nieuw avontuur in China en daarmee ook een nieuwe blog. Eerst en vooral nog een dankwoordje voor de mensen die me zo vaak uit de nood hielpen met slaapplaats in Gent of elders een extra'tje in het zwart of gewoon met steun en bemoedigende woorden. Steun van het thuisfront betekent echt veel voor me..Zondagmorgen 21 januari om 7u 's morgens was het zo ver. M'n valies st http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Taiyuan/blog-241627.html We are now in Chengdu for the next few days...but because I've been letting the side down on the frequency of the blogging I will give a quick run through of the last few days in Beijing and Xian.20th January The Summer PalaceThis morning we decided to go to the Summer Palace where the whole lake Kunming Lake was frozen over with ice. We were taken by Stu Simon and Ilin another girl who Jame http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-238647.html Smog and Caves http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-237212.html The CITS in Datong had booked us into a hostel named Tianyuankui Kezhan and a representative from there met us at the train station good start We were brought to this very nice guest house very well laid out with all mod cons. We were led then to a room which was a 2 bed dorm with a private shower a PC and free internet This was not your typical backpackers joint and we feared the worst. Tu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-236631.html Datong has a population of about 3 million people and is a big coal producing region. It served as the capital around 400 AD and did so for about 70 years. You'd think that a city this steeped in history would have loads to see and do unfortunately this did not prove to be the case.We took the overnight train from Beijing and arrived in at about 7.00 am. We knew what it was we wanted to see and i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-236392.html Mianyang was just a stopover an 8hour stopover enroute to Xian. The 10hour bumpy bus ride from Jiuzhaigou ended at Mianyang's train station where we got 1115 pm tickets to Xian. The uneventful overnighter reached the destination at 11 am. Xian a walled city mostly renovated 14th century Ming walls is said to be China's cultural capital. Its predecessor Chang'an flourished with music poetr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-227742.html After much debate and discussion between us and the hostel staff we took the easy option of a 2 taxi ride to the monolithic Beijing West railway station rather than the 30p metro ride and 1 hour walk option The usual push and shove later to get on the train which we are becoming more accomplished at we found our middle hard sleeper beds only to be confronted by the most grumpy and cantankero http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-225512.html Hello allWell we just got back from a fourday class excursion to Xi'an in Shanxi province and we learned as much or more than anyone For example did you know that over 2000 years ago the first emperor of China built Xi'an into a capital that would eventually rival the cities of Rome and Constantinople as the greatest city in the world NO Well we didn't either.... So it was an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-220274.html Hua shan was an overnight trip away from Xian 2 hrs by public train or 3 hrs returning via congested motorway network more laterWe left our large packs at the not so ritzy train station hotel this was for a quick getaway on our return to the lovely moated and walled city of Xian at 7.30am Saturday morning and headed across the road to the train station tickets purchased by Jordan and costin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-214883.html Pingyao is an easygoing little town famous for its city walls that encircle the older part of town. Nicknamed as the Turtle City it repeatedly resisted Japanese invasion during World War II. There are really two Pingyaos. The one inside the city walls a tiny area two to four square miles preserved for tourist And the one outside the city walls a urban sprawl rushing to modernize like the rest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-203369.html I took the overnight train from Beijing to Datong to see the Hanging Monastery and Yungang Caves there. Datong is really just one big industrial town. It is the source of a big portion of China's coal and the city certain smells like it. The odor of coal permeates the air here. When I blew my nose and took a look at what came out there were black specks of coal dust. I wonder what the life expect http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-202074.html I know that I have been already in many places I also recall that the past 2 months was not without a dull day. However I feel that the real adventure begins in China for some reason. I was eager to get there to see this land with its ancient history its culture and diversity. As the country itself is huge I know that I will get only a tiny glimpse of the People's Republic of China. I h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/blog-200602.html Dwa ostatnie dni sp281dzili347my w Datongu. Zwiedzili347my Wisz261cy Klasztor i Jaskini281 Yungang fotki wklej281 w Xi'an przy okazji. W Datongu spotkali347my bardzo wielu Europejczykw. W dormitorium mieszkali347my z Holendrem ktry po 6 miesi261cach studiw w Pekinie wyruszy322 przez miesi261c pozwiedza263 Chiny. A380 do Chengdu mamy podobne plany wi2 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-190916.html A las 730 llegamos a Taiyuan. Cogemos el autobus 611 15 hasta la estacion de autobuses y alli cogemos un autobus hasta Pingyao 25 que tarda 2 horas 100km. Nos deja en las afueras y en un mototaxi 20 vamos al Harmony Hostel donde dejamos las mochilas y reservamos los billetes de tren a Xian a la 140 de la noche 8020 comision. A continuacion alquilamos unas bicis 10bici y n http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-185439.html La ultima parada del transmongoliano es Beijing a las 1400h despues de un dia y medio desde que salimos de Ulan Bator pero nosotros nos bajamos a las 800h en DATONG Tren Ulan BatorBeijing 54 eurospers. Queremos visitar las Cuevas Yungang y el Templo Colgante. En la misma estacion de tren de Datong hay una oficina CITS China International Travel Service www.cits.com.cn donde te gestion http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-185421.html The Hanging Temple and Monastery in Shanxi Province was both remarkable in its construction and aweinspiring in its location. It is literally built into the side of a cliff. The monks chose the site and the elevation to protect the temple from floods. Our bus was caught in a traffic jam of coal trucks so our guide asked if we minded walking down a dry riverbed for a mile or so to come to the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Wutaishan/blog-183023.html Taiyuan pop. 3 million is the capital city of Shanxi Province. Shanxi means west of the mountains and the mountains is where we have been for the last 3 days enjoying cool air beautiful wild flowers and enough BUddhist temples to last me into the next life. The holy mt. Wutai Shan has been a pilgrimage site for over a thousand years for people from India Japan and Korea as well as China http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Taiyuan/blog-183015.html Hallo allemaal Het was alweer onze tweede en laatste dag in Pingyao. Omdat we Pingyao zelf eigenlijk al wel gezien hadden hebben we weer een fiets gehuurd en zijn we 7 kilometer naar het zuiden gefietst naar de Shuanglin tempel. Voor deze tempel bleek hetzelfde te gelden als voor heel Pingyao Haal er een stofdoek overheen en het ziet er tien keer mooier uit. We liepen echt met jeukende hande http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Pingyao/blog-181693.html