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Published: June 23rd 2010
A big buddha
The Yungang cavesAfter a last Beijing breakfast of hot soy milk and doughnuts, Andrew and I got the train to Datong in Shanxi province. 6 hours on a 'hard seat'. Considering my only prior-experience of Asia was India, where hard seat means a night in a luggage rack, the reserved padded seats of china were crazy levels of comfort.
Datong was a horrible city, Grey and industrial. It is a small city for China, with a mere 1.1 million people and is mainly famous for its high density of coal mines. We hadn't booked any accommodation but luckily we were met by the ever present touts and a member of the china international tourist service (CITS) guided us to an absolutely horrible but sufficient hotel.
As those that know me will reaffirm, hygiene isn't really a priority for me, but this wasn't so nice. The only shower (a floor down) was a communal trough crowded with sweaty men, located in the same sour-scented room as the dirtiest toilets I have yet to see in China. It was also interesting to note the presence of precisely 1 zillion mosquitoes in my bedroom, despite there being none in the rest of the city.
How did they seek me out? I would like to argue, I am really not that tasty.
So why were in this grim city, (where, by the way, there were good noodles but very few steamed buns)? Our primary objective was to visit the Yungang Caves- a collection of 5th century grottos containing over 50,000 Buddha statues.
We decided to the caves go by public bus. We successfully negotiated our way across town and even managed to change bus but our valiant efforts were thwarted when the road was blocked by a massive pileup only a few miles from our destination. Bother. It was a grey and dismal day and after 2 hours of travel we ended up, wet and cold and by the side of the road exactly where we'd started. Slightly demoralized the next day we went on a tour to the Yungang Caves. They were worth the effort. Forty five caves cut into limestone cliffs, with a multitude of Buddhas varying from 1 inch to 17m tall. I also learnt a little about Buddha's life- did you know for example, that Buddha was was born from his mothers armpit? Anyway, it was all very spectacular.
To ensure an overwhelming dose of stunning religious history, the same tour also took us to the Hanging Monastery. The name does not deceive; The temple is built into a sheer face of rock and wooden props and numerous cross pieces keep it 'hanging' while a sea of tourists floods its ancient walkways. It was very beautiful, only spoilt, as with everything in china, by a high price tag and the afore mentioned seas.
While in Datong I also had my first experience of the couch surfing community. An online trust-based network designed to give travellers a free bed or a friendly face to show them around a new place. Andrew is a regular couch surfer- he stayed with people across Russia. In Datong there were no free couches but we did meet up with a very nice Chinese girl, who told us a bit about the city and even bought us both dinner, including a very tender stewed chicken dish with onions and peanuts.
Her company wasn't enough to keep us in Datong however and we quickly moved on by sleeper train to the walled city of Pingyao. Our Hostel, Harmony Guest house was in the
A local goat
Village behind the temple, near pingyao old part of the city, where traditional buildings prevailed, even if most were heavily reconstructed. The hostel proved to be lovely. The dorm was off a rooftop courtyard from where you could gaze across the city of traditional tiled curving rooftops. The owners too, were very nice, if a bit eager to keep you in the hostel bar/restaurant!
Having slept terribly on the train, me and Andrew both fell asleep directly after checking in, so exploring the town was put off until the afternoon. Awake and refreshed we rented bikes, and cycled to the nearby Shuanglin temple. It was about10km out of town and a nice ride, along a main road but through countryside that could have been anywhere. Dusty tree lined roads, which reminded me of parts of the south of France or the north of India. The temple itself was filled with art students,copying the resident statues but was not as interesting as the village behind which we explored for a while to the great amusement of the local children and goats.
The dumplings in Pingyao were good- bready and fried- apparently a local variety. The scenery was also ok. I went on another tour, this
time with with the hostel, to 'the Wang family courtyard' - an old chinese residence with a maze of courtyards and to'Zhongbi underground castle'- a village encompassing a spattering of temples, some old buildings and a defensive underground tunnel network from almost 1500 years ago. I spent the day talking to a Swedish family who kindly bought me lunch.
It was my birthday while I was in Pingyao, mainly notable because I had to remember a new age in chinese. Now, 'wo er shi qi sui'. I spent the day visiting 'the ancient city of Pingyao', which means buying an expensive ticket and looking inside some of the temples, museums and other old buildings dotted around the city, plus the city walls. It really is a beautiful place although it left me rather 'courtyarded out'! That night we got a sleeper train to Xian. I slept much better this time, I guess being tired out by courtyards and more used to the drone of Chinese voices.
When we arrived in Xian, we treated ourselves to a really tasty western style breakfast for a painful amount of Yuan. It was a lovely hostel again; Shuyuan Hostel, just by the
Lone Warrior
Terracota warriors city's south gate. It was the cheapest and probably the nicest hostel so far. A series of open courtyards with rooms off of them, lovely enamel basins, comfy sofas and even a puppy and 2 kittens. Exceedingly cute and a good remedy for weary travellers. Once again my room was on a roof, this time above a trellis of roses. Roses and Kittens. Am I too easily bought? It was a very sociable hostel with lots of communal space which made meeting people really easy.
I liked Xian as a city. It was relaxed and had everything you could need. Lost of sights to see but also just a nice place to relax. I did a bit of both.
I met a lot of people in Xian. That first night I stayed up late playing pool and singing songs. I also ate well. We found a a packed Chinese restaurant just round the corner from the hostel which I would recommend to everyone passing through. I don't know the name but it was pretty well know locally and it served severely excellent food. I wont go into it because I fear becoming lost forever in my reverie. I
Ancestors
The Wang Family courtyard, near pingyao will just say that braised aubergine is, I think, going to be one of my favourite memories of China and that was the best braised aubergine I have had.
The main sight in Xian is the world renound Terracota Warriors. My plan was once again to go by public bus. I mentioned this to several people in the hostel and somehow set my self up as a tour guide with numerous companions. As well as myself and Andrew, there was Florian and Peter from the Netherlands, Daniel, a slightly insane German, Shai, an Isreali student , Alexis, a teacher from Manchester (UK) and Holly from Canada! It was quite silly and actually it was hard work coordinating that many people but we navigated the buses and got to the warriors. I really enjoyed that 'sight'. As well as the warriors themselves, (everyone of which is different by the way), you could also watch archaeologists at work as the army is still being excavated. The warriors are thought to have stood guard over the tomb of Emporor Qin Shi Huang for two thousand yearsand looking at them it is amazing to think about the amount of trouble and expense spent
on one dead man, even if he was an emperor! It was a tiring day but fun. In the evening we gained even more people, and we all ventured into Xians famous muslim quarters for dinner. I ordered random stuff for the whole table, some of which was rather weird and not appreciated but overall I think it was a success.
I spent the rest of my time in Xian just chilling out. I hurt my foot at some point in the weeks before - I fell on it oddly in the forbidden city and then stupidly ignored it and did lots of walking, but after a few days of rest in Xian it was fine. One of my 'rest days' was combined with a 'weird fruit day', when I went to the supermarket and bought all of the fruits which I didn't recognize. It was mainly succesful and I have since identified them all with the help of the wonderful world wide web. I will mention those which interested me most. Firstly, Dragon fruit. This I have seen before but have never tried. Now I can tell you, it is, in my opinion, like a surprisingly bland kiwi
fruit but it is so amazingly beautiful that I would eat it just for the pleasure of seeing the juice from the luminous pink skin bleed into the black and white flesh of the fruit. This is one for those who care about aesthetics more than taste. From a taste perspective,I favour 'yangmei' or the chinese bayberry. These little red berries with a central stone are about the size and shape of a cherry except when you look closely they are made up of juicy little segments similar to raspberries. In taste they are sweet but tangy, a pleasing mix of strawberry and cherry. To mix beauty and taste I would have to say go for the mangosteen. I am a bit in love with this fruit. It is almost tomato shaped with a thick deep purple crust and green stem. In the very centre of the crumbly crust is a small kernel of juicy white segments. This is the edible bit. It is sweet but not overly so and the flesh almost melts in your mouth like custard. The flavour is hard to describe but immensely satisfying, almost filling. You cant eat very many.
This isn't the case
with lychees, of which I've been eating copious quantities. I was told by a Chinese traveller to wait until I got further south as the lychees in the middle of China weren't 'fresh'. Im afraid that to my naïve English taste buds, any fruit that hasn't been flown across a few continents tastes exceedingly fresh to me.
Andrew left me in Xian, boo hoo! He was heading to Hangzhuo, while I was going to Shanghai. It was nice to have travelled together for a while. Having a companion makes getting round much easier but it can lead to complacency and this trip was supposed to be a challenge, at least for a while. After a nice rest from independent travel and a nice few days of rest in general, I was ready to head off on my own adventure again.
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The Papa
non-member comment
barberries and other fruit
Barberries (albeit dried and possibly not Chinese) have found their way into Kentwell. Some were brought in and I used them in stuffing some onions.