Train to Datong

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We arrived in Datong 20:30 from Beijing by taking the train, with a soft sleeper option. This is a four person berth, but we were lucky to get it alone. Upon arrival we walked out of the train station looking for The Hotel Datong, which had recommendations from various travel blogs. Of course we could not find it, we did have a “helpful” person instructing us to follow him down a dark alley to a hotel. I am sure he was honest but to be safe we said “no way”. We walked into the hotel directly in front of the train station; I took a quick peak at the room and said okay. Should have taken a closer look….dead roaches in the corner. We slept in our sleeping bags with our silk sheets to avoid bed bugs and tried to get some sleep. Tried is the key word…..it was the hardest bed ever and the noise level within the hotel was TOO loud all night. For anyone coming to Datong I would avoid this hotel (Ou Yi Hotel) which it is straight out the station and has a round front entry.
The first objective when we rose after lying all night trying to sleep was to find the original hotel we were looking for. We seem to have a problem locating them. We did check into another hotel…seems clean and price was right (Fei Tan Hotel). We were going to find a tour group but a taxi pulled up and offered to take us to all the site we wanted to see, price was okay so we said let’s go.
We first headed to the Hanging Monastery of Hengshan. It is an hour outside of Datong. It was an interesting drive. Many locals were using mules in the fields and on the roads for transportation. There were many small villages consisting of houses made of mud and clay bricks. The Hanging Monastery was built around 491 AD on a cliff face 50 meters off the ground. The buildings consist of the external building and an internal portion that is build into the cliff. There are multiple rooms that contain statues for praying and sleeping quarters. Most of the wood is original, which did not make me feel secure in walking next to the railings. It was built to be protected from weather and floods, but also from noise, since it followed the Taoist principle of no noise. It is quite an amazing site.
Next we headed to the Great Wooden Pagoda. It is one of China’s oldest wooden Pagodas. It is in an area of total redevelopment. New buildings every where, most of which seem like mixed use (retail on bottom and residential above). Scott and I are attributing most development due to the anticipated tourism increase that China is expecting, largely due to the 2008 Olympics but also due to relaxed government regulations. We just watched a special on the partnership that China and Australia are forming for tourism enrichment.
Our final stop was the best of the day. It was the Yungang Grottoes (Caves). They are 45 remaining caves with close to 51,000 statues and carvings. They were created between 460 AD and 494 AD. Many of the statues and carving have remained in great condition along with colors in some of the main caves have stayed vibrant. Other caves have had natural and human deterioration occur. The drawings and statues range from a few centimeters to one large Buddha of 26 meters. The best thing about the site is that they have not done any major restoration, they have let the natural state remain. The main work the Chinese have done to the site is foundation work, sidewalks and shoring up exterior fronts. Plan a trip to see this…….of all we have seen this rates as one of my “Must Sees”.
Dinner tonight was yummy….we basically had a beef hot pot and the best sweet and sour pork that I have ever had. After dinner we decided to try and buy our train ticket to Xi’an only to find out that it is fully booked. We are not sure what we will do…..we will figure it out tomorrow morning….maybe just head south getting closer to Xi’an or to wait another day??? Tomorrow will tell.

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