Blogs from Shanxi, China, Asia - page 27

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Asia » China » Shanxi » Datong September 24th 2006

After the Great Wall we spent our final day in Beijing checking out some of the local markets. We bargained hard and found that if you’re really not interested in what you’re buying and are willing to walk away you can get things for an absolute steal because they chase you down and virtually give it away! We picked up some small souvenirs and Faye got some jewellery. Later in the evening we headed over to the railway station to catch our first ever sleeper train to Datong. We were in a hard sleeper which consists of small compartments with two sets of three bunks. We were on the bottom bunk so luckily we didn’t have to climb and we could actually sit down without banging our heads on the bunk above or the ceiling. The ... read more
Hanging Monastery
Yungang Caves
Yungang Caves

Asia » China » Shanxi » Pingyao September 8th 2006

Well yet again I've fallen behind in updating my blog, so apologies for that - guess I've been having too much fun ;-) . I've just left China for Viet Nam to meet some good friends from home who are on their hols - so writing this from hot 'n sweaty Hanoi. I'm heading back to China and Tibet afterwards to do some more travelling, before finally heading south again, Australia-bound. Anyway, back to China, one of the maddest, most manic, frustrating yet at times peaceful and rewarding countries I've ever visited. From the minute I crossed the border from Mongolia on the train, you're aware of just how many people there are in their teeming millions. After waiting at the border for the wheels on the train to be changed (the Mongolian and Chinese gauge ... read more
Buddhist Monk Praying In The Forbidden City
View Of The Entrance To Forbidden City From Tiananmen Square
A Musical Singalong At the Temple Of Heaven

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 » Taihuai August 20th 2006

the bus to taihuai, a small valley in the mountainous region of wutai shan, would leave around seven but first i had to find it. everyone wanted to bring me to taiyuan so i kapt on running around in front of the railway station looking for the bus. finally somebody told me that i had to go down the street. i was picked up by a guy on my wy to the bus station. he helped me buying the ticket and put me on the bus. it was a small bus and the seats were etremely small so that i had to sit completely upright but still my knees would be pressed into the seat of my frontman. it was kind of uncomfortable to sit like this for 5 hours. after about one hour we stopped ... read more
cemetry
pavillion
tahuai from the other side

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 » Pingyao August 18th 2006

in the evening i had to leave pingyao and although i wouldn't have known what else to do in this town and i knew it was the right time to leave i got a little bit melancholic. from everywhere i got offers to get a ride to the railway station and the further i came the cheaper the offers got. i just felt like walking, it felt like the right way to leave pingyao. after a while i even started to feel a little bit selfish that i did not give any of these guys the possibility to earn some money but the more people asked me the more stubborn i got and the more i wanted to keep on walking. it has been a nice day, although it was pretty claouded and fog had been ... read more
destroy pingyao city
donkey
city wall

Asia » China » Shanxi » Pingyao August 17th 2006

i woke up at 6.30 or so and started with some coffee and cookies again. after an inspection of the bathroom, i decided that i could skip the shower. just brushing the teeth next to this stinking hole that's supposed to be the toilet actually was unpleasant enough. then i went to the train station and without any problems got on the train to pingyao. i had a bed, which was quite useless, since i wenty away at 9 in the morning and the journey did not even take 2 hours. i seated myself next to the window and was busy with watching the landscape, reading, making travelplans when a cheery looking chinese started waving at me and showed me that i could sit right next to him. so i did. soon we found out that ... read more
market
sun flower
market street

Asia » China » Shanxi » Taiyuan August 16th 2006

the two last days were not very exciting. i did some sightseeing and i will save you from watching the photos of some more temples, masks and other stuff. unfortynately i'm not able anyway to catch all the impressiveness and greatness of all this buildings into a photo. i left nanjing at 0.50 in the morning and had to sit in the train for 17 hours. that made me a little bit nervous since i thought it would be very exhausting. this turned out to be a very wrong thought. in the meantime i knew the railway station already and i was also familiar with the procedure how to get on the right train. there was another point this time, which i was not really sure how i could handle it: the ticket was only valid ... read more
...and from the other
the "bathroom"

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 » Pingyao July 17th 2006

Our arrival in Pingyao was some what of a group effort. Having stepped out of the train station exit at Taiyuan (because the first bus to Pingyao did not leave for two hours and was four kilometers away), we started to consider our options for making the lengthy trip. As we stood, more and more bemused backpackers started to appear from the very train that we had just come from. Eventually we started to talk to one another and some of us started to research the alternatives. The local train became our responsibility, whilst other people looked into cabs, buses, bicycles or donkey. Ultimately one chap negotiated an excellent deal (30 Yuan each) for all of us to be taken to the very walls of the city by minibus. Our little group had swollen to 16 ... read more
A Hutong before Renovation
A Hutong after Renovation
Business Street from the Tower




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