Blogs from Shanxi, China, Asia - page 4

Datong is a city located 300 kilometers west of Beijing with around 2 to 3 million inhabitants. At the moment there are big changes going on in Datong. In the course of a 6 billion euro project, the whole citycentre of Datong is demolished and completely rebuild, based on a Ming Dynasty Style. We didn't know about that before coming here and were amazed by the size of the construction site which is maybe comparable to the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Or even bigger??? However, the project will be finished within the next two to three years (a fractional amount compared to the Potsdamer Platz) and its target is to boost the tourist industry. Our first task, at 4.30am, was to find an accomodation because we haven't booked something in advance. After we fought our way ... read more

CHINA: The Hanging Monastery & Mu Ta. Ren Cheng asked if it was OK if his wife came as well...resident of Datong but never been to the Hanging Monastery. Drove to his home to collect her...dirty austere building...rent 2,000RMB a sq mtre..."cheap"...sixth top floor...back entrance...wife at the door...nil English...please come in. White tiled floors...quite large...sparsely furnished...massive TV on the floor in the middle of the main room...couple of chairs & a tall bookcase...empty other than about 10 books/mags that he was proud to show us. I will never forget what he showed us...pulled our heartstrings. He showed us his few books...PSP computer books that showed how computers & computer chips worked...binary codes...complex maths...technical as...probably outdated. He was "studying them to get a computer"...every night he reads them...when mastered he will get one! ... read more

CHINA: Yungang at minus 20 C. Midnight train from Beijing...soft sleeper...nil sleep...Italians from Milan snoring in the top bunks...like Dr Zhivago outside...icy wastes of Inner Mongolia...then into Shanxi Provence...felt like Siberia. Train pulls into Datong at 7 a.m...dark...icy...cold as...follow the Italians...then Denise & I alone in the snow...the glow of a few lights...people scurrying...fog streaming from their mouths. A sound breaks through the darkness..."Taxi?"...a face enquiring..."Yes please". Our packs grabbed and put into the boot of a taxi...doors opened...into the back...the man then disappearing. We sat in the back...and sat...other taxis pulling away...we looking at each other...where's our driver? "I know how to get him back" I said as I stepped out of the taxi. And just like that he was back...leaving his mates t... read more

We arrived in Datong by train from Beijing which was a 6 hour journey on a hard sleeper. This wasn't as bad as we thought, the seats are actually soft probably similar to that of a normal commuter train in england. A tip on trains is that you need to book them in advance either through your hostel or preferably at the train station. Once you are outside Beijing you cannot book trains easily for your onward journeys and if your planning to only stay somewhere for a few days you may not get a train, so best thing to do is go to beijing station or Beijing West station and pre-book your tickets for your next few jorneys at least - this way your likely to get the soft sleepers etc. Once we arrived in ... read more

The second day of teaching went just a well as the first though I still have yet to teach any Grade Twos so we’ll see what happens tomorrow with that. I’ve been without internet for two and a half days which was extremely annoying but luckily it sorted it’s self out fairly promptly so I didn’t have to complain to anyone…I can only imagine what it would be like trying to explain all the technical jargon that my computer was telling me to people who don’t speak English. It is now super cold in Lucheng in fact it was snowing yesterday morning and it seems to be blowing gale rate winds at the moment. The feeling of isolation has never been stronger particularly as the weather was bad so I couldn’t really go out and have ... read more