Oh dear, only a week ago and already this stuff seems like an age ago.
So we left Beijing on a day train (hard seat) after a little delay at about 9.30. We thought that on an early train out of Beijing, we'd be the first stop, but turns out no, and the carriage was strewn with sunflower seeds, noodle pots and fag ends. It was also packed already with standing room only, but in our naivety, we walked straight past our allocated seats and 3/4 of the way down the carriage before realising this, and behind and in front were dozens of people all jostling for space. We waited a couple of minutes for things to settle so we could walk back up to our seats, but everyone was planted blocking the gangway. We each had our big rucksacks and daysacks each, so mobility was low and people weren't helping in blocking the way. Everyone was already staring at the heavily laden white people, and looked at us almost in amusement as to ask "what are you going to do now", so I got pissed off, threw my daysack on my back and hoisted my huge backpack in the air over my head. I actually got a little cheer from people for this! I carved a path for Jo to try and follow, and kicked out the 2 blokes sat in our seats, then settled in for 7 hours reading whilst Jo slept. We played with a little girl who was with her granny towards the end, but the game got tiresome fast (involved her alternately saying "ni hao" and "hello" and us repeating it back to her. Wasn't such a good game after 20 mins).
Along the way we went through countryside and huge mountains, which were dry and arid, but with strangely green and fertile valleys which had been levelled out. This looked very new and suspect to me, with some marks on the valley walls below us, and after a few miles I saw why; a bloody great dam had been built, with massive concrete pillars of different states of completion reaching to different heights all around. It's obvious there's going to be a bit of a maze of trainlines and roads built around there, but god knows why, there's a dam and that's it. Must have flooded anything else that was there, and destroyed a river further down. Just another instance of the Chinese "we know best and will do exactly what we want regardless of how it affects you" Government.
Eventually we got to Datong, which we knew was supposed to be a dirty town. It looked rank, and we were tired from the journey, so when we discovered that Lonely Planet was wrong and there is no Hostel, but there is a nasty looking hotel with hookers outside and rooms charged out by the hour, wits were getting fraid. We bartered with what used to be the hostel but is now a plush business hotel, and got a really good rate (similar to hostel rates) but for an ensuite double! We met 2 more people in the reception on our way out to look for food, who were in the same boat, and explained the situation. They took a room also, and we went out together. After lots of hassle from cab drivers offering to take us to the Buddha caves and Hanging Monastery, we found a dirty looking place on the main street with tables half in the road. This turned out to have such good food we would return twice more! It had a big robot which cut the noodles off the doughball straight into the water. It also did amazing shredded pork and vegetables in a spicy sauce, and the best steamed dumplings. They were big and almost like bread on the outside, with either pork or spring onion, spinach and garlic inside. We got hassled by a guy who runs a tourist place earlier, and he came back as we were eating with a really good price for a guided tour of Buddhas and Monastery, so Marcello (Argentine/Italian), Ria (Slovakian), Jo and I paid up, went to our beds, and got up the next morning to go!
The 4 of us got to the carpark where the bus would take us from, and witnessed the Chinese workers ethic of how to start the day; around 40 hotel staff dancing together in file, to exactly the same movements. But not just for 1 song; about 5, all with different routines, and then it started to repeat! We were there for 20 mins, and they were going strong the whole time!
The bus trip to the Buddha caves was only about 45 mins, and was uneventful, just through poor and very dirty parts of town, then we were taken around all of these caves, but first we had to walk through lots of newly built buildings and pagodas and buddhas. At least the Chinese tourist industry has made one hell of an effort, with a man-made lake with a series of buildings on a stilted island in the centre you must walk through, but it's a shame they didn't put full thought into it. EVERYTHING was made of concrete, and not all the meeting pieces matched, so where the bridge met the handrail, the design of the newel post was different, and the mix was different so they were different colours. Sorry, building detour there.
The first cave has the biggest Buddha in it, which is pretty huge, but we weren't supposed to take pictures. This is supposed to be a respect thing, but as they'd intrusively put 2 bloody great CCTV cameras on poles alongside Buddha, we paid no heed.
We meandered in and out of the caves and soon left our "English speaking" guide behind. Jo and I got our photo taken in front of the big outdoor Buddha, and we left (after a much needed ice lolly to cool us down) for the hanging monastery.
It took us a while to get there, but within a big canyon, after a real 5p-50p moment where we thought we were driving off the cliff, we arrived. The monasteries were there, just chilling on the cliff-face, and we had a lovely view and got some great pics from the car park, so we didn't bother paying the extortionate entrance fee, and Jo, Ria and I just sat in the shade chatting with ice lollies (not TO the ice lollies, we were eating ice lollies... I digress). We got back to lovely Datong, and Jo and I went in search of cash (cashpoint, not mugging or anything), and an internet cafe which was successful in the former but not latter. Datong seemed to get smellier and seedier the more we walked, but this is the modern working class China; a lot of poverty and unemployment, with livings only to be made from selling what you can grow or come by on the kerb. With next to no healthcare for the masses, and such poor safety standards in workplaces (I've worked on some dodgy sites, but what they do over here makes what little hair I have stand on end) mean that there's lots of poorly treated accidents, so some grotesque injuries on beggars. Sorry, digression again. Ria and Marcello were leaving on a night train that evening, but Jo and I opted for a decent nights kip in a lovely room and get an early train in the morning to Pingyao.
Had a lovely train journey this time with three girls tarted up to the nines at 7am on an 8 hour journey who just stared at us, which was amusing to start, but after an hour it's tiresome, 7 further hours later you want to scream at them "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!".
A bloke in an electric trike was hawking for business with free rides to the hostel we were already going to, so we hopped in and prayed for our lives weaving along the main roads, then through the old city gates to the narrow stone alleyways of the old town. Our hostel was lovely, with a bar downstairs which was very cosy (and called Cozy), but nice and light in the heat, and as we went up to our room we saw that Ria had chosen the same hostel and was in the same dorm as us.
We wandered off for lunch, but as Pingyao is such a tourists dream with all of it's originality, the restaurants are all pretty pricey, but as per, Jo and I stumbled across a locals haunt with point-and-shoot menu for half the price everywhere else, and beer at 1/3 the price. We ate there several times. That evening Ria, Marcello and Jo and I went photo hunting in all the atmospherically lit alleys, walls and gatehouses.
Following day we tried a variety of strange and not-so wonderful street grub for brekkie before settling on an egg bun thing with coffee for about 70p to do the trick. After far too much deliberation of when to leave and where to, the decision was taken out of our hands by the trains, and we were heading to Xi'an next in 2 nights time. We found a supermarket and stocked up on stuff for the long night train, then wandered the streets a bit more (Jo and I are very good at this), then found another really good chinese food place that was cheap but much closer to the hostel and with pancakes on the breakfast menu for Jo!
Next day we rented a tandem (after pancakes), and went about some more exploring. Chinese tandems aren't made for 6'2" englishmen. On the front my knees hit the handlebars, and I could barely steer I was sat so close, and on the back was even worse as the handlebars were so low my feet couldn't even go round! The brakes were also pretty shot, and there was no grip on the tyres, so made for exciting riding! I don't think Jo even pedalled for most of our outing! We went around the perimeter of town, and found some nice picture spots, saw the lady we rescued on the Great Wall in Beijing (though she'd forgotten us already!), and then it began to rain, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the hostel chatting, drinking tea and relaxing. When it became apparent the weather wasn't going to let up, I took the bike back. With no-one on the back, and with smooth wet stone underneath, I was sliding and skidding everywhere! I screeched up to the lady, who thought twice about giving my deposit back for my entrance, then thought better of it and sent me happily on my way.
On our last day I stumbled across a building site where an old style building was being made including the carvings done in timber on site. I was chuffed and wandered around wasting half a memory card on it. In the evening, another electric trike took us to the train station, though to add a bit more excitement, he kept his lights off to save battery. Arrived safe, got on and into our little bunks, though Jo was next to a very loud snorer (not me), so she got a great induction to sleeper trains! Got woken up early doors by loads of people chatting stupidly loudly to each other at 6am, but at least they weren't hocking and spitting for once!
So we left Beijing on a day train (hard seat) after a little delay at about 9.30. We thought that on an early train out of Beijing, we'd be the first stop, but turns out no, and the carriage was strewn with sunflower seeds, noodle pots and fag ends. It was also packed already with standing room only, but in our naivety, we walked straight past our allocated seats and 3/4 of the way down the carriage before realising this, and behind and in front were dozens of people all jostling for space. We waited a couple of minutes for things to settle so we could walk back up to our seats, but everyone was planted blocking the gangway. We each had our big rucksacks and daysacks each, so mobility was low and people weren't helping in blocking the way. Everyone was already staring at the heavily laden white people, and looked at us almost in amusement as to ask "what are you going to do now", so I got pissed off, threw my daysack on my back and hoisted my huge backpack in the air over my head. I actually got a little cheer from people for this! I carved a path for Jo to try and follow, and kicked out the 2 blokes sat in our seats, then settled in for 7 hours reading whilst Jo slept. We played with a little girl who was with her granny towards the end, but the game got tiresome fast (involved her alternately saying "ni hao" and "hello" and us repeating it back to her. Wasn't such a good game after 20 mins).
Along the way we went through countryside and huge mountains, which were dry and arid, but with strangely green and fertile valleys which had been levelled out. This looked very new and suspect to me, with some marks on the valley walls below us, and after a few miles I saw why; a bloody great dam had been built, with massive concrete pillars of different states of completion reaching to different heights all around. It's obvious there's going to be a bit of a maze of trainlines and roads built around there, but god knows why, there's a dam and that's it. Must have flooded anything else that was there, and destroyed a river further down. Just another instance of the Chinese "we know best and will do exactly what we want regardless of how it affects you" Government.
Eventually we got to Datong, which we knew was supposed to be a dirty town. It looked rank, and we were tired from the journey, so when we discovered that Lonely Planet was wrong and there is no Hostel, but there is a nasty looking hotel with hookers outside and rooms charged out by the hour, wits were getting fraid. We bartered with what used to be the hostel but is now a plush business hotel, and got a really good rate (similar to hostel rates) but for an ensuite double! We met 2 more people in the reception on our way out to look for food, who were in the same boat, and explained the situation. They took a room also, and we went out together. After lots of hassle from cab drivers offering to take us to the Buddha caves and Hanging Monastery, we found a dirty looking place on the main street with tables half in the road. This turned out to have such good food we would return twice more! It had a big robot which cut the noodles off the doughball straight into the water. It also did amazing shredded pork and vegetables in a spicy sauce, and the best steamed dumplings. They were big and almost like bread on the outside, with either pork or spring onion, spinach and garlic inside. We got hassled by a guy who runs a tourist place earlier, and he came back as we were eating with a really good price for a guided tour of Buddhas and Monastery, so Marcello (Argentine/Italian), Ria (Slovakian), Jo and I paid up, went to our beds, and got up the next morning to go!
The 4 of us got to the carpark where the bus would take us from, and witnessed the Chinese workers ethic of how to start the day; around 40 hotel staff dancing together in file, to exactly the same movements. But not just for 1 song; about 5, all with different routines, and then it started to repeat! We were there for 20 mins, and they were going strong the whole time!
The bus trip to the Buddha caves was only about 45 mins, and was uneventful, just through poor and very dirty parts of town, then we were taken around all of these caves, but first we had to walk through lots of newly built buildings and pagodas and buddhas. At least the Chinese tourist industry has made one hell of an effort, with a man-made lake with a series of buildings on a stilted island in the centre you must walk through, but it's a shame they didn't put full thought into it. EVERYTHING was made of concrete, and not all the meeting pieces matched, so where the bridge met the handrail, the design of the newel post was different, and the mix was different so they were different colours. Sorry, building detour there.
The first cave has the biggest Buddha in it, which is pretty huge, but we weren't supposed to take pictures. This is supposed to be a respect thing, but as they'd intrusively put 2 bloody great CCTV cameras on poles alongside Buddha, we paid no heed.
We meandered in and out of the caves and soon left our "English speaking" guide behind. Jo and I got our photo taken in front of the big outdoor Buddha, and we left (after a much needed ice lolly to cool us down) for the hanging monastery.
It took us a while to get there, but within a big canyon, after a real 5p-50p moment where we thought we were driving off the cliff, we arrived. The monasteries were there, just chilling on the cliff-face, and we had a lovely view and got some great pics from the car park, so we didn't bother paying the extortionate entrance fee, and Jo, Ria and I just sat in the shade chatting with ice lollies (not TO the ice lollies, we were eating ice lollies... I digress). We got back to lovely Datong, and Jo and I went in search of cash (cashpoint, not mugging or anything), and an internet cafe which was successful in the former but not latter. Datong seemed to get smellier and seedier the more we walked, but this is the modern working class China; a lot of poverty and unemployment, with livings only to be made from selling what you can grow or come by on the kerb. With next to no healthcare for the masses, and such poor safety standards in workplaces (I've worked on some dodgy sites, but what they do over here makes what little hair I have stand on end) mean that there's lots of poorly treated accidents, so some grotesque injuries on beggars. Sorry, digression again. Ria and Marcello were leaving on a night train that evening, but Jo and I opted for a decent nights kip in a lovely room and get an early train in the morning to Pingyao.
Had a lovely train journey this time with three girls tarted up to the nines at 7am on an 8 hour journey who just stared at us, which was amusing to start, but after an hour it's tiresome, 7 further hours later you want to scream at them "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!".
A bloke in an electric trike was hawking for business with free rides to the hostel we were already going to, so we hopped in and prayed for our lives weaving along the main roads, then through the old city gates to the narrow stone alleyways of the old town. Our hostel was lovely, with a bar downstairs which was very cosy (and called Cozy), but nice and light in the heat, and as we went up to our room we saw that Ria had chosen the same hostel and was in the same dorm as us.
We wandered off for lunch, but as Pingyao is such a tourists dream with all of it's originality, the restaurants are all pretty pricey, but as per, Jo and I stumbled across a locals haunt with point-and-shoot menu for half the price everywhere else, and beer at 1/3 the price. We ate there several times. That evening Ria, Marcello and Jo and I went photo hunting in all the atmospherically lit alleys, walls and gatehouses.
Following day we tried a variety of strange and not-so wonderful street grub for brekkie before settling on an egg bun thing with coffee for about 70p to do the trick. After far too much deliberation of when to leave and where to, the decision was taken out of our hands by the trains, and we were heading to Xi'an next in 2 nights time. We found a supermarket and stocked up on stuff for the long night train, then wandered the streets a bit more (Jo and I are very good at this), then found another really good chinese food place that was cheap but much closer to the hostel and with pancakes on the breakfast menu for Jo!
Next day we rented a tandem (after pancakes), and went about some more exploring. Chinese tandems aren't made for 6'2" englishmen. On the front my knees hit the handlebars, and I could barely steer I was sat so close, and on the back was even worse as the handlebars were so low my feet couldn't even go round! The brakes were also pretty shot, and there was no grip on the tyres, so made for exciting riding! I don't think Jo even pedalled for most of our outing! We went around the perimeter of town, and found some nice picture spots, saw the lady we rescued on the Great Wall in Beijing (though she'd forgotten us already!), and then it began to rain, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the hostel chatting, drinking tea and relaxing. When it became apparent the weather wasn't going to let up, I took the bike back. With no-one on the back, and with smooth wet stone underneath, I was sliding and skidding everywhere! I screeched up to the lady, who thought twice about giving my deposit back for my entrance, then thought better of it and sent me happily on my way.
On our last day I stumbled across a building site where an old style building was being made including the carvings done in timber on site. I was chuffed and wandered around wasting half a memory card on it. In the evening, another electric trike took us to the train station, though to add a bit more excitement, he kept his lights off to save battery. Arrived safe, got on and into our little bunks, though Jo was next to a very loud snorer (not me), so she got a great induction to sleeper trains! Got woken up early doors by loads of people chatting stupidly loudly to each other at 6am, but at least they weren't hocking and spitting for once!
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