Hello again
Little more than 3 weeks I’m now in China, but it seems a lot more, as
I’ve been to so many places already.
So, the 16th of November we arrived in Datong. I planed to stay there a few days and visit some sights before heading to Beijing, the last stretch on the Transsibirian/Transmongolian train. As the temples, caves and monasteries to see sounded so great in the guide books I persuaded Citt to get off the train as well and so we spent the following 2 weeks travelling together.
In Datong we booked a tour to a monastery (Xuankong Si), which is hanging in the wall of a mountain range. A very spectacular site, absolutely gorgeous.
The same tour brought us to the Yungang Grottoes. Hundrets or even thousands of Buddha sculptures are carved into sandstone there. Again a real breathtaking site!
The next day a taxi brought us to the oldest wooden pagoda (in Yinxian) of the country. So the first 2 days already were loaded with very beautiful places, but this was only the beginning. Before leaving to Taihuay by bus the next morning we hurried to have a look at the 9-dragon wall in Datong. Taihuay is a rather small town located in the centre of 5 holy mountains: Wutai Shan. Around town more than 30 temples have survived the ‹cultural revolution›. The atmosphere there was so peaceful. We explored quite a number of these temples. One was even accessible by a cable car.
As the guest house was a rather poor and overpriced place, we decided to leave the next day already. So we skipped the most remote temples. Another bus brought us to Tayuan, where we had to spend a night before reaching our next target, Pingyao. This is a small city, with a well preserved old town and also a city wall surrounding it. We walked around the center on the wall (6 km) and got some nice views of the old town from up there. We also visited some temples and residential houses. Even our guest house was built in the traditional style, so our room was in a nice courtyard, away from the road. Most buildings had only one or two floors, very few had more. Outside the city a temple was to be visited, called Shuangling Si (a daoist temple). We hired bikes to get there. This was a strange place. Dead atmosphere. Strange sculptures (showing scenes from hell) and so on. We both didn’t like this place. We used our bikes to stroll around the old town a bit more in the evening.
A night train (hard sleeper: open compartments with 6 berths) brought us to Xi’an. This is a big city, that serves as starting point to many sights. The most famous of them is the Terracota Army. We first explored the city a bit, went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and to the Historical museum. For the next day we booked a tour that should bring us to some thermal springs, to the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, to the Banpo and the Lintong museums and finally to the Terracota soldiers. Instead of leaving at 9:00 we were called at 8:30 and put to a ’similar› tour, with only Chinese tourists. Instead of seeing the springs and the Banpo museum we visited also a Jade shop, a knife shop and a place called the 8 ancient wonders of the world, with some fake pyramids, a Colossus of Rhodos, the hanging gardens of Babylon etc. And number 8 of the wonders was the Terracota Army đ . We got to the Lintong museum and to the tomb and at 15:00 finally to the Terracota Army.
This is an amazing place. Still we were not very happy wasting half of the day in shops and at fake wonders, so we complained when we were back. «Chinese like such places», «Chinese like shopping», were the answers, but we explained, that this was not what we booked, that there was no English speaking guide either, as promised. Why have they put us to another tour anyway? There were plenty of tours out there with western tourists. They should have chosen one of those. We asked for our money back and after long negotiations we got half it. That’s fair, because half of the tour was good and half was just what they promise, as the tour was not a cheap one. The next day we had more time to visit the Moslem quarter and it’s mosque and the Beilin museum, before the next night train brought us to Beijing.
The cities, like Datong, Xi’an, Taihuan or Beijing are not only huge, they are also very busy. Shops and business at every corner. Money runs the places. Commerce everywhere. Dozends of banks. Capitalism! On touristy spots the chinese are used to western people, but on many places they still stared at us as we were from outer space. Aliens. Few speak english, but it’s enough to get through usually. Sometimes some phrases out of the guidebook help as well. Beijing is still different. Even it’s huge I felt it less busy. There a lot of western tourists are around, visiting the sights like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace. We of course visited these places as well. Citt also wanted to see a place called ‹798 space›, where the actual art scene has established dozends of galleries and exhibitions. A very interesting place indeed.
We also booked a tour to the great wall of course.We’ve chosen a tour that does not go to the common places with a lot of tourists. We passed by these sites and approached the wall in an 1 hour walk from a different spot. There were only the 9 people of our group walking along a stretch of maybe 3 km on the wall, where it is not renovated but still is in quite good condition. This was a great tour!
During all the time we also had great weather. Many people complained of not having seen the sky for weeks because of the fog and smog. And pollution is a big problem here. But for some reason this was not the case, when we were there. We had great blue sky most of the time. Another day we also hired bikes and explored the city this way. It’s easy to get around by bike. It’s surely not the same as it used to be years ago, as there are many cars in the streets now, and they drive like mad. One has to look out carefully, before crossing the road, but still, once you got used to the way traffic works, it’s perfect. Distances are just to big to explore the city by foot.
The 1st of December we left Beijing in a high tech train (like TGV) to Shanhaiguan. This is the city, where the great wall starts (or ends) at the Yellow Sea.
Part of the wall there is a fortress and because located a the ocean it was a very special place to visit. A local train, quite crowded, brought us to Tanggu the same day. From there a ferry leaves twice a week to South-Korea, and that’s what Citt’s plan was. Travelling through Korea and then further to Japan. So in Tanggu we said goodby the next morning and Citt took the ferry and I took another local crowded train to to Tai’an. There I climbed Tai Shan the next day, from 120m up to 1545m. Stairs, that make soar your legs another couple of days. But the scenery was beautiful. Tai Shan is another holy montain, only on the top it’s crowded and full of shops, even inside the temples. A cable car goes up there … So the atmosphere up there is quite spoiled, but the climb was great!
From Tai’an a hard sleeper train (9 hours) brought me to Luoyang, where some other famous grottoes were to be visited (Longmen Grottoes) and another nice temple (Guanlin Miao). I went there by local bus, wjich is a nice way to see some of the street life. Next day the Baima Si temple was my last sight to see before I boarded a train (for 19 hours) again, which brought me to Chongqing, where I’m now at the moment. This is a huge city again. The busiest so far I’ve seen! Skyscrapers, neonlights, department stores, food stands, KFC’s, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pizzahut, a pedestrian zone and always a lot of people. This morning I visited a temple. What a contrast. Old wooden constructions and roof tyles in the foreground and skyscrapers in the back. A purely commerce city again.
From here a ‹Luxury Ferry› (whatever this means, I’ll know soon) will bring me to Yichang, through the 3 famous Yangtze gorges, in 4 days. From there I’ll head to Shanghai.
Yesterday it was raining, the first time on my trip. The weather is already improving, so I hope I’ll have not to much fog or rain on this river cruise. It is winter here as well. I’m always wearing a scarf and a warm jumper. So I’ll speed up a little my travelling to get to warmer zones soon.
So far I haven’t made any bad experiences on my trip. People were always friendly. Here in China I’m a very exotic object, and lots of folks stare at me. And of course I’m target for many Chinese wanting to do some business. In front of my hotel here for example is a guy always talking to me the word ‹computer›. But he can not explain more and there is no computer to be seen around, so I’ve no idea what is about all that. Some women insist selling chinese newspapers sometimes. They all are very opportunsits and they don’t know the word ’no›. In the train the stare at me as well in the beginning, but after a while they get used to this strange human and life normalizes. Communication is very small to none, unless someone happens to speak english a bit. But this is rare.
There is one more thing I have to add! I like the food here! It’s very tasty and yummy!!!
So, to round it up: Together with Citt I spent two very nice weeks in northern China and another one alone now, a little less perfect, this one, as travelling with a mate is easier and of much more fun. In my previous posting I’ve included a link to Citt’s web page. Have a look at it, as Citt’s work is very interesting!
I like China very much. It’s easier to travel as I expected. It has probably changed a lot during recent years. Bicycles are still around a lot, but in the city centres they are disapearing. There are more and more cars. Traffic jam is the result and pollution. Many factories and power plants are polluting the air at worst as well! The Chinese are facing big challenges. But this no news to you, I suppose. Still, it’s different to be in the scenes of all that.
cu, Thomas
PS: If you want to get an impression about the sights, Google is your friend, as I didnt’t manage to download some photos yet đ .