Datong and Beijing

The view from the 7th floor of the hotel in Datong
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12 June

Arrived at 5.20am after 8 or so hours on the night train.  Walked straight across the square outside the train station and got a room in the nearest hotel.  It turned out to be a very good move, as when I came downstairs afterwards I met up with a couple from England and they were doing the tour I wanted to do with a group of three others and they said I could tag along.  So there were 4 English, Will, Will, Claire and I, Tomas from Chile and Pierre from France.

We had dined like royalty for the princely sum of 2.50!!!

THE DUCK
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We initially visited an area where the rock had been worn away by water and weather and it was called a rock forest, which was quite good, if not a little small compared to the formations in Argentina and other places around the world.

Next stop, about 2 hours out of town, was the Hanging Monastery, and as it suggests it is a monastery which just hangs on the rock face.  Initially it was a lot higher from the ground, but there has been some building up of the ground recently as a dam has been built fairly nearby and so some of the valley was filled in.  It's quite unusual as there is one pagoda with a statue of a Buddha, a Taoist and a statue of Confucius - rather incongruous don't you think!!!!  I just about managed to walk around without getting too horror struck at the height and the drop, even when some other lovely tourists started to shake the poles that were holding the place up!!!!!

The archway to the 'Sacred Way', leading to the Ming Tombs
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After a short break for lunch we then drove all the way back to Datong and out the other side to see the Yungang Grottoes.  Not what I thought they were to be at all - lots better in fact.  I had been reading about caves people lived in and got it all mixed up with this place!!!  It turned out to be Grottoes of enormous Buddhas and the like that had been carved into grottoes and shrines in the rock over the past I don't know how many years.  A lot of damage has been caused to them because this is a big coal mining area and the wagons were driving very close by and the coal dust was covering the images.  It seems the government have now moved the road so this doesn't continue and also begun to restore and clean the grottoes and create a tourist attraction and they look really good, well worth going to see. (Sorry I don't have any photos at the moment - forgot my memory card was full - but some one is sending me some later on).

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After such a long day and lack of sleep etc we all went out for a meal, which turned out to be extremely good.  We walked in to this restaurant and I must admit I felt a little under dressed in shorts and t shirt and was beginning to wonder if we would end up with an enormous bill between the six of us,especially when we ordered about six different dishes, including a duck dish.  Whilst we were eating we wondered why the duck dish hadn't arrived with everything else and then the Chef brought out this duck and started to carve it at a table nearby and everyone was watching him, even the staff were taking photos on their mobile phones!!!  It turned out to be the most delicious Peking Duck with pancakes etc - really good, well what else do you come to China for!!!!  The nitty gritty came to us when the bill arrive for Rmb175 (the equivalent of about 2.50 each!!!!) we thought they had undercharged us as we had had about 6 big bottles of beer too, but no that was right.  We had dined like royalty for the princely sum of 2.50!!!

The 'Sacred Way'
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13 June

After a good nights sleep I caught the express train to Beijing, arriving at about 2.30 and took the bus to find the hostel I was staying at and have a relaxing afternoon updating this blog and uploading photos to get things up to date so far!!!!!

14 June

A dissapointing day - wasted organising a flight to Hong Kong - took so long that it was too late to go out to any of the sights and so I arranged to do the tour of the Great Wall tomorrow.

The Great Wall of China going on into the distance.
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15 June

I have been really looking forward to this for ages and having booked a full day tour expected to be on the wall for a good part of that time - little did I know the tour had other ideas!!!!.  I thought I had researched the tour enough and chosen one that I thought did not include the 'shopping' aspect, but lo and behold after the first stop at the Sacred Path near the Ming Tombs we ended up at a Jade factory for the information and the selling afterwards.  Myself and two other ladies voted with our feet and walked away to find a cup of coffee whilst the others went around the factory, I don't think our guide was that impressed, but to be honest neither was I.  The next stop was a lovely lunch and again a factory stop to look at how this special pottery is made and of course the factory shop!!!!!  We eventually arrived at the Great Wall at 2pm ( I had set off from the hostel at 7.20am) and were informed that we had just 2 hours before we had to be back on the bus.  I should have learnt by now to go by myself, but this was quite a way out of the city and as I didn't speak the language I opted for the easy way out.  All that said I really enjoyed the trip on the wall and managed to climb up the steps and am therefore classed as a 'hero' (according to Mao Zedong no one can be a hero until he has climbed on to the great wall).  The wall is really vast and the views marvellous, well worth the visit, just wish I had had a longer time to walk further and thus see more.

Me clinging on for grim death as it was quite steep at this point.
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16 June

As I only had one day left in Beijing I reluctantly booked for the tour of the Forbidden City,the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, as I didn't think I would be able to bus around to all these places by myself.  We didn't have a lot of time in each place, but at least I got to see the main bits.  The two shopping expeditions this time were the 'Silk Factory' and the 'Pearl Farm', the silk factory was quite interesting actually, but that's beside the point when you are paying to see the sights!!!

One of the steep bits!!!
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The forbidden City was enormous really, it was said to have had 9,999 rooms initially, just one less than the god of heaven is supposed to have in Chinese culture.  Most of the buildings have been renovated and the sad thing is you don't know what is actually real and what has been re done.  The paint work is so bright it is obviously new and some of the buildings are covered up and being prepared for the tourists who will come next year during the olympics.  The Temple of heaven has had a new lick of paint too and our guide informed us that originally the painting on each of the three floors were of different colours, whereas now they are all in blue !!!.  The base of the tower is square to represent the earth and the tower itself is round, representing Heaven.  This is where the Emperor came three times a year to offer sacrifices and pray for a good harvest or for peace across the land etc.  The Summer Palace was a very peaceful place even though it was full of tourists it felt quite relaxing it was strange really.  It had been built by one of the Emperors for his mother and there is a lake in front in the shape of a peach, which is supposed to promote longevity in the Chinese culture, so basically he was wishing his mother a long life - quite nice really.  All of the Emperor's places were forbidden to the general people - it seemed quite wastefull really as they were such magnificent buildings, but at least they are still here in one form or another.  The wall surrounding the forbidden city was destroyed in the 1970's during the cultural revolution, as was a lot of other historical places throughout China and the actual historical value of places hasn't really been appreciated before now.

Inside the Forbidden City
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I have really enjoyed my time in China and found the people both friendly and helpful,  even the bartering in the markets has been in good part,so long as you realise that they are out for as much money as they can get!!!  If you stick to your guns you usually get a fair price!!!!