Datong

I finally was able to get to the Business Center in this lovely hotel to write. I have skipped some parts of the trip but will try to catch up when we get a moment to catch our breath! But I'll cover yesterday and today. When I was living in China, I made frequent trips with the China Culture Club (check out their website and you can see the wonderful things they offer for ex-pats living in Beijing). I had been on this Datong trip before but am seeing things I didn't see before as well. We arranged at our Leo Hostel (great hostel, great location just south of Tianamen Square) for a taxi for 5 a.m. to the airport. No traffic so we moved right along! We met up with Edwin, our group leader, right inside Terminal 3, Gate 12. Everything is very organized and I wouldn't have recognized the airport from 7 years ago! We will go there again on Weds. when we fly to Xi'an.

There were 39 people in our group so they split us into 2 but we travel together in 2 big buses, lots of room. Andy is the other leader, very cute and enthusiastic! Both guides are extremely helpful, excellent English and knowledgeable. We also have local guides when we got here - they don't want big city people taking away jobs from local guides so they must always hire locally. So Michelle is our local guide.

Datong was about 1 hour north of Beijing, near the Inner Mongolian border. We probably could have seen the Great Wall from the air on the flight but of course the pollution is so thick you don't see anything 5 minutes after you take off. I think it's a fallacy that you can see the Great Wall from space, because of the pollution! My throat is already scratchy! This area produces huge amounts of coal. Kevin said they have condensed the number of coal mines so that the safety is better (there is a "miners trapped" story in the headlines right now in this area). But I remember from before the coal smell is pervasive. When we go the grottoes today, I remember it's right across the highway from a huge mine!

Yesterday we bused out to the Hanging Monastery, on Hengshan - one of China's 4 sacred mountains. It was so foggy when we arrived we couldn't see it at all until we walked up near the bottom of the 270! steps. Then it appeared out of the mist! It was built 1400 years ago. They have 3 guesses as to why 1/2 way up a mountain. Most logical is the river running below frequently flooded so they wanted to gods to keep the floods away and not have the monastery flooded each time. Also invaders came frequently to this area from the north (remember the Khans - Kubla and Genhis?) We made it up the steep stone stairs and then dealt with even more narrow wooden with steel grips to wander through the various pagodas. It's really lovely - now just a museum - no monks live here. It's unusual in that it combined 3 religions - Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. There were individual rooms devoted to each and then one shrine on the end with all 3 together. I did think it might be a good idea to have a zip-line down from this spot - don't think that will happen! But I might even have tried it - rather than all the down steps!

On the way back to Datong city we stopped at a small peasant town and wandered through. We were able to go into a 60 year old guys house - basically 2 rooms. One had a big hard area that is the bed, up high, with stove pipes running under it so it's warm to sleep and then sit on during the day. TV was there, electricity wired in, well outside, donkeys around. He farms watermelons (bad season this year he said) and beans. His wife had died. His 2 sons and a daughter live in the city (peasants are allowed to have more children than the 1). We asked where all the women were and he said playing mah jong. On our way out, we saw them through a window and were allowed to go in and watch. It was such fun!  Very different than our mah jog group and play but we at least recognized the tiles. No jokers, winds or flowers that we could see. It was played very fast!

Back in Datong we check in to our luxury for the trip - the Garden Hotel! Even had fluffy white robes and slippers, bed turned down! I soaked long in a huge bathtub! Kerry, you would have loved it!

We then went off the see the newly reconstructed city wall - about 2 km. long with many beautiful towers. Again, climbing stairs! My foot began to hurt and I was hobbling! When I got back to the hotel later that night, I had a HUGE blister on my big toe and worked on that!! Hopefully it will be better today.

We walked through a street food market for a awhile. I saw a guy on a 3 wheeled bike with a HUGE piece of what looked like sheet rock laying across the back, and he moved out into the traffic and actually crossed the street and rode away! I was sure I was going to see an accident! We could barely get across the traffic!

Dinner was lovely - another banquet. People from Germany, living in Shanghai; Derrick who works for 2 months at Beijing American Embassy; Family from Durham, NC - went to Duke - with an 11 year old Jessica and 8 year old Jack, newly moved to Beijing for maybe 2 years. He's trying to arrange for a driver they know for tomorrow to the great wall!

Need to send this and grab breakfast!

More later!