I'm back from Datong.... I'm really glad that I went. I feel that I got to see another side of China than that which I've observed here in Beijing. Where as Beijing feels like a mirror world...a twisted and distorted version of the West moving into smaller cities at times feels like you're on another planet. The first thing that struck me about Datong was all the trash. I know that neighbor hoods around train stations usually aren't the most classy but this was exceptionally bad. Just in the streets ...everywhere. Two men took a leak on the side of a building as we walked by. Food rotted on the ground. There seemed to be a general lack of concern for hygeine. That being said when I finally did get to central Datong it was much cleaner but leaving the main thorough fare led you back to streets that would need a lot of work to be considered clean.
In order to get to the Hanging Monastery and the caves we had to take a tour (100 yuan or about 12 bucks) and we lucked out and were put into a cab as opposed to the tour bus. Essentially we had our own cabbie for the day. He was kind of funny. He had this Michael Jackson greatest hits tape that he would play when we were awake. As soon as he thought we were all asleep he'd yank it out and replace it with a radio program in Chinese. Still no seatbelts in the back seat. In Datong, they drive crazier than in Beijing if that's possible. Furthermore, if you sit in the front seat and move to put on your seatbelt they will indicate that it's not needed. Several times I was wondering whether we were going to hit on coming traffic as our driver passed at high speeds. Datong drivers sole solution to oncoming traffic is to try to go faster than the person in lane next to you and beat the oncoming traffic. Other traffic obstacles consisted of donkey carts, bicylists, people, foxhole size potholes, and anything that might have been thrown into the road. Closing your eyes and sleeping was really the only way to deal with it.
Up in the moutain they stopped the tour for the obligatory guilt trip with people selling small mobiles by the side of the road. The local people were shrewd enough to bring up their small children and to teach them to thrust the mobiles into the faces of the tourists. It was pretty sad but I don't respond well to intentional manipulation. Ostensibly, the purpose for the stop had been to look at the old traditional village that had been their for over a 100 years. I don't know about you but in China 100 years doesn't seem like that long.
Finally, we got to the hanging temple or "temple in the void". Originally the valley had flooded frequently so the people built their temple high into a mountain side to avoid the sun, rain, wind and flood waters. The natural contour of the rock provides protection from all the elements. As years passed flooding has filled in the valley so while the temple used to 100 meters above the ground it's now only about 50. During construction they climbed down from the top, drilled holes for beams and sunk the beams into the mountain side. Vertical poles are for aesthetics as opposed to structural support. I thought that the temple was really cool because of all the painted wood and staircases. It was like something out of fairytale, with random stairways and strange rooms. Overall the complex was extremely large but it was impressive both in aesthetics and in design.
Next we went to the Yuangang caves. I really wish that we could have spent more time here. Large stone buddhas are carved into the man made caves and each cave is intricately carved in it's own right. This is one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. Each of the buddhas was carved to look like an emperor and would have been covered in painted plaster if the caves were still upkept as in ancient days. Some caves still have bits of plaster clinging to the walls and buddhas and you can see how brightly painted they would have appeared. Each cave had two openings a top and a bottom one. The reason for this was so that they would have light as they worked. They would start at the top carve their way down and then make a doorway.
In order to get to the Hanging Monastery and the caves we had to take a tour (100 yuan or about 12 bucks) and we lucked out and were put into a cab as opposed to the tour bus. Essentially we had our own cabbie for the day. He was kind of funny. He had this Michael Jackson greatest hits tape that he would play when we were awake. As soon as he thought we were all asleep he'd yank it out and replace it with a radio program in Chinese. Still no seatbelts in the back seat. In Datong, they drive crazier than in Beijing if that's possible. Furthermore, if you sit in the front seat and move to put on your seatbelt they will indicate that it's not needed. Several times I was wondering whether we were going to hit on coming traffic as our driver passed at high speeds. Datong drivers sole solution to oncoming traffic is to try to go faster than the person in lane next to you and beat the oncoming traffic. Other traffic obstacles consisted of donkey carts, bicylists, people, foxhole size potholes, and anything that might have been thrown into the road. Closing your eyes and sleeping was really the only way to deal with it.
Up in the moutain they stopped the tour for the obligatory guilt trip with people selling small mobiles by the side of the road. The local people were shrewd enough to bring up their small children and to teach them to thrust the mobiles into the faces of the tourists. It was pretty sad but I don't respond well to intentional manipulation. Ostensibly, the purpose for the stop had been to look at the old traditional village that had been their for over a 100 years. I don't know about you but in China 100 years doesn't seem like that long.
Finally, we got to the hanging temple or "temple in the void". Originally the valley had flooded frequently so the people built their temple high into a mountain side to avoid the sun, rain, wind and flood waters. The natural contour of the rock provides protection from all the elements. As years passed flooding has filled in the valley so while the temple used to 100 meters above the ground it's now only about 50. During construction they climbed down from the top, drilled holes for beams and sunk the beams into the mountain side. Vertical poles are for aesthetics as opposed to structural support. I thought that the temple was really cool because of all the painted wood and staircases. It was like something out of fairytale, with random stairways and strange rooms. Overall the complex was extremely large but it was impressive both in aesthetics and in design.
Next we went to the Yuangang caves. I really wish that we could have spent more time here. Large stone buddhas are carved into the man made caves and each cave is intricately carved in it's own right. This is one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. Each of the buddhas was carved to look like an emperor and would have been covered in painted plaster if the caves were still upkept as in ancient days. Some caves still have bits of plaster clinging to the walls and buddhas and you can see how brightly painted they would have appeared. Each cave had two openings a top and a bottom one. The reason for this was so that they would have light as they worked. They would start at the top carve their way down and then make a doorway.
