11/18 Saturday

We arrived in DaTong at around 7:30 in the morning. Before getting off we ate some food on the train that we’d packed.

DaTong is known for being very polluted as well as extremely cold. Ali brought along filter masks for all of us, and some of us donned them as soon as we got off the train. It was indeed freezing cold there, and I borrowed a second jacket from Lac to wear underneath my 130rmb main jacket (bought this week at a supermarket). I had luckily been wearing my hat all day, and was able to keep my head warm.

In the street right outside the station was a motorcycle-on-taxi accident, and of course both vehicles were left sitting in the middle of the street, blocking most of the passage. Luckily it was still early and there was not much traffic buildup because of it.

After looking for about half an hour, we found a cheap but comfortable hotel to bed down in that night. The man at the front desk was downing some 120 proof alcohol at 8:20 in the morning. The place stank but it was really cheap, coming to 35 yuan a night per person. We got 2 double bedrooms and a triple to accommodate everyone. We dumped most of our stuff in the rooms and set out to do some sightseeing.

There were swarms of cab drivers who offered to drive us to go sightseeing, but we ended up taking a bus to the Yungang Grottos, one of China’s world heritage sites (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1039). The bus ride cost 2.5 yuan for each of us and lasted about an hour long.

I was very sad not to have brought my camera along, but hopefully the great Buddhist carvings out of the rock face will survive for a long time and I will be able to return. For being over a thousand years old, the statues have stood up relatively well to the wind and rain that they have been exposed to. Recently, I suspect, they must endure much acid rain as well.

After the grottos we at some cut noodles, which are thick noodles cut with a knife and mixed with vinegar, in a small shop near the bus stop. I really like the noodles, but was the only one to finish an entire bowl.

We returned to the center of Datong, and started to look for a bus that would take us to the Hanging Monastery, which was located around 90km away. Unfortunately, we were unable to find an appropriate bus and hired two cabs, after much haggling, that would take us there, wait for us, and take us back for around $30 a car.

The ride was long, and we thought we’d be killed on multiple occasions as we went into the oncoming lane to get by slow trucks while rounding extremely sharp, blind corners. We eventually arrived in one piece, and were amazed at the monastery that was literally hanging several hundred feet up on the side of a cliff. Again it was painful not to have my camera along with me to capture the splendor of the scene.

While purchasing our admission tickets to the Monastery, there was an option to buy “insurance” should the structure collapse or should we lose out footing and plummet to the rocks below. The insurance cost 1 yuan, and we were wondering if, should we actually die, they would send a 1 yuan bill to our parents in the post. A couple of us bought insurance for fun, but I didn’t because I really couldn’t afford it.

Fortunately it didn’t matter that I didn’t buy insurance, as I survived the ascent and entire tour of the monastery. The structure was pretty firmly secured to the rock face, with massive wooden beams stuck into the rock supporting a couple small buildings. The passageways were extremely narrow, and we were all suffering from some vertigo as we filed along a couple hundred-foot drops.

The monastery was situated in a river gorge that had been recently dammed about a thousand meters upstream of the monastery. I am pretty sure the monastery used to be only accessible by water, but am not sure why they dammed the river. There is now an enormous set of steps one must climb to get to the entrance of the monastery.

We had another perilous journey on the way back to Datong, and made it back just as the sun was setting. You could not see much of the sunset, however, because it was too muffled by the smog.

At a large restaurant near our hotel, we all got a room and ate a decent dinner. We looked for some type of nightlife in the city, but were unable to find it. We assumed that there either was none, or that we were in the totally wrong part of town. Instead, we went to a pool saloon and played for around an hour before heading back to our hotel. We fell asleep pretty quickly after such a long day.