Beijing (concluded), Buddhas, banks and bull’s penises
Hello everyone
The aforementioned tour of the hutongs was something of a disaster. We were pestered every two minutes by rickshaw men who were determined that we were not going to walk. In order to escape we bought some food and paid to go into a courtyard garden to have a bit of a picnic, as we thought in the peace and quiet. How wrong can you be! The place was full of tour groups being shouted at through loud hailers. When they literally started climbing over us as we sat eating our food we decided to bail out and returned to the hostel.
The next day we caught the train for Datong. The railway stations in Beijing are huge and there are so many people that you can barely move. The queue for our train was like a crowd scene from a Biblical epic but we finally boarded the train. We had booked hard seats which are the cheapest seats and aren’t too hard if you are not going far. The carriages are however packed with people without seats so it is all very overcrowded and hot. The journey took about 6 hours and on arrival we went to the CITS at the station, who can arrange accommodation etc. The hostel we wanted was full so we ended up in a cheap hotel with the filthiest toilet and washing facilities. But it was only for two nights. The main reason for going to Datong, which is a horribly polluted, dirty city, was to visit the Hanging Temple and the caves at Yungang. Both of these more than compensated for the appalling hotel. The Hanging Temple is built on the side of a cliff and is about 1500 years old. The caves are dug out of sandstone and are full of Buddhist statues, some huge and some tiny. They are all carved out of the sandstone and some are very colourful and well-preserved. They were extremely impressive but we have now seen enough Buddhas to last us a life time.
The nexy day we caught the bus for the Wutai Shan, which in view of my last comment might seem a bit of a mistake as it the foremost Buddhist temple site in the country! However, it is also a very beautiful mountain area which is why it appealed to us. Our bus driver was a total maniac even by Chinese standards. The approved technique appears to be to keep your hand on the horn all the way and just assume that everything else will get out of the way. We overtook huge lorries full of coal, first on one side and then on the other, on hairpin bends, in tunnels. He even tried to go through the lane for oncoming traffic when we went through a toll gate. We did survive the journey but I felt it was touch and go. The whole of the town where we stayed (Taihuai) is full of Buddhist temples. We explored one which was up huge flights of stairs, hundreds and hundreds of stairs. But it gave a good view of the town. There were not many Western tourists in the town which in many ways was nice but it meant that we were again constantly pestered by people trying to make us part with our money. The restaurants were excellent and we had some good meals for about 3 pounds a head including beer. On our second day in the Wutai Shan we just went for a hike in the hills to escape from the crowds and to explore the area. The scenery was great and it was good to be in the fresh air after all the pollution of the cities.
Back on the bus on Weds 8th August and off to Taiyuan en route for Pingyao. A much more sedate journey this time, thank heavens. Taiyuan is another huge, polluted city. As soon as we were down out the mountains the air pollution was horrendous. A thick smog hangs over everywhere and the dust is also terrible. In Taiyuan we bought tickets for the overnight train to Xi’an for today (Fri 10th ). I was able to put my limited Mandarin to use buying the train and bus tickets – very difficult and accomplished with the help of a very nice Chinese man. Another two hours or so on another bus put us in Pingyao. It is an ancient walled city with original little houses and alleyways and coutryards – how I had imagined China to be. There is not much of that sort of thing left as it has all be bulldozed in favour of highrise flats, shops, offices, factories etc. We found a nice hostel in an old-style building with lots of courtyards and little rooms. We walked all the way round the city walls the next day which was enjoyable as not many other people seemed to be doing so – so once again we escaped from the crowds. Then we went to the first bank that was established in China, sometime in the early 19th century. It is now a very interesting museum. Also inclded in our sightseeing ticket for Pingyao was a Daoist temple. This seems to be quite an actractive philosophy of life. But only if you are well-behaved. One of the exhibits showed what happens to naughty people: being cut in half with a large saw was one of the milder punishments. We also visited the home of the guy who founded the bank, preserved as it would have when he lived there. And lastly the County Administration Offices, which sound very boring but were in fact interesting enough. They housed the prison and there was an exhibition of instruments of torture and execution which were really horrendous – a bloodthirsty the Chinese clearly. Today we hired some bikes for a couple of hours and explored more of Pingyao before having lunch at a place where a vry interesting dish figured on the menu “Clear cooks the bull’s penis”???!!!!! We had noodles!
We are now just filling in some time on t’Internet prior to heading back to Taiyuan to get our train. More news from Xi’an in a few days time.
Things I (Ann) like about China:
the food, trying to chat to Chinese people, the countryside, learning about the culture and history
Things I don’t like about China:
the pollution, the way Chinese people spit all the time everywhere, the huge crowds everywhere
And why are the toilets here called WCs here when they make very little use of water and the idea of privacy which I have always was implicit in the word closet is almost totally lacking?
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