Datong was a nice detour on our China travel itinerary and a cultural experience for both of us. We arrived at the train station thankful that we had the hotel name written down in Chinese for the taxi driver. Checking in at our hotel was the first of our challenges, no one at reception could speak English but they ended up tracking down one girl who could help us. Little did she know she would become our interpretor for the next few days! The hotel had 3 restaurants so we entered one and sat down for the next challenge…the paper they gave us to order food was all Chinese characters. We walked out of the restaurant a bit embarrassed and really hungry, trying to figure out what we should do for food. The waitresses hurried off and found the girl who helped us at reception and brought us back to the restaurant. We were getting our first hot pot so she asked us what types of things we like…we ended up getting beef, mutton, vegetables, mushrooms and fish. They bring out a big pot with oil based broth and hot peppers, along with all of the uncooked ingredients. They put the pot to boil in the middle of the table and you add the ingredients and cook to your liking. It was a great meal.
We wanted
to see the two main historical sites in Datong, the Hanging Monasery and Yungang Grottos. The Hanging Monastery is about 2 hours from Datong City and was built in 491 AD. The monastery clings to the edge of the cliffs, more than 50 meters from the ground. It’s amazing that this place has remained intact for as long as it has. People hanging from ropes on the cliff built the monastery, crossbeams were half-inserted into the rock as the foundation. Inside the monastery are symbols from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. It is so peaceful inside.
Afterward we went to the Yungang Grottos, 53 caves with over 51,000 Buddhist statues carved into the sandstone. The Buddha statues range in size from 2 cm to 17 meters high and took some 40,000 people to complete over 50 years (built in 453AD). The Yungang Grottos have survived war, natural disasters and the Cultural Revolution with only some damage. It’s a beautiful site to see and you can walk through all of the different caves.
We left Datong by
train to Xian (only 16 hours) and went to see the Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta warriors date from 210 BC and were only discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. There are over 8,000 soldiers and 700 horses, each soldier representing a single man, with the site still being excavated today. We enjoyed Xian for the short amount of time that we spent there. We stayed in the Muslim quarter, which has a series of small streets with souvenir shops and food vendors. The food is incredible and the possibilities are endless, you can just walk down the street and eat small bits from different vendors along the way.
After 2 nights in Xian and left for Chengdu, another 16 hour train ride. We decided to travel China completely overland so we’re starting to get used to the long train/bus rides! We went to see the Giant Buddha in Leshan, a 71 meter high Buddha carved into the cliff (built in 713 AD). Other than that we have been enjoying the Sichuan food, known for
being very spicy. We discovered the Sichuan pepper, which numbs your entire mouth, allowing you to tolerate the spicy dishes. Our main purpose for coming to Chengdu was to get to Tibet. Unfortunately, the process is difficult and expensive. The only way to get into Tibet is by obtaining a permit, a full itinerary is required outlining each days activities and you must have a guide with you everywhere, sites, dinners, drinks, hotel. The guide holds your permit and if you are found without him you will be promptly deported. It wasn’t the way we had wanted to travel Tibet; we rarely even make hotel bookings so drawing up a full 10 day itinerary just isn’t our style. I guess we can’t do anything about it though. We found some people to travel with to lessen the expense of the guided trip and plan on traveling for 10 days through Tibet including an overnight trip to Mount Everest. We are currently waiting for our permit to arrive and if all goes well, we will be boarding a train tonight, which should take about 48 hours to arrive in Lhasa! We’ll post again from Tibet.
Datong was a nice detour on our China travel itinerary and a cultural experience for both of us. We arrived at the train station thankful that we had the hotel name written down in Chinese for the taxi driver. Checking in at our hotel was the first of our challenges, no one at reception could speak English but they ended up tracking down one girl who could help us. Little did she know she would become our interpretor for the next few days! The hotel had 3 restaurants so we entered one and sat down for the next challenge…the paper they gave us to order food was all Chinese characters. We walked out of the restaurant a bit embarrassed and really hungry, trying to figure out what we should do for food. The waitresses hurried off and found the girl who helped us at reception and brought us back to the restaurant. We were getting our first hot pot so she asked us what types of things we like…we ended up getting beef, mutton, vegetables, mushrooms and fish. They bring out a big pot with oil based broth and hot peppers, along with all of the uncooked ingredients. They put the pot to boil in the middle of the table and you add the ingredients and cook to your liking. It was a great meal.
We wanted 
to see the two main historical sites in Datong, the Hanging Monasery and Yungang Grottos. The Hanging Monastery is about 2 hours from Datong City and was built in 491 AD. The monastery clings to the edge of the cliffs, more than 50 meters from the ground. It’s amazing that this place has remained intact for as long as it has. People hanging from ropes on the cliff built the monastery, crossbeams were half-inserted into the rock as the foundation. Inside the monastery are symbols from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. It is so peaceful inside. 
Afterward we went to the Yungang Grottos, 53 caves with over 51,000 Buddhist statues carved into the sandstone. The Buddha statues range in size from 2 cm to 17 meters high and took some 40,000 people to complete over 50 years (built in 453AD). The Yungang Grottos have survived war, natural disasters and the Cultural Revolution with only some damage. It’s a beautiful site to see and you can walk through all of the different caves.
We left Datong by
train to Xian (only 16 hours) and went to see the Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta warriors date from 210 BC and were only discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. There are over 8,000 soldiers and 700 horses, each soldier representing a single man, with the site still being excavated today. We enjoyed Xian for the short amount of time that we spent there. We stayed in the Muslim quarter, which has a series of small streets with souvenir shops and food vendors. The food is incredible and the possibilities are endless, you can just walk down the street and eat small bits from different vendors along the way. 
After 2 nights in Xian and left for Chengdu, another 16 hour train ride. We decided to travel China completely overland so we’re starting to get used to the long train/bus rides! We went to see the Giant Buddha in Leshan, a 71 meter high Buddha carved into the cliff (built in 713 AD). Other than that we have been enjoying the Sichuan food, known for 
being very spicy. We discovered the Sichuan pepper, which numbs your entire mouth, allowing you to tolerate the spicy dishes. Our main purpose for coming to Chengdu was to get to Tibet. Unfortunately, the process is difficult and expensive. The only way to get into Tibet is by obtaining a permit, a full itinerary is required outlining each days activities and you must have a guide with you everywhere, sites, dinners, drinks, hotel. The guide holds your permit and if you are found without him you will be promptly deported. It wasn’t the way we had wanted to travel Tibet; we rarely even make hotel bookings so drawing up a full 10 day itinerary just isn’t our style. I guess we can’t do anything about it though. We found some people to travel with to lessen the expense of the guided trip and plan on traveling for 10 days through Tibet including an overnight trip to Mount Everest. We are currently waiting for our permit to arrive and if all goes well, we will be boarding a train tonight, which should take about 48 hours to arrive in Lhasa! We’ll post again from Tibet.
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