Beifang Hotel Shuozhou

Wutaishan was one of our greatest disasters to date.Hee and there's been a few. I booked a hostel which gave directions to Wutaishan bus station but was in fact in Nanning- a whole other provence. Oops.<br>Pretty place, once we'd finally checked into somewhere in our price range. It was the coldest place I've ever been. The water in the river had frozen solid! We had pot noodles in bed and tried some rice wine, (evil smelling stuff) and quickly got on a bus out of there! <br>Love Lucy xxx<br>

To save a bit of money we decided to travel with the locals on the 'hard sleeper' class on the train to Datong, and to be honest is wasn't too bad. There were 6 beds instead of 4 in each compartment, each bed was just a wooden platform with a blanket and pillow and there was not enough room to sit up but the 6 hour journey was pretty good!! We were the only westerners in this class so we felt like celebrities with all the ...

... like MIZBALA, ATAR BNIA (A CITY AFTER EARTHQUAKE). eVEN THE TEMPLES - I suspect they re-build the many temples. Datong will be nice in 20 years - so many temples. I saw the Dragon wall - magnificent. It was time to find an hotel, as the Lonely-planet's suggestions looked really lonely. I went back to the railstation, and Gao from CITS(Chinese Intrnational Tourists - THE Chinese tourists office) "found" me and took me to their hotel.<br ...

... a taxi van with a French couple, not really wanting to make the ride over hills of packed dirt and potholes on a mototaxi. <br><br>The grottoes themselves are pretty amazing. I have been to Mogao Grottoes (&#33707;&#39640;&#31391;) in Dunhuang, Gansu, and these rival that trip. The only reason I would say Mogao is better is that they seem to be better taken care of--those there are each closed off from the elements by metal doors, and an expensive but knowledgeable guide takes ...

... was predictable but for the Tori Amos song "Silent All These Years" (though the video had a Chinese girl singing it). I sang it and surely made those in the room next door think Tori had come to China. After having sung all the good (few) and tolerable (a solid handful) English songs, we headed out. Though our karaoke machine had technical difficulties twice and we had to switch rooms as well, this was ignored when we paid. So much for that good customer service China is known for.<br>

... photographers. Built on the side of a cliff supported by various poles, you can help wondering how can this temple still standing (and how safe it is). it is an inactive temple, and the only visitors are just curios tourists (like myself). Walking inside the temple was an adventure itself and one could wonder, the number of fall from the temple (as well as how was this temple raised and the length of trouble for devoit ...

... way to the monastery was really interesting. You can really see in Shanxi what people are talking about when they say China is two different countries and why rural people are so ****** off at the ineuqality brought about by the economic development going on. People are living in mud huts in horrible pollution with no money while people in Shanghai are spending a month's worth of the average rural salary on a plate of spaghetti and some ridiculous drink at Starbucks.

... 40 yuan, which is about $5. now, the rest of the day has been long. our train is not until 10:20 tonight, which is why this blog is getting so long, i really have nothing better to do. we went to some cafe bar and sat on couches and paid high prices for tea, and read for like 2 hours. it's cold here and we're tired of walking around. we're now wasting time away on the internet and are looking for ward to laying down and sleeping. he's especially looking forward to it, because he ...

... Datong. The caves are pretty cool, there are 53 in total and there are over 51,000 stone sculptures carved from the mountain rock. The first look from the entrance shows a 17th century Qing dynasty fortress built into the side of the mountain. The caves were built about 400 AD making them about 1,600 years old! There are many influences in the stone carvings and sculptures, from Persia and Byzantine to Greek to Indian Hinduism and Chinese Buddhism. Upon ...

... there was already a miscommunication as Kate booked hard seats instead of hard sleepers, which meant spending 8 hours on an overnight train on a bench seat and not a single dorm-style bed! To state it more simply, this meant 8 hours of discomfort and no sleep whatsoever for me! But it's only one night, so no worries really. We have some fun on the train and then I count the hours until the train ride is over. IN Datong, one of Kates ...