Pingshuo 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>

... this since Lord Baggott's Secret Luxury Appartment in the Riviera... <br><br>After forcing ourselves not to hide away in the hotel room for 2 days we went out on a tour of the famous hanging temples and caves. The temples are over 2000 years old and suspended 100 meters above ground on a sheer cliff face, the caves even older full of buddhist carvings. Both of these were amazing, as you will see on the photos....<br><br>

13/10 - Datong<br>I needed 2 local buses and a long walk to get to the bus station to Datong - good Chinese people helped me.The drive was nice, 4.5 hours: bushes and green trees with colourful autumn leaves.<br>As you reach Datong, the area look like the north Negev, and Datong - like Beer-Sheva in the 50th: dusty, cold winds. They destroy the small buildings and build new big buildings. Meanwhile the whole city(1.1 million people ...

Today, we first took in the marvelous Yungang Grottoes (&#20113;&#20872;&#30707;&#31391;) along with everyone else in China. Honestly, the crowds here weren't as bad as those at the Hanging Monastery, but probably only because there is so much more room to move at Yungang. There is no easy way to get to Yungang if you don't take a taxi because the road that leads immediately to the grottoes is (no surprise) being worked on. Therefore, we took a bus as far as we could, then shoved ...

... buying occasion for me. Of course, the Nine Dragon Screen has nothing to do with JTTW--just something for the ladies in there to sell. They also had Kobe Bryant playing cards. <br><br>We had hotpot for dinner, something I've not had since I've been back in China. It was delicious--as good as remembered--and then headed to KTV to karaoke. For those unfamiliar, you get your own little room--thankfully, nobody but Carolynn and Hannah had to endure my singing. The English song ...

... disputed reasons (??? decide for yourself). The centrepiece of the caves is the peaceful and solemly 17M tall Buddha (which I think has been restored). <br><br>Hanging temple/ monastery (60 yuan) is more than an hour drive from the Grottoes, which gave me time to absorb the cultural and historical experience (and various photos shots) from Yungang Grottoes. The temple itself is an amazing sites, a definate must for all ...

... bought us a watermelon on the way back for 20 cents! When I told him the same melon would have been $5 at home he freaked out. I am glad I didn't tell him how much they cost in Japan. He was really funny. He told us they call the cops dogs. When we told him we call them pigs he nearly fell out of the car laughing. He and my dad kept saying "pig" and "dog" in Chinese (well, my dad tried), so they got to calling the cops "pigdogs." Schweinhund! The countryside on ...

... and was pretty excited. and it did not disappoint. basically, the hot pot is a soup that's cooked at your table. they brought over a basic broth, either spicy or regular, and then ask you what you want in it, we ordered mixed vegetable, mutton, and mushrooms. you throw in the post what you want to eat and pull out the cooked parts and they had a fantastic little sauce for dipping it in. tasty tasty tasty. and this tasty treat, including something to drink, for the both of us only came ...

After breakfast we made our way to the bus station, which our taxi couldn't take us to because of the road repair, which actually resembled what the streets would look like after a blitzkrieg. This happened to be the wrong bus station and I don't really care but I find it pretty amazing that I'm able to travel around China much easier than Chinese people can! WE end up taking a taxi to the Yungang Caves, Cloud Ridge Caves in English, which was about 10 miles out ...

Another national holiday in China means a weeks vacation, but I decide to stay pretty local, in the same province, and do some light traveling. My Chinese friend Kate wanted to go to the same place and then she asked if hr two friends could also come along, so traveling with three Chinese girls, who have never traveled anywhere, even in China, should be...interesting! Lin Jia, Kate, Zhu Bing Jie, and I decided to take the train to Datong ...