Nov. 18, 2006
Datong, Yingxian and Taiyuan
The overnight train from Beijing West Railway Station (94 yuan, sleeper) arrived in Datong almost on time around 7 a.m. When we walked out of the station, we felt immediately the pollution of this heavily industrial city. The whole city seemed to be covered by the fogs. Even worse, it’s incredibly cold although it’s only a few degrees less than Beijing.
Perhaps the only reason to visit Datong is to see Yungang Grottoes. From the local bus station opposite the railway station, we got on a No. 3-2 bus (note the bus may not stop in front of the bus sign for No. 3-2 so look around). This special bus terminates at the entrance to the Grottoes. There were not a lot of people yet so I quickly bought the ticket for 60 yuan and started to explore the grottoes.
The Yungang Grottoes were built during the Northern Wei dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. There are totally over 30 numbered grottoes. Grottoes 5 and 6 are just after the entrance and are the biggest and relatively better maintained (the only ones with colors). Photography is prohibited for these two grottoes. There are 4 more grottoes to the right side (No. 1-4) and more to the left. Many of the grottoes contain carved pagodas. In some grottoes, I could see part of the sculptures missing, obviously stolen long time ago. Throughout the caves, there are clear descriptions in both Chinese and English about the history and background of grottoes.
It only takes 1-2 hours to explore the whole grottoes. The cold weather made my desire to stay outdoors even worse. We stopped a passing-by No. 3-1 bus that goes to Datong. From the terminus, we crossed the street and had the best meal during the trip at the famous Laodatong Restaurant. We ordered a Guoyourou (8.8 yuan) and a Sansedipicai (8 yuan) among other small dishes. Very reasonably priced and extremely delicious!
Leaving Laodatong Restaurant, we walked a few minutes along a main street nearby to catch bus No. 28 that passes Xinnanzhan (Southern Bus Terminal) where we could take a minibus to Yinxian to see the famous Wooden Pagoda.
Minibuses between Datong and Yinxian (16 yuan) run frequently and take at least 2 hours due to frequent stops (not only for picking passengers, but also for breaks for the driver and reasons you never know). We arrived at Yingxian in the mid afternoon. It’s a good idea to let the driver know where you go so you can get off at the right intersection where it’s only a 10 minute walk to the pagoda.
The pagoda looks gorgeous from outside and there is heavy development outside the pagoda to promote it as a tourist site. For the same price as Yungang Grottoes (60 yuan), you can only get to the 3rd level. Built in 1056, the pagoda is said to be the oldest and biggest pure wooden structure in the world although I could see the authorities had used some metals to strengthen some of the poles inside the pagoda.
After paying respects to this wonder of the ancient people, we got a tricycle back to the bus station (3 yuan). The only direct bus to Taiyuan left around 1 p.m. so we took a minibus to Shuozhou first (19 yuan, less than 2 hours, last bus around 5:30 p.m.) and changed to a big bus to Taiyuan (using expressway, 60 yuan, 3.5 hours, last bus around 7 p.m.). The bus station in Taiyuan is conveniently located just opposite the railway station. We checked in Yalongwan Company Travel Hotel just next to the railway station for 100 yuan each (the staff seemed to be very keen in getting us and reduced the price to what we asked for). Although very close to the railway station and the main streets, the rooms are not noisy at all and the hotel is equipped with a satellite TV system that includes many TV channels from mainland China.
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| Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian |
No. 19, 2006
Taiyuan, Pingyao and Around
In order to see the Jinci Temple, the main tourist site around Taiyuan, we got up early around 7 p.m. and got on a bus No. 804 (2.5 yuan) from the local bus terminal right next to the train station. It took about 1 hour passing Fen River, the main river of the city.
After getting off the bus, you entered the Jinci Park (free) first. By following the crowd, you eventually see a ticket office for the Jinci Mesuem (40 yuan). The museum is a combined area of ancient Chinese style buildings and gardens including an ancient school. Although nice, it’s not too different from similar sites in Beijing and other Chinese cities. So it can be ignored if you don’t have much time. However, if you do make it and plan to head south to Pingyao or the Qiao Family Courtyard House, you don’t have to get back to Taiyuan. You can hire a private car outside the museum for 30 yuan to get to Xiaodian where you can stop buses heading south. Or you can do what we did – hiring a car directly to the Qiao Family Courtyard House for 60 yuan.
The sight of the movie “Raise the Red Lantern” by Zhang Yimao, the Qiao Family Courtyard House is conveniently located on the Taiyuan – Pingyao highway. There is an entrance fee of 40 yuan and we saw many visitors, even in this November. There are totally 6 small yards. In each yard the buildings are strictly symmetrical and look very dignified. There are symmetrical lanterns in most yards. Most of buildings have only one floor with the exception of the main yard where the main building has two floors. Visitors used to be able to climb to the 2nd floor for 10 yuan but not anymore for the sake of protecting the building. There are no grasses or trees in any yard but there is a nice garden with water and false hills besides the yards.
After admiring the house, we got back to the highway and stopped a bus to Pingyao (10 yuan, 40 minutes) which passes Qixian where the less famous Qu Family Courtyard House is located.
We got off at Pingyao train station to buy the tickets back to Beijing leaving in the evening only to find out the only tickets left were “No Seat” tickets (still priced at 74 yuan each). Feared not able to get back to Beijing, we bought two “No Seat” tickets together with 2 tickets to Lingshi (3.5 yuan each) for the Wang Family Courtyard House leaving in the afternoon (also “No Seat”) and hired a tricycle (4 yuan) to get to the old city.
There were underground constructions for the natural gas underway so it was probably not the best time to visit Pingyao and there were not many tourists there. Pingyao is famous for the old city walls and gates dated from the Qing dynasty that still remained. While most of the Siheyuan in Beijing have been destroyed, the old houses in Pingyao were almost intact that brought some of my memories of the similar houses in old Beijing. The west part of the city has most of the significant houses and sights including the Old County Government House and the Richangxing Financial House (the first bank in China) where the east part contains mostly houses of regular people. Almost all the buildings I saw inside the old city were old style houses (except for an ugly government hotel near the West Gate).
We exited the old city from the West Gate near the train station and jumped on the Taiyuan – Yichang train at 14:27. The journey took about 1 hour and we got 2 seats after Jiexiu. Lingshi Railway Station is rather small (no wonder many trains don’t stop here) and we used a shared van to get to the town center (2 yuan per person). Bus No. 1 takes you directly to the Wang Family Courtyard House although we took a shared van for 2 yuan to make the trip a little quicker.
The Wang Family Courtyard House is said to be the No. 1 Courtyard House of regular people in China and charges 66 yuan to get in. Although a little bit difficult to get here, it’s definitely worth the effort. Totally different from the Qiao Family Courtyard House, the Wang’s is built on the hill and much bigger. There are numerous yards in the compound and you can easily feel like in a maze. Most of the houses have two floors and there are even pavilions and walls in the compound. You feel like you are in a little kingdom.
We finished around dusk and caught the last bus No. 11 to Jiexiu (4 yuan) where we hired a taxi (60 yuan) to Pingyao. After buying some famous Pingyao Beef for friends and having a very quick dinner, we finally got on the Yuncheng – Beijing West train at 20:18. The train stopped at Taiyuan 2 hours and we finally got two seats (lucky enough) for the rest 8 hours trip to Beijing.
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| Wang Family Courtyard House |
Overview
A weekend in the winter is perfectly enough to explore the historical sites in Shanxi province from Beijing. Datong is colder than you think so bring more clothes. It’s difficult to buy train tickets from Pingyao so you may consider taking a train from Beijing first than getting back from Datong. If you like wheaten food, you will not regret it since there is numerous wheaten food of various kinds in Shanxi at very reasonable prices.
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