Roadtrip to Datong, Shanxi

I've been wanting to go to Datong since my 2006 China backpacking trip. But with the sudden detour to Hangzhou for the interview and all back then, i had to change my plans and head south instead. After Hangzhou, I was suddenly employed and i had to rush back to Singapore to prepare.

Fast forward 3.5years later, I finally made it there. We took a road trip to Datong with Beau and a couple of friends over Qingming.

Visited the Hanging monastery, the Yungang Grottoes, Wooden pagoda of Yingxian, crumbly bits of the Great Wall, as well as some ancient volcanoes. all in all a really pleasant trip to the "countryside" and managed to check off a few more UNESCO World Heritage Sites off my list.

Shanxi's not so idyllic countryside. some of these villages look downright wretched. Dry, arid, rundown..and empty.

View of a villager's house standing on the GW.

Showed my mum photos of the Yungang grottoes and she was really impressed. Someday i would love to take her to see the real thing. This particular statue is 60+m tall, and the mini statue under the Buddha's arm is already 1.8m. Impressive indeed. Now that i've seen Yungang and Longmen, i MUST make a trip to Mogao in Dunhuang to finish the entire series of "Greatest Grottoes in China"

Elaborate carvings in the Yungang grottoes. Some of the colours are still very well-preserved.

Xuankong temple (Hanging monastery) - tramped to death. Disappointing because its been over-developed commercially and concrete reinforcements had to be put in - which kinda destroys the whole point of it all. Thousands of people stampede their way through this delicate wooden structure and have no qualms about sitting on it, touching it, and just eroding this structure. Of course i'm guilty since I've also paid for a ticket to go in. I guess it might not be there in 5 years time. or, chances are, they'd tear it down and rebuild a replica so they can milk even more $ out of this.

Great Wall revisited

Spring fever

Each time spring comes along, I always have the irresistable urge to go hiking. I joined a hiking club on one of their trips to the great wall near the Miyun reservoir. Along the way, we walked past some watchtowers



Sunshine, clear blue skies with no clouds.



This is my first hiking trip for the season and hopefully there are many more to come.

View of the roundtower from the other cliff

Miyun Reservoir thru the watchtower

Yunmeng gorge

Great wall of China - Jinshanling to Simatai

Back in Beijing, i was happy to be reunited with Will and Hazel again (we left for our seperate ways after Chengdu). Before i left for home and they for the trans-siberian railway, we went on a trip to the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing city. The hike took about 3.5 hours and took us through some very deserted parts of the wall with fantastic views.

Steps, steps and more steps.. it was like being on a 3.5hour stair-master workout...

We must have climbed at least 15 watchtowers along the way..

Parts of the wall between Jinshanling and Simatai are so steep and crumbly you have to scramble up on all fours. We didn't meet many other travellers on the way. It was deserted save for a few very hardy touts who tried to pursue us along the wall and sell us postcards.

We saw a couple taking their wedding photos as we approached the Jinshanling gate. The photographer was trying to coax a smile out of the groom while the bride shuffled uncomfortably in her poofed-up dress. Meanwhile, the girl in purple just can't wait to get it over and done with. Funny!