October 10th: The First Day in Taiyuan
At 8am, Nancy and I met in the front of Minhang Hotel to take the airport express bus to Guilin Liangjiang Airport. Our flight to Taiyuan would depart at 10:40. It took exactly 40 minutes to get to the airport. Since there was still more than 90 minutes before the taking off after we got the board passing, we decided to have a little rest at KFC and enjoyed a short breakfast there.
The flight took 2 hours and 30 minutes. When we arrived at Taiyuan Airport and collected the luggage, it is around 13:20. A little rainny here. To save cost we decided to take the airport express (CNY15 per person) to the hotel (Hua Yuan Hotel). After checking with the staff, we were told that the bus was only available after 2pm, so we chose to take the taxi. After 40 minutes' driving, we arrived at the hotel near train station by paying CNY55.
It is said that the noodle is one of the most famous food here. After check in, we took the public bus No. 10 to Liunan Stop, where we were told is commercial and pedestrain area. I think the street is very siminar to Guilin with shops and stores of regular brands of clothes. Since we planned to go to Datong tomorrow and don't stay here long, we decided to visit Jinci this afternoon. It took 1 hour by taking taxi from the city center and cost around CNY80. Truely speaking, we are verydispointed about that place. All the buildings are newly renovated and the large area is just like a park with trees and flowers. It was not worth the long driving. As before, to save cost, we took a public bus back to the hotel with CNY2.5 per person. The bus ride took around 90 minutes and nearly made us exhausted within the traffic jam.
Taiyuan is not as I expected. However, to explore it ourselves still makes me feel exciting. Looking forward to seeing Datong tomorrow.
Since the internet was not convenient to get access during the tour and not all the hotels had the computer in the room, I decided to finish the travel stories after getting back to Guilin.
Since the internet was not convenient to get access during the tour and not all the hotels had the computer in the room, I decided to finish the travel stories after getting back to Guilin.
October 11th: Long Train Journey to Datong
We had a good sleep and then take the afternoon train from Taiyuan to Datong. The train station is just within 3-minute walking from the Huayuan Hotel. All that I remember right now for that day was the long journey (7 hours) in the crowded carriage. We should have taken the express bus, which was said to take only 3.5 hours.
October 12th: Great Day to the Yungang Grottoes, the Shanhua Temple and the Nine-Dragon Screen Wall
It took around 30 minutes for the driving from city center to the Yungang Grottoes. All the statues were hand made and were carved in stones or with clays. It's so surprising that they could be kept so well after hundreds of years.
After visiting Grottoes we drove to Shanhua Temple for around 40 minutes. All the buildings there were made with wood and without using any concrete and iron nail. The polar and crossbeam were combined together under the former architects' intelligence and wisdom.
Staying around 1 hour in the Temple for its Buddhism Culture and structure, we headed for the Nine-dragon Screen Wall. Though only a piece of wall was visited there, the stories about its origination and development are very interested. If only watching the Wall, it takes no more than 10 minutes. However, the stories there I think are worth more then 30 minutes even 1 hour.
October 13th: Driving to Hanging Monastery and Pingyao Ancient City
Hanging Monastery is one of the highlights to me. It takes about 1 hour there. It's located in a canyon between 2 mountains. The wind in the canyon was strong. However, it stopped gradually when we approached to the Monastery. The stairs and the balconies were narrow. I could measure it completely with only one arm. I felt a little scary but excited by standing on the top. Just imaging how the monk lived here before. It is said that they didn't need to cook and the believers would take all the food from outside of the canyon to them.
I expected Pingyao so much. After enjoying lunch at Ying County near to Hanging Monastery, we drove directly to Pingyao, which took another 4 hours. We stopped several times on the way to stretch the arms and legs to get refreshed. Finally Pingyao was on our front. It's more original and less crowded then I expected. Maybe because the days we stayed there were weekdays. Walking on the Ancient City Wall in the sunset felt so romantic.
October 14th: The next day after arriving Pingyao, we just walked around the ancient city to explore and feel its ancient breath.
October 15th: Exciting visit to Wang Courtyard and Mian Mountain
The weather was so lovely that day. Wang Courtyard was definitely the same size as normal residence. It's like a village not just a courtyard. Walking through it, we can still imagine how wealthy and grand it was. Besides this, the exquisite stone carving is another feature.
Before visiting Mian Mountain, I had watched a beautiful video about it. Besides experiencing its grandness, the other reason I want to visit it is to get the difference between the video and the real scenery. It didn't disappoint me when the Mountain came out to my eyes. Hiking along the canyon and to the top made me out of puff, but felt so good by overlooking the whole mountains.
October 16th: Say Bye to Pingyao and take the flight back to Guilin. I'll come to visit it again in the future.
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