Nov. 3rd. Sunday
Arrived at Datong before 7am. Chilly. I checked into the government hotel (¥128 a private room: 2 twin beds, shower without curtain, toilet, hot water dispenser, thermo, minor stain on bedsheet) next to the train station, run by China Railways. A lot of hustlers elicited passengers emerging from the exit door. I was tailed by a taxi driver. Eventually, I gave in and agreed on ¥120 for the transportation to 恒山 & 悬空寺. He was selling me to a small van going there. I was supposed to meet the van in the city center at 8:30 am. Since it was still early, he went for breakfast and took me with. It's a small eatery of hand shaving noodles 刀削面. ￥5~6 (~$1) a hearty bowl of steaming noodles, some indiscernible topping (minced meat? chopped veggie? definitely soy based). I added ￥1 for an egg, and ￥0.5 for a piece of bean curd. My driver also took some salty cured turnip. We sat down to eat, and he chatted with the neighboring clients. Some wait, and the van showed up, already packed with 2 Japanese girls, 2 Chinese girls, all college kids from Beijing, a business man from the south. It turned out that the 4 girls at the same hotel chartered the "bus" for ￥300.Mt. Heng 恒山
(¥55, ¥20 if not visiting the temples) is northern one of the five notable mountains 五岳 in China. 2nd tallest. All the Chinese in my small van hiked to the 2016m summit. Not steep, just many steps. There's a small monument there. Not particular interesting. I took the cable car down ¥25. The cable car station is about half way. 
Arid, even though there's a reservoir below. Lots of Buddhist temples as early as in 6th century. Legend has it that one of the 8 Taoist immortals 張果老 retired here. He rode a donkey backwards. There's a tree, which you can see a mark "made" by his donkey startled by a white tiger. Next to the tree, there're dark red spots on the flat grayish rock -- legend calls blood. We hired a guide for ¥50, and he walked up with us relating stories.悬空寺 = Hanging Temple, a series of worshiping structures build on a cliff about 1600 years ago 北魏末.
¥150 (¥130 winter fare). It's on the opposite side of Mount Heng, on the way. A huge parking lot is built next to the dam. The temple itself is limited to 80 visitors at a time. Now it's the low season, don't have to worry about queuing. This is truly amazing: entirely wood! and the way it stands. Throughout the years, restoration has been applied to the temple, and enough ink has lauded over it. The rickety structure on wooden stilts still look scary. The supporting poles look half rotten to me, and when I pushed one a little bit, I saw it shaking!We returned early enough (even though 64km took over an hour), that I had time to check out the town. HuaYan Temple 华严寺, named after 华严经=Avatamsaka Sutra (¥60/40). The large complex sits in the city center, walled off, on this Sunday afternoon, provides some solitude. I don't particularly like the music (chanting of scripture) played through the loudspeakers installed every 10m. The center temple is said to be the largest surviving wooden temple in China. Dates to 1038. I like the tower, where you can walk up for a fine view of the town (see the first image of this blog). It's said to be the only wooden structure survived from 辽. And it's in good standing.
ChunYang Temple 纯阳宫 is a Taoist (全真派）temple complex. ¥30. much smaller. Almost no one inside. They have repainted some cabinet doors, and lay them over walkways to dry out.It was almost 6pm when I entered the Big Mosque 大清真寺. They were preparing for the evening prayer. I had to knock on doors to pay my ¥10. Then I was let loose. The complex is small, but I couldn't find where people were. Some pamphlet on the wall about why they don't eat pork, and about the Muslin population in the city.
The last site of my day is 九龙壁 (1392-1396) ¥10. It is just one court yard. 45m x 8m ceramic / mosaic wall. The 9 dragons are splendid, vivid. I need to come back for a better light. Lights were up on the streets and in stores. But the big lights at the foot of this wall stayed shut.
Datong city looks quite pretty. In the center of the town, some nice new homes are built with traditional looks. Yes, old homes are vacated or demolished. A few sections of the old rampart have been restored, and the light houses look serious and ancient. Outside of the city walls, highrises are every where. Looks indistinguishable from another Chinese city. Tried rabbit head for dinner (a local specialty), before heading back to my hotel. On the way, I asked a couple of locals for direction. Both were dismayed at a female walking alone in the evening (about 7:30pm). One I had hard time understanding his dialect. Tried 3 banks' ATMs today, couldn't get cash from my US debit card. Nov. 4th. Monday
Yungang Caves 云冈石窟 ¥120 is easy to get to. Just a ¥1.5 30 min bus (#3) ride from 新开里 bus depot at the west end of town. To get to the bus depot from the train station, take bus #4. ¥1 (with travel card 0.65). 30 min. Bus #3 passes a couple of coal mining towns, and the last stop is in front of the giant elaborated gate. 
Even though the new construction is overshadowing the essence of this place: Buddhas in caves. Still worth the trip. ¥150, 8:30-17:00. I also bought a ¥5 map. Capital of North Wei 北魏 was initially set here (平城). For almost 50 years in the late 400s, encouraged or even organized by the court, as many as 40,000 worked in digging the sandstones. A UNESCO heritage. Buddhas, giant and small, with facial/clothing features morphing from Indian, MidEast to Han Chinese. Most notable is the colorful painting on some Buddhas and cave walls. However, cave #9-14, probably the most colorful, are closed for renovation. Cave #6 has carvings illustrate the life of Shakyamuni. It would be good to eavesdrop a guide here. 
I like the architectural aspects of its modern museum. Not a whole lot things inside. The newly built island of Linyan Temple 灵岩寺 on the island is quite nice. There is a performance hall (closed), a puppet theatre, and a memorial hall to Premier Zhou 周恩来 for his initiative of restoring the site. 
At the exit, shops and stalls in newly made old-looking houses.My train tonight is at 23:17, and is scheduled to arrive at Pingyao 平遥 at 06:22. Seat/berth/cabin: ¥61/122/¥186.
