Yungang Caves and the Hanging Temple

Although it was an ordeal to get here, it was so worth it. The Yungang Caves are a series of 20+ plus caves carved into the side of a mountain. In each cave is an incredibly detailed carving, usually telling a religious story and surrounding a very large Buddah. The carvings are so intricate and colorful, it is hard to imagine how long it must have taken to complete. It also includes what our guide called the most well known ambassador of China. The exterior of Cave 20 has been worn away, exposing a large buddah who has donned the cover of many a travel guide.






The Hanging Temple was a bit unnerving. It is a five-level temple built 50 meters up on the side of a cliff. It literally hangs off the side of the cliff. I had trouble looking down without getting a touch of vertigo. It also, surprisingly, housed one of the few reminders we saw of the Cultural Revolution: a room full of small buddahs who had their faces removed.







At the end of the day, we hired a car to take us back to Beijing. It was much faster and more comfortable than the train.

Datong

Well . . . to put it nicely, Jayde was not pleased when I told her that another train ride was in her future. I was determined to get off the beaten track. Who knows when we'll be back!

So . . . we caught a train to Datong. It was not supposed to be a long train ride (5 hours). But by the time we got to the train station, stood in line, the train ran late, and we found a hotel, the day was pretty much shot. Luckily we were prepared this time and had plenty of snickers, chips, and oreos to snack on. What we weren't prepared for was the staring. The waiting room for the train was packed and in complete chaos. We ended up sitting in line on the floor for an hour. We were the only blondes in the room. People were not shy about noticing either. They wouldn't stop looking even if we stared back. Between that and the little buzzing magnets that everyone was trying to sell, Jayde and I were pretty irritable. I thought Jayde was going to lose it when we found out we had to share our soft sleeper.

When we got there, Jayde wasn't feeling well. We got a room at the first hotel we found and went to sleep. The next morning I got up early to find drugs for Jayde and set up things for us to see the Yungang Caves and the Hanging Temple. Setting up the tour was no problem. There is a company in the train station that did everything. Finding a pharmacy and communicating what I wanted was another story. The wandering down the street looking for a drug store didn't really work, but I must have looked pathetic enough. A young boy asked me what I was looking for. I found the term in my dictionary and pointed it out to the boy (my attempts at pronouncing words has not worked well thus far). He walked me to the pharmacy, but it was closed. I stood out front, again looking pathetic. I explained that my sister was sick (again in my best attempt at Chinese). All those podcast Chinese lessons finally paid off. The woman let me in the store early and helpled me pick out medicine for Jayders. I got back to the room just in time to wake the beast. :)

Kung Fu Hustle

After an exhausting day of hiking the Great Wall and shopping at the Silk Market, we treated to each other to a true cultural experience: Kung Fu.

It was truly gravity-defying! I have been to a number of dance and cheer competitions. I have never seen anyone jump that high. There was one point in time where the participants were jumping from the floor so high that they had time to spread their bodies out completely parallel to the floor and still landed on her feet. There were also some very young (couldn't have been older than eight), very talented kung fu artists.

The show was in a big theater. Jayde and I walked in past a big crowd of people and were immediately ushered to the front and center. I don't know if they were confused about who we were, but I don't care. The seats were fabulous!

There was a story too. The captions did not make a lot of sense, but I think it was about a young orphan that worked at a school of Kung Fu. He observes the students and asks the master to study under him. He has to prove himself and along the way falls in love with the master's daughter. Not a novel storyline, but entertaining. There were people hanging by their feet with scarves dropping from the ceiling, balancing on the tips of swords, and laying on beds of nails. Indoor rain. What more could we ask for?

It was an incredible ending to a memorable day.

Shopping: A Cultural Experience

I've done more shopping on this trip than I have done in all of my previous trips put together. It must be Jayde's influence. :) It really surprised me how different my shopping experiences have been in each country. Bali was grateful, Hong Kong indifferent, and China angry.

Bali: The Balinese (?) believe that the first sell of the day sets the tone for the rest of the day. When we would shop, the store owners would tell us they were going to make a special deal for us and, if it was early, that we were the first sell of the day. The bartering process, at least for me, was awkward, but amicable. And, when it was over, the store owners were very grateful and thanked us over and over again.

Hong Kong: People here would barter, but not to the same extent. They did not seem as motivated to make a sell. The strangest thing, to me, was that they absolutely refused to let you try on clothing. Even the shops with dressing rooms would let you try on pants, but refused to let you try on shirts.

China: Although the Silk Market was heaven (floor after floor of shoes, purses, silks), it is manned by heathens. They had no problem letting you try on clothes here, but they didn't have dressing rooms. Instead, two of the workers would hold up a blanket while you got undressed in the middle of a very busy shopping mall. It didn't help, either, that the girls holding up the blanket would look over of the top and comment on how cute you are or how beautiful your skin is.

After the very embarrassing process of finding the perfect pants, the more unpleasant barter process begins. The shopgirls inevitably opens with a completely outrageous price to see just how much they can take you for. You'd be surprised how many people willingly agree to pay $100 for a knock off purse! Unless you agree to this outrageous price, the shopgirl is likely going to tell you at least 100 times that you are killing her, that you are a liar, or that you are in some other way deficient as a human being. This is true even if you eventually agree on the price and they sell you the item. Their demeanor does not change after the sell.

In one instance, Jayde wanted to try on a pair of pants. She asked the girl how much they were, the girl told her not to worry, to try on the pants first, and then she would tell her the price. The girl helped Jayde with the pants, the whole time telling her how beautiful and lucky Jayde was and how she wanted to be friends with Jayde. After Jayde found the right size and, again, asked about the price, the girl opened with a ridiculous amount. Jayde apologized and told the girl that she only had a certain amount to spend on a pair of pants. The girl kept trying to barter with Jayde, and Jayde kept telling her that she was not going to pay any more for the pants. When Jayde finally gave up and walked away, the girl ran out of the shop and screamed "You f$@king beast." Everyone turned to look at us. Immediately thereafter the shop owner came out and said okay that price is fine. The shop girl glared at Jayde during the whole transaction. As we walked past a store a few fronts down a woman asked if we wanted to look at pants. I grinned and said we had already bought some. She asked "How much you pay?" I told her 5 yuan less than we had actually paid and without hesitating she said "Okay, I give you same price."