Time for another installment in the Spring Festival extravaganza!
DAY 4 - HOHHOT
We had decided to get up around 7 to have our first shower since Yinchuan (icky) and head out early to see everything we wanted to see. I didn't even hear Nikki's alarm, which she had turned off. So at 10:20 or so I dragged myself out of bed to discover we had no hot water. So no shower. Icky.
We got ready and went to get a cab to 昭君墓, the mausoleum of a once imperial concubine. She wasn't actually a concubine, she was a candidate who was left waiting and never got picked. So when a decision was made to send one of the candidates to the Huns as a peace-making marriage, the emperor sent her. He had never seen her, and at the wedding he was less than pleased, as she was actually very beautiful, and he thought her ugly, as the painter intentionally painted her ugly in return for her not bribing him. Still, the marriage worked and they all lived happily ever after. Anyway, as I was saying, the taxi cost 60 kuai as it was at the other side of a toll gate. We saw the tomb and stuff, and that was nice, then tried to find the bus stop back. But an unlicensed cab appeared and offered to take us to our hotel for 50 kuai. But we weren't going to a hotel, we were going to eat 稍麦, a local specialty (which are essentially dumplings (although I have to say, dumplings is a bad translation)). They were nice, but not as amazing as the guidebook had made out.
The restaurant was conveniently right next to the temples we wanted to visit - 席力图, 大召 and 五塔寺. The first two were nice and all, but there's not much to say about Buddhist temples Photos were forbidden inside the halls, so I have very few, and I think even if they were allowed, I would have felt rude taking them, as it was an active place of worship with people praying in almost every hall.
DAY 4 - HOHHOT
We had decided to get up around 7 to have our first shower since Yinchuan (icky) and head out early to see everything we wanted to see. I didn't even hear Nikki's alarm, which she had turned off. So at 10:20 or so I dragged myself out of bed to discover we had no hot water. So no shower. Icky.
We got ready and went to get a cab to 昭君墓, the mausoleum of a once imperial concubine. She wasn't actually a concubine, she was a candidate who was left waiting and never got picked. So when a decision was made to send one of the candidates to the Huns as a peace-making marriage, the emperor sent her. He had never seen her, and at the wedding he was less than pleased, as she was actually very beautiful, and he thought her ugly, as the painter intentionally painted her ugly in return for her not bribing him. Still, the marriage worked and they all lived happily ever after. Anyway, as I was saying, the taxi cost 60 kuai as it was at the other side of a toll gate. We saw the tomb and stuff, and that was nice, then tried to find the bus stop back. But an unlicensed cab appeared and offered to take us to our hotel for 50 kuai. But we weren't going to a hotel, we were going to eat 稍麦, a local specialty (which are essentially dumplings (although I have to say, dumplings is a bad translation)). They were nice, but not as amazing as the guidebook had made out.
The restaurant was conveniently right next to the temples we wanted to visit - 席力图, 大召 and 五塔寺. The first two were nice and all, but there's not much to say about Buddhist temples Photos were forbidden inside the halls, so I have very few, and I think even if they were allowed, I would have felt rude taking them, as it was an active place of worship with people praying in almost every hall.
After the first two, we tried to find the last one, the 5 Pagoda Temple. They made a good job of hiding it. When we eventually found it, we went to the south end to find the entrance, as the entrance is always on the south. We went to the ticket office, but there was nobody there. The door into the temple was also locked. So, disappointed, we wandered around the building trying to find a decent place to take photos over the wall. I got some bad ones, then we walked to the main road that runs past the north of the temple to get a taxi, and found a ticket office with people in it and an open door! We bought a ticket and went in, saw the five pagoda pagoda (originally there were five pagodas, each with 5 pagodas on top of them, but only one remains), and then tried to look in all the rooms. But they were all padlocked shut. So we tried to find the astronomical map which is entirely in Mongolian, and is the only one of its kind. After much searching, particularly of the south wall where it was supposed to be, I wandered around the back of the pagoda (at the north end) out of curiosity, and found it, as well as two other things (although I have no idea what they were). It was a bit of an anti-climax if I'm honest.
One weird thing about the temples - all the mopnks have mobile phones and we saw a group of youngish monks messing around with a ball in trainers. I realise they are people too, but it did strike me as somewhat strange.
We went back to the hostel and sat under the covers to thaw for a while, before going for dinner. The guidebook recommended a place for good roast lamb (another local speciality), so we tried to walk there. We had walked quite a distance before we realised we had been walking the wrong direction. So we jumped in a taxi. On arrival, we were seated in a yurt and then tried to order a thing of sheep ribs. The conversation went like this:
Stupid Waitress: This is ship, this is beef (pointing at the menu)
Us: The sheep.
SW: This is sheep, this is beef.
Us: The sheep.
SW: This is sheep, this is sheep, and this is beef (she had been pointing at more sheep and saying beef the whole time)
Us: The sheep.
SW: You want the sheep?
Us: Uhm...yes?
Then she tried to force booze on us, but as I would rather drink stale pee than 白酒 and our train the next morning left at 8am, there was not a chance. But she kept pushing it. Even when we told her several times that we don't drink, she still wasn't having any of it. Eventually, she took the hint. The milk tea was revolting, and the weird milk things Nikki got were 'unusual.' The cabbage and sheep were really good though. Like, really really good. I don't know how they do it, but fat on meat here is really really nice, better than the meat sometimes. As was proved when I rejected meaty bits for fatty bits. How the times have changed.
When we got back, we showered and packed, and while Nikki was in the shower, we got a phone call that went a little like this:
Me: Hello?
Mysterious Woman: Hello
Me: Hello.
MW: I'm a masseuse, do you need a massage?
At this point, I was tempted to say no I didn't, but that my girlfriend had been complaining of a sore back, and I would ask her (for the record, Nikki is not my girlfriend, but I figured the prostitute on the end of the phone didn't need to know that.). I decided not to though, and just told her no. I had heard before about prostitutes calling round hotel rooms looking for clients, but this was my first one.
DAY 5 - HOHHOT => DATONG
On the 8am train, Nikki and I were not seated together, which meant creating my own entertainment. So I stared out of the window, ate some cookies, stared out of the window some more, tried unsuccessfully to sleep a little, and stared out the window some more. Then loads of people suddenly got off, so I moved next to Nikki, where we were next to Chatty McChatterson, who kept trying his really bad English (which he had studied for 10 years). He took a photo of us, then one of him with each of us. He took my email and said he would send me the photos, but I'm not going to hold my breath for that, it's been 10 days now. Nikki started feeling unwell, so when we got to the hotel (not the one I had found on the internet, whose prices were hugely greater than the ones online), we just lazed about for a while. Which turned into all day. End of Day 5.
DAY 6 - DATONG => TAIYUAN
In the morning, Nikki was feeling much better, so we went to the Yungang Caves 云冈石窟. We got a taxi to the bus station with a really friendly driver, and took the number 3 bus (for 1.5 kuai - really quite glad we didn't book the 100 kuai tour). The caves were cool, lots of big impressive stone carvings, but there's not much to say about them really. After a scout about there and an unsuccessful search for the Zhou Enlai memorial hall, we got the bus back to town.
We got a taxi to the Huayan Monastery 华严寺 with a really nice driver, who informed us there were two right next to each other, and gave us directions to the 9 Dragon Screen 九龙壁. The first part of the monastery was a con, there was nothing there. So we went to the second part, not hoping for much, and it was much much better. And half the price.
After exploring there for a bit, we did the 9 Dragon Screen and Drum Tower (which was disappointing, it was surrounded by a big fence).
Frozen to the core, we headed back to the train station, several hours early. We sat in an internet placey for 4 hours or so, then went to get some noodles for dinner. Then came our first sleeper train.
When you get on, you go to your assigned bed and the staff swap your ticket for a small credit card sized thing saying which bed you're in. Then when you get off, they give you your ticket back, because without a ticket you can't get out of the train station. We were on the top bunks, which is about 18 inches below the ceiling, but surprisingly comfortable. I lay reading my book for a while, when they suddenly (and without warning) turned out the lights, so I went to sleep. And slept surprisingly well.
And that's all for this installment. Tune in some time, next week, for more.
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