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No.46 Xinjian South Road, Datong, Shanxi, 037008, China
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Carved Buddhas
Hard Sleeper Cabin
Hanging Monastery
Ancient wisdom
I'm thinking of arriving in Datong early morning from Beijing and leaving later that night to Xi'an. I don't really intend sticking around town for more than a day and I only plan to see the cave and the hanging monastery. I just have some questions about the logistics:
(1) Can I book a cheap tour through CITS once I arrive in Datong? If so, how much?
(2) Are there any storage lockers in the train station?
(3) Are there any shower facilities at the train station?
(4) I will be arriving in Datong on May 7, which is during the Golden Week. Will it be hard for me to book a sleeper ticket from Datong to Xi'an on this date?
enough
(1)yes, about 300-500 CNY.
(2)No, but some services can keep bag for you.
(3)No
(4)Yes, very
We did the Datong trip in a day, heading up to Hohhot on the evening. Don't need to use CITS to see the caves, lots of buses going up there opposite the station, much cheaper. Getting a ticket will be hard, its true, think about doing it at all from that point of view.
How do I book a ticket from Datong to Xi'an before I even get to Datong? How do I go to the Hanging monastery from the Datong train station?
Can't book a ticket in advance.
The buses to the place are right outside. It isn't a big area, just go out and people will offer you the buses. Other foreigners will be there anyhow.
CITS has 1-day tours to the "Hanging Monastery and Yungang Buddhist Caves" and "Hanging Monastery and Wooden Pagoda". Each tour cost RMB210/person (includes entrance fees and lunch).
Yungang Buddhist Caves is just 16km west of Datong. The bus journey is within an hour.
Hanging Monastary is further, 60+ km south of Datong. Journey takes 2 hrs.
For convenience, I'm joining the CITS tour when doing a day visit only.
2) There're always left luggage facilities at train stations, but they're usually not lockers.
3) No.
The old temples in Datong are fine examples of the spectacular Chinese wood architecture.
Datong has been the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386 - 534) But most temples, which you can still see in the city are from Ming and Qing Dynasty.
The center of old Datong is still der Drum Tower, which is 18.33 meters long from east to west, 14 meters wide from north to south, and 20meters high, i It was built in Ming dynasty. And during the Qing dynasty it was repaired.
Because of the historical value of this tower, in 1966, it was regarded as the City Protected Historic Site. In 1978, government repaired this building again. In 1985, this building got painted all around. From then on, this tower has a completely new face. It has been restored its original condition-old-fashioned, grand, and majestic.
The three main attractions in Datong are the Yungang Caves, Hanging Monastery and Wooden Pagoda.
It's easy to do the first two as a day trip. Take the sleeper train from Beijing, arrive around 7 AM the following morning. Look for the CITS tour office inside the train station (if they don't come to you as you're exiting the station). The tour starts around 9 AM and finishes around 5PM (cost 225 yuan, incl. lunch). They offer a combination of any two of the above three attractions, and the favorite would be the first two as the Wooden Pagoda is far and you don't get to check it out (or climb up) like the other two. There are night trains leaving Datong - north, back to Beijing or south, to Pingyao and beyond.
If you want to tour these attractions by taking the public buses, you would likely have to stay overnight in Datong. Ditto if you want to take in all three sights.
So we decided to give the (really old) Wooden Pagoda a miss this time.
The tour bus dropped us off in Datong city center. We passed by some street fortune tellers........well, why not?! Let's pump a few yuan into the local economy and get someone's undivided attention for a change.
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