Datong is a city of contrasts, of new and old, of slums and high-end living and of aromas pleasant and ripe. It is also the town closest to the Yungang grottoes, one of the world's largest collection of man-made caves for buddhist purposes.
Paying 150 yuan, split five ways, for a personal guide was well worth the money, as we got some background info and history on the 2500-year old temple complex. Over 50 000 statues can be found in the 45 caves and crevasses, most of them portraying buddhas, but also some of the principal emperors ordering the constructions. The impressive stoneworks have withstood the rain, sun, storm and erosion for thousands of years, bar a few fallen down walls and ceilings. Time will tell how well they'll withstand the trampling of tourist feet and scratching of dito hands. The area is also home to a lush park, a cultural centre and a modern style museum depicting the history of the Ming dynasty. The display of glittering glass loti and the flourescent buddha wall paper in the museum makes it well worth the free entrance. While in China, one should not miss out on the opportunity to catch a shadowplay and puppet show. Since it was in Mandarin, with subtitles in, I'm assuming, Cantonese, the plot was a little hard to follow. My guess is that an evil witch queen denied some poor farmer much needed help, but he was in fact a warlock, and so they met on the battlefield, ever so often magically transform to different demons, animals, giants and so on, fighting each other with equal strength. Who won, I can't really tell, but suddenly a young beautiful empress flew in on a cloud and said something inspiring, and then a reallife man entered the stage and performed an elegant dance with an equally elegant porcelain puppet, clad in flowing silk.
When caves aren't an option, one can always hang monasteries from the vertical cliff walls. The hanging monasteries just outside of Datong do just that, and the construction is impressive. Even with today's technology it's difficult to hang entire buildings from cliff walls, and since these have hung there for 1400 years makes it even more impressive.
Once a walled city, the city centre of Datong is still within the repaired an well-kept walls, but major renovations are constantly changing the townscape. A distinct change of, well, everything, happens as soon as you step through the gates; no more city noise, hardly any traffic, no high-rise buildings, but instead the remnants of old China. And by old, I don't mean feudal. I mean old, run-down brick huts from early to mid-1900s, surrounded by narrow, non-paved alleyways and open sewers. But lo and, indeed, behold: Around a random corner, new China appears, with broad pedestrian streets and brand new houses, built in faux-feudal style of intricately carved and ornated wood. As we strolled on, we found ourselves in what was the fashion centre of Datong, the haunt of the fashionble and hip. There was what appeared to be a fashion photoshoot, with beautiful ladies in as beautiful gowns posing, and an army of, presumably, interns. After overcoming their initial shyness, they finally worked up the courage to ask for getting a photo with what, in their eyes, must have been the most exotic and dashing quartet of tall strangers they ever did see. Covered by a gang of giggling girls and dress-wearing dames alike, we posed for group photos, and portraits, and I doubt I'll ever be in that many selfies in a day again. And so, the tourists become the attraction. How meta.
The default dinner of ordering a bunch of different dishes and sharing brotherly and sisterly finally got a nice change, as there was time for a barbecue of leg-of-lamb. Carving the succulent meat straight from the still-roasting bones made for a fine eating, and it was nice to use knife and fork again, which, when the chips are down, are supierior to chopsticks. Or, you know, even sporks.
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