Hanging Temples and Hot Pot

I love small group weekend getaways. I know this is a pretty broad generalization, but every trip I have gone on, whether in China or elsewhere, has been great. The people you are with create a dynamic that sets the stage for wherever you visit. The conversation can range from classical art to politics and you never know what to expect until you head out on your adventure.

This past weekend I took a trip to Datong, Shanxi, China, with four of my friends (Meg, Jason, Brooke and Nadia). Brooke had planned the trip about a month and a half ago and encouraged anyone in our cohort who was interested to attend. Despite knowing very little about Datong, the four of us individually decided to attend, both as a way to get out of Shanghai and a chance to explore a new location.

We set off on Thursday morning, leaving our apartment building at 5:00 AM. The whole trip was characterized by early mornings. Since we were traveling so early, the subway system hadn’t opened yet, so we took a didi (Chinese Uber) to the airport. We headed to the airport and caught our two-hour flight, arriving in Datong at 10:30. From there we took a bus downtown and then walked to our Airbnb from there. We rented an apartment for our stay which made the stay seem more personable. From there, we headed out to grab lunch and explore the Grottoes.

The Grottoes are a series of caves and statues, containing over 51,000 iterations of Buddha. They are set on a Nevada-esque looking landscape with a lot of rocks and dirt around, and very sparse vegetation. The Buddha statues are truly incredible, with some being over 100 feet tall. We spent the afternoon exploring the park before returning to our apartment.

Datong is said to be the home of hotpot. Hot pot is a meal where you are given a pot of flavored broth (spicy, mushroom, meat, etc.) that sits on a heat plate on your table. You then order vegetables and meat that you drop into the broth to cook before consuming. It is a very interactive experience and good for groups. However, we found a restaurant that serves individual hot pots. All five of us got our own small pot of broth to cook. We also ordered a ridiculous amount of food and were given a private room within which to consume this deliciousness. It was truly a great meal, despite my ordering spicy broth which turned out to destroy me. After dinner, we returned to our apartment to get some sleep.

Friday was another early morning. We got up at 6:30 in order to catch our 7:30 bus to the hanging monastery. We were the only foreigners on the bus of 40-something people. We sat relatively quietly on the hour and a half journey to the countryside. We arrived at the temple and were told that we had a little over an hour before the bus would take us on to our next stop. We hurriedly ran the 3 Km to the temple entrance gate and then spent about 30 minutes exploring a truly impressive architectural feat. The temple is over 1500 years old and simply sits on the edge of a cliff. Obviously, maintenance is performed, but there are points where it is very unclear what is holding the structure up.

The Monastery can be seen in the background

Following the hanging temple, we took the bus for 20 minutes to the base of Mt. Hengshan. We were told that we had four hours here to explore, and so we bought some beers and set off up the mountain. We were expecting to hike and ended up with a beautifully landscaped stone path that led up the mountain and between different temples. It was a cloudy and rainy day, but still made for a nice time. The rain made the trees appear greener, and the clouds set a very mountainous atmosphere. We spent about three hours exploring every accessible trail (we tried to find others but failed) and then spent the last hour drinking our beers at a scenic overlook.

We returned to Datong shortly after this and decided to head straight to dinner. I asked our Airbnb host for a recommendation and she suggested a very notable restaurant that has been in business for over 500 years. She also told me that the government recently spent hundreds of million yuan ($1 USD=6.33 RMB) to renovate the restaurant. When I looked this up on the internet, I found similar results. The restaurant used to be a favorite of a former empress of China. Our meal ended up being just okay, but the restaurant itself was gorgeous and had a number of very cool relics. Post dinner, we found a very cool coffee shop and hung out in their loft, drinking coffee and talking about education and high school. Kinda funny because that seems like so long ago despite only being two years ago. After coffee, we returned to our apartment to go to bed.

On Saturday, we woke up at 6:00 and left our apartment at 6:30 to catch a train to Beijing. In China, there are regular speed trains and high-speed trains. Up to this point, the only trains that I had taken were high-speed trains. However, the train from Datong to Beijing was a regular speed train. This meant that it was older and also much less comfortable. This was truly felt as the six-hour journey felt like twelve. Luckily, I was able to get some work done before we arrived in Beijing. We came into Beijing Railway Station and had to transfer to Beijing South Railway Station, which required a thirty-minute metro ride. We got to the station, ate lunch and got on the train for our four-hour journey back to Shanghai. The train ride was smooth, and I slept for about half of it. Once we got to Shanghai, we grabbed dumplings and hopped on the metro for our 24-stop journey to the nearest metro station to our apartment. We finally arrived home at 9:30 PM that evening. Our fifteen-hour travel day was a lot, but it got us home and saved some money over flying. It was an eventful trip and we truly managed to fit a lot into just three days.

My Week

I have just passed the half way point in the semester but it still feels like I just got here last week. Back at GW, I had a very rigid schedule that I kept myself on. My routine varied very little from week to week and it allowed me to focus more on what those actual weeks contained. Here, I have a lot of variation. I have the same four classes each week, but how I spend the rest of my time varies wildly. This week, like weeks past, was no exception to that.

On Sunday, My friend Nadia and I went and explored the Shanghai Municipal History Museum, located at the base of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

The museum gave an overview of Shanghai's history and helped me to understand the structure of the city. It still amazes me that the now-classic skyline has only existed for about 25 years.

After the museum, we went and explored the waterfront. Usually I spend most of my time on the Puxi (East of the Pu River) side, but the museum was on the Pudong (East of the Pu River) side, so we got to see the river from the opposite side as usual.

The next day I went to a coffeeshop in Jing'an to do work. I have't always been a big fan of the coffeeshop culture but I have really adopted it here and find myself naturally gravitating towards them when I need a place to do schoolwork. There are an unbelievable number of coffeeshops in Shanghai so it makes it easy. I went and got sushi that afternoon and then had a chiropractic appointment. I was a little weary about going to the chiropractor here, but it ended up being the best experience I have ever had. The chiropractor was incredibly knowledgeable and had been a physical trainer for a soccer club in France. Following my back cracking, I went to a rooftop bar to have a glass of wine and finish off the day.

The following day, Tuesday, I had off school for Labor Day, a public holiday. I spent the day doing work before celebrating the holiday with Mexican food at a place called Togo Taco that is write down the street from where I live. We go occasionally, mainly for the 10 yuan tequilla shots and delicious margaritas, but the tacos aren't bad, and when you haven't had good Mexican food in a while, it really gets the job done. 

I had class all day on Wednesday, so it was a pretty uneventful day.

On Thursday, I had class in the mid afternoon before meeting some friends at a bar. We hung out for a little before biking about two miles to a different bar, where we sat outside and had a beer. After drinks, I headed to dinner with my roommates and our club promoter, Darpan. I met Darpan a few months prior and he has been a real liaison to the city. He is an interesting guy, so when he asked us to grab dinner, we happily agreed. We spent a few hours eating pizza and talking about the nightclub industry in Shanghai, Darpan's ideas for startups, and the differences between China and India (where Darpan is from). It was a fun experience and I learned a lot.

On Friday, Nadia and I went to a modern art museum called Power Station of Design. It is housed inside of an old power factory.

 As soon as you walk in, there is a giant room with a giant pile of clothes in the middle and a crane bucket above it. The crane is on a cycle and every once in a while, it will reach down and pick up the clothes and then drop them. Art.

After exploring the museum for a few hours, we had to head out to go and meet our school group for a company visit. There were about ten of us who went to a digital sports marketing company, The Mailman Group, to learn more about how sports teams and players interact with their Chinese audiences on social media. The event lasted about two hours and they happily answered all of our questions and helped us understand social media in China a little more.

Following the visit, we went to an Irish bar to grab a beer, before heading to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant for lamb kabobs. After Dinner, I headed back to my apartment because I had to be up early the next day. 

The next day, Saturday, GW took us on a day trip to neighboring Hangzhou. We left at 7:00 AM from our apartments. The bus ride took a few hours and we arrived around 10:45 to the Lingyin Buddhist Temple. We walked around for a few hours, but due to the rain, no one was super excited about being outside. It was very pretty and natural. 

After the temple, we went and had a traditional lunch. We were told that all of the food was native to Hangzhou, but most of it I had had in other parts of China, so either Hangzhou is where a majority of popular Chinese food comes from, or they exaggerated a little. 

Following lunch, we went to a "theme park" to see a show. The theme park was all over the place. I think it could best be described as a Chinese take on a renaissance fair. The show we saw was self described as the "third best show in the world" and told about the history of Hangzhou. It was interesting but rather hard to follow since I didn't speak Chinese. The special effects were pretty crazy and at one point the whole stage got flooded with water. 

After the show, we hurried to West Lake to take a boat trip. Unfortunately, because we were running late, we were only able to get on the boat that took you to the other side of the lake, not the one that stops at the artificial island in the middle of the lake. Regardless, the lake was very pretty and had great surroundings. 

We then set off on our three hour journey home. It was Cinco de Mayo but everyone was too exhausted to go out and celebrate by the time we got back at 8:30.

This was a pretty great past week, and its been great being able to truly see all that Shanghai has to offer. I feel like I could spend the next year here and still not understand this city, but I definitely feel like I have gotten a pretty good start on things.