Datong, the second leg of my trip to China.
Beijing (read my post on Beijing) I took a plane to Datong, another typical Chinese citizen.
Move to China is relatively simple because the major tourist areas are serviced by trains or planes.
At Datong fact, you can get there by plane in less than an hour, for the modest sum of 50 Euros.
But why go to Datong? Who has ever heard?
Well, Datong is certainly not a famous city, however, has two really must-see attractions, which will shortly explain.
Given the short time available to visit Datong, just arrived at the hotel we took a taxi right away ... and got hired I mean all day!
For only 40 Euros (but if you know to bargain can cost even less) we had the private driver for an entire day.
The taxi was required to visit the two attractions, both out of town, the first of which was: the hanging temple.
It is a temple built on the side of a mountain ... really impressive, but avoid it if you suffer from vertigo :)
After this exciting visit, our private taxi driver took us to visit the caves of Yungang, another truly memorable attraction.
The complex boasts a large park full of statues carved in the rock, many caves and a beautiful pagoda.
These were the two attractions I wanted to see in Datong (there were still high), then essendomele shoot right away on the first day, then I have devoted myself to wander the city.
It 'just walking aimlessly that are seen the most real things and you understand better how the locals live.
Again, alas, I saw that the city is a bit 'as Beijing, chaotic, dirty and all under construction, but also in rich neighborhoods full of stores for shopping.
Small chapter "work in progress": China is constantly moving, so almost every city I visited I came across areas under construction.
Beautiful, you say, were it not that the Chinese are not our safety standards.
Not only I say to the workers, but also for the people who is walking in the midst of construction sites in the open air, with rusty needles that protrude on the sidewalks, disturbing electrical wires and a lot of dust.
In short, the travel insurance is a must for a trip to China, and maybe even make vacinazione against tetanus is not a bad idea: p
Oh yeah, I almost forgot another famous attraction that I've seen in Datong, wall of nine dragons.
Built to defend the castle from the spirits, now that wall is the only thing that remains of that fortress ... ironically: p
And since I had not sufficed those seen in Beijing, I also shot the Hutong of Datong.
Perhaps even more impressive than those of the capital ... at least for the bathrooms: p
I heard that they were breaking down all the Hutong to build a modern city, but then having seen that are very popular with tourists, they did turn around.
Below a little 'video made in Datong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdLEWms5boY&list=PLCBrso9WwkFZYRF6jGNDS_u3JIZYU6nMg
Datong overall I liked the attractions I visited, but we never live because of the problems already mentioned in the post of Beijing :-)
The next half of the trip is Pingyao, but this time you go by train!
I leave you with the photos taken in Datong: