24th October: Datong, China to Pingyao, China

Kaja had figured out the bus we needed which left from just outside the accommodation, and we finally had some (small note) cash to pay. The one-hour journey to the end of the line at the train station and its transport hub cost us 20p each.

Despite its size in comparison to UK cities, Datong doesn’t feel overcrowded at all. It’s designed at a scale relative to the population, with each individual neighbourhood walkable and including most things a person could need. As with Beijing, wide bike and scooter lanes are on every road separated from the vehicular traffic. Regular buses ply useful routes. However, for a city of 3 million I’m surprised there is no metro. Perhaps the metro money was spent on the new-old city!

Outside of the main touristed streets, Datong is a little dirtier than Beijing, although not uncomfortably so. It’s still cleaner than almost every other place we’ve travelled to on this trip. As with elsewhere in China, there are free and clean public toilets everywhere. Historically, it has been seen as one of the worst cities for pollution in China but there was little evidence of that, except for a handful of visible industrial chimneys on the outskirts. Overall, the city feels a bit surreal at times but is liveable outside of the extreme summer and winter months. On the way to Datong Nan train station, we passed a city theme park called ‘Happy World’ which seemed apt for a city whose name can apparently be translated as ‘Universal Happiness’ or ‘Great Togetherness’ We can hope!

Leaving Datong, more of its metallurgy, coal, chemical, and power industrial areas were visible. Perhaps there are plenty of pollution sources after all which, given that the city is also in a semi-high-altitude basin, accumulate in the wrong conditions. One huge building stood out, which turned out to be an electric train manufacturer – the second largest in China – and therefore an active symbol of the transition of the Shanxi and China. Along with tourism, warehousing is also of growing importance, rekindling the historical trade hub, and the city is sharing its rehabilitation initiatives nationally and globally with other former heavy industrial cities. Whilst I’d have been interested to have seen it at its worst out of morbid fascination, I’m glad that environmental conditions are improving for its people.

This time, we were on a D class train. These have a slightly slower maximum speed of 230 kmh. We were in a set of 3 seats – trains seem to be 3-2 configuration in standard class. One of many positives of the trains in China is that they have rotating seats, so you are always facing the direction of travel. Other things of note are the hourly floor mopping, regular checks to make sure bags are properly stowed to avoid the risk of anything falling, the availability of hot water to make yourself tea or noodles, and in-seat food deliveries. This train was bound for Xi’An Bei but we’re not going there (yet!) and got off at Taiyuan Nan to change for Pingyaogucheng.

Solar panels, although with efficiency slightly reduced by smog, lined the southern side of hills. We passed over, for the high-speed lines are almost entirely elevated, endless maize fields. These were all small to moderately sized patches, rather large-scale industrial monoculture. Eroded small canyon landscapes were the natural barrier to most field sizes. Another obvious source of the smog was likely the corn stubble burning.

Somebody near us was using baoding balls. These are effectively two stress balls made of hardened or glazed walnut shells, rotated in the palm of one hand. This is either soothing or irritating to listen to, depending on your underlying mood!

We changed trains at the 18 platform Taiyuan Nan station. It has a vast concourse, with all kinds of food outlets, although nothing we could get in time. Perhaps we should’ve tested the order to train/station function through WeChat mini apps. Our next train was a 16-coach high-speed G class service. The acceleration is fantastic on these. You leave a station, look up a minute or two later and you’re doing 240 kmh without having noticed anything at all!

Once in Pingyao, it was our turn to help some other people who couldn’t pay for the bus. On this occasion our AliPay did work, once we’d worked out which county we were in! The bus dropped us outside of the walled city and the walk in was in pleasant 23C sunny weather. Just what we needed after the cold, dry north. Once through the beautiful original city walls, we had to dodge endless golf buggies full of tourists on the outer roads. These shuttles are ubiquitous in tourist areas here and we get weird looks for not using them. Eventually, barriers prevented them going any further and we were free to wander without having to constantly jump out of the way! The city did look old, although there was still a fair bit of building work in some areas and traditional courtyards became hotels. Ours was one example of this and, to be fair, it looked pretty great!

Pingyao’s ancient city is supposedly the most impressive in all of China. We got back out in time to grab some local tubular kaolaolao oat noodles from one of the ample street food stalls and some caramel fried dough for a sweet snack for later. 18 of the biggest attractions in the old city are covered by one ticket, valid for three days, so we picked those up and headed up on to the city walls for sunset. We’ll explore properly in the two full days we have here.

The temperature dropped along with the sun and we encountered mosquitoes again for the first time in a couple of weeks. Immediately after finding a way down from the wall, we found a hot pear and lemon drink, which Kaja loved. Dinner was middling by the high standards of Chinese food so far. We had some mushrooms and pak choi; tofu, from both black and white soybeans, in a spicy broth; wood ear mushrooms and chestnuts in a chilli sauce; and rice. The sauces were all quite similar, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I think we’ve been spoiled!