Alpine Mountains to Walled Cities

The latest travel tale begins with the adjournment of our stay in Datong, turning south (and up!) into the Wutaishan Mountains, an alpine range between eight- and ten-thousand feet high surround the small city of Tahui. The city, and the mountains themselves, are filled with dozens of Buddhist and Daoist temples with a history of nearly 1,500 years. As such, it's a popular destination for both pilgrims and tourists. We hiked the foothills of the surrounding mountains, discovered an ancient grave which had been exposed by a recent mudslide, and scurried back to our hotel with a thunderstorm on our backs.

The second day began with pleasant weather, so we ran the gamut of the most popular temples. All of them contained elaborately carved figures；one featured a giant dagoba；the last required ascending 1,080 steps to reach the temple high above the city--108 is an auspicious number in Buddhism. T took the chair lift back down to the valley floor while I hiked a bit further around the mountain from this sublime vantage. Another evening-thunderstorm was rolling in quickly though, so a hasty, if sheepish, retreat was executed. Soon after, it was the most fierce storm either of us had ever seen; the sky was illuminated with lightning every five seconds, hail piled in drifts, and every downhill street became a river.

Again, the next morning was pleasant and serene for our bus ride to Pingyao. This destination was a detour from the planned route--recommended to us by fellow travelers and a helpful China International Travel Service (CITS) representative. Pingyao is a city many thousands of years old surrounded by a fortified wall “only" 600 years old; the wall is a result of its function as the central banking center for the imperial rulers. When the last emperor abdicated a hundred years ago, the city lost its status and money and almost no new buildings were constructed since. The result: an extremely well-preserved city offering insight into the Ming and Qing dynasty societies and lifestyles. The city is being restored with government funding and tourist dollars, particularly now that it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Pingyao still thrives and is filled with people living their daily lives. They are accustomed to seeing Western tourists daily and this has created an unintentional consequence: not only is there the opportunity to see the old manner of living in China but the modern as well...without generating as much of a ripple as you would in other cities. Of course, the children still gawk at white men with long goatees.