Daixian – Datong – Yongyuan

3rd June 2014        21-26’C         298km
Daixian – Datong – Yongyuan

I woke up at 5am, so went for a walk around old Daixian town, observed the women doing their morning dances in the square and enjoyed the peacefulness of the Confucian temple. The hotel was located on a road of gearbox repair & earth moving equipment shops, and on the way back to the hotel, I stopped to buy some ATF for the chain. Riding out of Daixian, the guide got lost, again, so I split once again and rode a different route to Yusheng Grottoes. On the way I passed through a number of terribly dirty and dusty coal mining towns, and it feels like coal dust is still stuck up my nose. I also passed by many hills that still have original sections of the great wall intact. On each hilltop there were the remains of a tower, part of the communications network to a Mongolia, each tower relaying a smoke message to the next and hence communications spanned very large distances. This was a real highlight for me to see, along with riding up onto the wall in one of the small towns, where people had been using motorbikes to cross from side to side. It was pretty steep and as a result I couldn’t get a photo on top of the wall.

Arriving at Yusheng Grottoes, I spent the next two hours exploring the amazing sculptures in the side of the cliffs. The numerous budda statues have been carved into the cliff, over 17,000 buddas the largest over 30M high. The whole area dates to over 1600 years ago, and while the weather has eroded the exposed works, the buddas carved inside the mountain are still in excellent condition. The whole mountain and temple complex was amazing.

I rode onto Yongyuan as late afternoon approached. The geography had changed yet again, now large areas of grassland and grazing sheep, along with eroded sandstone cliffs. I like the feeling of this area, and the knowledge that Mongolia isn’t far away now.

Dinner was a mixed feast of Hebei delights, including donkey stew, surprisingly good.