Near Mongolia

Friday, June 13, 2008--Beijing (Continued)

I found a place to weigh myself. I had been looking in pharmacies hoping to find one with a scale. Finally I did. I was a bit disappointed, however. I still have not lost as much weight as I thought I might have. I now weigh (with my clothes on) 80 kg (176 lbs.). I hope to lose at least 8 more kg (17 lbs).

Rain came about 17:00. It poured and poured and poured. Fortunately, I had just gotten to my room a few minutes earlier. By 19:00, there was a lull, so I took advantage of the situation to go around the corner to a nearby restaurant I had seen. I didn't want to go too far in case the rain returned.

There was a huge menu with food made from almost any part of any animal you can imagine. How do pork tendons sound? Donkey dumplings? (They say that donkey is absolutely wonderful.) I ordered chicken with peanuts. It was small chunks of chicken with peanuts, green onions, pieces of ginger, peppers, etc. It was spicy and delicious. I ate rice with it and was stuffed again. The dish is meant to be ordered by a group of 3-5 sharing 2-3 dishes. Since I was alone, I got the whole thing.

The rain returned again and lasted through the night. I stayed inside and finished readsing A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham. I was a bit disappointed in it. I had heard such great things about it. I saw the film, but all I remember about it is that the critics didn't care much for it and I was a bit disappointed in it, too. But the book didn't remind me much of the film. I think the story must have been greatly rewritten for the film. Anyway, I gave the book 2 1/2 stars out of 4. The writing was fine, but the characters just weren't intriguing. They were self-centered and incapable of loving others. Their lives were really rather miserable.

Saturday, June 14, 2008--Beijing to Datong

I was up early. Had breakfast when they opened at 7:00. Then checked out after going back to the room to clean my teeth. Took the metro to the western train station and was surprised that there is rush hour traffic on Saturday. Maybe most people here work 6 days a week. I managed, however, to find a car with room for me and my luggage without people feeling inconvenienced. It was sprinkling again when I walked from the metro to the train station, but not bad enough for me to need an umbrella.

Getting onto the train was an experience. I already knew the system from my visit to Shanghai. There is a waiting hall for each track. I got in line behind hundreds of other people already waiting in the hall for our train with 35 minutes still to go before departure. It was hot from so many of us being in such a small area. About 15 minutes before departure, they let us through to the tracks. Everyone was rushing. I found my car and went on. My seat was toward the middle, and before I could get to it, there were people coming down the aisle the other way. I had to raise my suitcase and rest it on my head to squeeze by them. Then the racks for the suitcases were very high. I had to stand on a seat to put my bags on the rack. At least there was a space available (about the only one left) so I could watch them from my seat.

I was lucky to have a seat. Many people bought standing tickets. Every seat was full, and people were standing in the aisle all the way through the carriage. Many of them appeared to be poor. The man across the aisle was wearing pants with no zipper and with the crotch ripped open. Others had skin that showed they had been in the sun a lot and hands that showed they had done manual labor. Most had Mongolian facial features. I was sitting across from a couple who seemed to be middle class. In fact, I imagine he could be a communist party functionary, since he took control to manage the crowd a couple of times as people were settling into places. A young woman was beside me, and I assumed she was with the couple. I was wrong, however. She finally spoke to me in English. She is working on a master's degree and was on her way to have a long weekend with her boyfriend who is working in Inner Mongolia. She was probably the only English-speaking person in that car, and she was right beside me. How lucky I was. We talked a lot. And she helped make sure that I knew when we got to the stop where I was to get off. She still had another 4 hours to go to her destination.

Datong is not a pretty town. In fact, it is a very dirty town. There is soot everywhere from automobile exhausts. There are nice sections of town, but in general it appears to be a town that is dirty and disorganized. I got a nice room in one of the better hotels. The room is newly remodeled (they are still working on the floor below mine) and costs about $38. There are cheaper hotels in the area, but I decided to stay in this one.

Tomorrow, I will go to visit the caves near here that have famous Buddhist carvings. Then I will take an express bus to another city 3 hours south of here. Will post again when I get a chance.