The term “shitbox” is thrown around all too often these days.
Datong is a shitbox.
Situated up by Inner Mongolia in the far north of the Shānxī province (not the Shǎnxī province, which is entirely different as I’ve explained), the city of Dàtóng is a coal mining town which Debbie’s usually upbeat travel guide describes as “gritty, polluted, and ugly.” What a lonely planet, indeed.
China ranks their cities in a four tier system. Datong is the first Tier 3 city I’ve had a chance to visit. The airport was slightly smaller than my elementary school. It was literally freezing when we arrived, with dirty snow hardened on the sides of the roads. In the half hour taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, the taxi driver exhausted my entire Mandarin vocabulary:
“We want to go to the Tiangui International Hotel. 100RMB? I don’t know if that’s okay. That could be very expensive. But we are very cold, so just go. We are from Los Angeles, so we think this is very cold. Sorry, my Mandarin is not good. My tones are not good. Yes, we are here to see the Hanging Temple. 400RMB to drive us tomorrow? I’m not sure. I must talk to my friend. 350RMB? Let me ask my friend. She is very clever. I am not clever. She says 300RMB. 300RMB? Okay. How far is it from our hotel to the Hanging Temple? How many minutes? 90 minutes? What time is a good time to go? In the morning, yes. 9am? Okay. And then only 20 minutes to Hengshan? Is the mountain very close to the temple? Oh, it is. I understand. And you think we have time to also do the Yungang Grottoes tomorrow? Yes, Buddhists. Yes, many statues of Buddha. We looked at a map. They seem far from the temple. We will decide tomorrow. These buildings are all very tall. Are you from Datong? Ah. When you were a child, did they have these buildings? So they are new buildings. Are they homes or hotels? I see, many tourists. Which one is our hotel? Oh, we can’t see it yet? Hey, what is that building ahead? The ancient capital? Interesting. It looks like Xi’an. Yes, I have been to Xi’an! My friend has not, but we are going on Wednesday. And then to Chengdu. My phone number? Let me get my Chinese cell phone. That’s my number. ‘Wei?’ Good. Okay, meet you tomorrow, here at 9am. My name is David. What is your name? Nice to meet you. See you tomorow.” (David collapses.)