Off To Datong

Up and at breakfast at 6:00. The Carrasco's came about 5 minutes after us. Wow. They know when they hang with us it is early get up. We ate and grabbed our stuff from the rooms. We loaded up the vans. Todd noticed the drivers had walkie talkies for the trip. They think they are cool. we jumped in and started our drive to Datong. Alfredo rode with us, of course. It makes it better for everyone to have the boys together. It's fun to listen to them talk and laugh.


Up and ready for the day.

Two hours into the drive our drivers were chatting on the walkie talkie. Next thing we knew we were at a rest stop. Good call. The road we were on had nothing so stopping when they saw a spot was a great idea. We had 136 km left to get to Datong. Not a bad drive so far.

The boys entertained themselves with electronics.

Todd was just being goofy.

Almost to our destination.

Once we saw the sign for the Grottos we pulled over to make a plan. Leo pulled up next to us. Mr. Xue got on the walkie talkie to talk to Leo and Leo motioned for him to roll the window down. We all started laughing. Made it to the Grottos.  Mr. Xue tries to be so cool but it doesn't always work out for him.

We passed one section of the Great Wall.
You can see the back of our van.

Our van is about to go through a tunnel.

A sign for Datong.  Yippy.

The official name was Yungang Grottoes. We pulled in a parking spot and decided to have lunch. It was an absolute beautiful day. Sunny, 81 (27 c), slight breeze. After lunch we found the ticket booth and started exploring.


Having a little lunch.

The boys found some shade to wait in.

Walking to the ticket booth.

 Waiting for everyone to go to the bathroom.

This was a giant door.

Going inside.

The first thing out of Fredy's mouth was "I love this smell." Those are words you never hear in China but today it was true. The smell of pine trees and lilacs were everywhere. This place was also very clean. And not crowded. It quickly moved to the top 5 spots to visit in China.



Awesome entrance.

These pillars were really neat.

The pillars were also tall.

A close up of my family.

My family with the fancy wall.

A very gold tree.

Alfredo and Cameron checking out the big statue.

One of many prayer spots.

Alejandro, Alfredo, and Cameron with Marcela
sneaking up from behind.

Cameron thought this head was pretty cool.

We walked around looking at the neat temples and sculptures. We then found the caves. Inside the caves it was a nice, cool temperature. Inside each cave there were big Buddha statues too. Some were starting to deteriorate but they were still neat. We took lots of pictures.

The kids enjoyed beating on this drum.

Taking a break.

Another funky tree.

I didn't realize the building we were in was in water until
this picture.

These two kept wanting to find shade.

The Wallace's photo bombing the Carrasco picture.

All the caves were pretty cool.

More caves in the background.

The Carrasco's look like they are tiny.

The kids needed a break.

Time for a treat.

Neat buildings.

Carvings all over.

A lot of little carvings too.

A picture like this of me and Ileana really shows how we are
almost twins. Haha

The boys with the carvings.

We added some new friends to our family picture.

We found ourselves in a museum. This had to be the least impressive museum ever but the architecture of the building was cool. We walked through it anyway. Back outside and we found the path to get to the exit. Alejandro was tired of walking so Todd put him on his shoulders. He was a little scared at first but liked it later. Except when Todd put him down. His shorts were damp from Todd sweating on him. Too funny.

Going in to see what the museum is all about.

We put the boys in a time out.  Not really.

Family fun in the side of the building.

Me, Fredy, and Ileana.

Todd, Fredy, and Ileana. 

Alejandro got a free ride.

We found ourselves on "food and drink street". It had a bunch of little stalls of people selling souvenirs too. Todd bought a four sided Buddha head. Each face has a different expression. It's pretty funny. We bought some drinks and sat in the shade for awhile.

Todd with his 4 sided Buddha twin.

Food and drink street.

Todd was enjoying his drink while chatting with the kids.

We hit the bathroom and headed tot he vans. Our drivers said the Hanging Monastery would be better to do on our way home tomorrow. Ileana, Fredy, Todd, and Leo looked at a map to find something else for us to do in Datong.

A lot of brain power going on here.

We ended up at a market/shopping spot. There was also a temple we went in. We walked around it but it was just like every other temple we had been to so it didn't entertain us very long.

Walking down the street having no clue what we are walking to.

Inside the temple we found.

This carving was neat.

Outside another praying spot.

Cute, happy boys.

Shadow fun with Marcela and Alejandro.

This guy was creepy.

I love hanging out with these kids.

The temples are always neat.

Building after building.

Strolling along with my buddy Ale.

We got back in the vans and found our hotel. I went and checked in. We got the keys and went up to check it out. Ileana wouldn't check in until she saw it. It was ok. Certainly not a Marriott but it would be fine. It was clean and smelled fine. We hauled all our stuff up and tried to find something else to do.

Entertaining themselves while we checked in.

This was our view from our room.  Nice.

Unfortunately, Datong is not a very touristy type of place. It has its 2 attractions and literally that is it. We realized we would be spending the rest of the night in the hotel. We sent our drivers on their way and we went back to Carrasco's room. We thought there might be an international incident because the tv didn't work, the Internet service was minimal if at all, and the food situation was not looking good. The kids thought we were staying in the Twilight Zone. They all liked the hotel in Beijing better.

We went to the Latina Restaurant to see what it had. It was a buffet but it was 218 RMB ($35) for adults and big kids and 180 RMB ($29) for the two little ones. We thought that was a little steep. Fredy found out later it was free flow beer, Hagen Daz ice cream and 140 dishes. As we were in the restaurant the lady said there was a Chinese restaurant on floor 2.  Ileana was super excited.  The problem was she thought the lady said an Italian restaurant.  She was super disappointed when we repeated Chinese restaurant to her.  Back to the room.  We thought about ordering room service but I was pretty sure there wasn't anything I would eat.

We sat around in Carrasco's room having a few beers while the kids played a Monopoly card game. Once they played that a couple times the electronics came out. They were all huddled by the door because that was the only spot they could get Internet service.

A hot card game going on.

These kids are too funny.

Around 8:00 we headed back to our room. We ordered Cameron a spaghetti but Todd and I chose not to eat. We had enough snacks throughout the day to make it over night. While Cameron was waiting for his food he ate Todd's calzone from lunch. When his spaghetti came he took a couple bites but said it wasn't very good. We watched a few episodes of Duck Dynasty then went to bed.

Our room had a king size bed so we all slept in it. I was in the middle. This was not going to be good.