Oh Crappy day!

I woke up early, quite exited about the day that lied ahead of me. I was in Datong, and was planning to go see the hanging monasteries outside of town. After checking out of my hotel (that was way too expensive for my budget) I headed out in search for the bus station.

Datong is a grey city. It has tall apartment buildings and industry, there is nothing really charming to it. On top of that is was about minus 13 degrees and loads of snow everywhere, but this didn't really bother me that early in the day, I was still optimistic and looking forward to the Hanging Monasteries. Everywhere I went, on every side walk, road or open space, people were shovelling snow, hacking on the ice to make it easier to get around the town. Even the military was joining in. Two men in the front were carrying the Chinese flag, while the rest followed behind with shovels, spades and brooms over h\their shoulders. A great way to use the military if you ask me!

After some time I found the bus station, and with my guide book in hand I go looking for the ticket office. I found a lady that appeared to be selling tickets, and pointed to the name of the place I wanted to go. "No, finished" she said and shook her head. A crowd had been gathering around me as I was trying to explain that I really wanted to go there. Everyone around me were of course taxi drivers, and they all offered to take me there, but for ridiculously high prices. I politely said no, and told them that I wanted to take the bus, but according to them, the road was broken and the bus had stopped going. Only taxis could take people around. But the price was too much for me, I couldn't do it.

The only reason I came to Datong was to see the Hanging Monasteries, and now that seemed impossible. And about here, the day starts getting crappy. I decided to go to the train station to try and get a ticket out of Datong as soon as possible, but of course, the night train was full so I had to wait another day. Great!

I couldn't afford to stay at the same hotel one more night, so I looked up the budget accommodation in my guide book and went out looking for them. One of the two hotels mentioned was closed down, the other one was impossible to find. The taxi driver dropped me of at a street he claimed was the right address, but of course it wasn't. So I was left searching the streets for this hotel. People kept sending me in different directions, pointing to this big fancy hotel or just shaking there heads saying no-no. I just couldn't find the place.

After about an hour walking around looking for the place with my big back pack, I gave up! I took a taxi and went back to the first hotel. It was about 3 pm and the day was already a total failure. Going back out in the cold was out of the question so I curled up in my bed with a book. Eventually I fell asleep, and when I woke up a few hours later it was dark. I realised I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I went out and got some instant noodles and a bottle of red wine I was planning on enjoying in the hot tub in the hotel room. Did I feel sorry for my self? Oh yes!

It all sounded like a good plan until I realised that the water boiler in my room didn't work, the bath tub was filthy and the bottle of wine had 4% alcohol and tasted like bad, sweet grape juice. I couldn't even finish one glass of it. So I went to bed hungry and angry cursing Datong!