{"id":1819,"date":"2019-11-02T16:38:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T16:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/999millas.net\/?p=1819"},"modified":"2026-08-11T02:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:02:29","slug":"que-hacer-en-datong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/999millas.net\/en\/2019\/11\/02\/que-hacer-en-datong\/","title":{"rendered":"Datong"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It doesn't seem like anything special, does it? But there are things to do in Datong.<\/p>\n

For starters, you're not going to Datong, but to \u201cTatong\u201d (with a very tight \u201co\u201d).<\/p>\n

Arriving and departing<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

To get from Beijing to Datong, you have to go to Liuliqiao bus station (metro station of the same name, lines 9 and 10); avoid being as stupid as the author of this blog, who got the name wrong and ended up at Lishuiqiao metro station (on the other side of the city, of course...), frantically searching for a bus station that didn't exist...<\/p>\n

The bus costs 163 RMB and takes between 4-5 hours. While I was researching the frequency of this bus, everywhere I looked said that one left every 30-50 minutes. That sounded good. Well, I arrived at the station at 10:30 a.m. and there was only one at 12:40 p.m. (full) and the next one at 2:40 p.m....maybe it was because it was Sunday, who knows...<\/p>\n

Theoretically, the bus should have dropped me off at the station near the north gate of Datong, but that would have been too easy, right? So it dropped me off at a stop far away from the highway, with all the taxi drivers drooling with delight, sensing that they were going to rip me off.<\/p>\n

I get off the bus. The first one approaches. We go to the car and I show him the address. Everything is fine so far. He takes the usual photos of the cool places in Datong so that I will hire him tomorrow... and I say no, while pointing to the address of the hostel and the taxi meter.<\/p>\n

He didn't like that last comment. He shows me a 50 RMB note, indicating that this is the price, and I laugh in his face (it's like being charged 150 euros to go from Madrid or Barcelona airport to the city center). Here, the initial charge is 7 RMB and 1.6 RMB\/km, so do the math on this attempted scam.<\/p>\n

But I have to say that this was the only jerk I encountered in Datong because everyone here is extremely friendly. At the bus station itself, a Chinese family \u201cadopted\u201d me and offered to take me with them in the transport they had hired from their hotel. As it didn't arrive and it was getting dark, they convinced a guy who was there to take me to the city for free\u2014about a 7 km walk\u2014and once there, another family, seeing me lost, literally guided me to the door of the hostel. Wow.<\/p>\n

Visiting Datong: what can we see?<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Let's get down to business: what to do in Datong?<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, when we arrived in Datong during the off-season, some attractions were free. This was funny: you would find a ticket office, but:<\/p>\n

Esto era gracioso: te encontrabas una taquilla pero:<\/p>\n