Day 6: Yungang Caves and our trip to Pingyao

Today would be a busy day. We wanted to visit Yungang caves in the morning and take a bus to Pingyao via Taiyuan.

Around 5am, we got a call from the front desk, asking if we requested a wake-up call and if we knew which room requested the wake-up call. We did not. Since we had a busy day ahead of us, we decided to get up anyway.

The bus ride to Yungang Caves was convenient. We boarded at the origin station and got off at the terminal station. No transfer. What can be easier. An interesting side story. While lining up at the ticket counter, some guy came up with an idea of pooling enough people for a group discount of RMB10 each. When the counter opened at 8:30am, he learned that there was no group discount. Then about a dozen people rushed to get their cash back and started arguing. It was funny scene. Thank God we did not sign up.

The caves are impressive, the best preserved Buddhist grottoes in China. There are 45 caves in total dating back 1,500 years. Many carvings have suffered erosion due to wind. There was a river flowing in front of the caves, but was relocated 400 meters away because a general thought the river might flood the caves.

Our next destination is Pingyao, an ancient city with the UNESCO World Heritage designation. We boarded a VIP bus to Taiyuan and transferred to a mini-bus to Pingyao. The VIP bus was nice, wide leather seat with air conditioning, but the mini-bus to Pingyao was a different story. The driver overloaded the bus, so people without seats were sitting on up-side-down buckets in the aisle. Just like the train, some people started chain-smoking during the whole ride. It was unbearable.