The trip started with a six hour train ride from Beijing to Datong. The train ride itself was certainly an experience. In China, if the train has sold out all of its seats, you can simply purchase a standing ticket. This means that for the entire duration of the ride, you are on your own two feet. The lucky people will actually sit in the toilet stall when no one is using it. The strangest part about it is that the people who don't have a seat actually pay the full price of the ticket. People in the US just wouldn't be able to stand that.
Once everyone had boarded the train it was extremely crowded. However, apart from that the train was really quite nice and probably better than any train I had been on in the US. The train on the way back from Datong certainly was. It was very modern and comfortable. The train travelled at about 150 MPH and the ride was exceptionally smooth.
On the trip we visited a series of caves in Datong, the ancient city of Pingyao and the very impressionable Hanging Monastery. The Hanging Monastery is a monastery which is built about 50m above the ground half in a cliff and half hanging over the side. It was very exciting walking between the different rooms and looking over the side of the monastery at all the people far below you. It is not difficult to imagine how people died in the building process.
One of my favorite aspects of the trip was that it allowed us to get out of Beijing for a little. While I do like the city, it was nice to spend some time in a more rural area and see what China is really like. Living in Beijing you forget how many Chinese people are still impoverished and that China as a whole is still not completely developed.
The clean air was welcome too.
The social studies week is pure genius, and I hope other programs take note...
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