Daoist Monastery

I called Shannon this morning to figure out what the plan was for today. We were going to visit the Huayan monastery, but it wasn't clear yet if the two guys from yesterday would join as well.
I went to her work, Holiday inn hotel, to pick her up. She gave me a quick tour around her work and introduced me to some people. There also was a Chinese single guy who wanted to be introduced to me, but she spared me that. She even showed me where she lives. It gave me a good idea of the normal Datong-life.
She was so great to arrange a camera as well. I was almost out of battery and couldn't charge because of the power out..

We went to the monastery first. It was very big and quite. I didn't have the idea that I was in the middle of a city. We prayed and made a lot of pictures. Actually it is not very appreciated to make pictures of the Buddha's, but since I am an foreigner.. And that is my excuse for everything here. Shannon also kept making jokes about all the foreign people we saw, she kept on saying that she saw friends of mine. It was funny.

We had lunch with the two guys from yesterday at the KFC. After that they had to leave to catch their train back to Hohot. Shannon and I did some more cultural stuff and a bit of shopping. We went to see one of the three glazed brick dragon wall. There are three left in whole China, one here in Datong and two in Beijing. So I am trying to see them all. It looks very beautiful, but Shannon thought it was not that special.
After this she called her boyfriend to ask if he wanted to join us for the rest of the day. He had some time until dinner, so he joined us in visiting the next monastery. He told me some more about the history of Datong, since he is a native here. He also made this picture of Shannon and me infront of the temple. What we are holding? Good question.. it is some sort of prayer. I was looking at it and the people from the temple told me I could have one. Again, advantages of being a foreigner.

After this they asked me if I like to play 'table ball'. I, at first, didn't understand what they were talking about. But apparently they meant if I wanted to play billiards. I told them I was not that good, but that I liked to play. So the boyfriend wanted to play a game against me. My first shot was an amazing one. A difficult ball in the pocket. The boyfriend was amazed. From there on, my game went downhill. I don't know how many games we played, but I only won one, because he put the 8-ball in a pocket to early. The rest of the games were some close calls, but he was way better than me. Not strange, because after the games I learned that he once spent eight hours playing the game.. Eight hours!


I am so lucky that I met Shannon :) She tries to make my experience here the best possible. Since I am here, she thinks I should see the best of Datong. And eat all the local food. So tonight she took me to a restaurant to try some see-through-noodle-thingy. It tasted a bit weird, but the rest of the dinner was good. She also made me try stinky tofu, which wasn't as bad as I would imagine it to be.
She also helped me to buy some tea. The one we had in the restaurant yesterday. The one I actually like to drink.
And also, she helped me plan my trip for tomorrow and wrote down some useful Chinese sentences for me. So I can point at them if people don't understand me here. I am so grateful for all of this. It was an amazing day in Datong.