Shanxi travel guide for individual travellers
The old buildings in Datong
Datong street scene
The carvings in Yungang Grotto
Shanxi in Chinese means on the west side of the mountain. It got its name because it is located in the west of the Taihang Mountain. Shanxi is on the west of Beijing and on the east of the Yellow river. Through out its history, Shanxi is known for its savvy merchants who started the first private bank in China and thus accumulated huge amount of wealth. These?wealth is shown today in those impressive residence which are hot tourist spots.
Shanxi is also known in China for its coal mines which in recent years have made many coal mine owner very rich. It is common to see luxury cars on the Shanxi streets where the average income for an office worker is no more than 200USD/month. Because of this large income gap, Shanxi is a place for impressive KTV rooms and seafood restaurant. I have personally been to a 100 room KTV building with more than 300
erna marcus said,
June 16, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
Your photos are nice and your recommendations clear!
We are planning a family trip to china shanxi province in october . Do you know of any reputable companies with rental vans and driver for 7 people that could pick us up at beijing airport when we arrive and drive us to our hotel in datong?? You mention the train – this would get us to datong 1am at night- in your blog, and that datong is 3-4 hours from beijing by car which would bring us to datong much earlier in the evening .
drtu said,
June 17, 2008 @ 3:12 am
erna marcus: what you need is a MB100 (Mercedez Benz 100) van and a driver for 3 days to accompany you to Datong and tour the city and bring you back to Beijing. The MB 100 can sit 9 people which is the perfect size for your group of 7 (taking into account your luggages). The other choices are Buick GL8 Van which is too small or bus which is too big.
The market price for MB100 van and the driver for Datong trip is:
5-6RMB/km which includes: van rental, gas, driver salary and insurance.
You are responsible for the following cost: national and local expressway toll (0.5RMB/km), driver’s lunch and dinner (he can eat with you) and driver’s hotel room.
The distrance between Beijing and Datong is about 400km. The distrance from Datong to Yungang Grotto and back to Datong is: 100km. The distance from Datong to Hen Mountain and back to Datong is: 200km. So your total travel distance is about: 1200km (including some local travel)
Therefore your total cost should be: 1200km x 6RMB/km = 7200RMB (van rental)
Toll: 800km/0.5RMB/km = 400 RMB
Food and rooms for the driver: 300RMB/day x 3 days = 900RMB
Total: 8300RMB
I have used Beijing Shijiyuntong’s rental service for local Beijing travel (800RMB/day for 100km). Their service was very pleasant and the MB100 provide was in good condition and very clean. Driver Mr. Wang is an experienced Beijing local driver in his 40s. Their website is:
http://shenghuo.263.com/zuche/10098/.
Their price for long distrance travelling (outside Beijing) is 6RMB/km (airport pickup included)
I called: http://www.bj-taxi.cn/chexing/benchiMB100.html and their cost for long distrance travelling (outside Beijing) is 5RMB/km. However, there is additional 400RMB for airport pickup.
The drivers do not speak much English though.
erna marcus said,
June 18, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
thanks a lot! we won’t be returning to beijing as we will continue on to wutaishan/pingyao/xian/luoyang by train and so on . we do know chinese both written and spoken , so your websites links are extremely useful!! we would only need the van from beijing airport to datong after which the driver could return home or we would pay for him to stay in a hotel and of course his dinner. We can contact the companies and find out what a one way drop off in datong would cost us. thanks again we are now able to proceed with our plans! what a wonderful tool this internet is! here you are in beijing and us in washington dc and you are helping us so much
thank you again dr mark nan tu
erna
Free Travel Guides said,
August 14, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
You wouldn\’t believe how much time this post has saved me, thanks!
szandor said,
December 4, 2008 @ 7:33 am
i have a question. umm im not sure but is there an airport in shanix? i believe there is one but im not sure. the point is that i want to get to xinzhou, shanix.
so if their is a working airport do u know how long it takes to get to xinzhou from there or how long does it take to get to xinzhou from Beijing. if their is a train that goes to xinzhou from beijing?
datong said,
November 21, 2015 @ 1:51 pm
Yungang is very good to visit in combination with Wutai
Mountain and Pinyao Ancient city.
All these places are found in shanxi province China. We run tours
to these places daily.
They are all Unesco World Heritage and very special for world culture.
Yungang’s grottoes are around a site that iss a park and
can bbe visited be all age groups.
It is also suitable for children. The demonstration of Buddhist Art is exceptional and a true testament to the strength of tis religion at
that period in Chinese history.