Does anyone really know me? Do I really know anyone? This late teenager existential thought is circling in my head at 59 and during my five day road trip with Aidan. Aidan kicked off this thought contagion a few weeks ago by asking me “what exactly do you do at work”. My answer, swinging between being overly specific and being overly reductive, was wholly unsatisfactory.
Would I find a better answer on the road trip?
Our first stop was Datong, about four hours (215 miles) from home. A challenge was charging my EV at the halfway mark. There are plenty of charging stations along the expressways in China, so finding a charging station isn’t a problem. The problem is the changing station required us to install an app from iPhone’s Chinese app store, which we don’t use. So we switched to another charging station which used a WeChat miniapp, which we can use. Well, Aidan can use since he can read Chinese. It was still a hassle but we eventually got it to work. We then spent some time exploring the rest stop in our own ways. I like to cover the whole area on foot while Aidan grabs a coffee and vapes.
With that, we drove the rest of the way to Datong. Scenery interesting if not spectacular. Roads solid. When we got to Datong city itself, my anxiety kicked in. One would think I’d be getting less anxious as I age but the anxiety of driving has been getting to me in recent years. One big driver of the anxiety is parking. When I pulled into our hotel’s small parking lot with relatively little drama, I was almost giddy. .
Aidan asked the front desk where we could grab lunch and we headed across the street and had some local food. Nice that they had picture menus for me. After a bit of a rest, we walked to the ancient town of Datong which is contained in its restored city walls. It was a bit of a walk so I asked Aidan if he was ok to walk. He was. He walks a lot. As do I. He says he walks because he’s bored. I walk to feel like I’m doing something productive, so I don’t become bored.
We decided to traverse the top of the city wall. I had done this in Xian with Yang many years ago, so it is a bit nostalgic for me. This city wall is wide and well restored. When the sun hid behind the clouds it wasn’t too hot. It was a 4.5 mile rectangular walk and wasn’t very crowded. We got to look down at the ancient city, much of it in some state of restoration and modernization. The restoration of the ancient city and related displacement of many residents is controversial. Certainly tourism and culture picked up a ton in this once “most polluted city in China”. Certainly many residents’ lives were changed for the worse.
After the wall, we explored the ancient city a bit more. Found a catholic church that was once destroyed by the boxers and later used by the government during the cultural revolution. Aidan wanted the local noodles and deepseek recommended a popular spot where we were lucky to get a seat. The bowl of noodles cost 12 RMB (USD $1.70). Chopsticks included.
A night stroll back to the hotel and we settled in the lobby to have a beer. I had been hesitant to drink on this trip but craft beer advertisements in the hotel could not be avoided. It was on the elevator lobby, on cards in the room, on lobby signs. Turns out they had none of the craft beer they advertised, only a limited selection of can/bottle beer. We had the local beer and one was more than enough.
The next day was to be the big sightseeing day. First stop the Yungang Grottos. It was raining, we increased my driving/parking anxiety. We arrived to a sea of cars spread over multiple parking lots. The grottos themselves were amazing. Ancient buddhist carvings on sandstone walls and inside caves. Masses of people lining up for a view and a photo. While we were in a snake of a line to get into cave six, the man in front of me made space for me to huddle under his umbrella. I politely declined, preferring the rain.
After a KFC lunch, we decided we’d pass on the second sightseeing stop and crash in the hotel for the afternoon. Which we did. I asked Aidan if he wanted to go back to Beijing the next day, or continue on. He said, to my delight, that he wanted to explore some more. That evening, we headed back to the ancient city wall and made our way to another deepseek suggested restaurant. It was already overbooked. We found another local cuisine restaurant, also packed but with a table opening. I specifically wanted to try the local dumplings.
On the stroll back to the hotel, we paused to watch a drone show. It wasn’t as big as some of the ones I’ve seen on twitter but still impressive.
The next day our plan was to see the Hanging Monastery and then drive to Pingyao, another ancient city about five hours away. We first stopped to swap the battery in our EV and then noticed an open Starbucks. Coffee fix made. The drive to the Hanging Monastery was difficult in the rain and further than I expected. I was getting antsy about finishing with the monastery and heading to Pingyao before it was too late. Arriving at the staging area for the monastery did not alleviate the fears. The place was massive. I came very close to skipping it all together but settled for “let’s have a look”. It turned out almost perfect. A shuttle bus ride and a short walk to the monastery viewing area. To get into the monastery itself required a special ticket which sold out two days in advance. We looked around, took the obligatory pictures, got more coffee, and headed out.
Back in the car, once we got on the expressway, I tried to have a bit of a conversation. The conversations are a bit stilted like we are both trying to feeling each other out. I try to broach deeper topics but Aidan doesn’t catch on and I’m not one to push. We listen to music, Aidan on his headphones. We stop at a rest stop to swap batteries again and to have a bit of lunch - some stale dumplings.
After getting to Pingyao and another low stress parking situation, I crash for a couple of hours. We then head to the Pingyao ancient city, also inside a city wall, and also somehow 1.5KM from our hotel. Pingyao ancient city is much more well preserved than Datong and I can see why people like it so much. The small buses and scooters are annoying at least until you enter the no vehicle zone. The no vehicle zone is swamped with tourists.
Eventually, we settled on a Pingyao style restaurant and I really liked the Pingyao beef. The next day, we decided to do the Pingyao city wall which is also about 4.5 miles. It’s even less crowded than the Datong city wall and smaller in width. The inside facing part didn’t have much of a barrier, like none, which made me a bit nervous. It did provide great views of the ancient city itself.
We it was time for dinner, I took Aidan on a bit of a city walk and entered the ancient city from the east gate. Aidan wanted hand cut noodles for dinner which sounded great to me.
We made our way through the crowds stopping for a 3 RMB ice cream. Back at the hotel, I had 28K steps. Aidan wanted to walk a bit more.
Our longest drive of the trip would be from Pingyao to Beijing, about seven hours. We, again, didn’t talk much. Aidan telling me he wants to get an internship; that he is a bit worried about it. Me telling him, he had time. Me asking him what’s important to him about his education - his college experience. Then back to our respective music. Me thinking, he’s never asked me about Mimi. Me thinking, I’ve never told him.
By the time we got through the checkpoints and dealt with the Beijing traffic, it was near dinner time. We had decided to celebrate Sabrina’s end of chemo treatment with a dinner so Yang, Elisa, and Lydia joined us for hotpot dinner near my place. Exhausted, I spent most of the time with Amanda playing legos so the others could eat in peace.
