We arrived in Datong in the afternoon and it was absolutely freezing, it was really dark and the rain was torrential so navigating our way over wet slippy tiles in flip flops with our backpacks on was an experience we don't want to repeat.

Datong wasn't really what we were expecting, in some areas it was quite run down and finding somewhere to eat was really difficult, normally every other shop is a restaurant of some sort but they were few and far between here so when your choices are limited to restaurants called "donkey meat" and "lamb spine hotpot" we invariably turned to the trusty golden arches.

The morning after we arrived we headed out to the Yungang Grottoes which were amazing. It's a complex full of caves which have been carved out into various different Buddha statues and some of them are covered from floor to ceiling with intricate designs. It was sunny but absolutely freezing, we weren't prepared for that.

I've been pretty good over the pushing and shoving that happens here in China and haven't really got annoyed over it unlike Casson who keeps getting frustrated but at the grottoes it was one of those days where I'd had enough. I was cold, tired and hungry which isn't a good combination for me.
I was stood with loads of space either side of me and yet some guy still manages to almost take me out with his bag, they never apologise over here either but I think the death stare/complete look of disgust I gave him made him think twice as he did apologise. I felt like if one more person pushed me out the way I was going to have a meltdown and go Jackie Chan on them, Casson obviously found this hilarious and secretly I think he was hoping I'd snap for the comedy factor!

The following day we went to walk round the city walls and to have a look around and on the way back Casson decided he knew a shortcut and we ended up on a construction site and had to get the security guard to open the gate for us to get out, sometimes not speaking Chinese works in our favour because if he was telling us off for trespassing we didn't understand.

We did eventually find somewhere to eat where we'd point to a picture and hope for the best. One night we were in there and a woman stood over us smiling and giving us the thumbs up as we used our chopsticks, they honestly have no boundaries

Next stop Beijing over the National holiday, this could be a busy one!