Photos: Earth >> Asia >> China >> Central >> Shanxi >> Datong

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Room with a View


Room with a View
Photo Information
Copyright: Benny Verbercht (BennyV) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 260 W: 1 N: 283] (1276)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-07-27
Categories: Daily Life, Nature
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/100 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Travelogue: China 2007
Date Submitted: 2008-03-07 9:34
Viewed: 399
Points: 4
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
When you travel with a little kid, the hotel staff often try to get you the best room. In the main hotel on the big square in front of the railway station in Datong in Shanxi in northern China we got the suite: two big bedrooms, a bathroom, a hall, a seating area and this was the view from our window.

Datong has been called the capital of coal and it is often cited as one of the most polluted cities on earth. According to Forbes (2006) it is the world’s third most polluted city, just behind Yangquan and Linfen. All three cities are in China’s coal belt and had already been blacklisted by The China Daily two years earlier.

The windows of our suite could easily be opened, though that wasn’t recommended. I am not able to reproduce the smell, but I added that brownish tone to the top of the picture as a kind of compensation.

If you’re curious to find out why on earth anybody would want to visit Datong, check out my Yungang pictures. Yungang is just an half hour ride on the city bus.
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To scalerman: Congratulations...BennyV 1 03-07 09:37
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Critiques [Translate]

Benny: China at its absolute real-life best - this is a great capsule of rampant East Asian industrialization. regards, c

  • Great 
  • mpdre Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 269 W: 1 N: 227] (1383)
  • [2008-03-15 13:01]

Hi Benny,
Well, I think the view from your hotel room was not so bad... at least you had a little Eiffel tower on the left side of the window ;)
Hehehe... yes, it is quite impressive to see the degradation of the cities... You have probably seen the film "Koyaanisqatsi". The title is a Hopi indian world that means "life out of balance"...
Your photo is also a good document of it...
Thanks.
Andre

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