Yuelong Hotel Datong

... got access to my 4 bed dorm room for 35 Yuan a night, booked a tour to see the Hanging Monastery and the Yungang Caves and tucked myself in under my MacPac Event waterproof/wind proof jacket for a 1.5 hour kip. That's when the crawling began.....<br><br>More to follow shortly... Staff in Beijing Hostel going to bed! And no I didn't find the source...<br><br><br><br>

... loved this place. The enormous Buddha in Cave #5 was amazing&#8230; it&#8217;s so large it takes your breath away&#8230; unfortunately you aren&#8217;t allowed to photograph it so you&#8217;ll just have to take my word for it!<br><br>That evening Sebastian, Jasmine and I took a cab downtown. We passed our tour guide in another cab on the way there and at the next light she hopped out of her cab and into ours. We had a good visit with her on our journey (we ...

... temples that have all begun to just meld together. To be honest, my favorite memory from that day was before we even left for the Grottoes. Shortly after our run we went to Lu Wei's grandparents' house to pick up Lu Wei's electric bike. Their simple, traditional home is only feet from a very old section of the Great Wall. The section was so old and in such disrepair that the bricks on it's faces had been torn off to make new houses, and all that remained was the brown, packed dirt ...

... chramy a sochy jako na bezicim pase, v Datongu je chramu asi osm, vetsinu jsme prosli, ale nejhezci je uz zmineny uprostred hutongu. Zbytek je takovy standard, prijemne klidne misto, skvele na odpocinek, ale casem se zlacene sochy trosku okoukaji, a hlavne vstupne je otravne. A mimo jine, par kilasku od Datongu je vapencovy utes, do ktereho jsou vytesane stovky a tisice malych (cca 50000), velkych i obrich budhu, bodhisatvu, a vubec kdeceho. Byly vytvoreny vetsinou na prelomu 5. a ...

... on sticks such as scorpions, cicadas, sea horses, eel, grasshoppers, star fish, and other unknown creatures.  Some of the food, upon a closer look, was actually still moving!  I have included a video of a live scorpion on a stick.  I know I should have tried something but honestly I really already know that I won't like it!  It's called "Mind over matter" and my mind is set on never enjoying a nice pair of sea horses or scorpions.  Maybe next time... that is always a guilt-free excuse ...

... the side of a mountain some 1500 years ago!). The amazing Hanging Temple is like an oxymoron. In order to worship their gods, men repeatedly (flooding river kept destroying the temples) built temples on the wall of a cliff where god did not intend to be worshipped - wow that's deep (for me)! Supposedly, it survived the Cultural Revolution because of its location. Kent's early reports from Beijing show (never before seen) BLUE SKYS and clean streets. Hats off to the PRC here!

... shoes and dresses as those on either side. But with a different label and price tag! My first stop was a beautiful yet very busy small temple at the end of the first alley way. The alley way is filled with the delicious smells of bbq'd meat and freshly fried breads. I have no idea what the name of the temple is, it may even be the Upper Huayan Temple but I doubt it. It is much ...

... of Jinxia Gorge more than 50 meters above the ground, it is called Hanging Monastery. Hanging Monastery, built in 491, has survived more than 1400 years. The extant monastery was largely rebuilt and maintained in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). How could a building like this withstand the winds and storms of so many years? Hanging ...

... sized with niches. Caves in the middle are made up of front and back chambers with Buddha statues in the center. Embossing covers walls and ceilings. Started in 450, Yungang is a relic of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Absorbing Indian Gandhara Buddhist art, Yungang sculptures developed traditional Chinese art melded with social ...

... took a train to Beijing to meet up with my dad. The train winds through a beautiful, rugged canyon near several sections of the great wall. From the train windows we saw numerous fortifications, formerly garrison towns to protect the capital Beijing.