Before heading to Mongolia we stooped for a few days in Datong, a small city 7 hours from Beijing by train.

Yungang Grottoes – 1500 year old caves carved into the mountainside and filled with Buddha statues cut right into the rock, more than 51,000 of them in 43 caves! It was truly an awe inspiring place. The Grottoes are juxtaposed right front of a large coal mine, a reminder of industrial China. We hear that the mine will be closed in a few years though which is really good news.

The Hanging temple – is also around 1500 years old. They really built some cool shit back then. The temple is built right into the rock cliff and The all wooden structure is supported by wood beams that are inserted into the rock cliff. As I walk through the temple along its narrow pathways with wood creaking under my feet, I thought “this does not feel safe” and wondered how the temple is able to weather strong winds and storms. But of course it does since it has survived for more than a millennia.

.