After Mongolia, I stopped off in Datong to see two very interesting attractions: the Hanging Monastery and the Yungang Caves. The Hanging Monastery is a tiny monastery a few hundred years old that was built into the side of a hill using wooden planks inserted into holes deep in the side of the rocky mountain for support. It also has flimsy pillars underneath, stretching down about 100 feet below, though those are mostly for show, to add to the dramatic effect. The monastery was moved to this location to protect it from frequent flooding of the river, deciding to just move upwards instead of to a new location, as many of the mountains in the area have spiritual significance. Coming out of the train station, Jenny and I found a cheap hotel (thanks to the fact that Malaysians can speak Mandarin), and then we took the full day tour to the monastery and caves. Despite being a touristy place, the monastery was still amazing.
(Near the China/Mongolia border, our train cars were raised, and the wheels were changed, since the Russian and Chinese railroads are different widths. Boring, loud and annoying. Oh, and it takes two hours just in that warehouse.)
(Our first view of the Hanging Monastery, something like 180 feet above the ground below.)
(The wooden supports look pretty scary, eh? You can actually reach out and shake them, though I didn't want to do it too hard, as I might cause the collapse of Communism.)
(Climbing up the narrow staircases and walkways, you are actually asked not to stop and take pictures as it puts a lot of stress on certain points and may eventually cause the collapse of the building. The Chinese tour groups didn't seem to heed the warning, so neither did I.)
(As you can see, this place was a little crowded...much like China itself.)
(A penultimate view of the amazing place.)
(And the ultimate one. This is while we were waiting for an annoying group of teenage Italian girls in our tour that seemed more interested in talking on their cell phones than actually seeing the sights. Kids these days.)
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