TRAVEL: BEIJING

TRAVEL: INNER MONGOLIA

TO DO IN Taiyuan
https://www.chinadiscovery.com/taiyuan-tours/things-to-do.html

HOHOT - INNER MONGOLIA

HOHHOT TO DO:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/hohhot/top-things-to-do/a/poi/1323827

YINCHUAN - Ningxia autonomous region

YINCHUAN TO DO:
https://www.chinatravel.com/yinchuan-attraction/

BAOTOU - INNER MONGOLIA

Maitreya lamastry 

BAOTOU TO DO:
https://www.chinahighlights.com/baotou/attraction/

ORDOS - INNER MONGOLIA

 TO DO ORDOS:
https://www.topchinatravel.com/ordos/ordos-attractions.htm

DATONG

https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/datong-china-2663a721-afc4-4596-946b-8a2b85b2b6eb

Arriving early I found a hostel near the station, I washed and left my stuff, drinking some coffee to waken me before meeting my Chinese friend.
we got a local bus then taxi to Heng mountain to see the hanging temple

however, upon arriving we could see the line outside it was not only long was visible along the cliff with an expensive price and hot hot weather we decided to take some pics and head back to the city to look around the old town and huge city walls.

DATONG
Datong is in northern Shanxi Province and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east.

9 dragon gate (wall)

drum tower

its a lovely area to explore, we hired bikes and whizzed around before he left for work and I got a bus to the Yungang Grottoes which is about 16km outside the city.



YUNGANG GROTTOES

 I got in just before ticket sales shut.
the place is huge! there's a beautiful temple surrounded by a lake, inside monks were chanting
it was beautiful.

from here you walk onwards to the ancient Yungang Grottoes full of statues of buddhas 

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanxi/datong/yungang_grottoes.htm

The Yungang Grottoes, formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes, are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The others are Longmen and Mogao.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1039/

https://www.chinahighlights.com/datong/attraction/yungang-grottoes.htm

as I had left it so late it was difficult to get back, I had to get 2 buses (lots of men will try to offer u a taxi saying there is no more bus, don't believe them)

we I finally arrived back on the city I came across a live band performance in the street. I spent the evening walking in and around the old city walls and palace, its not very busy nor is there too many areas that are open but it was nice.

The next day I got the bus and checked out the local museum before getting my train

 https://en.tripadvisor.com.hk/Attraction_Review-g297461-d1814320-Reviews-Datong_Museum-Datong_Shanxi.html