Hanging tough

Ni hao. As already mentioned, once you've done the main stuff in China (Wall - tick, Square - tick, pot noodle - tick, tick) it feels like there's little else to be here for. That, of course, is a ridiculous statement. China is huge and I'm sure has a lot to offer a lot of people, but lack of time coupled with limited train tickets (Chinese New Year is next week so we can't get *anywhere* in a hurry) means that we can't do much. At all.

So after much discussion, we overnightered back to Beijing and then got straight back on a train headed for Datong, a tourist-free town with the promise of a hanging monastry and some caves.

Checked in to a weirdo hotel (think The Shining) and met Sophie - a sweet, ditzy girl from Devon who accompanied us to the famous monastry. This is what it looked like:



This is what it felt like:



Built right up on a cliff face about 2 hours bus ride from Datong. It was cool. And crazily dangerous.



The next day was my favourite. The buddhist caves. Basically there's a whole load of little caves (45) all carved out of a mountain. So what? Well, in these 45 caves there are over 52,000 buddhas to be found. And it is AMAZING. Seriously, it's the only thing worth going to Datong for. Maybe even the only thing worth going to China for. It blew my mind.



Some of the statues are the size of an office block. The others the size of sparrows. Others are so worn away, they resemble ET. All are pain stakingly chipped out of the rock and are amazing. Just amazing. But if you are ever fortunate enough to go, don't bother looking for the 'secret' bit of the Great Wall which the Lonely Planet claims is 15 minutes walk from the entrance to the caves, just lying around in a field. "You can't miss it," they say. You can, and you probably will.