15
Location: Datong
This morning we went and had breakfast and then we took a van ride over to the Buddhist Caves. Once we arrived, we went into some of the caves. We threw coins at some of the statues. It was amazing to see all of the sculptures and statues from ages ago. We then started to walk through a courtyard area. We found a log that looked comfortable so we took family photos after we made a group family. Apparently I’m a mom of four kids. We then stood on a glass platform on the side of a mountain and took pictures there as well. We then went to the museum and bought weird ice cream flavors such as corn and kiwi. Then we went to the gift shop and browsed around and bought some souvenirs. We took a tram ride over from the gift shop to our van and headed to lunch. We went to the basement of a hotel and ate lunch sitting on chairs that kept falling over every time we got up. We then took a 10 minute van ride from lunch to the Hanging Monastery. Even though we climbed 3 flights of stairs in the pouring rain, it was still really amazing seeing the temple. We looked around in the gift shop that was extremely small and could only fit 3 or 4 people. After the gift shop, we ran to the van so we wouldn’t miss our train ride. It was a 4 hour ride from the Hanging Monastery to the Taiyuan Railway Station. While we were in the van, we blasted music the whole ride and everyone sang along. I’m currently writing this while sitting on a train and watching the movie “Spirited Away.” We’re all excited to go to Xi An and bike the city wall and buy souvenirs on Muslim Street.