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As I went over yesterday, Datong is certainly a worthwhile destination if you are visiting China. Aside from Beijing, Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed Datong’s attractions the most, particularly the Hanging Monastery. The other primary attraction near Datong is the Yungang Grottoes, which are ancient Chinese Buddhist grottoes. Admission was 150 yuan per person, which was completely worth it.
The Yungang Grottoes has 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues. Some of the grottoes date back to the year 465 AD. You can’t visit all of the grottoes but it was still awe inspiring to see the ones that we could. The grottoes are, of course, in varying states of disrepair but the better preserved ones were Caves No. 5 and 6.
There were also many Buddhas that were carved into the outside of the caves. The White Buddha was particularly impressive.
Mr. Selfish and I also wandered into the museum located at the Yungang Grottoes. It was fairly modern, and you could see the details of some of the pieces quite close up.
As Mr. Selfish and I continued to explore, we came upon the temple area. It was a bit new but still very scenic.
Again, you should visit Datong if you’re coming to China and check out the Yungang Grottoes for sure.
Love your blog! I was thinking of including Datong in my China trip but was put off by remarks that it has really terrible pollution. The grottoes look like really cool places to check out though. 🙂
All the air in China is polluted, but Datong was fine while we were there. We were concerned it would be dangerous in Beijing, but the air ended up being better than Shanghai. The US embassy releases daily reports on the air quality index, which you can check out here, though Datong isn’t a big enough city to rate: http://aqicn.org/city/beijing/
This looks amazing! Definitely one to add to the list! Thanks 🙂