Originally we were to have a long bus ride with views of scenery along the way. Even though I know that it was pretty I did not want to spend that much time on the bus. Instead, a bunch of us booked a high speed train then hired a driver to drive us to visit the Temple. This was supposed to be in our tour but was taken out.
The people here were very friendly and it was not packed with tourists like other places we have been.
On the way we saw sheep sharing the road and beautiful mountains and plains.
These grottos were built around 317 to 402 AD in the Linsong mountain. The mountain itself is red sandstone. Paths connect caves inside and wind their way up to the temples. This is one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist grottos in China. Legend has it that once a sacred horse left its footprint in a rock here. Mati means horse hoof.
Thousand Buddha temple
Going up the stairs and into cave passages you can get to the statues of Buddha.
One passageway you have to climb vertically with footholds. Those brave enough can see a really cool view.
View from the top
I first walked up the many steps to get to the top of the hill and look at the surroundings.
The white stupas. These house ancient relics and have prayer wheels at the base.
Tavatimsa grottos
Then I walked to the temples carved in the rock. There are 7 levels of passages and temples to get to the top.
This was the last passage to the 7th level of grottos and is to bring luck in life.
Outside the Temple grounds we had time to take pictures as they keep track that everyone who visited is accounted for by scanning tickets. The driver was helpful to do all of that for us and herd us around so we would see everything.
On the drive back we saw many Villagers hauling corn.
We had him drop us off at the Night market where we met up with others from our tour.
Yummy food of course and lots to see.
