words from the world

We go southward from Datong by taxis we specially bargained for this journey. Our first stop is at the hanging monastery. What an idea to build a monastery inlaid in the cliff ? The field below was perhaps too flat and too horizontal ?
The result is striking. Anyone would think a stone chopper fell down a temple and only half the temple stuck on the blade. The temple tour lasts a short time and in order to avoid problems of tourists crossing at several 10 meters high, we must follow the good way. From the temple, we even more realize the difficulty of its building.









The next stop is the wooden pagoda Mu Ta. 97 meters high, an impressing height for this kind of building when you know that not a nail was hammered to erect it.









We finally arrive at Taihuai, laid-back village nested down the Wutaishan valley, terminus of our journey. The Wutaishan is one of the 5 chinese Buddhist sacred mountains. The pilgrims searching for an "inside peace" lose their way among the throng of tourists poured by hordes of brand new buses. Despite the crushes and the colony of Chinese tourists, we can discover a few tranquility-favourable secluded spots. The village gathers about 15 temples and monasteries offering a great diversity of architectures and atmospheres. Discovering it on foot plunge us into this Buddhist culture. We cross the Tayuan temple, the Xiantong temple, the Luohou temple and the Guangren temple. Looking at the pictures is more digestible.