https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Temple As soon as I got there Datong was amazing, rich with big green parks everywhere, and a walled in ancient city structure in the middle of the city. Datong is famous for their brand of cold noodles and I wound up eating 2 bowls every day I was there. Recently, due to the coal industry not being what it was, Datong has tried to re brand itself as a tourist destination with a few hot spots in the Yungang Grottoes, a series of Buddhist caves and statues, Heng Mountain (which I’ll be doing a writeup on in the future) and the Hanging Monastery, or, the Hanging Temple. Hanging Temple First, we had to get a ride there. It is about an hour outside of town. Everyone in Datong knows someone who will drive you so it was easy to arrange for a taxi to take us there. He showed up the next day and said 40 RMB per person, not a bad deal, easy drive. When we got there the Monastery was packed and very touristy. Lots of locals selling cheap junk, loud noise maker toys, etc. Now, the tickets to get inside the compound were 60 RMB, now were getting a little pricey, were up to 100 RMB per person, but don’t be afraid to use a student ID to get a discount down to 40 RMB. Once you step through the gates there is a large flat cement patio with not much to do and there is a bridge to cross that leads you to a nice grass field below the actual Temple. The bridge isn’t the safest feeling thing ever but at no point did I think it would fall. The temple in the background makes for some great pictures and I’m always more than happy to help a group take a photo. You have to climb a large stairwell to get to the Temple, BUT WAIT! You need a second ticket to get inside the Hanging Temple! So we had to walk back down the stairs, across the bridge, and use our student cards for a discounted ticket. Normal price is 80 RMB! Discount brought it to around 50, so were up to about 160 per person, more than $30. As an attraction the Temple is fine. I had just got back from the Yungang Grottoes the previous day so I’d seen my fair share of Buddha statues. There is a path to walk that leads you around the Temple and there are 4 main open sections with several smaller rooms with lots of statues related to Buddhism and Taoism, always with money on the floor. The architecture is very classic Chinese that you would expect but the real highlight was the view you would get of the surrounding mountains. Your looking at an investment of 3-400 RMB for two people and a few hours of your time. It is a novel thing to walk around this Temple situated inside a mountain basically but there are a million Buddhist sites to see and this one was very underwhelming when I got finished. If you have the money and you have the time, go, but if you want to be thrifty I would definitely skip and go to Heng Mountain instead, which I’ll be writing about soon. As a bonus when we left the compound we had arranged for the taxi driver to take us to Heng Mountain and then back to Datong for another 80 RMB per person. He immediately jacked the price up to 200 per person and held us ransom. Don’t panic and always remember, this is China, someone will help. The cab driver from Hell told all of his buddies not to touch us so we figured, its a 5 KM (about 2 miles) walk to the mountain, let’s hoof it. Thankfully a nice guy just outside the gates in the crappiest car I’ve ever seen (felt like the brakes were eating the entire car and he had no gas but what do I care) offered to take us for 5 RMB each. Now thats a deal. Rot in hell your cab driving bastard. Like a good bum I am accepting donations! If you think that you've gained some value from my videos or podcasts, maybe we helped you tune out a bad subway ride or spread some laughter and you feel like kicking some love my way you can send any donation, along with a small message, to stanteau86@yahoo.com and I'll give you a shout out and do my best to keep you guys happy. Find my website at http://theculturebum.com Send all feedback to theculturebum@gmail.com Like and Subscribe Subscribe to Cinema Court: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaCourt Subscribe in Itunes at https://itunes.apple.com/cn/podcast/cinema-court/id1052946739?l=en Subscribe in Stitcher at http://stitcher.com/s?fid=76359&refid;=stpr Visit us at http://theculturebum.com/category/cinemacourt/ Subscribe to The Culture Bum Podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheCultureBum Subscribe in Itunes at https://itunes.apple.com/cn/podcast/culture-bum-china-ratchet/id1040376279?l=en Subscribe in Stitcher at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-culture-bum Visit us at http://theculturebum.com

• published: 24 Jun 2015
• views: 113