EXTRA: Yungang Grottoes, Datong, Shanxi

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on January 5, 2015.)

A Buddha (佛) surrounded by other carvings in a cave at
Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟), Datong, Shanxi (山西, 大同市).

August 22, 2012 - My next visit wasn't on my list of temples, but was not to be missed. Yungang ("Cloud Ridge") Grottoes is one of the four great Buddhist cave sites, and the third I've seen (I still haven't been to the complexes in Gansu, but enjoyed Longmen and Dazu before this trip).

No. 121: Guanyin Cave, Wutai Shan, Shanxi

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on February 16, 2015.)

This small Guanyin Cave (观音洞) is on the side of a mountain on Wutai Shan, Shanxi (山西, 五台山).

August 25, 2012 - The driver who brought me back from Jinge Temple dropped me directly in front of my next destination, a temple named Guanyin Cave, on a road that was torn up for the repair of its drainage. Though summer is high tourist season, it's also the time to make repairs in areas heavily snowed-in in winter.