The Silk Road travelogue part 3 - Zhangye 张掖

The next stop along the tour was Zhangye 张掖.

We made a stop at the famous Big Buddha Temple here. You can see the photo of the main hall below.

The drum tower of Zhangye.
The wooden tower of Zhangye.

We went to a vacation dwelling too, to experience how a minority group, the Yugurs, live.
Out in the countryside, living within the majestic mountains, living inside yurts. So much different from the hectic city life that we are so used to. We managed to get a taste of tea with goat's milk mixed in. It is their staple drink, just like coffee to us.
And of course, we managed to get a ride on their ponies as well. They brought us around for a short trip on ponies around their surroundings for a better view of the plains and mountains.We also visited the grottoes near Zhangye. These are shrines built into the faces of cliffs, like the photo below. Don't you think it is an amazing engineering feat? Some of the shrines were dug into the caves on the cliffs, while others were built protruding out from the cliffs.And one of the more famous grottoes, Ma Ti (Horseshoe) Temple.Next stop, Jiayuguan 嘉峪关.