Itinerary:     

Day 1 Yungang grottoes and boat on yellow river, stay overnight in the rural village

Take a night train to Datong, after breakfast, drive to the Yungang Grottoes, built at 1500 years ago, with its 53 existing rock caves and cover 51,000 status, Yungang Grottoes is a treasure house of ancient Buddhist art, the largest and best of these kinds in China. And best of all, unlike the others, all the Grottoes are open to public. The long stretch of caves was a masterpiece comparable to the ancient Egyptian pyramids, taking 40,000 workmen many decades (453-493 AD) to finish the majority of construction.

After a nice meal, we will embark a 4 hours scenic ride to the yellow river, the second longest river in China, and where 5000 years Chinese civilization origins from. Once we get to the yellow river, cross the longest hanging bridge of Asia, then sit on a boat, cruise upstream to a remote village, which is at the border of Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province. It has not changed much probably for 30 years. We will see the real rural life of china, no electricity, no TV, teenagers who left school due to the poverty, stone age farming¡­ and also amazing scenery, stood here for thousand years, without being known, until recently discovered by photographers, the only intruders to the local life.

Day 2 Hike along Yellow river, wooden pogada

Get up early, we will hike along the quiet yellow river downstream, with the stunning view of Yellow river gorge and paralleled ancient Great wall. The walking is about 4 hours, later we will be treated with a nice meal.

Drive to a Wooden Pagoda in the afternoon, the largest and oldest existing pagoda in China) at Yingxian County. We will take stairs up to the top, have a great view, meanwhile enjoy the amazing architecture skills, later spend our night at the foot of Hengshan, one of five Chinese holy mountains.

Day 3: Hanging Monastery and Hengshan mountain