A G: Silk Road - Zhangye 张掖 by Aaron (Rainbow Hills 七彩丹霞, Great Buddha Temple 张掖大佛寺, and Horseshoe Temple 马蹄寺石窟群 )

Zhangye

-Aaron

The Silk Road

Silk Road Day 3:

Zhangye night market,
Silk Road Day 4:
Rainbow Hills, Great Buddha Temple, Horseshoe Temple

Sunrise at Rainbow Hill

The Rainbow Hills, Great Buddha Temple, and Horseshoe Temple were very cool. The sunrise we all viewed at Rainbow Hills was very awesome. The Great Buddha Temple contains many precious Buddha documents. Horseshoe Temple gets its name from a horseshoe print said to be from King Gesar (a legendary king)’s horse.

The Buddha and Monks
众僧拜佛

The monkey (very small) viewing the "sea of flames"
灵猴观火海

Mountain of the Rainbow Hills

Some mountains in the park

Rainbow Hills （七彩丹霞） has many wonderful attractions. These hills were formed by deposited sediments, folded by movements in the crust. The hills are mudstone, sandy mudstone, and shale. It has many colors, like a rainbow, and so pretty somebody thought they must be painted on. A geographer proved that these colors are natural. Stone “monks wearing red cassocks 众僧拜佛” kneeling to worship a stone Buddha are found in here along the boardwalk. Do you know what is special about a monkey? It’s a stone statue of one at the top of a mountain, looking down into the sea of flames (a lot of red stones) 灵猴观火海.

The colors of the Rainbow Hills

Other mountains of colors

Black mountains with white stripes

The Great Buddha Temple 张掖大佛寺

The sleeping Buddha
泥塑睡佛

The model of part of
the Tavitimsa Grottoes

The Great Buddha Temple （张掖大佛寺） has many important items to Zhangye’s history. Do you know why this city has many temples? It was the capital of the Northwest Region in the early Han Dynasty and of the Gansu Province in the Ming Dynasty. This temple has the largest indoor clay Buddha statue with a wooden core at 34 meters high and shoulder width is 7.5 meters. The Buddhist Art had Liusha artifacts, Buddha radiance, and Paintings and Heritage of Buddhism Treasures. These have many amazing artworks and statues, with the model of a part of the Tavitimsa Grottoes (三十三天窟).

The entrance to a building
in the Great Buddha Temple

An unopened side door

Entrance to the Horseshoe Temple
马蹄寺

Bodhi Tower

菩提塔

Horseshoe North Temple Grottoes
马蹄北寺石窟
See the cave up to the top?
It is the 7th floor of Tavitimsa Grottoes
三十三天窟

The Horseshoe Temple （马蹄寺石窟群） has interesting statues. Some were recently made using gold, and others were broken. The Standing Buddha Hall has a recent golden statue and many broken statues with wall paintings behind them. The Mati Hall gives the Horseshoe Temple its name because of a horseshoe imprint claimed to be Gesar’s horse. Horseshoe North Temple Grottoes （马蹄北寺石窟） is the most important component. It contains 9 numbered caves and 30 cave niches. All caves were dug in Yuan Dynasty (1271B.C. - 1368B.C.). Tavitimsa Grottoes (三十三天窟) is located in Horseshoe North Temple. It is the most famous attraction in the whole Horseshoe Temple. It’s 43 meters high and shaped like a pagoda. 21 grottoes form 7 floors with many Buddhas, linked by the same pathway. We climbed up all the way to the 7th floor. We were so happy and proud of ourselves standing on the top Grottoes, even though the wait was over an hour!

A recently built Golden Buddha

Old places that only contain stones now

Tavitimsa Grottoes 三十三天窟

Caves not open to the public

The night market of Zhangye

Apricot tea

Spicy bean curd

Zhangye Night market had many delicious foods. We drank some apricot tea with real apricots while waiting for our meal to be served. The meal contained chow mien, fish noodles, carrots, spicy bean curd, and seaweed. We were still hungry, so we went to another popular restaurant and ordered pork stuffed bread, and 2 kinds of mini hot pots with a quail egg. This food is very yummy.

Chow mein

Fish noodles

面鱼

These places all have multiple facts, but each is still unique. Rainbow Hills has lovely scenery all the time during every day. Within the Great Buddha Temple lies valuable Buddhism artifacts. The Horseshoe Temple has many fun parts. Zhangye has many fantastic attractions and scenery.