China Day 11

Early start and the hotel failed to keep their promise to get us breakfast before 7.00 opening time so we set off to catch theVFT  without breakfast. It was a 2 hour trip to Zhangye where Fan our guide met us and took us to ANOTHER temple. This one dated from the 1100's, was completely made from timber and featured a giant reclining Buddha also made from timber. The area also had a museum to Buddist art which had some beautiful art work and ancient scripts. Very interesting in spite of ourcoming close to Buddha exhaustion.

Another great lunch - more into the Muslim style foods now so some great lamb and beef dishes - then a relatively short 45 min drive to the Danxia Landform Geographical park. This area is described I the itinerary as spectacular but the reality is again beyond expectation. Sorry re no photos on the blog (can't yet get card reader to see if that will work) but a google search will give you an idea. There are 7 colours arranged in stripes across the rugged landscape - one of those things you've just got to be there to appreciate it's true wonder. We easily spent the whole afternoon climbing the stairs to see these extraordinary landforms and as sunset approached it just got more spectacular!

We're off for a hotpot dinner with Fan tonight then it will be back for an early night - we hope.