Near Tianshui is Maiji Shan. It’s a national park, but its crown jewel is a single mountain (shan is mountain in Chinese) that is home to spectacular Buddhist grottoes. Over 1500 years old in some places, 221 caves were carved out of the mountainside and hold an unbelievable collection of sculptures and murals. In some cases, enormous Buddhas were simply carved from the mountainside.

Approaching Maiji Shan warrants some gawking. The thing about caves in mountains is that mountains are, well, tall. If one is to carve a cave into a mountain, one has to first scale the mountain. And, uhh, how exactly does one scale a sheer mountain face to carve a hole into it… 1500 years ago? No idea. But this is the result.

In the foreground is a neat little temple. In the background is Maiji Shan. All those nooks and crannies in the mountain are actually grottoes. Here’s a close up of the lattice work that one currently has to climb in order to reach the grottoes.

This was built recently for tourists, no idea what the people 1500 years ago used

Inside the grottoes, some sculptures are so well preserved that their original pigment can still be seen. Others are stone and clay.

Some are enormous, like this one that Cindy is gaping at.

Close up of carvings on side of mountain

At times, the grottoes were so large that they were essentially grottoes within grottoes. Witness the picture below, in which Cindy leisurely strolls by six grottoes while being watched by an enormous statue in the back (with a grotto above it holding another sculpture). The top picture is another example of a grotto within a grotto.

Cindy and I passed this before she did a double take, notice the hundreds of Buddhas sitting next to each other carved into the mountain face

After admiring the grottoes, we walked through the rest of the park. Since it’s fall, we took some time to admire the foliage.

Pretty colors!

Back in town, we embarked on our most challenging adventure yet –finding an ATM that will accept our cards. We learned that it’s not a matter of what bank is on what network, it’s a matter of what bank is actually hooked up to the network it purports to support. Because almost all banks claim that they’re on a MasterCard/Visa/Cirrus/Maestro network, but their ATMs all gave me the finger after I inserted my card. It’s the equivalent of claiming you have the internet but not plugging in your ethernet cable. Cindy was visibly concerned. “But how can I abandon you in the future if I cannot withdraw money?” her eyes asked.

An hour and about 20 ATMs later, we found a winner. Thank you, ICBC bank. We can now continue spending our savings.