Cycling The Silk Road In China – Kizil Grottos and the Tian Shan Canyon outside of Kucha

What a great day….

First we visited the remains of the Kizil Grottos.
Carved into the mountains, these Buddhist grottos have almost no painted wall frescos and no sculptures left in them, but the caves carved into the cliff overlooking the valley, are just as majestic as ever.

We took a walk into a canyon called “Heavenly Mountain Mysterious Grand Canyon.”

The path twisted and turned between tall cliffs and narrowed down so much, that we were hardly able to squeeze between the rock walls, and under boulders as we walked on the wet river bed up the canyon.

We climbed makeshift ladders, and crossed over shaky plank walkways and squeezed and bent and faced excitement and danger…. it was great fun!

It was beyond beautiful to be there…. breathtaking….

In the middle of this majestic canyon, which is a masterpiece of Mother Nature, there are also carved Buddhist grottos which are man’s addition to the magic of this place….

The access to the caves was closed, but we saw the high mountain steps leading to it and were able to see a canyon shrine.