A three-day trip from Beijing to Datong (non-special forces version)

I'd been wanting to go to Datong for a long time, and after almost half a semester, I finally made it! Day 1: We left Beijing North around 8 AM and arrived at Datong South around 10 AM. Since there are very few direct buses from Datong South to the scenic areas, and most are in the morning, we opted to take a taxi to the Hanging Temple of Hengshan Mountain. (The driver was quite nice, but I still wouldn't recommend taking a taxi because the scenic areas in Datong are quite spread out, and taxis don't take the highway, so the journey takes longer.) Hengshan Mountain is easy to climb, about the same difficulty as climbing Fragrant Hills, and it takes about 3 hours to complete the entire hike. During the off-season, there's absolutely no queue at the Hanging Temple, and after 3 PM, there's practically no one there. The downside is that it's extremely cold at the mountain pass 🥶 Day 2: In the morning, we visited the Yungang Grottoes. During the off-season, the grottoes were almost empty, and we could see them in about two or three hours. For lunch, we tried the local specialty, a mixed hot pot (it was delicious! It's rare to find a local specialty that's so good, but this mixed hot pot was amazing 😋). In the afternoon, we visited the Huayan Temple and Shanhua Temple in Datong Ancient City. Day 3: In the morning, we visited the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. The pagoda is actually located in Shuozhou City, but it's very convenient to get there by direct bus, taking just over an hour. The pagoda is leaning quite badly, and visitors are no longer allowed on the second floor. It takes about an hour to see everything. In the afternoon, we visited the Datong Museum. After the museum, a sandstorm hit Datong, obscuring the sky and creating a scene reminiscent of Silent Hill. We quickly took a taxi to Datong South and left.