马蹄寺风景名胜区

我们是包车一大早到达的马蹄寺，寺是在整个大山石上凿刻出来的，真不容易，爬起来很陡峭，有时需要手脚并用才行。还看见了那个著名的天马的马蹄印，很大，被玻璃罩子罩了起来。马蹄寺也因此而得名。

马蹄寺位在肃南（甘肃以南），属于藏区，经幡随处可见。虽说是藏区，可这马蹄寺却在裕固族的地头，裕固族不属藏族，但亦信奉藏传佛教。裕固族的村子背靠雪山，四周绿草如茵，景色非常漂亮，也许就近雪山，虽然日正当空，仍颇为清凉。马蹄寺正门比想像中现代化，令粗眉仔有少许失望。更令粗眉仔扼腕的，系岩壁上的庙通通都在文革时给破坏了，现在只余一片裸岩，怪可怜的。另外，远处的草地上有偌大的「灵秀」二字，可惜都是简体，而且人工太过，有点煞风景。三十三洞天没想像中那么难爬，洞内不准拍照，但其实里头没甚么怕被破坏的东西，因为一切都早给文革破坏了，里头的佛像全是新造，毫无美感，不拍照也无妨。墙上的壁画早已没了，却有好多到此一游的提字，中华文化由盛至衰，于此可见。三十三洞天最底层有个大窟，现正进行整修，粗眉仔估计这里以前也是个佛窟来的，后来才给破坏成这个样子。山下的千佛洞跟三十三洞天差不多，都是佛窟，但规模细小得多。唯一亦最大的分别系，这儿是汉传佛教的石窟，三十三洞天则是藏传佛教的。这千佛洞在文革时曾遭受严重破坏，换言之，目前这样子已非其本来面貌。其中一个洞窟有个残破不堪的唐朝大佛，算系全场最有价值的东西。

马蹄寺景区很大，最著名的是三十三天石窟，石窟就山体而建，上下道路就一条，很窄，一共7层21窟，虽然上下艰难，但值得一去，马蹄寺自然景观也极其漂亮，尤其在这个季节，颜色层次分明，美的很

来张掖主要是看丹霞地貌的，但既然时间足够，也不妨来马蹄寺转转。这里唯一值得一看的就是石窟，还是很古朴有历史厚度的。别的景点就算了，完全没意思

昨天晚上张掖也下了雪，今天在马蹄寺里步行，踩着积雪嘎叽嘎叽的响，感觉好安逸在石窟寺里手脚并用的爬上爬下，上去本来就很陡了下去还要原路返回，一不小心就要一屁股墩lui下去，最喜欢这些微费体力微惊险的地方了~

从张掖回西宁的路上 我们先去了马蹄寺果然是嵌在山里面的 可是我们几个女人太爱凹造型 都没有上去 在下面有租少数民族服装的 我们穿着以马蹄寺为背景拍了一堆照片

The area is not far from Zhagye, we went by private tour arranged in the hostel with some chinese students. The place is really quiet with a deep spiritual atmosphere. Is easy to do both highlights in the same day if you don´t have enough time, Mati Si in the morning and Danxia rainbow mountains, in the afternoon. It´s a little bit hard, but worthy and not too expensive

I got to Mati Si on a public bus that turned into a private tour bus. When we got to the town near the caves, I was told that for 50 RBM the bus would take us to the caves and back to Zhangye. This was good. Walking into the cliffs and through the tunnels up to the higher level caves was awesome. The views of the surrounding high, snow-capped mountains and the grasslands in the other direction were beautiful. All in all, it was a great day trip from Zhangye.

Originally my group was going to Zhangye to visit the Rainbow Mountains. However, we were told about this place by one of our hostel staff members. Needless to say this place is very memorable. From our hostel we paid ¥100 for transportation to both MaTi and Rainbow Mountains. Admission was ¥75 (Student discount). From there our driver brought us to an area with small yet powerful mountain horses. We paid ¥200 to bring the horses to a scenic river area where we climbed around the rocks on the river. Then brought the horses back to this open grass field where we were allowed to roam around on our own with them. And the view was simply breathtaking. Lord of The Rings level amazing. After we went up the road to a sort of market street with a bunch of Tibetan merchandise for sale (authenticity is unknown). WE proceeded up the hill and saw an extraordinary Buddhist temple/monastery carved INTO the mountain. This place was magnificent in every sense of the word. Climbing into the monastery is an amazing experience. If you're in the area you MUST go here!

We visited mati si on a very cold day. The mountains were full of snow. All this meant very few people around so the whole place to ourselves. The place is a beautiful spot with a river running through it although it was dry but as it warms up later in the year it should be back in life. The park itself is as all sights in China a theme park yet because it was cold the restaurants, the horse riders, the kitsch accomodation and shops were all shut which made it much more pleasant. The temples and the grottos are fantastic. There is a path to the viewpoint above the two white stupas. Once at the viewpoint jump over the chains and follow the path down and around the back of the valley. The rocks around are spotted with stupas. It is truly magical. Getting to mati si is a bit of a pain. We took the bus from zhangye to mati he crossroads. From there it is 9 kms to the entrance yet the actual site is further. At the crossroads we thought there would be taxis or another bus. There was a taxi but our bus driver somehow managed to send him off and asked us to wait. Another bus rocked up with a small group of chinese tourists. We got on that but without realising the cost which transpired to be 100 yuan from the crossroads, to the monastery and then all the way back to zhangye. The bus stayed at the sight waiting for three hours so we arrived at 12 and left at 3:30 but I believe that catching that bus was lucky and I do not think this is a routine journey. In addition, some other folk who had come to the monastery by taxi got on on the way back and paid 20 yuan so it all smelt dodgy at the end. So, if it is not clear how you get there I d say do not repeat what we did, just hire a cab for the day and explore as long as you like and know what you re paying exactly. Park fee was only 55 yuan pp.

If you spend a little time here and explore the area by foot and horseback you can appreciate the beauty of the place. We told the 3 hour horse back trip into the mountains where you can get close to the Qilian mountains and appreicate their majestic beauty and under why the temples were located here.

Il complesso del Mati Temple o Thousand Buddha Caves si sviluppa in diverse sezioni lungo le pareti rocciose della vallata, e conta, fra piccole e grandi, quasi 500 caverne, molte delle quali collegate fra loro con scalinate esterne lungo la parete rocciosa o internamente con stretti passaggi.Sulla montagna si possono ammirare le facciate multicolori dei vari templi edificati a strapiombo, con piccole balconate ed all'interno innumerevoli nicchie con statue del Buddha di diverse epoche.Il tempio è a circa 65 Km da Zhangye, facilmente raggiungibile in auto in circa 1 ora.La stagione migliore per visitarlo va da Maggio a Ottobre; assolutamente sconsigliato a persone con problemi motori, in quanto per visitarlo si devono saline numerose scalinate, molte delle quali strette e ripide. Merita sicuramente una visita, tempo necessario per visitare le varie sezioni, circa 3 ore.