Hi Travelers,
Thanks for keeping reading our top travel consultant Wonder’s travelogue. This is his third dispatch, showing his travel experience in Luoyang and Dengfeng Shaolin Temple.
“After the Mount Hua trip, I took 1.5 hours’ high speed train to Luoyang. To be frank, Luoyang is not what I ever thought. This is city that has a long history of the ancient China. I always wan to come here to feel the history. However, the street is old and a little dirty. It looks like everywhere is under construction. But this doesn’t affect my feeling of travelling. I stayed in Luoyang Longmen Youth Hostel. The location is very good. That’s just what I am looking for. But the facility in this hostel is not as good as the one in Xian. After a short time fresh up, I went to the Longmen Grottoes by 30 minutes’ bus.
On the way, if you’re interested in the Museum, you could have a look. There are two mainly parts of Longmen Grottoes: the East and the West. You will see thousands of Buddhist sculptures and calligraphic inscriptions. With a tour guide, you could know more history about these sculptures. There is bridge between the East and West Grottoes. It’s a pity that there was not much water in the river.
I firstly visited the West Grottoes. Here below is one of the most sculptures in the West Grottoes. On the way, you could see the wetland by the river. Then I went to the east part. When you’re visiting the East Grottoes, it’s a good chance to take a picture with the west part.
With enough time, I also went to the Xiangshan Temple. Many emperors ever came to the Xiangshan Temple, like the Emperess Wu in Tang Dynasty and Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty. Though all the temples in China with similar architectural style, the history about each temple is absolutely different. The last stop is the Baijuyi’s Graveyard. This is our famous Tang Dynasty poet Baijuyi’s graveyard. We have learned a lot about his poems when we werer young. On my way back, I saw the colorful cloud which I thought was beautiful.
On Day 5, my Kungfu tour started. When I was a little child, I knew the Kung Fu of China from the TV and books. Shaolin Temple is also where I always want to have a look. This is not about the temple, but its spirit.
After taking 1.5 hours bus to Dengfeng from Luoyang and then take 0.5 hours bus from Dengfeng to Shaolin Temple, I finally got to Shaolin Temple in Songshan Mountain. It’s a pity when I knew this temple was almost burned in 1928. That’s to say, most of the buildings today were built after that. But it is still worth seeing if you’re interested in the history.
If you came here, there is one thing you must do is to watch the Kungfu Show. You could choose to watch the show for free in the time of 10:30-11:00; 11:30-12:00; 14:00-14:30; 15:00-15:30; 16:00-16:30. I chose to watch the one from 14:00-14:30. The stage is old and a little dirty, but the show is definitely wonderful.
After that, I went to the Pagoda Forest where hundreds of stone pagodas, memorials to past monks, are tightly grouped together in a forest.
Then, I took the bus back to Luoyang. It was at around 7:00pm when I came back. Before I went back to my hostel, I stopped by the old street where was still very busy.
On Day 6, that’s my last day in Luoyang. I went to the Lijing Gate first. This City Wall is not like the one in Xian. It is filled with commercial advertisements. After that, I went to the White Horse Temple. This temple was built in Western Han Dynasty with a history of 1900 years. From the name of this temple, you could know what it was about. Inside the temple, you could also see some Indian and Thailand style temples which were built in recent years.
The last stop today was the Luoyang Museum. If you have time and also interested in the history of Luoyang, this place is definitely worth seeing. In the evening, it’s good to see the sunset outside this museum. After that, I took the overnight train to Beijing.”
Travel with Wonder – the recommended similar trips in Luoyang & Dengfeng:
>> 3 Days Luoyang Longmen Grottoes Tour
>> 3 Days Luoyang Kung Fu Tour
>> 3 Days In-depth Shaolin Kung Fu Tour
Want to know more about the experienced travel expert wonder’s 11 days China holiday? You could just contact him directly or continue to read more about his travelogue.
