Luoyang-UNESCO World cultural heritage

Trip Start Apr 06, 2008
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Trip End Jun 20, 2008


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Flag of China  ,
Sunday, April 27, 2008

Luoyang is a special place as it was once the capital city of  13 chinese dynasties, and at the peak of its glamour it had more than 1,300 Buddhist temples...and then during the economic downfall in the 1920's the city's inhabitants declined to about 20,000 souls.I stay at the Mingyuan Hotel, dormitory, 6 beds, 2 chinese men, 3 spanish, and me, full house!
The beer is often served lukewarm in China;I remember it was like that in the 1980's and has not changed much.Its difficult to find a cold beer in China;the solution there is to personally put a bottle into a freezer, and wait 15 minutes.
If the freezer works..of course!
The visit of the UNESCO world heritage site of  the Longmen grottoes is one of the hightlights in China.They are the most important Buddha caves in China, and they have survived more than 1,300 years.All in all there are more than 100,000 Buddha statues, in various sizes, and more than 300,000 characters of inscriptions, here in Longmen, just 16km south of Luoyang, and easy to reach by public bus No.81 for 1 yuan.Entrance to the caves however is 80 yuan for foreigners, chinese nationals pay half! Tallest Buddha Figure in Luoyang
Tallest Buddha Figure in Luoyang
 "Fengxian Temple" is the most impressive of all,  a 17m high Buddha figure in the lotus seat, the face could have been modeled after the chinese empress Wu Zetian.
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