September 21 - China: Luoyang

Our train pulled into Luoyang at 9:30 this morning.  We slept pretty well last night, despite the warmth of the cabin.  We left the train and met our guide - George - who led us to a bus and we went to our hotel.  We got checked in, dropped off our bags, and showered and relaxed for a while.  Then we ventured out to get some lunch.  There was a street with a bunch of dumpling and noodle shops, and we walked up the street looking for something good.  We saw Mel and Ken eating some dumpling-like-things that they liked, so we had some of the same.  These were filled with veggies and bean curd noodles and they weren't steamed but they weren't quite fried either.  But they were definitely good, and the total for the four of us was 5 Yuan (about 60 cents).  Unbelievable!

Longmen Caves

At 1:30, we boarded our bus and went to see the Longmen Caves.  It was very overcast, chilly, and a bit rainy so we were all wearing pants and sweaters.  Grant gave me his disposable camera because he says he forgets to take pictures with it.  So I will take pictures and we'll get doubles developed when the film runs out.  Not the same as the digital camera, but it's nice to have something to preserve memories again.  (Since the beginning of the trip, Jon has been a bit of a Camera Nazi with his Canon Rebel EOS 2000.  Although he says I can take as many pictures as I want, the lighting is never quite right and the subjects aren't as artistic as he might choose.  So long ago, we unconsciously established the invisible lines of "my camera" and "your camera".  And now, although Jon honestly wants me to take pictures with his camera, I just don't feel right with it.)

Anyway, the Longmen Caves are on the western banks of the Yi He River.  They stretch out along the face of a large cliff, and are inundated with small and large carvings of Buddha and his disciples.  The largest carving is 17 meters high, and the smallest are just a few centimeters high.  George - our guide - led us from one cave to the next and we Ooohhed and Aaaahhed at the sheer effort it must have taken to carve these images into the cliff.

The caves were linked by iron walkways and stairs.  They weren't that high to climb to, but most of the most extraordinary caves were the ones closer to the bottom.  Here are the caves we visited (there were so many!) with any major details I can remember:

Unfortunately, many of the statues and figures are gone.  Western archeologists and souvenir hunters have taken them and put them into museums and private collections.  On the statues that are left, most of their faces have been hammered off because of the value of their detail.  It's strange, because I truly appreciate being able to see these artifacts in the American museums I've visited.  But it's a whole different experience to see the original sites and to witness the sad state they are in without the original carvings.  Regardless, I still plan on visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see their exhibit when we get back.

At 4:00, we went to the gate to meet the rest of the group.  Most of them had already left for the bus, so George walked with me, Jon, and Ken down the river front to the bus.  We didn't realize the bus had to park so far away, but it must have been about a mile and a half walk.  There were little golf carts who offered to take us to the parking lot (for a fee, of course), but we decided to walk.  Finally, we arrived at the bus and headed back to the hotel.

Dinner at the New Friendship Restaurant

At 7:00, we went with the group into town to find a place for dinner.  We selected the New Friendship Restaurant, which looked clean, was packed with locals, and had an English menu (bonus!).  So we sat down at a circular table and took a look at the one English menu they had.  Unfortunately, there was nothing on it that sounded appetizing (Casserole of Dog?  Fried Chicken Brains?) but we could see recognizable food delivered to other tables.  So we decided we would order by pointing.  Jon took the waiter around to the different tables to select certain meals, and 20 minutes later some good food showed up at our table.  Sweet and sour pork, bok choy, dumplings, lemon chicken, and an unrecognizable dish.  This last dish, we tried to figure out what it was, but none of the waiters or waitresses knew enough English to explain.  One knew a fair amount of French, and she seem to say it was pasta.  But those of us who experienced the pig intestine meal (see Sept 7) were skeptical.  Although it looked like flat lasagna noodles, the "noodles" were tough and chewy.  Very suspicious.  In the end, we had the waitress write down the name of the dish in Chinese, and we will give it to George tomorrow to tell us the truth.

After dinner, it was raining so Jon, Laurel and I piled into a cab and went back to the hotel.  Jon ordered a banana split from the restaurant and brought it to the room, but the Chinese ice cream and green cherry didn't look very appetizing to me so I passed on it.