Xi'an to Luoyang

Wake up call at 5:30, checked out and luggage at the concierge by 6:30. On the road before 7:15. Today begins the tomb sweeping holiday. The rain overnight is a blessing for this holiday as it represents the tears for the dead. We are grateful as well because it has washed away the dust that blew in from the Gobi desert.

The bus ride to the train station and the walk through security and to our gate took only 75 minutes, so much shorter than to the airport. We need to line up by 8:45 for our 9:23 train.

Boarded easily and are travelling through lovely green farmland and small cities. Many greenhouse structures covering vegetables. Many flowering trees as well.

Arrived in Luoyang and on the bus by 11:15. A smaller city, only 7 million people, the capital of Hunan province, the birthplace of China.

We visited the Longmen Grotto which is a Buddhist Mecca. Various Buddha statues are carved into the side of the mountain with one small section containing 15,000 carvings. There are a total of 100,000, the smallest is 2cm tall.

Tallest is 17m finished in 675 AD is called the Mona Lisa of the east. Her ears are 1 m tall.

Because there were so many people at the Grotto due to the holiday we spent an extra hour there so we went directly to dinner so we would spend less time driving around.Read more