Luoyang

We left for the study trip on Saturday night around 7PM. Saturday was a really crazy day because I was trying to pack up my room as other people were trying to move things into my room to store while on the trips. By the end of the afternoon, I was really stressed out, but really looking forward to vacation.

The overnight train was a lot of fun. While I have been on the overnight train several times before, it was really cool to have almost a whole car to our group. Because we were broken up into small groups for the trip, my group, which included Molly, Cara, Brittany, Jon, Aaron, Richie, and Jay, and I were all able to sit together. We had only top and middle bunks, so luckily the boys were nice enough to give sleep in the top bunks so us girls could sleep in the middle.

By now, I have gotten really used to traveling on the overnights trains. Before we knew it, it was 7AM and we had arrived in Luoyang, the first stop on our study trip. After leaving the train station, we went straight to our hotel, which was located in the center of town. The hotel was pretty nice, however the air conditioning had not yet been turned on. In the relatively northern parts of China, the air conditioning does not get turned on until June, however the temperature outside was in the 80’s and it was incredibly humid.

Luoyang is a relatively small city compared to Beijing. It is really well known for breeding peony flowers, which can be seen all over the city. After checking into our rooms, we ate breakfast at the hotel, grabbed a quick cup of coffee and McDonald’s and were on our way to do some sightseeing.

Still smelly and wearing the same clothes from the overnight train, we headed to the Shaolin Temple, about an hour outside of Luoyang, known as the birthplace of Kung Fu. The temple itself was fairly ordinary by Chinese standards, but the surrounding area was really cool.

The best part about the Shaolin Temple was the Pagoda forest. It’s exactly as it sounds: tons of pagodas all together. The temple was also really cool because we were able to watch a Kung Fu show. Some of the things we saw were unbelievable. We saw everything from traditional martial arts moves to men breaking swords over their heads. Apparently, it takes 20 years to learn that skill.

There was also a lot of shopping at the Shaolin Temple, very touristy items of course. While I only bought a t-shirt, some of my friends bought souvenir weapons used in Kung Fu training such as brass knuckles, swords, and knives.

After seeing the Shaolin Temple, we jumped on the bus on our way to the White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist temple in China. What was really cool about this temple was that the Buddhist monks still practice there.

At this point in the semester, I think I am just about done with temples. We have seen several and they all look just about the same with some minor differences. I am really looking forward to getting to see new things later on in the trip.

After seeing the temples, we got to take a quick shower and then went to dinner. The restaurant we were taken to was in a pedestrian area. The food was very similar to the food we often eat in Beijing, especially since we have not traveled too far south yet. Tired from traveling, we hung out in the hotel that night.

The next morning we woke up early to get our breakfast at the hotel and our McDonald’s coffee before heading out to see the Longmen Grottos. It was so hot and humid.

The grottos were really cool. Basically, there was a cliff side along the river, filled with caves, with over 3,000 buddhas carved into the sides of the mountain. We were able to climb up the cliff and see all of the buddhas. In addition to the grottos themselves, we saw another temple, some hills, and some caves. The views were exquisite.

After seeing the grottos, we went out to lunch at a restaurant not too far from where we had dinner last night. After lunch and after freshening up at the hotel, Cara, Damien, Aaron, Richie and I went for a walk around Luoyang. In our travels, we found Peony Park, an amusement park and zoo where we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon and meeting up with some more of our friends.

At Peony Park, I went on a Chinese roller coaster and the whole group of us went on the bumper cars, which was a lot of fun. We also got to see the zoo animals. The monkeys were my favorite because there were so many baby monkeys who were playing.

Later that night, we were so tired that we decided to get Pizza Hut and hang out at the hotel again. Luoyang did not have such a great nightlife scene and we were leaving for Xi’an early the next morning, so I think it was a good idea that we decided to take it easy.

Off to Xi’an in the morning!