16th of August 2015
When we arrived in out hostel, the lady on the reception explained us that we need 4h to visit the grottoes and as we had almost a full day before taking the train for Beijing we decided to go and visit the old city of Luoyang and then go to the Longmen grottoes.
Luoyang - old city:
In the morning we took the public transportation and we arrived in the old city which is basically one piece of preserved old wall, with big main entrance, a temple and a main street. It was quite fast to visit them all (around 2h).
The good part of this city was also the possibility to take some really nice shots of something more authentic of the Chinese culture (people, daily life...). I can't forget the eyes of the old person sitting in back seats of the bus where my friends were also sitting - this kind of person you can read/imagine the "story" of his life.
Something I also liked is this mix of old city, communistic buildings (6 floors) and new buildings or temples around. Showing how fast the country is transforming.
After visiting this part, we went walking to a big temple which was looking like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing but built recently. From outside it look impressive (big park and two big temples inside). We didn't really have time to visit it so we made some pictures and run to the hostel to pick up our bags and go to visit the grottoes which was out real target.
Luoyang - old city:
In the morning we took the public transportation and we arrived in the old city which is basically one piece of preserved old wall, with big main entrance, a temple and a main street. It was quite fast to visit them all (around 2h).
The good part of this city was also the possibility to take some really nice shots of something more authentic of the Chinese culture (people, daily life...). I can't forget the eyes of the old person sitting in back seats of the bus where my friends were also sitting - this kind of person you can read/imagine the "story" of his life.
Something I also liked is this mix of old city, communistic buildings (6 floors) and new buildings or temples around. Showing how fast the country is transforming.
After visiting this part, we went walking to a big temple which was looking like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing but built recently. From outside it look impressive (big park and two big temples inside). We didn't really have time to visit it so we made some pictures and run to the hostel to pick up our bags and go to visit the grottoes which was out real target.
The Longmen Grottoes
We reached the Longmen Grottoes by 13h30 and we had around 4h to visit them (which was what the lady from the hostel had suggested) as our train was leaving at 19h.
The grottoes are separated by a river (Yi river) in the middle - leaving one West and one East part. On the West side is the one with a lot of statues and the East has less statues but nice temples and beautiful view of the West part.
We started by the West part:
The site is maybe one of the most impressive I have even seen in my life... It has been said that there were more than 100 000 statues built in the mountain part of the Unesco World Heritage.
First impressions:
The most impressive statues were the ones in the center of the mountain. Pictures can't describe the beauty of them. They were huge and such as they were watching you. Just a magnificent piece of art.
To maybe better imagine it, I took around 1000 pictures for this 4h there and spent maybe 3h to select the ones I really liked... There were so many statues and details I didn't want to miss that I was stopping every minute to take a picture of something new.
We reached the Longmen Grottoes by 13h30 and we had around 4h to visit them (which was what the lady from the hostel had suggested) as our train was leaving at 19h.
The grottoes are separated by a river (Yi river) in the middle - leaving one West and one East part. On the West side is the one with a lot of statues and the East has less statues but nice temples and beautiful view of the West part.
We started by the West part:
The site is maybe one of the most impressive I have even seen in my life... It has been said that there were more than 100 000 statues built in the mountain part of the Unesco World Heritage.
First impressions:
- From my stay in China I realized that Chinese usually like things big and they do not pay attention to the small details which as an European shocked me sometimes. Indeed, the big picture should look good and impressive maybe to show how big and powerful the country it is ... something which defers totally from Japan, for example, where they are looking for much more "harmony" with the nature.
Well those grottoes proved me wrong... We were walking and almost at every step there was a very small, small, medium, large, extra large or just enormous Buddha statue... In this places they really went into the details of every cm. - I am always impressed how people were able to build such an amazing things with their hands more 1 500 years ago.
The most impressive statues were the ones in the center of the mountain. Pictures can't describe the beauty of them. They were huge and such as they were watching you. Just a magnificent piece of art.
To maybe better imagine it, I took around 1000 pictures for this 4h there and spent maybe 3h to select the ones I really liked... There were so many statues and details I didn't want to miss that I was stopping every minute to take a picture of something new.
The East side:
By the end of the mountain there is a bridge allowing to go the East side of the site. On this part we had an amazing view of the Grottoes on the West side. As spent around 2.5h on the West side we needed to hurry a bit on the East one.
The East part is more like a park with a big alley next to the river and temples in the mountain. We managed to visit one of them and took several pictures of the West part.
By the end of the mountain there is a bridge allowing to go the East side of the site. On this part we had an amazing view of the Grottoes on the West side. As spent around 2.5h on the West side we needed to hurry a bit on the East one.
The East part is more like a park with a big alley next to the river and temples in the mountain. We managed to visit one of them and took several pictures of the West part.
In conclusion:
It was a very rich weekend with two Unesco World Heritage sites visited shared with great people. Even if, I was disappointed a bit of Shaolin, Longmen Grottoes were far beyond any expectations. I really suggest everybody to go and check them out.
You can also enjoy the video which summarizes the weekend in few minutes (in the end of Shaolin section).
It was a very rich weekend with two Unesco World Heritage sites visited shared with great people. Even if, I was disappointed a bit of Shaolin, Longmen Grottoes were far beyond any expectations. I really suggest everybody to go and check them out.
You can also enjoy the video which summarizes the weekend in few minutes (in the end of Shaolin section).