Luoyang is bigger than I thought. The city has a population of around 3 millions. Luoyang is one of ancient Chinese capital just like Xian. It was the capital for 13 dynasties, 96 emperors over a period of 1,529 years until the Northern Song dynasty moved its capital to Kaifeng in the 10th century.

Took bus 81 to LongMenShiKu, LongMen Grottoes which is listed under the UNESCO heritage site. The bus ride took around 40 minutes to the southern part of the city, 16 km away from the city center.

LongMen Grottoes (60 Yuan~USD$9, student price)
Entrance

There are around 100,000 statues of Buddhas in caves along the banks of Yi river.

Met a Chinese family and a Canadian lady in the Grottoes and I sort of became the translator for the Canadian lady.

Buddha statue

Small buddha carving on the wall

The main statues to see

Caves

Across the banks

The family then drove me to BaiMaSi, white horse temple.

BaiMasi has a history of 1900 years old and is the first Buddhist temple built with the sanction of the government then during the Han Dynasty. There are also myths saying that the temple was built for XuanZeng, the famous monk from the story journey to the east during 600AD but it’s not true.

There are around 100 monks living in the temple and to be a monk nowadays, a university degree is required.

If I remembered correctly, these 3 statues are 2 meters high and weight only 15kg. There is a unique way of making these statues by emptying the inside of the statues after it’s made, the statue is only 2cm thick on the outside.

The family whom I spent the afternoon with.

Took bus 56 back to the city.

A busy street vertical to ZhongZhou street with many street food.

Took bus 58 and 25 just to tour around the city new district, south of the river. Sometimes I just like taking public bus to places far outside the city for no reason and just to look around.

Xian is around 5 hours train ride away from Luoyang. Was deciding if I should take the overnight train to XiAn or wait until tomorrow morning, picked the later option because I was a little tired and decided to take a rest. There is a LiangZiZuLiao branch in Luoyang. LiangZi is a popular franchise brand for massage and there are almost 600 stores all around China. For 68 Yuan~USD$10, you can get a 100 minutes massage, drinks and fruits. With another 10 Yuan to stay overnight.
Overnight for 78 Yuan~USD$12.