Luoyang - a bad start, but a good end

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Day 477: Monday 19th October - The bus breaks down

I get up early to catch my 8am bus from Xian to Luoyang. There are plenty of buses that ply this route and they leave regularly so I didn’t need to get up so early but I wanted to so that when I arrive in Henan I still have time in the day to visit the Longmen Caves. It may seem rushed and I admit that I am travelling particularly quickly on this section of my trip but I’m in a hurry to get to Beijing. I want to get to Beijing by Friday to start the ball rolling with organising a Tibet tour. The ball is already rolling I guess after what has happened in Xian but it will be better to be in Beijing where one tour agency is based and also a popular place to depart to Tibet from, so presumably a decent chance of meeting some more people who may be interested in joining our group. I think 4 is the maximum, which would also be a good number so I hope we can find another two people.

I have sacrificed some places that I had intended to visit on the way back east from Chengdu to Beijing. Wudangshan, a holy mountain famous for its martial arts has been scrapped as it sounds too similar to Emei Shan and is too far out of the way; Kaifeng a walled city has been scrapped as I saw city walls in Xian and otherwise it doesn’t hold much interest; and Datong has been scrapped for the time being as it sounds too similar to Luoyang and it may make more sense to do it from Beijing if I have time. By reducing the number of places I am visiting I hope to be able to make it to Beijing for Friday via Luoyang and Pingyao, and I should enjoy the places I do visit more now I don’t have a too ambitious and overcrowded itinerary. Still, my thoughts are primarily on Beijing and afterwards as that is what is really exciting me at the moment. It feels good to be really excited about something on my trip as after so long travelling maybe this doesn’t happen as often as it did at the start.

The bus journey proves to be a nightmare from start to finish. My guidebook says it takes 4 hours which is why I took it over a 5-6 hour train ride. The hostel in Luoyang said 6 hours when I called them yesterday, but even that can’t prepare me in any way for what is to come. The journey starts with heavy traffic from Xian, which we get stuck in and I realise that 4 hours is going to be wildly optimistic. The bus then decides to come off the highway connecting Xian with Luoyang for some strange reason and drive along dirt paths and other roads unsuitable for a big bus. We surely would have got further if we stayed on the highway! Eventually the bus decides to rejoin the highway but we only get part way along it when the back of the bus catches fire! Everyone around me rushes off the bus whilst I’m half asleep to realise fully what is going on. The rear of the bus is still smoking when I get off and it looks like the engine has overheated although I’m no mechanic. What I do know is that we’re going nowhere quickly, if at all. I wish I’d got the train!

It is now after noon and we’re stuck by the side of the road for over two hours. A few buses pull alongside and bit by bit the passengers from our bus get on to any available space on the other buses. I eventually take my turn and get on a bus which I can only presume in going to Luoyang but I don’t really know what is going on. After a short while we stop for refreshment which is welcome as I haven’t eaten or had a drink since breakfast many hours ago. It is a further few hours after we get going again until the bus pulls over at the side of the highway and all the people who came originally from Xian on the Luoyang bus get off. I don’t know what is going on but I do understand that I have to get off the bus.

But what next? I’m stranded at the side of a dual carriageway, it is dark and I haven’t a clue where I am. The other three passengers who got off with me don’t speak English but they do look after me. I get in a taxi with two men who manage to convey to me that they are going to the train station which is where I want to go. It is quite some distance, maybe 10 kilometres in the taxi and if they hadn’t helped me I don’t know what would have happened. My guardian angel was certainly looking after me at that moment just outside Luoyang. They won’t take any money from me when we do arrive at the train station. Once again I can’t thank the Chinese enough for their kindness.

I’m tired after my 4 hour journey turned into 11 hours, but I’m keen to buy a train ticket to my next destination, Pingyao whilst I’m at the train station. Today has been one of those days where nothing has quite gone to plan but you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. I want to end it on a positive note by securing a train ticket despite knowing that buying train tickets can be stressful and take a while to queue for. I get the ticket, but for a soft sleeper rather than a hard sleeper as the woman on the ticket counter didn’t really understand what I wanted. Or should I say I couldn’t express myself clearly in Chinese. Maybe I can change it tomorrow for a hard sleeper?

I don’t like my accommodation and wish that I had one day here rather than the two I will now need to spend to see the Longmen Caves and Shaolin Temple. It is a soulless hotel which has turned a couple of its rooms into a dormitory rather than a hostel which welcomes backpackers. On the way back from getting food a taxi driver stops me. Initially I’m dubious of the guy but it turns out he just wants to practice his English. He’s a friendly chap and offers to take me back to my hotel, 200 metres down the road for free. It isn’t necessary. He also invites me for dinner at his house in the countryside 10 kilometres outside the city. I would love to but I explain that I leave for Pingyao in two days so I only really have tomorrow night. Time is too short unfortunately to fit that in but I will remember another positive meeting and acquaintance with the Chinese.

Day 478: Tuesday 20th October - The birthplace of Kung-fu

Rather than go to the Longmen Caves which are just on the outskirts of the city I opt to venture further afield to the Shaolin Temple today and leave Longmen Caves for tomorrow when I absolutely must be back in Luoyang by 7pm to catch my train to Pingyao. On the subject of trains, before I leave Luoyang for Shaolin I first try to change my soft sleeper ticket for a hard sleeper ticket to save money. I have no joy but at least I can take comfort that I have a ticket. Whilst I am trying to change the ticket I try to get a sleeper ticket for the Pingyao to Beijing journey on Friday night. I can’t get a ticket for that either (standing room only and I don’t fancy that overnight!), and now I am concerned I won’t be able to get to Beijing for Saturday. The sooner I get there the better as I want to get Tibet sorted.

Whilst I am walking to the train station a tout approaches me to see if I want a ticket for Shaolin. She then follows me to the train station, waits outside while I queue up and come away empty handed and then approaches me once more. I have no intention of going where she wants me to go, it will be more expensive that is for sure. The Spanish guy in the dorm told me where to get the bus from, opposite the train station and despite the touts presence and her explicitly stating that I wouldn’t be able to get a bus to Shaolin in the bus station I was walking towards I have no problem whatsoever. It is a 2 hour journey to Shaolin.

The bus drops me off at the entrance to the temple complex. Shaolin is famous as the birthplace of Kung-fu, where monks have been practicing the martial art for 1500 years. Hundreds of boys training in Kung-fu greet my arrival (not especially mine!!!!). There is a real energy and buzz about the place as they practice, numerous schools are represented (there are 70 Kung-fu schools around the temple). I’m hungry after a very sub-standard breakfast at the hotel (I won’t be making any effort to get up for that tomorrow) so wander around the entrance area surveying my food options. Choice is limited and everything is so expensive here, it’s a tourist trap alright.

I pay 100 Yuan (£9) to visit the temple complex and walk the 2km towards Shaolin Temple. The temple is just another temple for me despite its history and for the price is very disappointing. The tourist hordes are out in number, and there are many tour groups. This all helps to spoil any spirituality that there might be otherwise be at this famous Buddhist temple. I walk on to the Pagoda forest which is also crowded and eventually find a quiet spot at the foot of the nearby mountain to enjoy some peace and quiet. The surrounding mountains are beautiful as are the autumn colours in the grounds. But the temple, forget it as it is overpriced and overcrowded. On the way back out of the complex I stop to watch a half hour Kung-fu demonstration. This is enjoyable but the martial arts on display are more of the performance variety than true kung-fu.

I think to sum up the day trip to Shaolin, the words I would use would be disappointing, very touristy and overcrowded with tourists. The temple complex is disappointing and overpriced and the kung-fu demonstrations aren’t worth a 4 hour round trip from Luoyang. The vendors in the complex are mercenary. It is like being back in Southeast Asia with stupid prices being quoted. I’m past being bothered to bargain so when I enquire about buying an egg and a bottle of water and I am told 5 Yuan each I just walk away.

I arrive back in Luoyang and check the internet back in the hotel for train times from Pingyao to Beijing via Taiyuan. My concerns of this morning appear unproven as there are plenty of fast trains from Taiyuan to Beijing each day and they take just 3 hours so I could do the whole journey in a day. I walk up to the train station for my second ordeal of the day at the ticket office. The queue is massive and it takes half an hour to get to the front but it is worth the wait. I walk away with tickets for the Pingyao-Taiyuan-Beijing journey on Friday. It’s sad in a way but the achievement of getting the ticket is the highlight of my day.......Chinese train station ticket offices are that stressful and that hard to get what you want or make yourself understood even! I pop into a restaurant opposite the train station and find the Spanish and Japanese guys I was sharing the dorm with having a meal so join them for food and a beer to celebrate getting my train ticket!

I have found the Chinese people very friendly and kind on the whole but a visit to the ticket office in a train station you see the worst of the Chinese. They will barge into you without the slightest apology (this also happens at most tourist attractions), they have no concept of personal space (this also happens at most tourist attractions) and they will try and push in front of you in the queue. And don’t even get me started on spitting and littering. Maybe this is what is required to get on in life in the world’s most populated country, but what happened to courteous behaviour? I don’t like it one bit.

Day 479: Wednesday 21st October - Wowed by brilliant Buddhist artistry at Longmen Caves

Luoyang needs rescuing. Not literally but I mean my visit to Henan’s second city does. A memorable journey here for the wrong reasons commenced matters; followed by a disappointing and ultimately unmemorable day yesterday at Shaolin; a hostel which is a hotel not a friendly, international backpacking community; and a city which despite its impressive history is another characterless Chinese city to round things off. Only one thing can save my visit to Luoyang being a wasted journey and that is Longmen Caves on the outskirts of the city. And save it, it does.

Luoyang was capital of China even before Xian had its day in 700 BC for a period of 500 years. It had its turn as the foremost city in the Middle Kingdom several times more through the 1000 years after Christ, and in all 13 dynasties had their capital in Luoyang until the tenth century. It is one of China’s true dynastic cities. No evidence remains in the modern city of the once great citadel and today it is a typical Chinese city with choking air pollution, crazy traffic and plenty of concrete. The only real clue to its magnificent past is at Longmen Caves, 13 kilometres south of the city.

I take a bus with a Dutch girl, Jantina to the caves. She arrived last night in the dorm and like me planned to see the caves today. The caves are in a beautiful setting, cut into the cliffs next to the river. The Longmen Caves comprise of 1300 caves adorned with 100,000 Buddhist images and statues, stretching almost a kilometre along the river in the limestone cliffs. Many experts consider them the artistic triumph of Buddhist stone carving. I’m no expert but I can appreciate the magnificent masterpieces of rock carving. This is art comparable with the most well-known In Europe: Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings. Sculpturing began in 473AD when the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved his capital from Datong to Luoyang, and continued for the next 200 years or so.

The masterpiece is the Ancestor Worshipping Cave or Fengxian Temple with several huge statue’s of Buddha, the largest being 17 metres high. This cave reminds me very much of Abu Simbel in Egypt in style except the carvings are of a different theme. But, both are hugely impressive stone monuments carved into rock cliffs. Longmen is every bit as impressive as the more celebrated Terracotta Army, or at least in my mind it is. This may not be a popular opinion and it may be caused by expectation. Today, I had little expectation about Longmen and earlier in the week I had sky high expectations of the Terracotta Army. It may also be due to the more manageable numbers of Chinese tourists here. At the Terracotta Army they spoilt the quiet reflection needed to fully appreciate the Terracotta Army. At Longmen, they are still out in their numbers but not to a ridiculous level.

Myself and Jantina spend the morning at Longmen before getting the bus back to Luoyang and getting lunch. I then help her with getting a train ticket after lunch. I have a bit of experience now of how to get what you want without speaking any Chinese. I draw a few pictures and even manage to write the city (Jinin) she wants to go to in Chinese. It takes me probably a couple of minutes to copy the Chinese characters from the guidebook but when we test it on the guy behind us in the queue he responds ‘Jinin’. I can write Chinese! I promptly raise my arms in the air and let off a loud cheer to celebrate much to his bemusement!!! These bloody foreigners.....crazy people!!! Jantina comes away with her ticket so another successful venture into a Chinese train ticket office. Once you have that experience under your belt you are prepared for anything that life can throw at you, believe me! Jantina and I both laugh as we share the nightmare visions we had of Chinese train stations before we started travelling. The reality is far from straightforward but even further from our exaggerated visions.

I now have the rest of the day to kill ahead of my train journey this evening and no common area to chill out in. Jantina suggests getting a drink which I’m up for as there is nothing better to do in the city. We can’t find a bar but we do find a cheap restaurant which sells beer equally as cheap (3 Yuan - 27 pence for a large bottle......bargain!!). We spend the afternoon chatting over a couple of beers. She has been to the Yungang Caves at Datong. This is still a maybe as a side trip from Beijing so I am interested in her opinion and comparison to Longmen. She rates Longmen higher and says Datong was a horrible city. That pretty much makes my mind up, one set of caves with Buddhist images is enough and I will content myself as having probably seen the best in China.

Of course when you meet other travellers you tell each other your story and how you have got to be where you are now. The part of the conversation with Jantina that will stick most in my mind is her story. She lost her husband to illness last year and is now doing her own journey in her late husband’s footsteps, a journey similar to one he did several years ago. She is travelling alone, which takes courage. My best friends said I had courage to make my journey alone. I shrugged it off at the time, but yes it does take courage to travel alone. You face much of the daily challenges of being in strange places and having to figure things out alone, you have to ride the rollercoaster of emotions without anybody to share them with fully and you don’t have anybody to look out for you like you do in the safety net of home life except yourself. Another thing you need in bundles to travel is energy. Travelling is no holiday despite what some of you may think, rather I think of it as one long journey. A journey of discovery......discovering new places, new cultures, meeting new people and discovering more about yourself. Digressing from the point somewhat, what was it again - energy. Yes I have expended much physical energy on my travels but I can only imagine what it must be like for Jantina. She will expend more emotional energy than physical visiting some of the places her late husband went to and doing it on her own without any friends or family for emotional support.....I am full of admiration for this girl’s courage.

I log in to my email to check the latest situation regarding Tibet. Angie the girl I’ve been in touch with on email now seems a definite so that is three and she knows an Austrian woman who may be interested (who Jantina has met and gives a good character reference for - small world) to make four which is my ideal number. But organising Tibet is no easy matter, there is much to-ing and fro-ing and the latest issue is can we move the start date back a day. Potentially I guess, I’m not rigid on that and so far I have a good feeling about the group. We still need to fix a definite itinerary, find an agency, agree a price and then organise the necessary permits. No wonder Tibet still maintains its mystique....getting there is no easy matter.

My train to Pingyao is almost 2 hours late but that cannot take the gloss off a good day and a nice end to my stay in Luoyang. At least I get to hang out in VIP class before I board the train and enjoy the 10 hour journey in soft sleeper class.

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