Another Traveling day…

 

 (Mark)

First of all, let it be known that there was a mistake in the blog; I wrote the entry on the Terra-Cotta Warriors, not Lianna. As such, it was I that made the mistake in the entry: it was Chiang Kai Shek who was kidnapped at the hot springs, not Sun Yat Sen. Also, I think I spelled “Shelob” wrong in my Stone Forest entry. Sorry LOTR fans! I’m just full of mistakes!

So anyway, today we had a slightly early start, as we had to check out of the hotel at 8:45. Ew. At around 9, Obama LAMA said goodbye to Richard, who refused to accept our tips, which instead became donations to Peng Liu. We got into our private van, which was surprisingly spacious, and set out for our 5 hour drive to Luoyang. The drive itself was rather uninteresting, though thankfully quite smooth. We stopped about two hours in for a brief rest, and to check out the Yellow River.

The Yellow River gets its name from its color: a deep, muddy brown. So why not the “Brown River?” I don’t know. Anyway, it is brown mainly because of pollution and dirt from upstream. Essentially, China has three “levels.” Tibet, in the west, is the highest of the three. The Yellow River flows from the second level, snaking through many different provinces. Prior to the 12^th century, all of the capitals of China were located in or near the gorge around the Yellow River. I’m not completely sure why, because George, our new guide, told us that the river is impossible to navigate, as it’s so difficult to tell the depth of the water at any given point. Even today, most boats don’t risk it. Maybe they did before the 12^th century? Maybe back then it was deeper, allowing it to actually be useful for trade. As we drove away from the area, we passed by some large hills, which George informed us were completely dirt—no rock. In the spring, the wind blows dirt off of these hills, making the air very dusty, and adding to the color of the river.

After another three hours of driving, we finally reached Luoyang and the Longmen Grottoes. The Grottoes are basically a series of caves and niches, carved into the mountainside, featuring thousands upon thousands of Buddhas. Dating back to about 1,500 years ago, many of the limestone carvings have fallen apart (generally first the head goes), or else have been stolen or bought by museums. A relatively new pathway allowed us to walk up right next to many of the caves, including the Thousand-Buddha cave and the Fifteen-Thousand-Buddha cave, each boasting its respective number of Buddha carvings. In the Grottoes, the carvings range from a mere 2 centimeters to 70 meters tall. The tallest one is one of the highest in the mountain, in its own little clearing with a few other large carvings around it. Originally, to get up to it, one had to follow a long, snaking, and often-steep path of the hillside, but stairs have now been constructed for easy access. There was a relatively large cave in the way of the stairs, however, so they just went ahead and built the stairs around it, such that it juts out halfway up. It was really cool being there, we didn’t see any other westerners the whole time. George told us that very few Americans ever come to the Grottoes, and only a small number of Europeans. No world leaders have ever visited the Grottoes during any visits to China, and even Mao never came.

After the Grottoes, we headed into the city to a nice hotel for dinner, though we had to sit around and wait an hour for the dining room to be open. We ate in a buffet-style revolving restaurant on the 25^th floor of the hotel, which was pretty good. The food all looked and smelled delicious, but it certainly wasn’t the best tasting dinner we’ve had all trip. After dinner we piled back into the van for another hour-long ride to the Shaolin Temple. Our first impressions are relatively good—the “hotel” is just a section of the student dorms reserved for visitors. Each room only has two power outlets, and no internet, but I think we’ll all survive… Alex included. We’re just happy that we DO have private bathrooms, even if they’re not the cleanest we’ve seen all trip (Viz, you’ve totally been spoiling us in some of these hotels). As for me, I’m just hoping that the martial arts will be enough to take my mind off of the living conditions… looking forward to it!