How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : China Trip Report, Day 9: Luoyang Longmen Grotto, White Horse Temple

Day 9, March 24, 2018, Saturday

We wanted to see the Longmen Grottoes and the White Horse temple, both of which are near Luoyang. Regretfully no time for Shaolin temple!

The magnificence of the carvings in the Longmen Grottoes ranks the first among the three most significant Buddhist sculptures (the Longmen Grottoes, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province in north-west China, and the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shaanxi Province) in China

Xi'an North Station 西安北站 Xī'ān běi zhàn to Luoyang Longmen 洛阳龙门火车站 Luòyáng lóngmén huǒchē zhàn is 380 km, the high speed trains taking 1h 40 min.

Starting 6.20am, 7.20 etc. over 50 pairs of high speed trains serve the route daily. 170RMB.

The following trains were our options and we reached the North station by taxi at 7,20 am:

Xi'an North to Luoyang Longmen trains (西安北 – 洛阳龙门) March 24, Saturday

G 1900 7.38 - 9 1h 30m $27

G 1844 7.43- 9.37 1h 54m

G 2002 8.10-9.49 1H 40M 174CNY

G 1712 8.15 1h 40m

G 1896 8.40

We stood in line at the separate building selling tickets and could only buy tickets for the 8.44 train. We considered the 1. 40 min ride and the 1 hour time it takes to go to our hotel from the North station and decided on the 16.44 train back and bought the return tickets. (Next day we had a morning flight to Guilin). Earlier we had considered buying the return in Longmen station but realized that will be foolish. Trains run full!

There are 2 train stations in Luoyang. Longmen station is for high speed train. Longmen Grottoes are located 12 km in the south of Luoyang city center and 5 km south of Longmen Railway Station.

So it saves both time and money to visit Longmen Grottoes directly from Longmen Railway Station. The taxi ride from Longmen Railway Station to Longmen Grottoes costs between RMB20 and 30 and takes 10 minutes. Or take the public bus No. 67 or 71 within close proximity to Longmen Railway Station (bus fare RMB1).

At the Longmen station, a taxi guy approached us and kept pestering us. We just wanted a ride to the grottoes but he convinced us to engage him for the day at 250 CNY. He again convinced us to do White horse temple first as it's further away from the train station. All this with his translation app into which he spoke in chinese, with us typing our reply in our tablet app.

So we reached the temple, he parked across the road and walked us to the entrance and helped us buy the tickets.

White Horse Temple 白马寺（baimasi) :

7.30 to 17.30;

taxi from longmen grottos 60 CNY

24km from white horse temple to Luoyang Longmen station. Taxi takes 35 min.

The White Horse Temple in Luoyang is the first Buddhist temple in China, the important cradle of China’s Buddhism, which was introduced into China from India in 68AD in Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD – 220 AD) , the same year when the white horse temple was built.

The name of “White Horse Temple” was given by Emperor Ming in Eastern Dynasty to honor two white horses carrying the two monks, namely Matanga and Gobharana, who came from India to Luoyang to translate Buddhist scriptures into Chinese language.

White horse statue here

The main buildings in the temple compound were rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912)

The entrance fee is RMB 50. The ticket office is by the entrance, which is still about over 100 meters leading to Shanmen, the real gate to the White Horse Temple.

We were keen on the international section. So saw those first. AWESOME! Gifts from India, Myanmar and Thailand.

We ran thru a few pavilions in the main temple on our way back,

after a little confusion retraced our way back to the car park a little after 12.

Our driver awaited with 2 little bottles of cold drinking water and then drove us to the grottoes.

Parked the car and walked us thru the initial passage of 2 km, helped with tickets and told us to be back by 3.45,

Time was 1.

buses and taxis take us to the west entrance to a 2 km pedestrian commercial street leading to the north entrance to Longmen Grottoes (on the west hill)

4 attractions – Caves on the west hill, caves on the east hill, Xiangshan Temple (on the east hill) and Bai Juyi’Tomb (on the east hill).

Longmen Grottoes 龙门石窟:

8-18, 100Y (including grottoes on East and West Hills, Xiangshan Temple and Bai Garden)

There are more than 100,000 stone statues here, varying from 2-centimeter to 17.14-meter high, and extending for about 1,094 yards along both banks of Yi River.

Longmen Grottoes are dotted 1km along Longmen Hill (west hill) and Xianshan (east hill) which are opposite to each other and cut through by Yi River running from south to north.

Most of the grottoes are on the Longmen Hill, hence Longmen Grottoes. “Longmen” means “Dragon Gate”, indicating the “gate” formed by the two hills standing by the both sides of Yi River.

The grotto was first carved in the North Wei Dynasty, over 1,500 years ago, and was expanded through the succeeding East and West Wei Dynasties, North Qi Dynasty, North Zhou Dynasty, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and was finally completed in the North Song Dynasty.

500 years of renovation and expansion have created this UNESCO Heritage site. The most significant chiseling activities happened in the Tang and North Wei Dynasties, which lasted over 150 years.

There are about 2,100 grottoes and niches, over 40 crematory urns, 3,600 inscribed stone tablets and over 100,000 Buddhist images and statues. The most grottoes and caves are on the west hill, while the Xiangshan Temple and Baijuyi's (a famous Chinese ancient poet) Tomb are on the east hill.