The Longmen Grottoes (lóngmén shíkū, 龙门石窟)
NOV-DEC 2011

The Ancestor Worshipping Cave (Fengxian or Li Zhi cave),

the largest cave at Longmen Grottoes

 

Literarily translated as Dragon's Gate Grottoes or Longmen Caves, it is located about 5 km south of Luoyang. Longmen Grottoes is one of three largest grottoes in China, the other two being Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and Yungang Grottoes in Datong.

 

Entrance to Longmen Grottoes

under Manshui Bridge over Yi River

We took an early bus to Longmen Grottoes (Bus 81) in the breath-choking hazy morning; the fare is an embarassingly few yuan or kuai for a seemingly long trip.

Thick haze enveloping Manshui Bridge over River Yi

The sheer size of Longmen Grottoes is reflected by the following stats: It houses about 100,000 statues of Buddha and his disciples, which ranges from 25 mm to 17 m in height, within the 1,400 caves. In addition, there are well over 60 Buddhist pagodas and 2,500 stelae inscriptions. Wow !! There's no way we could cover the whole area in a day; moreover, there's that possibility we may just be lost in one of the caves?

Here are some pics for you to chew on ...

 

Massive sculptures in the main cave

And now, a silent prayer for peace in this chaotic world ...

Praying to the Big Vairocana of Longmen Buddha Grottoes

See you and till we meet again ... adios, as this deity seems to be saying ;)

As usual, every successful (or so we thought) trip should end with a good meal, and Zhen Bu Tong is where we whet our appetite.

 Zhen bu tong

Zhen bu tong (which means "really different") is the restaurant famous for the dish most peculiar and unique to Luoyang ... the Water Feast, a total of 24 dishes accompanied by different soups. Of course we did not try all the 24 dishes; that would have been an impossibly gargantuan effort by any standards for two diners. In fact it would have been suicidal knowing how big BIG the servings in China are! We settled for two soup dishes ... luckily.

And here are the two unique Luoyang dishes for you to "chew" on ... ;)