2025-12-14 Luoyang

December 15, 2025

Another city, more surprises

A very early start this morning, getting up at 0445 to get on the 0712 train to Luoyang, the first stop on the Xi'an to Xiamen high speed train. The Didi to the train station sped easily through the deserted, dark Sunday morning, with light traffic and the street vendors just setting up on the bleak looking and cold corners.

The train station was also almost deserted, at least in comparison to earlier trips, and our particular train was also very lightly populated, I assume as it was the originating station, and it would fill up as it got closer to Xiamen on the coast.

Our trip took about an hour and twenty minutes, most of the time speeding around 300 km/hr, so we covered quite a distance. The outside temperature hovered around 0 degrees, and there was a light snow covering once the sun rose and we could see the surrounding countryside.

After arriving in Luoyang, a much bigger city than I was expecting, though I should know by now that China is the land of excess. A longish Didi ride (around 40 minutes) got us from the train station to our guesthouse located near the old centre of the city.

A short stop there, and then it was off via a local bus to the oldest Buddhist temple in China, the White Horse Temple,

which is a grand complex of pavailions and also contains additional Buddhist temples built by the Indian and Myanmar governments, and a Thai temple complex built by a Thai billionaire, donated in recognition of the significance of this site to the devolopment of world wide Buddhism.

Lunch was partaken at a vegetarian buffet restaurant next to the temple complex, but outside of it, an all you can eat place, for about $15. This had delicious varieties of vegatarian foods, and we made good use of it, as we had missed breakfast this morning.

Another long Didi ride to the Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum, with above and below ground sections. I may have slightly misled Isaac as to what to expect, as he was excited to see dead bodies in the underground section; however he was happy enough seeing the chambers and coffins. Another extensive site, with an actual burial chamber open to the public within a hill.

Back to the guest house, and then walking to dinner at a restaurant, where we over-ordered (in defence the pictures on the menu showed dishes that seemed a lot smaller than the ones that turned up), and so had more to eat than strictly necessary. At this restaurant, the service was exemplary, the wait staff being very attentive, but not obvious. The food was delicious, and there were a dancing girl and a singer too!

A walk back in the dark via the old city, where we saw a brief aerial show of a girl distributing what supposed to be peonie petals while being 'flown' back and forth over a lake while suspended from cables.

Lots of people were out and about on this Sunday night, even in the cold, to have dinner, or just to parade in period costune, a very big thing in China, at least in some areas.