Luoyang and The Longmen Caves - Day 4 and 5

Our next destination would be the farthest away from Beijing, and slowly we’ll return our root closer and closer back to our original destination, Beijing.

Luoyang is a city in the Henan province and is 15 min away from our main attraction in the region, The Longmen Caves.

We’ll spend here 2 full days.

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Day 1 - Longmen Caves

After settling in our hotel, start your first morning with a trip to the Longmen Caves, you can take a taxi, about 15 min from the city or maybe you can find a guided trip that will take you there.

I heard that there might be also guided toors when you get there but I’m not sure, also there are entrance fees.

This place will take a few hours to see, so you shouldn’t make extra plans for this day.

This place is kind of a Chinese Petra (you’ll understand if you’ve ever been to Jordan), where everything is carved in stone.

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Where to Eat in Luoyang ?

After getting back from the caves I found 2 recommended restaurants in the city, you can pick one today and the other, the next day, oddly they’re both on the same street:

Zhenbutong Fandian - No. 359 Zhongzhou Donglu

The most famous restaurant in Luoyang. Known for the traditional "Water Banquet". Has a total of 24 dishes with an overview of regional specialties (pancake with egg ravioli, Baozi) at unbeatable prices, stairs lead past pictures of the celebrities who have eaten there. Try the soup swallows' nests (Mudan Yancai), delicious, for 20 yuan.

Mudan Ting – No. 15 Zhongzhou Xilu

Located on the 2^nd floor of the three-star Louyang Peony Hotel. Have English menus and 20 courses of various soups.

Zoom Out: 

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Day 2 – White Horse Temple (Baima Si)

This is China’s oldest Buddhist monastery, located 10 min east of town.

Take a taxi over there and walk around the complex.

When you’re back in town go eat at one of the restaurants recommended above, and check where you can buy a plane ticket to your next destination, Ji’nan, the capital of the Shandong region, our first stop on our way to Qufu.

Introduction

For years now I've been obsessed with travel, I've loved everything about it (maybe that's the Sagittarius in me, who knows...).

I was always a great navigator even though I'm a girl and could find any place anywhere in the world by just using a map (I'm meen without GPS). So maps became my friends, and used to have quite a lot of them in my car.

I hated asking for directions to a new location "just give me the address" became my motto and that was followed by "...you'll see, I'll get there, don't worry". I used to love seeing people's faces when I got there in a flash.

My love for navigating only increased when I discovered my obsession with travel.

My parents are to blame for this when they decided to take me with them for my 12th birthday on my first trip abroad. They were using a different kind of map, "travel guides".

Guess what... I was in love!

How can you explain an obsession, well mine is only by seeing my library of travel books, mostly of places I haven't been to yet and still dying to go to.

Through the years I joined my parents every year on their annual trip till I was 18, that's when I first experienced this on my own, when me and a friend from high school planed our first trip to after high school.

Planning vacations by locations and maps became my thing and now I'm the one planning my parents’ trips.

The reason I'm starting a blog now is mainly selfish, I need a paperless forum to plan trips and keep feeding my obsession, and secondly people always ask for my help in this matter so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone :)

I hope I'll be able to do this, we'll see how it goes, basically what I'm gonna do is try to show different travel locations in the world and how I "attack" them, this is the time to say that I take no responsibility for any place I mention and any root or decision. 

This is how I'd plan a trip before I've been there, using maps and travel books. So take that in mind. Also I have no idea if anyone else is doing something similar on the web but it's worth a try... :)