Itinerary

Day 1: White horse temple, Dikengyuan cave house, Longmen Grottoes.

Take a night train, arrive in Luoyang next morning, picked up by bus, drive to white horse temple, this solemn and tranquil temple covered with green ancient trees is regarded as the originating court and the cradle of Chinese Buddhism by the Buddhist

Later drive to a small village, where they still have the very interesting house, basically its a big square pit as a courtyard, and dig some caves into the steep wall served as room, locally called Dikengyuan, we will visit a bound feet 96 years old lady who has lived her whole life in the underground cave house. Surely she has lots of stories to tell.  

The city of Luoyang, is renowned as the city of peonies and according to the old saying the Luoyang Peony is the best in the world. The peony, representing elegance and poise, is generally considered by the people as the national flower of China. Local government holds a famous peony festival this time of year, the peonies blossom all over the city, after a nice local cuisine in the old quarter of Luoyang, we will enter a park, join the locals, appreciate the most beautiful and rare kinds of peonies in China.

We will visit the UNESCO Site-Grottoes later in the afternoon, spanning a length of over 1,000 meters on the hillsides along the Yi River, Today, there are still 2345 caves and niches, 100,000 Buddhist images ranging in size from 2 cm to 17.14 meters, it is reputed as the three greatest stone sculpture treasure houses in China.

Later drive drive to Dengfeng, stay overnight in this small town below the Shaolin temple.