Tashi delay,

Finally we can bring to you some photos from the Longmen caves. We had a great ride there from Laoyang (see K's earlier post) it was fantastic to ride fast without the bikes loaded up, in fact it was rather refreshing!

We could ride all the way there on the wide cycle/bus lane - it was frustrating to share it with the buses though and whenever K and I got the opportunity we chose to show them (the buses that is) that cycling is still the fastest mode of transport in town :-) Ahh, the self righteousness of the cyclist :-)


Looking out from the bridge en route towards a futuristic looking skyline of downtown Laoyang.


Onto the caves of Longmen - surprisingly no other tourists were harmed or barged out of the way in the taking of these photos :-)

Despite the high volume of people at the site, there is no dispute that the statues are still amazing. The coloured lotus design (a symbol of purity) on the roof of this cave is beautiful. On the left of the picture you can see thousands of very small Buddhas.

At the entrance of the Thousand Buddha cave there was another wall of tiny Buddhas. I would need a lot of cups of coffee to get this lot carved out...


The caves were endless, some were empty - the statues having been taken over time and have ended up in museums around the world or in private collections. Many caves contained Buddhas with smashed heads - such is the fate of Buddhist statues by assailants not only here but also throughout Asia.


This was the main statue of Sakyamuni, the carving was amazing. Naturally everybody wanted to get their shot.


...and close ups.




It was possible to have your photograph taken at any number of places at Longmen and then have it turned into a badge or a clock. In front of the main Buddha statue was the most popular (with all of the other tourists in the background too). We did see quite a few people that were wearing badges of themselves standing in front of the caves.


More smashed statues. The lotus design carved into the roof of this cave was also beautiful.


Detail of carving above a cave entrance.


Some of the caves still had traces of their original colouring.


There is much repair work and restoration being carried out. We did not have access to all of the caves as a result.


Considering that there were hundreds of caves, it is no surprise that it took hundreds of years to complete this work.




In order to see the many caves there was a maze of stairs to walk up and down.


A view of the Yellow river and the bridge that one crosses to get to the caves on the opposite side of the embankment.


There were things to look at other than the caves...

Fish in a pond.


Regimented displays of flowering pot plants :-)



There is a natural spring at Longmen, many people washed their hands and face in the cool water - including me :-)


As with all of the tourists sites that we have visited, there were plenty of security cameras. It was a scary experience at the Shaunglin Si when the camera also had a loudspeaker which unexpectedly shouted at us "no photos" - it made me jump out of my skin as well as look around everywhere expecting to see a guard with a megaphone.


Ah ha - a police golf buggy. It would be entertaining to see one of these in a police chase :-)


This made us giggle. It was a smokers booth, smoking was not allowed outside of these booths.


If one could not face the "long" walk to the cave site it was possible to jump into one of the many electric buggies (for a fee). Along with a shopping mall that you are forced to walk through, these make up the formula for every four star tourist site in China :-)


For some reason it was deemed necessary to place this large model of lotuses in the middle of the river which split the site in two. I guess that it was to help create atmosphere - along with the traditional music and occasional gong sound that was played over the loud speakers.


Looking across the Yellow river at the main site of the caves, the rock looked like swiss cheese. You can also see the hordes :-)


The least visted east bank.


..and finally we spotted this wee one amongst the crowds. Split pants - every mothers dream/ nightmare? You decide :-)