london to australia overland

10th Stop: Luòyáng, Henan Province, China

Posted by London to Australia on November 23, 2011

Posted in: 01. From London, UK to Sydney, Australia, 03. Asia without crossing any water. Tagged: china, london to australia overland, longmen grottoes, luoyang, without flying. 2 Comments

Temperature: 6 degreesC

We head East to Luòyáng, another of the four great ancient capitals of China. We arrive to find that our hostel is in fact someone’s flat in a dodgypart of town 10km away from the city centre where we find out how many Chinese people really live! It is run by a father and son, who usually spend all day internet gaming. Because we stayed over for two nights they had to share a bed.
It is worth noting however that the first night was a historic one, when Chloé was given a Chinese name by the father, "uncle" and "nephew" after dinner! As below…

金花

We go to visit the incredible UNESCO World Heritage listed Longmen Grottoes, which are one of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Tens of thousands of statues of Buddha and his disciples, were carved into caves excavated from the limestone cliffs.

: a view of the dragons door

: big buddha and little buddha boy

: chloe thinks this jug is full of water and not chinese spirit

: father son uncle aunt and nephew greet us at this most peculiar hostel

: impossibly cute dog

: man doing tai chi with intent in the park behind chloe

: the longmen grottoes

: we have no idea where we are staying

9th Stop: Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China

Posted by London to Australia on November 23, 2011

Posted in: 01. From London, UK to Sydney, Australia, 03. Asia without crossing any water. Tagged: china, london to australia overland, terracotta warriors, without flying, xian. Leave a comment

Temperature: 11 degreesC

We continue South West to Xi’an. A more friendly city than Beijing and one of the four ancient capitals of China with a population of more than 8 million people.
We go to see the Terracotta Army like all good tourists do. Despite the fascinating story surrounding them, i.e. a probably mad emperor who ordered the warriors and horses to be mde in clay to accompany him after death, we found that the exhibition of them was probably done better at the British Museum a few years ago. Bear in mind that neither of us even saw the exhibition at the British Museum.

: a close up of a warrior and his horse

: a man lights a fire in a street with a kettle for a pressure cooker and willing to cook anything you bring

: a relief to arrive at yet another beautiful hostel

: some signs are just not necessary

: spot kangaroo

: stephen helps a lady collect her freshly cooked puffed rice

: the terracotta army

8th Stop: Pingyao, Shanxi Province, China

Posted by London to Australia on November 17, 2011

Posted in: 01. From London, UK to Sydney, Australia, 03. Asia without crossing any water. Tagged: china, london to australia overland, pingyao, without flying. Leave a comment

Temperature: 7 degreesC

After the sights we’ve already seen, we didn’t expect to be this pleasantly surprised again!

Pingyao is a Chinese city in central Shanxi province, about 715 km from Beijing – a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a population of 450,000.It retains its city layout from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and more than 300 sites in or near the city have ancient ruins.
The whole of our stay is characterised by heavy mist over the town. The rising damp comes halfway up the buildings, and you can see the bricks decaying quickly. We’re glad to see this place now, because it will soon be ruined by tourism! We found some very local places to eat, but the Old Town seems to be heading towards being a museum rather than a living community.