Tuesday 13 We woke up in the morning, drew the curtains and looked out on to the most amazing scenery. The Silver Caves Our day started with a visit to the Silver caves. These caves are about 2,000m long and the various rock formations were spectacular despite the garish lighting. The Cormorant Man I had watched a documentary about the fishermen and using cormorants to catch fish so was curious to see. The fishermen drive the birds into the water…
Monday 12 August This is the capital of China’s southwest Sichuan Province and is famed for being the home of the giant pandas. The Giant Pandas are found only in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. There are fewer than 2,000 with 70% distributed within the territory of Sichuan Province. Chengdu Panda Base was founded in 1987. It started with 6 giant pandas that were rescued from the wild. The base also cares for other rare and endangered wild animals. At…
Saturday 10 – Xian City Wall We arrived in Xian early evening on Friday 9 August and explored a local park near the hotel on our own. The next morning we set off for a walk along the city wall. Xian is one of China’s former capitals, and one of the few cities in China to have retained its city walls. In the early evening we visited the Muslim quarter with its bazaars and Great Mosque. We ended the day…
Friday 9 August – Longmen Grottos The Longmen Caves, or grottos, were started in the late 5th century after Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang. They stretch for 1km along the west bank of the Yi River. The work continued for 500 years and there are 1,350 caves, 750 niches and 40 pagodas which, together, contain some 110,000 sculptures. Over the centuries the caves have suffered from significant vandalism and looting. This started with…
Thursday 8 August – the Shaolin Temple We spent what seemed a rather long night on the train but the boys enjoyed it. On arrival in Luoyang, we went to the hotel for breakfast. This is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River. Situated on the central plain of China, Luoyang is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, and is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China After breakfast we went…