Luoyang
We got an overnight train to Luoyang. Luoyang is home to the Dragon Gate Grottoes, a series of caves similar in idea to the Cloud Ridge Caves in Datong. We hadn't planned a stop in Luoyang, but ended up there because of restrictions as to which train tickets were available. The caves were a slightly different style to those in Datong, with some very large figures in one particular cave.
People often talk about great places they've been to that weren't on their planned itinerary, and Luoyang was definitely one of those.
We had a great experience in a small noodle shop near the station in Luoyang. We'd bought noodles and were sitting down starting eating them, when one of the guys who worked there came over to me and came out with a stream of Chinese. He seemed perplexed that I didn't understand, but went away. A little later he came back with a bit of paper, on which he'd written out his sentence. He seemed even more bemused that I couldn't even read (which would have been a much harder task for me even if I could have understood him speaking). They were really tasty noodles, and made and cooked out on the street, as we'd had before.
