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Just got back from China, spend the New Year there. To be exact was in Xian for the New Year. Did a road trip there with the boyfriend, travelled by train from Beijing to Xian stopping by at Luoyang for a couple of nights.

It was an experience. There were ups and downs, like on every other road trips, but the 'ups' outnumbered the 'downs' so definitely a good time.

Visited all the main sites at Xian, well most of them and will try to highlight them here.

Hope I'll be able to write up more later. Cheers and Happy Chinese New Year to all those that celebrate it! I know I'm looking forward to it.

Buddhist Sculptures at Longmen Caves

Stopping by at Luoyang to see the Longmen Caves was worth it. And it was pretty easy to get to.

The most famous landmark at Xian. We didn't go up there though, didn't have enough time. Actually there were days when we took it easy, walked about the local shopping malls, warming up over a cup of hot chocolate at Starbucks (it was cold!) that we didn't actually have time to visit all the sites. Hey but no worries right, can always do these places the next time I visit.

We stayed here for 2 nights whilst in Xian and I was totally satisfied. Our room with the attached bathroom was clean, the heating was in perfect condition and the hostel was centrally located with most of the tourist spots within walking distance. Staff were really nice as well, and they have their own restaurant and pub.
Totally recommend this place to whoever that's visiting Xian. Plus, the hostel is fantastically furnished. Love the old style furnishings they've kept on.

I really liked spending the afternoon at the Longmen Caves in Luoyang, it was a very beautiful garden area and many of the buddhist relics were simply quite astounding. Cost us RMB80 per person to visit but totally worth it.
To get here, just go to the train station at Luoyang. With you facing the train station, the bus stop you'll be looking for will be on your right. Hop onto the bus 81. As I recall, it's about RMB1.50 only. It'll also take you on a ride across town. It's nice so you can actually see the town a bit.

Buddhist relics found at the Luoyang Caves, it's actually a hillside filled with these carvings and sculptures. Quite magnificient . Sad though, when you see those which are headless as during the war times when the government was weak, many of these beautiful sculptures were destroyed or removed (especially the heads) and moved to homes / gardens of the rich.

This little golden dragon I found I think at the Shanxi Museum. During the winter season, entrance is free. Just have to queue up to get the ticket to enter though. A total of 3500 tickets given away from 15 Nov onwards (til when I forgot to..sorry). From 9am onwards, 2000 tickets for the morning session and then another 1500 tickets from 2pm onwards for the afternoon session. Musuem closes at 5pm.

Took this at the Terracotta museum. The details found on this sculpture was really astounding. If you see this at the site, you'll even find details at the sole of the statue's shoe.