We traveled through Henan province for the first half of our trip. Everyone's host parents warned them that Henan was cold and "bu hao," not good, but we all assumed they were just being pretentious Beijingers who only liked rich provinces. Unfortunately for us, they weren't lying. We dubbed the first half of our trip "Louchang" because no one could remember the name of the cities we stayed in. Something tells me if what we saw in each city was more memorable it would be easier to remember their names.
After an overnight train ride we arrived in Louyang where we were warmly greeted by Mr. Lee, our tour guide. He was super nice, but had a tendency to tell looong jokes that weren't all that funny (whenever I'd laugh at one, Becky would glare at me), and talk too much. We had some good conversations though, such as why rush hour was called rush hour even though everyone was driving really slow. He had a lot of questions like that.
Louyang used to be a big deal in China. It was the second capital of something like eight dynasties in a row a thousand years ago, but not much has happened since. Our first stop was the Longmen Caves -- a rock home to over 10,000 buddhas carved into the limestone.
The next day we drove to Zhengzhou, I think, I can't really remember, and went to the Shaolin Temple, famous for pagodas and kungfu. At this point, however, Shaolin was the third or fourth temple we'd seen in the last 36 hours, which may have ruined its appeal.
Henan was cold and wet, and the hotels tended to be the same. Without heat, the five of us (Carolyn and Rebecca were having their own adventure with an old friend of theirs, Mr. He) huddled together in the same room: Elias and Marcus in one twin size bed and Becky, Hannah and me in the other. That night gave birth to the Cozy Party, what we call any night when we all opt to have a sleepover in one room.
Waking up was easier that morning knowing we'd soon be out of Henan. Our plane to Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, left that night around 8 p.m. We made a stop in Kaifeng, which resembled a smaller Louyang. It is most famous for a painting of ancient Kaifeng and for an emperor who was very nice to his subjects. We went to what we thought was his house, but then found out later that it was actually a replica built eight years ago.
A guy blowing drinking kersosene about to blow fire at a fair in Kaifeng. I've never seen a man look more uncomfortable:
A cute Chinese baby licking a temple:
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