Travel to China (4)

After a short stop-over for a night in Zhengzhou, an important industrial crossroads for trains and planes in Henan province, which by the way has no real interest for tourists, we headed towards the city of Kaifeng and its' suburbs, located some 80 kilometers away from Zhengzhou.

Kaifeng has the typical nice flavor of small Chinese cities : lively old roads welcome you. The history of this provincial city has been marked with outstanding events, not only dramatic ones such as invasions and Yellow River floods, but also prestigious, as Kaifeng was the capital city of the 5 Dynasties (905-960) and the North Song Dynasty (960-1124). From the 12th century, the city had been the home of a big Jewish community which has now almost disappeared; Matteo Ricci met with this community in the beginning of the 17th century.

The Iron Pagoda is located North of Kaifeng and it is well worth a visit. It was built in 1049 and has 13 floors (or 56 meter-high), This octogonal tower was named "Iron Pagoda" because of the red colour of its enamelled tiles covering the bricks.

This public park is very enticing and is one of the greatest examples of well-arranged space for the Chinese people's leisure. One attraction is the beautiful shrubs and bushes which have been cut in the shape of different animals.

Another thing not to be missed is the walk around the marvelous small ornamental lakes or take a pedal crafts to explore some parts of the lakes. When we were there, small wooden stalls were in construction. This park is a really interesting visit which help us to appreciate how nature can be well arranged by man.

The entrance of Long Ting Park

The bridge between Yan Jia and Pang Jia lakes

A dragon-boat to sail on the lakes

Not far away from Kaifeng, more precisely some 30 kilmeterss from Luoyang, you can visit the Mount Shaoshi tourist zone. This zone contains some interesting spots: the one I preferred was the visit of Shaolin Temple. "Shao Lin" means "small forest" in Chinese. This temple is well known for being the birthplace of martial arts. Quite often, even nowadays, we can have the chance to see groups of young Chinese practicing kung-fu very seriously with a long stick. Shaolin Monastery was built in 495 under the Hou Wei Dynasty but it was later, under the Sui Dynasty, that the monks started to develop martial arts. The main building of the Temple, dating from the Ming Dynasty, is in good condition and has beautiful frescoes. There we had the chance to communicate (in English in spite of our knowledge of Chinese!) with the monks who seem to appreciate the visit of foreign tourists.

A souvenir picture at the main entrance of Shaolin Temple

Inside Shaolin Temple

Your Mount Shaoshi turist zone ticket will allow you to visit the Quan Zhou cinema (also called "Every Day" cinema) as well as the Shifang Monastery. Also worthwhile, when the weather permits, is the ride on the Song Yang cableway, which will take you to a hight where you can take a really nice walk in the forest.