Kaifeng

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Kaifeng is good, unlike all other Chinese cities weve been to town planners have restricted the hight of buildings to three stories, resulting in an atmospheric humanist enviroment. Charm is especially abundant at 6.15 each evening as a night market opens in the town centre creating a bustling gastronomic extravaganza with speciality foods from all over the country. Weve enjoying some delicious Uighur kebabs, spiced lamb roti, baozi (as opposed to jaozi), hand pulled noodles, and an unidentified strange looking but tasty desert of fruits, seeds, nuts and herbs swimming in a milky ectoplasm: all in one day and two nights!

With the little time leftover from our eating weve visited the tourist sights. Longting park, including dragon pavilion, turned out to be the worlds naffest attraction: Gaudy luminously technicolour banners and floats, and an awful re-enactment of royal Kaifeng gone by, destroyed the ambience of what could easily be a charming place. Qingting temple, an old daoist hangout, was pretty average but was made humourus by a windy Chinese lady who belched as she kowtowed. And the market of whose name i forgot which sold everything you didnt want.

Kaifeng is charming for its ambience with the night market easily the star attraction.

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