http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Henan en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:54:49 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:54:49 +0000 KaiFeng Henan ChinaKaiFeng is a small yet old city in the eastern Henan Province in China. Itrsquos only about an hour and a half from Xuzhou on the fast train. In May we along with another friend of ours decided to take a trip there. Honestly the only reason we went there was because our friend Jane was taking care of the tickets and had done all the research already. So with Jane a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Kaifeng/blog-445961.html After a very long and backwards route our sleeper bus arrived in Luoyang at 04.20 in the dark so after waiting for daybreak as well as our own brains to begin working we took bus 81 to the Longmen caves about an hour away. Also known as the dragon grottoes they are rock carvings created about 1200 years ago and took 400 years to complete.A highlight was the 17m high Buddha particularly impr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Luoyang/blog-424585.html Last week we took a week of leave and went on holiday to Henan Province.Our Chinese friends and students were distinctly unimpressed that we had chosen Henan for our holiday over anywhere else in China. Especially as at first when we were pronouncing the name of the province wrongly they often mistook us for saying Hainan the beautiful tropical island province in the south where very rich Chin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-406751.html We made it to take Melinda and her boyfriend to go with us to Kaifeng. The train was sick. It was sooo crowded. I donrsquot know how but we had to stand about 2 hours before we get to the destination station. Itrsquos the city with the Legendary Judge Bao. The city has more cultural ambience than most developing cities in China. We went around the town then had a lunch at a crowded restaurat. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Kaifeng/blog-374440.html My first outside Beijing trip. At this point I havenrsquot picked up enough Mandarin to do a trip to out of town. So glad I have my fluent mandarin pal who has been taking care of me since the day I got in Beijing going with me. Well actually I was going with him. We bought the train tickets to Henan province. My first time on a train with sleepers. We got the upper ones. The trainrsquos at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-374078.html Some how this one slipped by me. I thought I had documented our trip to see Charles and Mary and just needed to add photos but I find no entry. This was an amazing trip so I can't leave it out Charles was one of my students in 2004. He chose the adjective of Charming and ever since has been Charming Charles. He definitely lives up to his name His wife Mary joined us part way thru the c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-313716.html So Muriel wanted to know what happened to the visas and the money. Well the money problem was to plague us all the way home. We were using Megan's credit card while there which only had a 400.00 credit limit. We had to make payments on it more than once and payments were posted slowly We ended up getting enough money to shop our last day in Beijing but left Beijing and arrived in America p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-310451.html Shaolin temple is located in songshan mountain zhengZhou cityHenan province.It is a amazing place for the people all over the world. It is also famous for the shaolin kungfu and zen buddhism. Leave zhengzhou railway station you can take the city bus from zhengzhou to deng feng where is the shaolin temple located.it will take you one hour to there.about the hotel do not worry it is also chea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Zhengzhou/blog-310079.html Tonight we get on the fast train 11pm to 7am to Beijing. It is with a mixture of happiness and sadness that I spend my last day in Xinyang. I have so many good friends that I leave here. Some I know from past experience I will never see again and also many I may never hear from again. I am sure the dear friends like Yarna our Chinese princess and Charles the charming and Mary always so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-308138.html Last night I spent a pretty sleepless night strange bed we are now moved into my friend Yarna's apartment in Xinyang pretty bad thunderstorm and lots of worries about whether today's monetary transaction would go thru of course it didn't I will spare you the details and just give the essentials. Two weeks ago Megan and I went to immigration to see about an extension on our visa. By our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-307480.html WOW we go and go and go. I have had no time to post entries or pictures. Teaching was over yesterday Friday so I can no longer post pictures. It won't work here at the internet cafe. We moved out of our hotel into Yarna's apartment down the street. She lives in another city but her husband bought an apartment for then in Xinyang so they have a place to stay when they need it. Today we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-307117.html Sadly the video that was suppose to be on here did not download. I will have to see if one of my students will send it to me it came of someone else's camera. Last week we took a field trip to a park . . . I will tell you more soon. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-306537.html Life has been changed for me since 2007.I worked to be an english tour guide for more than two years.Look backi found many feelingly mood around me that is right All my tourrists arround me giving too much care and good memory. Even the time has pass.But the memory will stay in my heart forever. I can not remember how many times i have been to shao lin templelong men caves.But everytime http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Zhengzhou/blog-306282.html After a busy start flying into Beijing sightseeing training traveling to Xinyang 10 days of teaching straight and then off on an unexpected adventure that included a 4 hours bus ride one way my first night staying in a Chinese home and an amazing four hour trek in the mountains and a million stairs back out of the canyon today was an odd one for me. Megan headed off this morning wit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-304714.html As I have said MANY times days run together so I am not sure what days these were but here are some pictures of my students and our work in the classroom. They are a great group. They work hard and play hard too. We have lots of fun and I hope they are learning a lot too I will tell you more about them and post some pictures soon. Bye for now. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-304596.html The days all run together now but I think Tuesday still Monday in America a few of our students took us to lunch Charlette Gillian Jonny and Victor. We had a great lunch. They fed us well. Okay I have added pictures to this and captions to all the pictures. Tomorrow I will download some more pictures for you. About another 100 or so. It has been a busy couple of days and I have some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-304595.html Thursday one of my students from 4 years ago Charming Charles came to fetch Megan and I to take us to his home. After lunch and pei joi beer and a game of Chinese Chess where I got beaten VERY badly we headed to the bus ride. Due to lack of communication Charles thought Megan and I were going to stay with him and his wife Mary for the whole weekend. Charles's English is pretty good o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-304593.html I have not had time to post entries of late and I have so much to catch up on. I am almost out of time now at the internet cafe so this will be short but today was a big WOW I hope to post pictures tomorrow and you will see for yourself Megan and I traveled to a distant county to the east to visit friends of mine and we had the most amazing trip Charles and Mary are teachers and were s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-304370.html Thursday 17 July XirsquoanLots of people have arrived for the XirsquoanPekin part of the journey. Some of them are cyclists including a large contingent of teenagers and some are wives and girlfriends of the ParisPekin group who will be travelling by coach and doing tourist things. We feel a bit overwhelmed after being an isolated community for four months across so many countries. O http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Luoyang/blog-304273.html THERE IS SO MUCH I WOULD LIKE TO SAY BUT NOT ENOUGH TIME TO GET IT ALL ENTERED. HERE ARE SOME MORE PICTURES THOUGH. THERE ARE MANY PICTURES HERE. A FEW STILL FROM THE FORBIDDEN CITY THEN A VISIT WITH LOUISA AT THE BIG BOWL TRADITIONAL CHINESE NOODLE RESTAURANT OUR TRAIN RIDE ARRIVAL IN XINYANG CHURCH AND MORE. I STILL NEED TO EDIT THIS AND REMOVE SOME PICTURES THAT ARE A REPEAT BUT I AM http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/blog-303084.html