Getting to Henan

This past weekend, the study abroad program took the group to Henan (河南), a province that lies a bit South of Beijing. It's closer to the longitudinal center of China, but still towards the Eastern coast. Henan is arguably where Chinese culture began. The area has been home to the capital city many times throughout Chinese history, and today has myriad cultural artifacts to show for it.

We visited four main areas of Henan, all of them pretty close to the city of Zhengzhou (郑州): Shaolin Temple (少林寺), Longmen Caverns (龙门龙门石窟), Henan Museum (河南省博物院), and the shopping area around the Erqi Tower (二七纪念塔). But, before we did that, we had to get to Henan.

First, we took an hour long bus ride to the Beijing train station. Then, we took an overnight train to get to Zhengzhou. In each cabin there were lower, middle, and high bunks on each side. So, 6 people to a cramped room. When we got on the train, everyone realized that our bunks were scattered around the car. A lot of study abroad students were placed in rooms with regular Chinese travellers. My room had no study abroad students. We got on the train first, and when the other travellers came it was a big mess. Everyone was in the hallway trying to get them to switch rooms, and they were shouting about how many foreigners there were. The people in my room were no different. When they found out I was rooming with them, one said in Chinese, "A foreigner? That's no good." Of course, they didn't know that I could speak some Chinese. So, I responded in Chinese, "Why?" And then, we ended up talking all night.

The people I talked to the most were two nice ladies who were going on vacation to Zhengzhou. They were going with a group of coworkers. My friend Kuniko and I talked with them until about midnight, and then we all went to bed. The other students were together drinking and hanging out in the all-study-abroad-student cabin.