Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, China
Arrived at Kaifeng train station at 6.45am in the morning.
Breakfast (1.5 Yuan~USD$0.20)
Kaifeng is in Henan province. Henan is the most populous province in China with a population of almost 100 million people. Stored my bag for 8 Yuan, walked around the city and went to the museum. Since the museum only opens at 9am, I visited KaiFengFu first (25 Yuan with student discount ~USD$4). KaiFengFu is something like a municipal government center during the Northern Song dynasty. Everything is rebuilt since the city was buried deep underground.
There are some traditional performances in front of the entrance of KaiFengFu at 9am.
Inside KaiFengFu
The prefecture of Kaifeng was first built in AD 907. Kaifeng is the capital of Northern Song dynasty for 168 years and was one of the biggest metropolis in the world then with a population of around 1.5 million. Some famous individuals in Chinese history such as BaoQingTian and Su DongPo held their post in the city.
Taoism was the national religion then.
One of the few lakes within the city
Kaifeng Museum
Kaifeng lies just 10km south of the yellow river and was flooded hundreds of times during history. The city of Northern Song was actually buried 9m deep under the earth. There aren’t many high rise buildings because buildings that require strong foundation weren’t allowed by the government to protect the old artifacts buried underground.
There are 6 layers of cities in Kaifeng.
Kaifeng is enclosed by a city wall around the city.
City northern gate
Tieta Park (15 Yuan with student discount ~USD2).
Tieta is one of the oldest and tallest pagoda in China. It’s around 55 meters tall and is around 1000 years old. This is only one of the 2 historical structures still remain above the surface in Kaifeng.
LongTing palace, a rebuilt version of the emperor’s residence
Walked to GuLou, an area with many kinds of food.
Fried LiangPi (3.5 Yuan ~USD$0.50)
I noticed that people love eating outside in Kaifeng. I ate all 3 meals today outdoor.
Took train K31 at 2.48pm towards Zhengzhou (13 Yuan~USD$2, 45 minutes ride). Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan with a population of almost 8 million.
Zhengzhou train station
There isn’t any youth hostel in Zhengzhou so stayed at a hotel around the train station (80 Yuan~USD$12).
View across the train station
The weather here wasn’t too cold. Some homeless people sleeping on the street.
Workers from a bakery singing on the street, one of Chinese team building activities
Sticks from fried stuffs
The February 7 Tower was built to mark the great strike by the workers on the Beijing-Hankou (Wuhan) railway in 1923.
February Seven square, ErQi GuangChang.
HuiMian is famous in Zhengzhou, fat noodles with mutton (8 Yuan~USD$1.2)
Walked around and visited a bar/club at WenHua street.
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