Mary Ma,
I would like to personally say that I thought that John and Kathy were first class in the way they
treated my wife and I on our recent side tour to Luoyang. They have a strong sense of punctuality. They understand what we wanted. We found they were extremely polite, curteuous and knowledgable. I think they are an asset to your company. Kathy handled our arrival at Luoyang Railway Station superably. The driver - John was very professional and drove very smoothly. I will do recommend your tour company to our friends and colleages.
Once again a big thank you.
Margaret and David
Henan Province located in the east central section of China. It was the most important cradleland of Chinese civilization. It was found by archaeologists that there were human beings here 500 thousands years ago. Zhengzhou as the capital of Henan Province lies between Kaifeng and Luoyang. Three thousands and six hundreds years ago, Zhengzhou was the capital of Xia and Shang dynasty. The world famous Shaolin Kung fu was started from here.
Our first day itinerary (June 14, 2008) covered two cities. The first destination was Zhengzhou (capital of Henan province) and the second destination was Luoyang (one of the Chinese seven ancient capitals). When we arrived to Zhengzhou train station, we found that our tour guide had been there waiting for us. We took our special bus to the Gold Bridge Hotel (a four star hotel) to have the first breakfast in Henan Province. After a simple breakfast we were led to out fist stop of this day, Henan Museum. That day was right the ChinaĦħs Third Cultural Heritage Day, and Zhengzhou City was celebrating in that museum. So we are lucky to watch the traditional Tai Chi Quan performance. The second stop of morning itinerary was Yellow River (The Mother River of Chinese). We had a cruise in Yellow River by hovercraft. The last stop of that day was Songshan Shaolin Scenic Spots. We spent two hours on the speedway headed forward there. The hotel we checked in was Maple International Hotel in Luoyang, which is also a four star hotel. It took us one and a half hours from Songshan Shaolin Scenic Spots to our hotel. We would have a rest and stay a night there and prepare for our next day touring.
At 07:06 of June 14, 2008 We arrived at Zhengzhou Station
Our tour guide waited outside of the station and led us to the bus. This bus was our special bus, and it accompanied with us all these days in Henan. This is our tour Guide Mr. Wu, he is one of the "Ten Excellent Tour Guide in China".
We would have the first breakfast of journey in this hotel (Gold Bridge Hotel). Gold Bridge Hotel is a four star hotel located in the busiest commercial area of Zhengzhou city. It is 40 kilometers away to Zhengzhou International Airport and 2 kilometers to Zhengzhou Railway Station.
Our breakfast in Gold Bridge Hotel was buffet dinner. Chinese style breakfast was served there
Henan Museum is a large-scale comprehensive museum in the central plain. Many ancient culture relics are stored in this museum. There are bronze wares from BC 11 century, potteries and architecture antique about 3000 thousand year ago.
This is our ticket of Henan Museum. The front cover is the picture of this museum, inside it is the main introduction of it and some notices. There are ancient music performances from every Tuesday to Sunday. Photoflash lamp is prohibited inside the exhibition hall.
In the front square of Henan Museum about 400 Taiji Boxing lovers gathered there to celebrate "ChinaĦħs Third Cultural Heritage Day". China's Cultural Heritage Day is the second Saturday of June every year. We happened to watch the traditional custom activity.
Ancient Chinese people created the seismograph in A.D. 132, which was the earliest seismic instrument in world.
Yellow River is the "mother river" of Chinese people. Chinese ancestors lived in Yellow River Basin. It nourished the vast territory along it and fostered the brilliant and intelligent descendents of Yan and Huang Emperors (all Chinese people are the descendents of Yan and Huang Emperors). Yellow River also gestated the unique Chinese culture such as Zhou Yi, Ba Gua, Tai Chi, Shaolin etc. Yellow River Basin is the soul of Chinese civilization. In Yellow River scenic area we took a cruise on river by hovercraft and visit the square which is built for Chinese people sacrificing their ancestors.
A beautiful hovercraft guider was introducing sights along Yellow River and telling us history stories along river.
Our hovercraft parked on a small island of Yellow River. This island is shaped by river sand. We were taking photos and riding horse on the island.
We were taking photos under the two huge stone statues. These two statues are the ancestors of all Chinese people. They are Yan and Huang Emperors: on the left is Yan Emperor, on the right is Huang Emperor.
It was time to start our lunch...
Although we were late to have lunch, this restaurant was still full of people.
After lunch we took two hours journey to Songshan Shaolin Scenic Spots.
Songshan Shaolin Scenic Spots is a world famous tourist destination. It belongs to the first group which rated as a Ħ°Five-A-Class Scenic SpotĦħ by State Tourism Bureau. The Shaolin area boasts abundant culture and natural attractions. Shaolin Temple, Pagoda Forest Damo Cave and First Ancestor Nunnery are primarily situated in the core area. Many foreign students study Chinese kung fu there. Shaolin Temple is also the most important place to carry forward kung fu.
In frontispiece of the ticket are pictures of Songshan Shaolin Temple and a famous TV and film star. The back page of this ticket is major introduction and the map of this scenic spot.
This is the outside gate of Songshan Shaolin Scenic Spots. When we arrived there, it was later afternoon and we missed the Shaolin kung fu performing. It was a great pity, and we wish to have a chance to watch the performance in future.
We pictured a group photo in front of Shaolin Temple gate.
This is the Pagoda Forest. These pagodas are the tombs for Shaolin bonzes that had contributions to Shaolin and Buddha Culture. Bonzes with different contributions would be built different style pagodas. The layers are one of the parts to embody the status of a bonze.
Out from Songshan Shaolin Scenic Spots, it was 18:00. We had to transfer to another city (Luoyang) of Henan Province to have dinner and stay in hotel. It took us one and a half hours to Luoyang. The restaurant received us is called Ħ°Zhen Bu TongĦħ. Zhen Bu Tong is an old restaurant in Luoyang and it is most famous for Water Banquet Ħ°Shui XiĦħ. Shui Xi is a very well known banquet in Luoyang and almost every restaurant of Luoyang has this banquet. This banquet included 24 dishes, 16 of which are made by fresh bree (thin soup). Before banquet, the waiters firstly brought up a bowl of soup to let us check the taste. If clients are satisfied of the flavor, they will put dishes on table one after one.
This is a very interesting hall of this restaurant
This is the first hot dish of Water Banquet
Except cold dishes and dim sum all other food are made by soup
We stayed at Maple International Hotel. That is a newly built hotel situated in the center of Luoyang commercial zone. Maple International Hotel by North American style is the first sino-foreign joint venture in Luoyang.
A standard four star hotel ¨C Maple International Hotel
Our comfortable room is a nice place to have a good rest
Wash room£şUnder the wash table, there is an instrument for measuring weight. That hooked stainless steel tap provides drinking water.
Behind this purple curtain is a glass wall which separates the bedchamber from bath
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