8-Day Tour of Luoyang, Jiaozuo, and Kaifeng in Henan
2021/4/11 Shanghai, Luoyang
Due to the pandemic and other reasons, our travels had been suspended for fifteen months. Today we finally set off. We booked high-speed train tickets online from Shanghai Hongqiao to Luoyang Longmen. The train departed on time at 12:55 PM.
After a five-and-a-half-hour ride, we arrived at Luoyang Longmen Station. The hotel we had booked in advance on Ctrip offered airport/train station transfer service. The young man who picked us up was around twenty years old and very welcoming. He smoothly took us to the hotel. After checking in, we went out to eat dinner at a nearby small restaurant.
This is our hotel room in Luoyang, located in the Xigong District, where we would stay for three days. The room was clean, and the surrounding environment was nice, though a bit far from the bustling attractions.
2021/4/12 Longmen Grottoes, China National Garden of Peonies
We woke up naturally in the morning and had the hotel's buffet breakfast. At 8:40, we took a Didi taxi from the hotel entrance directly to Longmen Grottoes. The fare was quite reasonable. To enter the scenic area, we needed to take a sightseeing car for a short distance. At the visitor center, we hired a guide. With earphones on, we followed the guide and began our tour of the Longmen Grottoes.
Longmen Grottoes is one of China's treasures of stone carving art. Together with the Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes, and Maijishan Grottoes, they are known as the Four Major Grottoes of China. The grottoes were first carved during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and underwent continuous large-scale construction over more than 400 years through the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song dynasties. They stretch about one kilometer from north to south and now contain 2,345 niches, over 100,000 statues, and more than 2,800 inscriptions.
The Binyang Central Cave, built during the Northern Wei Dynasty
On the ceiling of the cave, the Lotus Cave features beautiful high-relief lotus patterns.
According to the guide, this is the most beautiful stone statue in Longmen Grottoes, with an S-shaped body. Unfortunately, the head was destroyed. A restored photo is on site—truly beautiful!
The most famous statue is the Vairocana Buddha.
The image below shows the left side of the Vairocana Buddha. The small picture shows a Buddha head originally housed in the Shanghai Museum. Through an extraordinary collaboration between the Longmen Grottoes Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and Zhejiang University, the original position of the stolen head was confirmed (indicated by the arrow). For details, see the 2020 CCTV Discovery and Exploration channel. The Shanghai Museum also holds three stone carvings believed to be stolen from Longmen Grottoes, and the Longmen Grottoes Museum has seven stolen Buddha statues. Who knows when we might see them back in their rightful places?
A panoramic view of the East Hill on the other side of the Yi River, overlooking the West Hill Grottoes.
We finished touring around 1:00 PM and took a taxi directly to the China National Garden of Peonies. This year's Peony Festival opened on April 10. There are many places to see peonies in Luoyang; after asking around, we chose the China National Garden of Peonies.
The China National Garden of Peonies is a multifunctional comprehensive park that combines peony culture with landscape architecture. While admiring the peonies, you can also enjoy the beauty of the gardens. The park is divided from west to east into six major scenic areas, including the West Gate Scenic Area, Peony Culture Area, and Historical Culture Area. It is planted with over 300 varieties of peonies, more than 200,000 plants, as well as trees, shrubs, and various other plants. It's a great place to see flowers in Luoyang. There were many visitors, all drawn by China's national flower. The peonies are diverse, noble, and gorgeous. I love their elegance and variety—peonies are a symbol of happiness and beauty.
We left the garden close to 6:00 PM and took a taxi to the famous century-old restaurant "Zhen Bu Tong" in Luoyang.
Luoyang's "Zhen Bu Tong" Water Banquet is a national intangible cultural heritage item with many dishes. It's more enjoyable with a larger group. Since there were only two of us and we didn't know what to choose, we ordered a set meal—very distinctive!
After dinner, we strolled around Lijing Gate. Since the distance to Shaolin Temple was quite far and it was inconvenient to go on our own, we stopped by a Ctrip store in Luoyang and booked a one-day tour to Shaolin Temple and White Horse Temple for tomorrow. Then we took a bus back to the hotel.
2021/4/13 Shaolin Temple, White Horse Temple
Last night, the driver agreed to pick us up near the hotel at 7:00 AM to head to Shaolin Temple. At 6:40 this morning, the driver was already at the hotel entrance. Fortunately, we were ready. The shuttle took us to the bus terminal. Since we were individual travelers grouped together, we waited for a coach. After picking up passengers along the way, we arrived at Shaolin Temple around 10:00 AM. Everyone was given an earpiece, and our guide, Mr. Dong, was in charge of this day trip.
Shaolin Temple was built by Emperor Xiaowen to accommodate the eminent Indian monk Buddhabhadra, whom he revered. It is world-famous for the Shaolin martial arts developed over generations by Shaolin monks. As the saying goes, "All martial arts under heaven originate from Shaolin; Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven."
Entering the temple, the song "Shepherd's Song" (from the movie "Shaolin Temple") with the lyrics "The sun rises over Songshan, morning birds fly" echoed in my mind, and the scenes from the movie starring Jet Li seemed to appear before my eyes.
The Pagoda Forest is the burial ground for successive generations of Shaolin monks. For eminent and high-ranking monks in Buddhism, their cremated remains or bodies are placed in underground palaces, and pagodas are built above to display their merits. The pagodas vary in shape, level, height, size, and brickwork, reflecting the deceased's status and achievements in Buddhism. The pagodas in the forest have only one, three, five, or seven levels, with shapes including square, hexagonal, and trumpet-like.
Lunch was a group meal. Around 4:00 PM, we visited the day's second site, White Horse Temple.
White Horse Temple was first built in 68 AD. It is the first temple built by the government after Buddhism was introduced to China. The temple now has five main halls arranged along a central axis.
In addition, there are recently built temples in the styles of Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, and India.
On the return trip, the coach offered four drop-off points to choose from. We got off at Yingtian Tower to view the night scene.
Side view of Yingtian Gate's back side
Night view of the Sui-Tang Ruins Park
After dinner, we returned to the hotel to rest and booked the long-distance bus to Jiaozuo for tomorrow and the hotel in Yuntai Mountain.
2021/4/14 Shan-Shaan Guild Hall, Luoyang Old Street, Yuntai Mountain
We woke up naturally in the morning, had the hotel breakfast, returned the room card, and left our luggage at the front desk. Then we took bus No. 7 to the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall.
The Shan-Shaan Guild Hall was a place for merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces to build friendship and worship gods. It combines exquisite architectural structure and superb carving art, fully demonstrating the wisdom and talent of the local working people in ancient times. It is a masterpiece of ancient Chinese traditional palace architecture. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the two provinces formed two famous merchant groups: the Jin merchants and the Qin merchants.
Walking not far from the guild hall, we arrived at Luoyang Old Street and Lijing Gate.
The Sancai Art Museum on Luoyang Old Street was a must-see.
"Luoyang Sancai Art" is a pioneering achievement in ceramic history and a treasure of Chinese history and culture. It fully highlights the potential and advantages of Chinese ceramic culture and is the crystallization of experience, technology, and aesthetic concepts in the long history of Chinese ceramic culture.
I loved the gorgeous colors of Sancai so much that I couldn't resist buying a cute little mouse figurine to take home.
For lunch, we had the famous "Bu Fan Soup" (non-turning soup) and Luoyang potstickers at an internet-famous restaurant on Old Street.
After eating, we saw a provincial intangible heritage restaurant across the street specializing in Luoyang potstickers, but we'll have to try it next time.
In a hurry, we took a taxi after lunch to the Luoyang Museum.
The Luoyang Museum is one of the first batch of national first-class museums and a comprehensive historical museum in China. It is the only comprehensive history museum in Luoyang. It houses over 400,000 cultural relics, with more than 11,000 on display.
The museum is huge; even a full day might not be enough to see it all. We had to catch the afternoon bus to Jiaozuo, so we focused on the Tang Sancai Hall, leaving some regrets.
Tang Sancai was first discovered in tombs in Luoyang. Most of the Tang Sancai we see in museums today were unearthed in Luoyang.
Leaving the museum, we took a taxi back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, then another taxi to Luoyang Long-Distance Bus Station. The bus departed on time at 3:20 PM for Jiaozuo. After a little over two hours, we arrived at Jiaozuo Bus Station. We shared a taxi with four people and went to the Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area to check into the Tansuo Homestay, which was also cooperating with Ctrip.
The homestay was stylishly decorated.
There was a rooftop terrace for guests to chat and drink tea, with a view of the sunrise—very trendy, but the price was relatively high for the Yuntai Mountain area. Some hotels with balconies cost only 168.
For dinner, we went to a street in the scenic area that had everything—supermarkets, many restaurants to choose from. You could stay a week without repeating meals; the area is well-developed. We ate at Old Village Restaurant, ordering three dishes, and ate very comfortably.
The scenic area street at night
Today was the earliest we had finished dinner in Henan. We bought tickets online for tomorrow's sightseeing bus.
2021/4/15 First Day at Yuntai Mountain
We had breakfast at the homestay and set off for Yuntai Mountain. The homestay was inside the scenic area; just turn right outside the door to the bus stop.
Last night, I took a photo of the pickup point.
Morning on the scenic area street. We stayed inside, and it was relatively quiet.
Yuntai Mountain is a World Geopark, a National AAAAA Scenic Area, and a National Scenic Spot. It is located at the junction of Xiuwu County, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, and Lingchuan County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. The scenic area covers 280 square kilometers and includes major attractions such as Red Stone Gorge, Tanpu Gorge, Quanpu Gorge, Qinglong Gorge, Fenglin Gorge, Zifang Lake, Zhuyu Peak, Macaque Valley, Diecai Cave, and Baijia Rock.
The terrain is complex, with climate varying with altitude and mountain shape. Primary secondary forests cover the entire mountain, with over 500 species of trees and exotic flowers. The main peak, Zhuyu Peak, is 1,308 meters above sea level. There is a 314-meter drop waterfall, the Yuntai Skyfall, at the end of Quanpu Gorge, one of the largest waterfalls discovered in China.
It is difficult to visit the entire Yuntai Mountain scenic area in one day. The ticket is valid for three days. We planned to split it into two days. On the first day, we visited Red Stone Gorge, Tanpu Gorge, Quanpu Gorge, Qinglong Gorge, Fenglin Gorge, and Zifang Lake.
There was lunch available in the scenic area: Henan-style stewed noodles, rice, and other dishes, all available.
In the afternoon, we took sightseeing bus line 2 to visit Macaque Valley and Tanpu Gorge.
Watching macaques in Macaque Valley
Tanpu Gorge is the main representative of Yuntai Mountain's canyon landscape, also known as Little Village Gully. It is located slightly northwest of northern Yuntai Mountain and is a source of the main river, Zifang River. The valley is as pleasant as Jiangnan, with "a spring every three steps, a waterfall every five steps, and a pool every ten steps"—a true description of Tanpu Gorge's beautiful scenery.
We left the scenic area at 4:00 PM and returned to the hotel. In the evening, we booked tomorrow's bus ticket to Kaifeng and contacted the taxi driver who brought us into the mountain yesterday to share a ride down. We also booked the hotel for two nights in Kaifeng and the high-speed train ticket from Kaifeng back to Shanghai on the 18th.
2021/4/16 Second Day at Yuntai Mountain
Yuntai Mountain's highest peak—Zhuyu Peak National Forest Park. To reach it, we took a sightseeing bus through 14 tunnels (Diecai Cave) in the Henan-Shanxi tunnel, with a drop of 912 meters to the mountainside. We saw a statue of Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei, who left here the timeless verse: "Alone, a stranger in a foreign land, I doubly pine for my kinsfolk on holiday... I wish my brother would carry a spray of dogwood, and find me missing from the throng."
On the slope up to Zhuyu Peak, there were two particularly steep sections of stairs that almost required crawling.
After reaching the top, we celebrated.
Then we experienced the thrill of being high above the void and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of peaks—Yuntai Mountain Glass Walkway.
The glass walkway is located on Fenghuang Ridge of Zhuyu Peak, built on a vertical cliff over a thousand meters above sea level. Standing on the kilometer-high glass walkway, you feel suspended in the air. Looking down through the glass, you see lush trees and rocky mountains; looking far into the distance, you see plains connecting mountains and rivers.
After lunch, we freely visited Wanshan Temple.
Standing on the glass walkway, looking far away was not scary, but looking down made us shiver.
Taking the cable car down took ten minutes; walking down the stairs would take an hour and a half. We chose the cable car, which was much easier.
We went down the mountain, returned to the hotel, picked up our luggage, had a simple lunch, and the agreed taxi took us on time to Jiaozuo Bus Station. However, due to reasons on the bus company's side, our originally booked 2:20 PM bus was merged into the 4:20 PM one, so we had to wait two hours at the station. The bus departed at 4:20 PM and arrived at Kaifeng Bus Station at 6:40 PM. Then we took a taxi to our booked hotel. After a few days, we found that taxi fares in Henan were very cheap.
In Kaifeng, we stayed near Gulou Square. It was only a 500-meter walk from the hotel to the lively snack street.
2021/4/17 Kaifeng: Iron Pagoda Park, Shan-Shaan-Gan Guild Hall, Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden
Early in the morning after breakfast, we took bus No. 3 to Iron Pagoda Park (during our travels, if time allowed, we made it a habit to take local buses, whether in Yunnan, Guizhou, Hebei, or Sichuan).
Iron Pagoda Park is located in the northeastern corner of Kaifeng city, Henan Province. It is a famous historical site park named after the existing Iron Pagoda (Kaibao Temple Pagoda), covering an area of 51.24 hectares. It is one of China's top 100 gardens and a national AAAA scenic area.
The Iron Pagoda is not made of iron. The name has two meanings: first, the pagoda body made of glazed bricks has weathered nearly a thousand years and looks like iron in color; second, the pagoda stands firm as iron, witnessing the vicissitudes of Kaifeng's ancient city.
The Iron Pagoda and the Po Pagoda are the only surviving Song Dynasty buildings in Kaifeng.
The Iron Pagoda has 168 steps, and the Northern Song Dynasty lasted only 168 years. A coincidence?
After leaving Iron Pagoda Park, we took a bus to the Shan-Shaan-Gan Guild Hall.
The Shan-Shaan-Gan Guild Hall is located on the north side of Xufu Street, Longting District, Kaifeng City, Henan Province. It was built in the 41st year of Qianlong's reign (1776) by wealthy merchants from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces on the former residence of Xu Da, the founding general of the Ming Dynasty. It served as a place for merchants from these three provinces to conduct business, trade, and maintain fellowship during the Qing Dynasty, with a history of over 200 years. The guild hall has a courtyard-style layout, covering an area of 3,870.29 square meters. The main buildings are arranged along the central axis, from south to north: the screen wall, opera stage, archway, and main hall. The auxiliary buildings are on the east and west sides, including left and right side doors, hanging flower doors, bell and drum towers, side rooms, and east-west cross courtyards.
Seven layers of exquisite woodcarvings.
After leaving the guild hall, we had lunch and then walked 1.5 kilometers to Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden. Since it was the weekend, there were many tourists.
Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden is a large-scale Song Dynasty folk custom theme park based on Zhang Zeduan's realistic painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". It features Song Dynasty market culture, imperial gardens, and ancient entertainment, recreating the scenery and atmosphere of the original painting. Inside, you can see buildings like Fuyun Pavilion and Rainbow Bridge, as well as performances of historical scenes like Bao Gong patrolling the Bian River and Yue Fei inspecting troops.
A reenactment of the war between Song and Jin soldiers attracted many visitors.
We left the park around 6:00 PM. Later, a taxi driver told us that the nighttime garden is the most spectacular, with lights and more performances—a pity we missed it. For dinner, we first went to "Di Yi Lou" restaurant near Gulou Square, but the waiter said there would be a 45-minute wait. So we went to "You Yi Xin" restaurant nearby and enjoyed the famous Kaifeng sweet and sour soft-fried carp with baked noodles, a Henan intangible cultural heritage item. It tasted great, and making the noodle topping is truly a skill.
2021/4/18 Kaifeng: Po Pagoda, Lord Bao Memorial Temple, Yanqing Temple, Daxiangguo Temple, and back to Shanghai
After breakfast, we took a bus to Po Pagoda.
Po Pagoda is located on the ancient Po Terrace in the southeast of Kaifeng. It was built in the seventh year of the Kaibao reign of the Northern Song Dynasty (974 AD). Originally named Xingci Pagoda, it was built inside the Tianqing Temple, a royal temple of the Northern Song, so it is also called Tianqing Temple Pagoda. Because it was built on Po Terrace, it is commonly known as Po Pagoda. It is the first Buddhist pagoda built in the Kaifeng area and one of the oldest existing buildings in the area. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
Po Pagoda is an equilateral hexagonal pagoda. Originally nine stories high, it was the tallest pagoda in Kaifeng at the time, much taller than the famous Iron Pagoda. To this day, a saying circulates in Kaifeng: "Iron Pagoda is tall, Iron Pagoda is tall, but Iron Pagoda only reaches to Po Pagoda's waist." At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Tianqing Temple was destroyed in war, and the nine-story Po Pagoda was partially damaged by lightning.
Photos from different angles
Up close, you can see that the Buddha statues at the bottom were deliberately damaged, while those higher up survived. Looking closely, you can see the exquisite carving technique.
After leaving Po Pagoda, we took a taxi to Lord Bao Memorial Temple. In Kaifeng, you must visit the upright Lord Bao.
Kaifeng Lord Bao Memorial Temple was rebuilt to commemorate Bao Zheng, the famous upright official in ancient China. It has the most comprehensive information, the largest scale, and the greatest influence among memorial venues. It is located on the west bank of the beautiful Baogong Lake in Kaifeng, a city of seven ancient dynasties. It is one of the key attractions developed by the National Tourism Administration in the Central Plains tourism area.
We walked to Yanqing Temple.
Yanqing Temple, originally named Chongyang Temple, was built in the fifth year of Yuan Taizong's reign (1233). In the sixth year of Hongwu (1373), it was renamed Yanqing Temple. It was built to commemorate Wang Zhe, the founder of the Quanzhen sect of Taoism, who preached and died here. Together with Baiyun Temple in Beijing and Changdao Temple in Sichuan, it is known as one of the three major Taoist temples in China. It is now a national key cultural relic protection unit.
Now with Baidu and Gaode maps, it's much more convenient. I remember years ago, when traveling, we had to ask for directions all the way. Fortunately, the local people were friendly and helpful, and if not, there were police officers. But now, searching is much faster.
We walked a short distance to today's fourth attraction, Daxiangguo Temple.
Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng was first built in the sixth year of Tianbao of the Northern Qi Dynasty (555 AD). It is one of the ten major Chinese Buddhist temples of the Han tradition. The main buildings of the current temple are relics from the Qing Dynasty and are also national key cultural relics protection units.
Then we walked to Gulou Square for lunch. We went to the "Di Yi Lou" restaurant, where we failed to dine yesterday. There were far fewer diners at noon than last night. After waiting about 15 minutes, we got our delicious soup dumplings, the famous snack we came for.
After lunch, we returned to the hotel, checked out, and took a taxi to Kaifeng North Station. We boarded the high-speed train at 3:02 PM and arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao Station at 7:13 PM, ending our 8-day Henan trip.
Below are some street scenes around Gulou Square.
During our 8 days in Henan, we couldn't miss their famous dishes and snacks.
Kaifeng sweet and sour soft-fried carp with baked noodles
The hutu noodles (a kind of noodle soup) we had on our first night in Luoyang
For breakfast in Kaifeng, Henan-style spicy soup (Hu La Tang)
Crispy pork from Di Yi Lou restaurant
Independent travel—comfortable and satisfying. Next time, we'll continue.
