Adventures in China

Western Henan Province has a number of interesting attractions, if you're in the area for a while. As you travel the surrounding countryside, be sure to look for cave homes, like this one. Such dwellings have been used for thousands of years and people refuse to leave them; they're cool in summer and warm in winter.

The largest attraction in Henan province may be Shaolin Temple. This is an actual picture of the temple, which is located in a large complex with a movie theater, cemetery, shopping, training grounds, and living quarters. There are thousands of students training at Shaolin at any time and the temple has become an incredibly popular site seeing trip for Chinese tourists.

Most of the temple was burnt down around 1927 and then rebuilt in the 1980's. The temple does not have a very solemn air to it, rather, the Chinese tourists are rather disrespectful. You can earn the appreciation of some very annoyed looking monks on temple duty by being polite.

The two most interesting parts of Shaolin Temple are the temple itself and the stupas (and the amount of commercialization). The stupas are memorials for monks.

Actual demonstrations of the martial arts are difficult to find. I snuck into this one behind some diplomats, who may have been Russian. I got in because I was white. There are many classes outside that are easy to see from the roads, but they are not formal demonstrations.

And don't forget the shopping for souvenirs.

If you are in Henan for a long time, it is worth going to see the Yellow River, even though the river is now blue. I went to see it at Xiao Long Di, the largest dam in China (until the 3 Gorge dam is built). There isn't much to do there, but you can say you've seen it.

It is also useful to go to a nature reserve. They are few and far between, since China has been agriculturalized for a long time and the population density is incredible, but there are a few. They are quiet, not as dusty, and good exercise. This nature reserve is just west of Luoyang, perhaps 25km.

This is the view from the top of the mountain. Be sure to take enough bottled water with you, since the only water available on the reserve may be well water.

Perhaps the most interesting nature reserve in Henan is Monkey Mountain. A group of 3000 monkeys lives there and tourists can bring or buy food (fruit and nuts) to feed them.

The monkeys became this domesticated when a drought threatened their food supply. A local peasant began feeding them. Finally, in the 1980's, he asked the government to create a nature reserve for them so visitors could support some of the cost of feeding them. That peasant still lives on the reserve and his son has taken over the role of watching over the group. If you pay the son, he will whistle and the dominant male monkey will come down the mountain. I got to feed him the pear he is holding. He is sitting on the fence.

This is the dominant female monkey and her offspring.

The gorgeous Monkey Mountain!