Zheng Zhou

Wednesday morning we were picked up from the hotel at 10am and taken out for an early lunch, another delicious meal at the seafood restaurant. We then headed out to the airport for our 2pm flight. The flight was about an hour and a half to Zheng Zhou.
Our accommodation is an Army Hotel, as both Amy’s parents work for the army. It’s a nice hotel and very close to Amy’s parents apartment and the party venue.
After a rest in the afternoon we headed out for dinner, to one of the best duck restaurants in China. Again, we had a private room, which looked amazing and the food was incredible. Starting with Peking Duck and duck toasts (like prawn toast), followed by a range of duck and other dishes. After another huge and amazing meal we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Thursday we were picked up early for a trip to the Shaolin Temple with one of Amy’s friends ‘Xing’. We also had a driver and a guide, we’re so spoilt! The drive to the temple took about an hour. The temple is a bit touristy, and has four attractions. The temple is actually a school for kids, part of the schooling is to learn Kung Fu. The first thing we saw was the Kung Fu show, which was performed by the students. No actual fighting, but displays of stretching and training. As well as some crazy stuff like a guy hitting himself in the forehead with a steel pole and a guy throwing a nail through a pane of glass without the glass shattering.
We then did a tour of the actual Shaolin Temple although as with so many of these things it was quite a rushed tour. The temple is big and beautiful and was built about 1500 years ago, although parts have been rebuilt after a fire.
The third thing to see was the Pagoda forest. Pagoda’s are basically tombs built to honour the dead. Ranging from a meter to about four meters, depending on the persons contribution to the temple. A bit rushed through here also, but they were very impressive.
Sadly the last thing we were there to see we missed out on, as Maree wanted to take the bus back to the souvenir shops. We did see some photos, of the amazing mountains and cliffs that are the back drop to the temple. There is a swing bridge through a valley and some amazing rock formations. We have decided that our next Asia trip should involve a trip up into some mountains for a day or so hiking!

Lunch on the way home was in a small town, where the specialty was some bread rolls, with the yummy, chewy texture like NY bagels. After these we found a Chinese restaurant.
When we returned to Zheng Zhou we spent some time having a look around town with Xing and found some nice tea as a gift to Alan and Amy’s parents. We then had time for another rest, before heading out with Alan, Amy and her parents for the traditional noodle soup dish of the area. The noodles were handmade, flat and about a meter long, yum. After dinner the four of us (Amy and Alan) walked back home, which was nice to spend some more time with them and to stretch the legs.

Friday was the party (second wedding), which was also a lot of fun and a bit less formal than Dalian. We arrived about an hour before the party started, and poor Amy and Alan were again swamped by the photographers, including photos with each guest as they arrived. We were on the main table again, sitting with Amy and Alan, Xing and Amy’s old school teacher. So much food, dumplings, duck, fish, pork, beef, crab, prawns, chicken and a whole cooked TURTLE!?! This was all washed down with a combination of beer, red wine and rice wine (67% alcohol)! Around the venue were large photos of the bride and groom and the video from the wedding in Dalian was played on a projector. There were 250 guests, many of them who we got introduced to and had to do ‘cheers’ with them! We had a great time eating, drinking and partying with all the friends and family.

Somehow we managed to eat dinner, even if we really did not need it! Another bottle of red wine and another feast, fish, pork, chicken and a variety of delicious dumplings. At dinner we gave Amy’s parents the tea and a card which Christine wrote a message in Chinese. They were super impressed with Christine’s message and Chinese hand writing. After dinner we walked home again, with Amy’s mum also tonight. We also had to say a big thank-you and sad farewells as we were leaving the next morning.