My time in China comes slowly to an end. After I arrived in Beijing again, I grabbed my leaved stuff, said good-bye to Tim, and the next day the journey had already continued. This time, the destination was the Henan Province, more specifically Luoyang, which I arrived with the high-speed train in three hours. Compared to the other trips, this trip was more about relaxing and coming down. Especially because there are not many tourist attractions you can visit. However, we covered the most important spots.
The first local food we had was a spicy soup with a sour milk product and bread filled with meat tasting like a Turkish dish. It was nice.
And here are some other dishes I had while I was in this province. Nothing special.
Longmen Grottoes
So, what can you see in Luoyang? I bet you never heard of this city before. One of the main things in Luoyang are the Longmen Grottoes, which are basically rock carvings of Buddha. I like the environment with the river and the bridges. The mountain on the other side looked nice as well, but we didn’t explore it. Also, it is stunning what they have created without electrical devices hundred of years before. Those sculptures are enormous and incredibly accurate in detail. Okay, not all, but some of them. Some sculptures look creepy, though.
On this day, we also explored the city. But to be honest, I can’t find any significant difference in other cities, haha. Everything looks similar.
Popcorn 
China National Flower Garden
Because the China National flower garden was on our way, we visited it. But in the winter, the garden is everything else than a flower garden. Plus, the weather was not really good on this day. Anyway, it’s healthy to have long walks.
White Horse Temple
It took us about one hour with the bus to get to the white horse temple. Oh, I have to tell you a story here. So, while we were on the bus, an older man stands next to us. Suddenly, he started to speak to us. It was an awkward situation because he spoke loudly and had weird questions. For instance, he said, after he asked where I come from, German people are rich and intelligent. He added why we go by bus and, thus, why I let the beautiful girl, I’m traveling with, stand. Everybody on the bus laughed, and we just left the bus in a really awkward way, haha.
Back to the topic. As well as the Longmen Grottoes, the temples in this place are about Buddhism. According to history, it’s about 1900 years old and regarded as the cradle of Buddhism in China. Initially, it was built to thank two monks and their white horse that brought Buddhist sutras and figures to China for the first time. The religious place is basically separated into two areas. The first area is covered with “normal” Buddhist temples and the other one with the white horse temples. First, I show you the first part.
And now I show you the essential part: The white horse temple itself, which is, compared to other temples, extraordinary. I have never seen the combination of white and gold anywhere else in China before.
On the way home, we had explored another scenic area. It is called Lijingmen, and it is basically half of a colosseum. I couldn’t see much, but the road behind the colosseum was more interesting anyway. There is also a huge streetfood road, which is worth a visit.
Well, after this day, I felt like a cold is coming. And it was true. The next day, I was ill, and it affected the next days strongly. Actually, I had four days of strong headache, followed by a typical cold. With my headache, we traveled to Dengfeng, but I was somewhat disabled that we couldn’t even visit the Shaolin temple. I feel upset about it because I think it is a great location you should have seen. Nevertheless, here are some pictures of the small town of Dengfeng. It’s funny, even though it’s a tiny town, it feels like a big city with the only difference that the skyscrapers are not as high as elsewhere.
Zhengzhou
We moved to Zhengzhou, but I still had a cold. We have seen the Zhongyuanfu tower, but that was pretty much the highlight, haha. We spend time in parks, explored the city while bicycling, and enjoyed the sun.
After three days, I continued my journey alone and moved into a different apartment in Zhengzhou, which is located in a community. The soldiers, who protect the community, are friendly and helped me in the first place to find my apartment. To this time, I also felt the impact of the new year festival as nearly every restaurant was closed. Furthermore, the location of my apartment was out in nowhere, so I had to take the bus for one hour to get to more crowded areas. I used the time there to start my detailed report about my abroad semester for the university.
Actually, there was ONE restaurant opened, but after my first day it was closed as well 
At least there was a restaurant for burgers
The last day (one day before the new year festival), I took a Didi-car to the airport in the morning, and I flew to Shanghai, where I am still staying right now.
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