Visiting Luoyang

My girlfriend's brother lives in Luoyang, and her parents are there now too to visit. We went to pay them a visit too, and spent the weekend there.

This is a demonstration of Shaolin Kung Fu, because Luoyang is very close to the old Shaolin Temple, where Kung Fu originated. In this park, some foreigners were practicing with a crowd of people around them.

As usual, we were welcomed with a lot of great food and drinks. On Sunday we ate in a Hunan restaurant, and drank nice baijiu (very strong rice wine)

Our visit coincided with the annual flower festival in the city of Luoyang. It meant that tour buses and crowds of people were lining the streets, but also beautiful peony flowers everywhere!

Close up

In the evening we went to a park were, because of the flower festival, they had built a sort of fun fair. There was a lot of lights and music (noise) and many people.

Caramel candy

A local 'fake antique' market in the old town. Nearly everything here is 'fake' - meaning not as old and authentic as the vendor makes it seem. Especially old coins with rust and pottery (with added mud for a more authentic effect) were on sale everywhere. Some things still looked nice, real or fake, and so many people came to buy 'cheap' antiques here.

Birds were also on sale. These poor guys had almost no space to move

Imagine the noise here

and here

The old streets of Luoyang are nice and although I saw some foreigners (three) there were hardly any tourist shops or overpriced 'souvenirs' on sale.



Our group :)

A visit to the Beijing Olympic park

On Sunday afternoon we took a subway to the Olympic park. It was a sunny day, and we took (purposely built) subway line 8 to get there. It was like stepping onto a movie set. The subway was nearly empty (used only by tourists now), spotlessly clean and security guards were standing every 10 meters.

Once out of the underground, there is a huge park, built kind of in the middle of nowhere. The main two 'sights' of course are the 'Bird Nest' and the 'Aquatics Center'. These two buildings cost millions to complete, and are indeed amazing to watch up close.

The 'park' (several square kms of paved surface) was full of people. It reminded me of Tian'anmen Square! Crowds of tourists swarmed around the place (including the tour groups with their red or yellow uniform hats).

The park is surrounded by tall sky scrapers in the distance, but because of its size, there was a strong wind blowing. I tried to imagine what the fireworks show during the opening ceremony must have looked like.

One can see how China has tried to impress the world by building this park. So much money was spent, and nothing was left to chance (signs with street directions in French, for example)

Opposite of the Bird Nest is the 'National Aquatics Center'; an equally magnificent building. The details of both buildings is what makes them so special. They look different from every angle you look.

This is the entrance to the park, with the stadium to my back. Most tourists started shooting photos (mostly with their mobile phones) when they were still in the subway!

At the other side of the park, things were a bit more quiet. This man is flying a kite.

Across the street of the Olympics area is a very unusual park. It is full of 'historic' buildings. I'm not sure if they are authentic or not, but it looked absurd. Next to these pagodas was a sort of mosque, with inside a restaurant and shopping center.

Viewing tower in the Olympic park

This statue is named "sea wind" (hai feng). All around the park are sculptures and works of art. I thought this one is quite ironic; due to the massive construction and wide avenues, it feels like there is now a 'sea wind' in Beijing...