BTC Beijing to Luoyang via Zhengzhou

Seriously overcast.

Train ride Zhengzhou, then by bus to Luoyang (12 km from the Longmen Grottoes, cave temples), crossing the yellow river.

Clearly a travel day, 430 miles or so, most by train, through the daily life of agricultural Northern china. Leaving Hebei province(Beijing) for Henan. Also a chance to see the transportation first hand. This was not a non-stop :-).

Major cities:
-Baoding, 1000 year history, earlier capital of Hebei.
-Shijiazhuang, present capital of Hebei, not more than 80 years old, grew rapidly due to North South railroad line and, as a major junction, became a cotton center. Also has the largest big pharma plant in Northern China.
-Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, located just South of the Yellow River. It is one of the biggest railway junctions in China and now a major modern industrial city. -Luoyang, one of the six old capitals of china, 1M souls, once an imperial seat.

Agriculture is mostly wheat and corn, some cotton for the local textile economy.

Having just seen the burial mounds of the Natchez Trace, we pass them here as well. No longer legal in China, they are still in active use for ancestor reverence. Descriptions of the very involved rituals are reminiscent of the course I took at Stanford on the rural traditions of Northern China – though in that case North was closer to Mongolia.

The landscape is remarkably flat. Green wheat fields- still very short- and then industrial areas with numerous coal plants spewing mostly off white steam.

The train is non-stop running a pretty consistent 92 miles per hour. Quiet, very little rocking. Very overcrowded. Each seat filled with maybe 20 people in our car standing for the full five hour plus ride.

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