Weekend in Henan

We did a quick weekend trip to Henan Province to see the Luoyang Grottoes and Shaolin temple.

Day 1

We took the Bullet train from Beijing West Railway station to Zhengzhou East. We stayed at the Swancity International hotel not too far from the station. The hotel provides free pick up service from the railway station.

Beijing West Railway station

Beijing West Railway Station Entrance

Bullet train from Beijing West to Zhengzhou East

After checking in ,we had a quick lunch at a near by Traditional Henan restaurant and took a private car to the Luoyang Longmen Grottoes. It is less than a 2 hour ride from Zhengzhou. There are also fast trains (40min ride) to Luoyang Longmen Station.The entrance ticket is 100 yuan and they have an electric car to take you up to the Grottoes which is an additional 10 yuan per person. We spent about 2 hours there and then headed back to Zhengzhou.

Steamed bun and mutton

Luoyang Grottoes Entrance 

Day 2

We started after breakfast by private car and first went to the White horse temple at Luoyang.
It is the first Buddhist temple in China. It has the statue of the two white horses which brought the Indian monks to China.Countries like India, Thailand and Myanmar have constructed temples inside to enhance the Buddhist cultural links.The entrance ticket is 35yuan, and we spent an hour here.

Indian Temple 

Myanmar Temple

White horse Statue

After that we headed to the Shaolin temple which was an hour drive from the White horse temple. The temple itself is like any other temple in China. There is a Kungfu show at the Training hall. It is a short 30 minute show. After lunch we headed to the Zhengzhou East station to take the train back to Beijing. If you are in to Kungfu you can go for the Shaolin Zen Music Ritual show held every evening.

The Pagoda forest at the Shaolin Temple

The show at the Kungfu training hall, Shaolin temple

The souvenir shop  

Tips:

• Ctrip.com has the train schedules and fares. Hotels can also be booked via Ctrip
• We took our tickets on arrival at each location, need not buy in advance
• We hired a private car (Cost is 1200 - 1300 yuan per day). We thought it'd be more convenient than using multiple modes of public transport to get there. 
• There are many Vegetarian restaurants around the Shaolin temple. If you prefer Western food you will find a KFC or McDonald's at most locations.
• You can either stay at Zhengzhou which is the capital of Henan or at Luoyang. There are bullet trains from Beijing to both.