Some more cautionary information on the traffic situation in China:

- You do not have the right away in the Chinese driver’s way of thinking. They don’t care if the light is green…View image…or red…View image…, they’ll run you down;

- Cars, trucks, buses will cut across three lanes of traffic without looking;

- Everyone drives into opposing traffic to pass; …View image…

- No one wears helmets; and

- The police just stand there and watch.

As noted before, cross a street with infirm people, children or locals carrying babies on either side of you and you’ll have a fighting chance. And, watch out for people on bicycles. They show the same aggressive, ruthless behavior and expect you to get out of their way.

the two emperors in stone at Yellow River Scenic area, China
Safely at the Yellow River Scenic area, Andy bought tickets and we entered. Such a waste of time. It was extremely hazy from pollution and impossible to take a good photo, let alone get a good look at it. …View image… No problem…we just walked around and people-watched for a little bit before returning to Zengzhou and the wonderful Henan Museum. We briefly considered a day trip to Kaifeng to the east but it would have made for a very long day and possibly just more of the same temples, etc. Perhaps another time.

people climbing up to viewpoints at Yellow River Scenic area, China 

ringing a huge bell for good luck at the Yellow River, China
The modern Henan Museum has a collection of more then a million cultural relics treasures. Among them are the prehistoric cultural relics, bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and pottery and procelain of other Chinese dynasties spread over three floors with captions in English and Chinese. I learned my lesson at the Shanxi Museum (you can video-tape and take photographs) and brought the camcorder with this time.

 

Henan Museum, Zhengzhou, China
Another fantastic museum and here are some of our favorites:

…bronzes…View image…,

fantabulous bronze dragon in Henan Museum, China
…a red pottery dog that …View image…looked more like a pig to me…

red pottery dog with personality in Henan Museum, China
…and I had forgotten that the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to make pills for immortality in the Song Dynasty…View image…

A highlight at the Henan Museum is the big “crystal ball” on the 3rd floor. From a distance, it didn’t look like anything special …View image…but when you got within a few inches of it, you could see people moving around on the main floor like little ants! (Watch the Henan Museum video.) That was it for Henan Province. Tomorrow, a fast flight to Hangzhou a tourist mecca for the Chinese.

Henan Museum’s crystal ball, China