I arrived in Zhengzhou this morning at around 1:30 a.m. and spent another half an hour trying to find a half decent hotel. There were plenty of cheap options around the station for around 60RMB, but didn’t look too comfortable. I wanted to go to Shaolin temple today, but couldn’t wake up! It is about two hours away from here, so I will have to make the effort to get up early tomorrow. Not surprisingly if you are traveling by train everywhere and don’t do much planning (like me) travel can take a day to two longer than you plan.

I was thinking of cheating and just flying from Fenghuang to Xian, but the flight seemed fairly expensive for such a short distance - around 700RMB. If you factor in train tickets and hotels it probably would have worked out the same price, but I kind of had it my mind to travel everywhere by train. One of the first books I read on China when I was in high-school was Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux. It was one of several books that got me interested in China.

I found a free wifi cafe here in Zhenzhou at New Island coffee shop just beside Holiday Inn at 36 Su Li Road.