zhoukou: where rivers meet and i'm still confused
so, zhoukou. yeah. that's where i am now. just checked the weather-11.36°C with humidity at 54%, feels like 9.96°C. there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. it's not exactly tropical, but hey, what do i know? i'm just a tired blogger trying to make sense of this place.
this city is... big. like, really big. 11,959 square kilometers. i've been walking for what feels like days and i still haven't seen everything. it's at this spot where three rivers meet-ying, sha, and jialu. someone told me that's how it got its name, "zhoukou" meaning "river confluence". makes sense, i guess. but honestly, i've been here for a week and i still get turned around every time i try to find my hotel.
the history here is... overwhelming. over 6,000 years of it. how do you even process that? i can barely remember what i had for breakfast. originally it was just a ferry landing called zhoujia dukou, but then during the ming and qing dynasties, it became this big trading hub for mules, horses, leather, and fur. imagine that-a city that got rich from selling horse saddles and fur coats. wild, right?
someone told me that laozi, the taoist founder, was born here. went to his birthplace site. it was... well, it was there. a lot of people seemed impressed, but honestly, i was just thinking about lunch. the taihao mausoleum is supposed to be amazing too, but i got distracted by a street vendor selling these little fried dough things and never made it.
if you get bored-which, honestly, you might-luohe and xuchang are just a short drive away to the west. zhumadian's to the south, kaifeng and shangqiu to the north. if you really want to mix things up, you can cross into anhui province to the east. haven't made it that far yet. mostly because i keep getting lost. but it's on my "maybe" list.
this place has 9 million people. that's like, a lot of people. they speak mandarin here, which is good because my chinese is... well, it's not great. i've been trying to order food, but mostly i just point and hope for the best. so far, no disasters, but i did accidentally order something that looked like tofu but was actually some kind of weird jelly thing. live and learn, i guess.
the transportation here is something else. they've got expressways, railways, an airport that's apparently under construction, and still use the rivers for transport. it's like a history lesson and modern city planning all rolled into one. i tried to use the river transport, but honestly, it was just confusing. maybe next time.
so yeah, that's zhoukou. it's there, it's got history, it's got rivers, and it's got a lot of people. not sure i'd come back, but i'm glad i came. at least once. maybe. probably.
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