Luoyang, China

I may have an opportunity to spend a few months here early next year. Any of you spend some time here? Where to eat and drink, what to see? I've never been to China so I'd like to make the most of it.

Also can I ride my bmx here easily?

Also can I ride my bmx here easily?

Probably a slow and wet way to get there.

Cheers Ben

Probably a slow and wet way to get there.

Cheers Ben

Probably a slow and wet way to get there.

Cheers Ben

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to BJC again."

search for my Beijing thread. I have no idea where Louyang is though…

Good times in China for the first week.

[HTML_REMOVED]edit[HTML_REMOVED], OK, my Beijing thread is probably irrelevant.

Thanks! I'll check it out anyway, might be useful. I thought there was a fella on here who's always riding fixies around China?

Fast Orange is our local white boy lost in the azian ladyboi Nirvana motherland. He will more than likely chime in.

Fast Orange is our local white boy lost in the azian ladyboi Nirvana motherland. He will more than likely chime in.

China is not ladyboy nirvana
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/11/03/miss-international-queen-competition.html

Luoyang is in Hennan province. South of the yellow river. It was going to be my next stop on my Tour De China after Kaifeng but strained my achilles and had to quit.

I've never been there but I've heard it's a pretty chill city with some reasonable tourist attractions. I think there is a giant stone Buddha there as well some places you can check out Shaolin Kung fu.

Of course you can ride your BMX. Just observe traffic, relax and adapt. But if you're into riding street you will literally have dozens of people crowding around to watch which is annoying.

Eat hot pot and street BBQ on a stick. Drink local cheap beer cheaply and anywhere. Learn at least some basic survival Chinese and hook up with a local woman.

But watch out with the women. Most of them go from 0-marriage in 4.9 seconds.

Good stuff. I've heard Mandarin varies dramatically from place to place and more rural areas more often use Cantonese, any truth to that?

Yup it varies a lot and rural areas use their own local dialect. There are literally hundreds of different languages spoken throughout China. I can speak some Tianjin local dialect but can't really converse in it.

Anyone with half an education can speak Mandarin though which is why it's actually called "the common tongue". Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and the parts of the mainland that surround Hong Kong.

The reason it's like this is to enforce Chinese people's sense of regional superiority and assist in discrimination. Someone comes up to them speaking Mandarin they know they are from out of town and can therefore be rude to them or overcharge them for something at the very least.