Beyond taxi touts, are a warm people with a kind heart

"Don't carry too much cash with you and make sure you don't get cheated," a colleague reminded me when I told him I was going to Songshan Mountain in Henan. It was a warning I would receive numerous times from others in the newsroom and friends, before I headed for the province.

The central region seems to carry a reputation for fleecing travelers. That fear, some say, is reflected in the harsh-sounding Henan dialect.

My four-day experience there could not have been farther from those fears.

Tour and taxi touts that buzz around dazed travelers just out of the railway station are not confined to the monolithic one in Zhengzhou, Henan's provincial capital. These predators are everywhere in the country, as most domestic and foreign travelers would attest to.

But beyond the ruckus of the railway square, I encountered heartening acts of kindness from the locals. As with most other encounters in China, or many other countries for that matter, once you try to understand what people tell you, the stereotypes fade and the barriers come tumbling down.

When I asked for directions in the pleasant town of Dengfeng, at the foot of Songshan, a bespectacled teenage girl made a detour from her scheduled music class to show me the right bus to take. She even took the time to point out her primary school, an equally agreeable structure nestled among rows of noodle, curio and other mom-and-pop shops.

"That's where I studied," she said.

"Cute, right?"

On the minibus to the famed Shaolin Temple, two chirpy passengers offered their bag of roasted sunflower seeds to me during our friendly 15-minute chat.

"Help yourself," said one of them.

"A lot more food where that came from."

A resident monk on a routine climb up the slopes of Wuru Peak that overlook the grounds of Shaolin Temple gave me a timely introduction to the area's history and its attractions. He also recommended nearby lodging, helping me to save money and an extra trip back to Dengfeng.

"You don't look like you need anything too luxurious," he said.

"Just enough for a good night's sleep."

Nature reserve employee Zhao Zixing joined me on part of my trek around the summit of Songshan. Seeing that I was traveling on my own, he spoke briefly about the dangerous stretches of the mountain paths and the choice spots to take in the sights, in between pants and gasps.

"What you want to watch out for are the bees, yeah apart from the ridiculous songs blaring from the towers of the cable car. Those bugs can be quite a nuisance," the 55-year-old said.

As I marveled at the view of Henan's central plains from an unopened souvenir stand near the mountain peak, a man in his early 20s shared my bench with his visiting girlfriend. The young man immediately whipped out a cigarette for me as he enjoyed his smoke among the clouds.

I found it too impolite to refuse.

"Great view and great air," he muttered.

Great company too, I thought.

(China Daily 09/17/2008 page20)