Kangding is situated at 2600 m (about 8500 feet) above sea level in a narrow valley at the confluence of the Zhedu and Yala Rivers. It's a small city of 82,000 population, really a small town by China standards, although it's the political center for the Ganzi-Tibet Autonomous region as well as being the local county seat. The mountains rise incredibly steeply, and we keep seeing peaks above the ones we thought were the tallest as we look around more and when the clouds recede. There's one of over 7000 m elevation around here, although I don't think we've seen that yet. After enjoying a few days at our very comfortable accomodations 4 km north of town, we moved to a room across from the bus station in preparation for our 6 AM departure for Garzi and even higher elevations tomorrow. Lynn and Jamie returned to Chengdu today, and we will miss having them as travelling companions.
We hiked a ways up the Paoma Shan (running horse mountain) where we learned the procedure for visiting a Tibetan Buddhist temple, greeting the Buddha, circling the temple three times clockwise, and placing the incense. We also threw prayer papers off the mountain,
They were blowing the big horns and beating the drum which was kind of a kick. We also found the Anjue and Nanwu temples south of town, two centuries-old lamasaries that require finding steep side roads off the main highway and walking through alleys past houses with large Tibetan dogs (fortunately the active ones have all been chained up, so far). The efforts were well worth it. At the latter, the monks were rehersing for some kind of performance accompanied by drumming and blowing of the big horns. At the latter, inside one of the temples, we got to watch about a dozen monks executing a sand painting.
Our culinary adventures continued in the form of being treated to dinner at another local Tibetan restaurant by Lynn's uncle. Here we got to eat excellent yogurt, true butter tea, and yak meat right off the bone by hand. The dinner also, of course, included many toasts with the local barley liquor. It turns out that each restaurant, and home, makes their own, so it tastes different everywhere, and we won't be able to buy a bottle to take home.
We also spent one evening with Lynn's friends at a Tibetan dance hall in town. It is impossible to describe this in terms of anything within my experience. Lonely Planet says "Traditional Tibetan and Chinese songs, including the famous Kangding love song, are performed to ear-splitting techno beats and appreciative audiences." That's part of it. Jacob and I were persuaded to go only because we were assured there would be beer to drink. There was one beer choice -- Budweiser -- and this was warm. You drink the beer in small glasses with toasts for the guests, the hosts, friendship, love, and whatever else was being said. Our hosts purchased a song dedication to us, and so, at one point, the Chinese and Tibetan scroll above the huge video screen turned into English, for us, and said "Welcome to Kangding."
The Kangding market is in stalls along the river. One interesting item is big hunks of yak from which they slice whatever piece the customer wants. For some reason, each of these has a mass of hide, witht he thick yak fur, attached. There is also a section featuring the many kinds of mushrooms that people collect in the mountains around town. Tomorrow we leave at 6 AM for what we were told will be a 12-hour bus ride.
2010年8月17日星期二
One Day Travel Wuzhen
Today we woke up at around 7:00 in order to be at People's Square by 7:30 to meet up with Tristan's friend, Irene and the tour group to Wuzhen. When we arrived, the area was very chaotic with Chinese people yelling and screaming. It was also hot as hell. Since I have been here, it has been damn hot and I have been feeling sweaty and gross. It's going to be nice going back to tolerable weather in the states, but I do know one thing--I am glad that I'm out of the asshole of America, called Stockton. Tristan introduced me to the term "hard-drives" to describe a specific selection of people in the city. A hard-drive is a person who basically doesn't have any etiquette or sense of surroundings. They are usually the dark skin migrant workers. A hard-drive is someone who pushes extensively on the subway. A hard-drive is someone who stands and blocks the left side of the escalator while everyone else is standing on the right side. A hard-drive tries to scan a one-way ticket on the sensor of the metro exit gate, when he/she is supposed to feed it through the slot. When you are walking on the side walk and are clearly moving to your right to get out of peoples' way. The area where we were at had a lot of hard-drives. It was hard-drive heaven. We rode a bus for 2 hours to Wuzhen. Thank the Lord Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith, and Tom Cruise that this bus had air conditioning, because I was sweating my ass off. I used the two hours to go back to sleep. Apparently while I was sleeping, the bus almost drove off a bridge, and the kid behind Tristan threw up in a bucket that was on the aisle. When we arrived, it took some time to get tickets. We toured around Wuzhen and our tour guide was speaking a very good English.
The brochure said that each of us will get a Haibao and guess what?? NO HAIBAO. >:-O!! When we arrived at People's Square I went to Tristan's place to pick up my laundry. I took the subway back to Yanchang Road. It was around 9pm when I got back to my room. I went over to my favorite restaurant around the corner for some curry chicken. A plate of curry chicken and rice is only 6RMB (less than 1 dollar)...what a steal! The restaurant changed a little bit since it is bigger than it was last year---it's still ghetto though. Maruyi called me today and we're planning to go out on Friday so I'm excited about that.
The brochure said that each of us will get a Haibao and guess what?? NO HAIBAO. >:-O!! When we arrived at People's Square I went to Tristan's place to pick up my laundry. I took the subway back to Yanchang Road. It was around 9pm when I got back to my room. I went over to my favorite restaurant around the corner for some curry chicken. A plate of curry chicken and rice is only 6RMB (less than 1 dollar)...what a steal! The restaurant changed a little bit since it is bigger than it was last year---it's still ghetto though. Maruyi called me today and we're planning to go out on Friday so I'm excited about that.
2010年8月16日星期一
My vocation in Xiamen
Xiamen - Fujian Province: the homeland. Apparently. Well, Mum says so and so does Dad, but less convincingly. I'll take their word for it. I mean, what the fuck do I know anyway? The idea of it excites me at least. Before coming here, I had these visions of running into a parallel universe Mark, that had been living in China all this time instead of being born abroad. My vision is kind of 'Back-to-the-future-esque' (by the way - what happened to Michael J. Fox - i really want to watch Teenwolf now), and that if we ever meet, the world's will collide and implode. Dramatic indeed, and unlikely, but you can never be too careful. I wonder if I'd recognise him...
5 bowls of instant noodles after leaving Hangzhou, winding through some spectacular Yangshuo like scenery, I arrived in Xiamen. In Australia, such an instant noodle eating feat would be greeted by bright sunshine Beaches. In China, as it is such a common place achievement, only gloom and rain await. On the gloomiest day in the history of China, my first in Xiamen, I manage to find my hostel on the small island of Gulang Yu and enjoy a hot shower which is undoubtedly Top 5 in all China. Brilliant. First impression of Xiamen - and first impressions last - the weather's a bitch. But following advice from the song, I decided to bring the delightful Hangzhou weather with me and it paid dividends, with beautiful weather for the rest of my stay in Xiamen. How good is good weather? Rain is average...
So, my first impression of Xiamen faded, in particular, due to the delightful Gulang Yu. It's this little island only about 200m of Xiamen, devoid of traffic, quiet and beautiful, filled with ye olde world colonial shit. From what I have come to understand about Xiamen, it seems every bloody country has had Xiamen at some stage or another. I will refrain from any unsavoury metaphors as, inter alia, it's the homeland. But during these periods of colonial invasions, many buildings were constructed on the undulating island, making for some amazing walks for the modern traveller. And there's no one around. Yes. Indeed. Brilliant. On one of the gloomiest days in the history of China, I ascended the poorly named Sunlight rock (a misnomer equal or greater than the demilitarised zone in Korea), the highest point on the hilly Gulang Yu. As beautiful as it was from the top, the winding alleys and cobblestone paths along the steep Gulang Yu rises make the island, and are certainly the most memorable part of my time in Xiamen.
5 bowls of instant noodles after leaving Hangzhou, winding through some spectacular Yangshuo like scenery, I arrived in Xiamen. In Australia, such an instant noodle eating feat would be greeted by bright sunshine Beaches. In China, as it is such a common place achievement, only gloom and rain await. On the gloomiest day in the history of China, my first in Xiamen, I manage to find my hostel on the small island of Gulang Yu and enjoy a hot shower which is undoubtedly Top 5 in all China. Brilliant. First impression of Xiamen - and first impressions last - the weather's a bitch. But following advice from the song, I decided to bring the delightful Hangzhou weather with me and it paid dividends, with beautiful weather for the rest of my stay in Xiamen. How good is good weather? Rain is average...
So, my first impression of Xiamen faded, in particular, due to the delightful Gulang Yu. It's this little island only about 200m of Xiamen, devoid of traffic, quiet and beautiful, filled with ye olde world colonial shit. From what I have come to understand about Xiamen, it seems every bloody country has had Xiamen at some stage or another. I will refrain from any unsavoury metaphors as, inter alia, it's the homeland. But during these periods of colonial invasions, many buildings were constructed on the undulating island, making for some amazing walks for the modern traveller. And there's no one around. Yes. Indeed. Brilliant. On one of the gloomiest days in the history of China, I ascended the poorly named Sunlight rock (a misnomer equal or greater than the demilitarised zone in Korea), the highest point on the hilly Gulang Yu. As beautiful as it was from the top, the winding alleys and cobblestone paths along the steep Gulang Yu rises make the island, and are certainly the most memorable part of my time in Xiamen.
Hong Kong I love you
Arrived in Shenzen and had the good fortune of meeting two other travelers, Kate and Andy from England, who were here travel China like me and going to the same exact hostel in Hong Kong, so we go off to catch the 45 minute train to Hong Kong together. Hong Kong seems really great, the trains and subways are amazing and fast, clean, and efficient - the best I've ever been on and HK is so easy yo get around. Its like a combination of Japanese train efficiency and the common sense of the western city grid. In Japan, the trains are always on time but when you get off the train its just a maze of streets and backalleys...in the west, its easy to find your way but you never know when your public transport will arrive or if it'll get there. PLUS, English is an official language here and everyone speaks it amazingly well, I mean, having taught in Japan and China and traveled around Asia, it's just weird to hear English with a western accent, look up, and see an Asian speaking it...to me anyway! Anyway, we check in and go out for lunch and then head off in seperate directions. I have a few errands to run, but it turns out that both places I have to go are on this walking route through the central district, so I decide to walk it. It first takes you by the harbor and then your in the middle of these giant, modern, glass and steel office and department store buildings and suddenly, there are brilliant garden w/a tropical setting and a waterfall and birds everywhere and it all drowns out the city noises and you feel like you are in some natural setting. After a few minutes I continue on and am walking past these huge structures and I come to Hong Kong park and its absolutely an oasis in the middle of towering skyscrapers. Its beautiful with tropical trees, a lush garden, a conservatory, a walk-through aviary, sports park, waterfalls, and even a wedding chapel, of which is saw two seperate wedding parties and brides and grooms. I really dug it and wandered around a long time, but left after an hour to get to the US embassy b/c I have no more room in my passport and have to have them add more pages for visa stamps.
That night, Kate and Andy and I go off to Soho, a big restaurant and bar district and find a Vietnamese restaurant, named Bon Appetite and eat Chinese food, while in downtown Hong Kong! There was also a great Malay guy with an Elvis hairstyle and the food was good, so we had fun. The we just walked about and wandered around and explored the streets and hills in the area and went back to catch some sleep, but decided that we must come back tomorrow night for a night of drinking and fun!
That night, Kate and Andy and I go off to Soho, a big restaurant and bar district and find a Vietnamese restaurant, named Bon Appetite and eat Chinese food, while in downtown Hong Kong! There was also a great Malay guy with an Elvis hairstyle and the food was good, so we had fun. The we just walked about and wandered around and explored the streets and hills in the area and went back to catch some sleep, but decided that we must come back tomorrow night for a night of drinking and fun!
Travel in Kunming
The third day of my travel China vocation, I left Liuyang on Friday, bolting from my last class like a newly freed prison inmate. Not for anything too serious-just a nasty cold that she came down with the day before, but the Chinese are the most IV-happy people on earth and so she obligingly went in for her treatment. As it turned out, she ended up in a room with some of the elderly women from her apartment building; it sounded like a sort of social club, only everyone was attached to an IV drip.
The next morning we embarked on the journey. We fought the ever-present crowds and managed to board the train where we would spend the next 26 hours of our lives. The ride proved to be fairly uneventful. Gorgeous scenery flashed by outside the window. I saw miles and miles of the stone formations that are so famous in Yunnan. They looked like grey barnacles encrusting the land.
Kunming has been a pleasant city, as far as big cities go. The weather feels like early spring. Still a chill in the air, but the skies are blue and the air is perceptibly cleaner. I can almost feel my body unclenching after months of constant cold misery. The hotel we are staying at appears to be foreigner central. I have to consciously remind myself not to stare; while we were eating our continental breakfast in the lobby, I realized I haven't seen this many white people under one roof since I flew out of LAX in August. I also have to resist the urge to nudge Mellisa and point out the existence of every white person I see on the street.
We have decided to sample as much good food as possible while on this trip. We've recently discovered the wonders of one Yunnan specialty: goat cheese. Mellisa has ordered it at every meal...steamed, fried, with ham, you name it. If, at the end of a month I have to be carried back to Liuyang because I've gained so much weight, so be it.
The rest of our time in Kunming has been fairly business oriented, aside from a brief excursion to the bird and flower market. I hope that everything works out according to plan...
The next morning we embarked on the journey. We fought the ever-present crowds and managed to board the train where we would spend the next 26 hours of our lives. The ride proved to be fairly uneventful. Gorgeous scenery flashed by outside the window. I saw miles and miles of the stone formations that are so famous in Yunnan. They looked like grey barnacles encrusting the land.
Kunming has been a pleasant city, as far as big cities go. The weather feels like early spring. Still a chill in the air, but the skies are blue and the air is perceptibly cleaner. I can almost feel my body unclenching after months of constant cold misery. The hotel we are staying at appears to be foreigner central. I have to consciously remind myself not to stare; while we were eating our continental breakfast in the lobby, I realized I haven't seen this many white people under one roof since I flew out of LAX in August. I also have to resist the urge to nudge Mellisa and point out the existence of every white person I see on the street.
We have decided to sample as much good food as possible while on this trip. We've recently discovered the wonders of one Yunnan specialty: goat cheese. Mellisa has ordered it at every meal...steamed, fried, with ham, you name it. If, at the end of a month I have to be carried back to Liuyang because I've gained so much weight, so be it.
The rest of our time in Kunming has been fairly business oriented, aside from a brief excursion to the bird and flower market. I hope that everything works out according to plan...
Chongqing Pandas and Yangtze Cruise
All our travel China tour was booked over the internet using a Government approved China based travel provider “Online China Tours” and all arrangements have been superb with English speaking guides at all stops. This was no exception. The little sting in the tail for this section was though, out of the 145 passengers we were the only English speaking ones!
English or Yank in sight or sound for 3 days. We found this little gem of information out on arrival when we were greeted by the ever enthusiastic guide Susan. “Hello Aggie and Heather I am your interpreter and tour guide. You are the only English speaking people on the cruise so I will give you your own briefing personally”. She went on to explain how things would happen on the ship. All announcements would be made by her in Chinese for the 18 Chinese passengers, by a German speaking interpreter for the 125 Germans and finally to us personally in English.
Before boarding the ship we had flown in from Xi’an and had a whirlwind tour of the largest city in China, Chongqing which included a visit to the zoo to see the laid back and endearing China Pandas. And now here we are on our much awaited Yangtze Cruise ready to socialise and have fun but wondering how it is going to happen when no one speaks English!
We had a little cabin to ourselves with our own bathroom and the boat had a dining room, bar and plenty of deck space to watch the scenery go by. Each day we were woken up early by Chinese music coming through loudspeakers and an announcement that it was time for breakfast before the morning shore excursion. We had kind of thought our 3 days on the river would include sleeping in not have boot camp regimentation!
What was amazing was absorbing the enormity of the three gorges project and the task the government set of moving out 1.3 million people out of their homes and farms and flooding the valley to a depth of 195 metres. Whole new cities have been built to house displaced people and topsoil was moved before the flooding up the mountains so some displaced farmers could begin farming anew. The full project is almost complete now and includes a huge 5 step lock. An innovative ship elevator is now being built for smaller ships which will cut the time back from 4 hours for the ship locks to 40 minutes in the ship elevator.
The Three Gorges scenery is amazing but we couldn't help thinking how different the view would have been prior to the flooding with another 195 metres on the mountains!
Our cruise ended abruptly and a little earlier than scheduled when a thick blanket of fog settled in on the last day. After negotiating the five locks the captain decided visibility was too poor. We were bussed out to see the dam and couldn't see a thing we were all put on buses for the final leg to Yichang of about 2 hours. Susan our guide and interpreter contacted our tour company and sorted out our pick up from the bus stop instead of the terminal and so it really was no hassle at all.
Before boarding the ship we had flown in from Xi’an and had a whirlwind tour of the largest city in China, Chongqing which included a visit to the zoo to see the laid back and endearing China Pandas. And now here we are on our much awaited Yangtze Cruise ready to socialise and have fun but wondering how it is going to happen when no one speaks English!
We had a little cabin to ourselves with our own bathroom and the boat had a dining room, bar and plenty of deck space to watch the scenery go by. Each day we were woken up early by Chinese music coming through loudspeakers and an announcement that it was time for breakfast before the morning shore excursion. We had kind of thought our 3 days on the river would include sleeping in not have boot camp regimentation!
What was amazing was absorbing the enormity of the three gorges project and the task the government set of moving out 1.3 million people out of their homes and farms and flooding the valley to a depth of 195 metres. Whole new cities have been built to house displaced people and topsoil was moved before the flooding up the mountains so some displaced farmers could begin farming anew. The full project is almost complete now and includes a huge 5 step lock. An innovative ship elevator is now being built for smaller ships which will cut the time back from 4 hours for the ship locks to 40 minutes in the ship elevator.
The Three Gorges scenery is amazing but we couldn't help thinking how different the view would have been prior to the flooding with another 195 metres on the mountains!
Our cruise ended abruptly and a little earlier than scheduled when a thick blanket of fog settled in on the last day. After negotiating the five locks the captain decided visibility was too poor. We were bussed out to see the dam and couldn't see a thing we were all put on buses for the final leg to Yichang of about 2 hours. Susan our guide and interpreter contacted our tour company and sorted out our pick up from the bus stop instead of the terminal and so it really was no hassle at all.
Beijing Lama Temple
We had an extra day in Beijing today, before we leave for Hong Kong, so I did some research and found a really cool Temple we haven't seen yet (since we saw all the major attractions). It's called the Lama Temple. "Lama" is Tibetan for "chief" or "high priest" (hence: The Dalai Lama). It's a temple for Buddhism (Lamasery) and some monks still use it. It was built in 1694 during Qing dynasty and is the best preserved and biggest lamasery in Beijing. It was originally built as a living place for the Prince (3rd Emperor of Qing), until 1744 when it was converted fully into a lamasery (Buddhist temple). I think it was my favorite temple so far because I really love Tibetan culture and this temple was the closest thing to real Tibetan culture. There were actual Buddhist monks inside, most of them there to guard and make sure people didn't take pictures inside any of the temples. But monks actually use the temple today too. There were many different temples, all filled with Buddha statues, a math/astronomy room, a room of treasures, and more temples filled with Buddha statues!
We also met a nice Canadian couple who travel China here too. The wife used to live in Munich, so she was telling me all about the different districts. And we swapped stories about different Chinese cities and fun things to do since they've already been through Hong Kong and Shanghai, and Jie and I already went to Suzhou and Nanjing.
The Tibetan colors were seen all around the temples. They didn't have any prayer flags but Tibetan Buddhists have planted these outside their homes and spiritual places for thousands of years and they usually have symbols, prayers, or mantras written on them. They're said to bring luck, happiness, and long life to the planters around the area.
After lunch, I found out we were right next to the Temple of Earth. Similar to the Temple of Heaven, but most people see the Temple of Heaven because its bigger, and is more intact. There are actually four of these temples in Beijing - The Temple of Heaven, The Temple of Earth, The Temple of Moon, and The Temple of Sun. The last two however, have been lost to time and are no longer there, so I'm told. The foundations may still be there but there's no park or temples left. The Temple of Earth is still here though and we went inside to have a look. All you need to get in is 2 Yuan (about 28 cents), so we weren't expecting much (no park we've been in so far was less than 25 Yuan), but it was actually pretty cool. With a throne and two Chinese drum sets (different sized bells) and some other information about the temple.
Overall, today was a good sightseeing day. I'm glad I got to see some more of Beijing's traditional history before we leave tomorrow. We're staying in Kowloon District of
Dragon Turtle
Hong Kong (Bruce Lee's childhood home was here) and it should be a pretty great part of the trip. I've really been looking forward to seeing Hong Kong, and we're also seeing Macau. Macau is the oldest European settlement in the Far East, the Portuguese were the first to settle it, and so both Hong Kong and Macau will have some European like customs. Macau is known for it's gambling and is reputed to be the "Las Vegas" of the East.
We also met a nice Canadian couple who travel China here too. The wife used to live in Munich, so she was telling me all about the different districts. And we swapped stories about different Chinese cities and fun things to do since they've already been through Hong Kong and Shanghai, and Jie and I already went to Suzhou and Nanjing.
The Tibetan colors were seen all around the temples. They didn't have any prayer flags but Tibetan Buddhists have planted these outside their homes and spiritual places for thousands of years and they usually have symbols, prayers, or mantras written on them. They're said to bring luck, happiness, and long life to the planters around the area.
After lunch, I found out we were right next to the Temple of Earth. Similar to the Temple of Heaven, but most people see the Temple of Heaven because its bigger, and is more intact. There are actually four of these temples in Beijing - The Temple of Heaven, The Temple of Earth, The Temple of Moon, and The Temple of Sun. The last two however, have been lost to time and are no longer there, so I'm told. The foundations may still be there but there's no park or temples left. The Temple of Earth is still here though and we went inside to have a look. All you need to get in is 2 Yuan (about 28 cents), so we weren't expecting much (no park we've been in so far was less than 25 Yuan), but it was actually pretty cool. With a throne and two Chinese drum sets (different sized bells) and some other information about the temple.
Overall, today was a good sightseeing day. I'm glad I got to see some more of Beijing's traditional history before we leave tomorrow. We're staying in Kowloon District of
Dragon Turtle
Hong Kong (Bruce Lee's childhood home was here) and it should be a pretty great part of the trip. I've really been looking forward to seeing Hong Kong, and we're also seeing Macau. Macau is the oldest European settlement in the Far East, the Portuguese were the first to settle it, and so both Hong Kong and Macau will have some European like customs. Macau is known for it's gambling and is reputed to be the "Las Vegas" of the East.
2010年8月12日星期四
Anhui Tour
Our story begins in Anhui province, an area famous for its small rustic communities and lush countryside. We arrived in Huangshan Shi (or Tunxi) railway station. She wasn't alone. Tunxi was the nice but somewhat tacky stopping point for every Chinese tour group in the region. My main reasons for visiting China were the predictable ones: See some villages, visit Huangshan. When I arrived it was raining and as any fools knows, its a bad plan to climb a mountain in a thunder storm. So I decided to do the villages first. I set of early in the morning with three girls from my hotel. We were planning on taking a local bus to a big village called Xidi and then going on from there. However we ended up negotiating a price with a taxi driver for the day. He was a nice guy, and the mix of English (his only word was 'taxi'), Chinese and sign language kept us happily amused. The first and best stop of the day was Chengkan. A nice Ming (?) dynasty village with an unintelligible but very poetic entrance sign. It felt like a real village, open sewers, cows and scruffy children. It was very relaxing to wander through, although it was a Chinese village so the of course the experience came with an entrance fee. I wondered how much if any of this, the villagers ever saw. Although there was also a tour route, we decided that was dull and went for a freestyle private tour walk. The result was us getting slightly lost but luckily we managed to surreptitiously follow a grandmother back to civilization. We also visited a bamboo forest (supposedly where some of crouching tiger hidden dragon was filmed but I'm yet to find a decent reference for this). A hilly area feathered with bamboo and inter spaced with tea plantations. It was very peaceful and I was glad we'd gone. The people in the hotel also here for a visit Huangshan had told us not to bother: “bamboo forests are so dull!”. I'd had to explain to them that where I was from, bamboo wasn't so common to see everyday! Our last stop was Hongcun, the tourist spot of the day. It was beautiful but busy and we spent much less time here than we did in Chengkan. Once again using local grandmothers to negotiate the alleyways! This was a village of street food and we sampled an abundance of different deep fried biscuits, some of which were edible. The day ended slightly stressfully as our taxi driver finished his shift without telling us. The last bus had gone and for an hour or so we thought we were stranded. When his replacement finally turned up he didn't get why we'd been worried- silly westerners, not knowing about local shift patterns! When the weather cleared up I went to Huangshan. The bus left as 6am which was a bit horrible, especially as I had stayed up too late the night before. Ah well! I went with Adam, a Chinese guy from my dorm and we joined up with a few others on the bus, since it is package tour arranged by my China advisor from Top China Trip, so by the time we got there we had a good hiking team! Huangshan is big, so for the sake of seeing some of the nice less touristy bits at the top we took a cable car up the east side of the mountain. We then did a 16km hike around the summit. This was steep and some of the paths, slightly terrifying, when you saw from the side they were only 10cm of concrete, 100s of meters above the ground. The views were lovely though, spectacular pine trees clinging to rocky peaks rising out of a sea of mist clad lower mountains. The Chinese have a crazy habit of building steps around their mountains. It is a bit odd and makes it into a tourist destination rather than a peaceful retreat, but it does mean that you can access amazing areas without being a stupidly high grade rock climber! We shared the sunset with the masses then, after a few hours sleep in a hotel on the summit we shared the sunrise with the masses too. The two looked somewhat similar and although beautiful were somewhat disturbed by the camera flashes and cheers. Unlike most of the Chinese I considered sunrise an unholy hour to go hiking so I returned to bed for a bit and we set off down the mountain late in the morning. I was quite dehydrated and my legs cramped really badly in the night so going down hill was rather painful. Unfortunately it was 16km of walking down stairs. I say unfortunately. That's only from the pain point of view. Actually it was amazing, and as we passed the cable car level we actually had the mountain to ourselves in parts. I have to admit though, one of the potential side track peaks was closed and I was quite glad as that saved us 5km of irresistible but excruciating beauty! The next day I spent hobbling. I caught a bus to Hangzuou in the afternoon as I needed to get back to shanghai to catch my train to Hong Kong. My first proper bus journey in china. I spent it having an in depth girly chat with a Chinese girl, it mainly focused on her ex boyfriends. My visit to Hangzhou was fleeting. I arrived in the evening at the long distance bus station which was really far from town. A series of local buses took me to where I wanted to go and some locals on bicycles helped me find the hidden door of west lake hotel. My companions were a couple from New Zealand and an English couple who are travel China. The next day we all went on the same train to Shanghai! Once there, I said goodbye to the others and caught my sleeper to Hong Kong (booked a week in advance due to my paranoia of overstaying my visa). I say caught. That was the closest I've come to missing a train so far- not realizing that I needed to clear customs before boarding I left catching this train rather short and was rushed through the station by some friendly officials. But all was well and I made it to Hong Kong.
My Xining Travel Blog
Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, turned out to be already more wild than expected. It was far less modern than the other cities. The most obvious sign for this were the missing chain stores of Mc Donalds, KFC and Starbucks. We arrived after a comfortable night on the train. Chinese sleeper trains are of good quality with open 6 berths compartments and clean bed sheets. There is also a wake up service from the attendant in each carriage. The youth hotel was closed and we ended far outside of town in a kind of 4x4 car club accommodation. It had a certain American Wild West bar atmosphere with plenty of 4x4 decorations and route pictures. I struggled with the very kind, but confused receptionist to understand where we were and what would be our options to do something. Luckily she called an English speaking friend and we got all the information over phone. We decided to stay for one night and to visit the Sera Monastery about 25 km out of town. The bus stopped just in front of the hotel door. We had a quick meal in a small family run Muslim noodle shop with all men here were wearing the traditional Muslim white head cover. The kind receptionist helped us to get the right bus and waited with us outside. The buses had already passed while we still tried to identify the characters. It was a pleasant 1 hour ride to the monastery and we were surprised by the Tibetan touch of the town. The hills had prayer flags and streets shops sold temple goods and Tibetan handy craft. We bought an entrance ticket and visited the several monasteries scattered along the hill. It felt like in Tibet with the dark temples, pilgrims doing their prayer exercises in front of the temples and offering white scarf’s, butter lamps and Tibetan style painting on the walls. The Sera Monastery complex has a huge historic significance since it is the birth place of the founder of the famous Yellow hat sect and dates back into the 16th century. At this time the area was called Amdo kingdom and part of Tibet. The more we read about this area the more surprised we were. The birth place of the current Dalai Lama was not far from here and almost all Dalai Lamas came from this region and not from Tibet. There is even a holy mountain similar to Kailash with the name Mt. Amnye Machen. It is 6282 m high and it takes 7-9 days on horse to surround it while pilgrims take weeks. We got a little bit templed out and were finally sitting at the entrance gate of the main complex just watching people - a mix of pilgrims and Chinese tourists. It was late afternoon and somehow more and more young monks were showing up. They came first in groups of three and then more and more. They looked very colorful in the red robes with yellow and some had the yellow hats that gave the sect the name. Slowly I understand what was going to happen. The sect has the tradition of debating. The young monks meet in the afternoon and have a kind of arguing competition about religious topics. They group in pairs and one is standing and one is sitting. Each argument is supported by loud hand clapping to give it more emphasis. This is great fun not only for the watchers, but also the arguers. I have seen it during my trip 3 years ago in Tibet. And this is exactly what happened. Soon we were surrounded by hand clapping and shouting monks. It gave us a very special and unusual feeling as been suddenly catapulted into a different world. We watched one hour and went on a half circle around the monastery on the pilgrim path (kora). The way back to town we met a Tibetan couple who wanted to practice English. We had a cheer full conversation with a lot of laughing. She was educated as nurse and this time was come for a family private tour here. It was getting now very chilly since Xining is already at 2500 m altitude. We fought the cold by having downtown a very nice hot pot meal. Hot pot is a pot filled with different kind of boiling sauces. Several kinds of ingredients from meat to vegetables, mushrooms or tofu are dipped into the sauces, boiled and eaten. It is similar to meat fondue, but with a different stock and very popular in China especially during the winter season. We discussed out travel plans and decided to see more of the Amdo Tibet culture. There were the two small Tibetan towns of Tongren and Xiahe further into Qinghai, bordering to neighbor province Gansu.
Travel in Xinjiang
On this trip to travel China I also went to Xinjiang Province for a few days. Xinjiang Province is in the far west of China and is largely an inhospitable place with large deserts and high mountains. I have several reasons for visiting this part of China. One is sightseeing of course. I have for many years had a wish to visit the city Turpan not far from Ürümqi. But I also have another reason for visiting Xinjiang. I have a colleague, named Zulhayat, who is from China tours and her former hometown is Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang Province. One of the things I am going to do on this trip is to visit her relatives. Later this day another sister to my colleague showed up and all four of us had dinner together and talked some more. After a while my colleague's mother showed me some photos. To my great surprise among the photos there was one of me. The photo was of all the staff at the school where I and Zulhayat work. So there I was in a totally strange home in Xinjiang Province in China looking at a photo of myself. I didn't expect that to ever happen to me... When we had dinner we talked about what other plans I had for my visit China in Xinjiang. When I mentioned that I wanted to go to Turpan the cousin and one of the sisters said that they wanted to go with me there. So now I had both company and an interpreter/tour guide on my visit in Turpan. Turpan is situated near the Taklamakan Desert. The climate is dry and in summer the temperatures can on a hot day reach more than 40 degrees centigrade. On the day we arrived in Turpan it was one of the hot days. So we decided to stay indoors a few hours around noon and begin our sightseeing later in the day. I funny detail is that the weather the second day we were in Turpan was less hot. I told the others that it was a rather cool day and that I felt it was quite pleasant. When I saw a thermometer it said 34 degrees... The first place we went to see in Turpan was the Emin Mosque with its spectacular minaret. The interior of this mosque is of little interest so the only reason to go there is to see the minaret. The mosque is, like many buildings in this area, made from clay. Since it rains very little in Turpan and its surroundings it is possible to build houses out of clay. Next place we went to was Jiaohe Ancient City. Also here the houses were all built from clay. This city was abandoned several hundred years ago and today all that remains are badly decayed ruins. In fact, the walls of the houses were so damaged that it was often hard to get an idea of how the houses actually used look. Turpan used to be a very important town on the Silk Road. When the caravans passed the area they could find shelter and food in Turpan. The area doesn't usually get enough rain to support a town. But already over 2000 years ago people found a way to get water to Turpan. 100 kilometres from Turpan there are mountains where there is plenty of water. The problem is getting this water to Turpan. The desert area between the mountains and Turpan is so hot and dry in summer that a simple aqueduct would not work. All the water would evaporate on the way. What the people did was to dig tunnels from the mountains all the way to Turpan. By leading the water underground the evaporation becomes negligible and the water can reach the fields on the other side of the desert. This underground water supply system is known locally as Karez. Each Karez is often as much as 100 kilometres long and the total length of the entire Karez system is around 3000 kilometres. If you add that all of this was dug by hand with the use of only very simple equipment and that all the work was done in very narrow tunnels deep under ground you probably realize that this is one of the great wonders of ancient China. It is a pity that all of it is under several meters of desert sand so that you can not really see any of it. The Karez make it possible to grow many kinds of fruits and vegetables in Turpan with the most common being grapes. Fields with grapes can be seen in many places. In fact they even grapes growing as a roof over the street Qingnian Lu in the middle of the city. The grapes are harvested in August and September and much of the crop is then dried.
All across the countryside there are specially designed houses used for drying grapes. One of the tourist sites in Turpan is a place called Grape Valley. It's a scenic spot and it is so popular that they charge an entrance fee from people who wish to go there. We decided to visit another similar valley, Toyuk Valley. In the valley there is a small village that can exist there because there is a small creek running through it. In Toyuk Valley they grow grapes on fields near the creek. Further away there is barren desert, making it very obvious how important water really is. The houses are built in the traditional way using clay and straw. What I can't understand is how they in these houses cope with the weather in the winter. Temperatures then often go down to 10 degrees below zero centigrade. From what I could see the houses are not really insulated and I doubt that clay is the best material available if you want to keep it warm and nice indoors. I know what winter is like in Sweden and I don't like it. But I live in a country where the houses insulated and where we have central heating so indoors it is always nice and warm. I don't want to try to survive a winter in Toyuk Valley.
All across the countryside there are specially designed houses used for drying grapes. One of the tourist sites in Turpan is a place called Grape Valley. It's a scenic spot and it is so popular that they charge an entrance fee from people who wish to go there. We decided to visit another similar valley, Toyuk Valley. In the valley there is a small village that can exist there because there is a small creek running through it. In Toyuk Valley they grow grapes on fields near the creek. Further away there is barren desert, making it very obvious how important water really is. The houses are built in the traditional way using clay and straw. What I can't understand is how they in these houses cope with the weather in the winter. Temperatures then often go down to 10 degrees below zero centigrade. From what I could see the houses are not really insulated and I doubt that clay is the best material available if you want to keep it warm and nice indoors. I know what winter is like in Sweden and I don't like it. But I live in a country where the houses insulated and where we have central heating so indoors it is always nice and warm. I don't want to try to survive a winter in Toyuk Valley.
Qingdao, China tour
I arrived in Qingdao early in the morning due to the train taking 18 hours when I thought I would arrive in 10 hours. The hotel I booked was not near the train station and far from east towards the financial district. I showed my Chinese address to the taxi drivers and three of them had no idea where the street even was. I showed them a map of the city with a dot that showed where the hotel was, still no luck. I did not see any bus stands or signs near the train station. I decided that I would walk to another hotel that was in the Lonely Planet and see if they had any rooms that didn't show on the Internet or see if they could get me a taxi that would work. As I was crossing the street I was almost hit by the bus that would take me to my hotel. He wouldn't let me on the bus since it was out in the middle of traffic and it moved on without me. After no idea in my mind then I just phoned my China travel advisor from Online China Trip, she tell me waited until the next bus came. So I did and after being on the bus for 45min I was finally found my destination. Showering and sleeping came easy, finding something to do or not. I walked along the "beaches" most had algae covering them and the beach was maybe 100 sq ft of sand. Most areas had a concrete beach. This didn't stop people from swimming or having algae fights, or digging for something they were sure to try and serve me later that night. I chose not to go in, that was really the least of my problems, the main problem was that I was only able to get the Friday ferry to South Korea so I would be here for a week. I decided to switch hotels after a couple nights to a different area. This was a slight improvement. The main attraction, at least by my standards, was the Qingdao beer factory. This was actually rather interesting and I thought better than the Guinness factory. I mainly chose to eat food on the street, it was much cheaper, I mean I would hate to pay over $2 for a meal. However, I did go into a nicer restaurant one night where the server brought me out a spoon and no chop sticks. I was highly offended even though it would have been much easier to eat with the spoon I decided to ask, well point, to get me some chop sticks. Then I proceeded to show the entire restaurant my amazing skills with the two sticks. I didn't choose to show everyone, it was just that everyone was watching me. After a couple of minutes the two girls next to me asked if I was an English teacher who had been travel China or living here for years.
I chose to take the ferry from Qingdao to South Korea and this was going to be an 18 hour journey but thankfully I would be sleeping for most of the time. It was not as good as the ferry in Finland, but that was to be expected. There was no casino, but if i wanted I could have watched a movie in Chinese with Korean subtitles. I chose to sleep instead.
I chose to take the ferry from Qingdao to South Korea and this was going to be an 18 hour journey but thankfully I would be sleeping for most of the time. It was not as good as the ferry in Finland, but that was to be expected. There was no casino, but if i wanted I could have watched a movie in Chinese with Korean subtitles. I chose to sleep instead.
Travel in Luoyang, Henan
The train from Beijing to Zhengzhou went very quickly since the majority of it was during the night hours. And at last we arrived in Zhengzhou of Henan province in the late morning and met one of my room-mate’s Chinese classmates from Australia. She took us to this very fancy hotel, close to the station for a breakfast buffet; an all we could eat feast of fresh vegetables, fruits, buns, noodles, congee and coffee, much appreciated after a night on a train.
After my room-mate and his friend caught up on each other’s lives we took the bus from Zhengzhou to Luoyang where I had booked the hotel from my China travel agency for the night.
I arrived at Luoyang and decided to take a cab to the hotel since we could not find the bus number that the staff recommended to take from the station. The cab driver overcharged us (as usual).
The hotel staff were extremely friendly and welcoming, and the room we booked was amazing and it was only 100 Yuan per person a night!
Since we had arrived at the hotel in the afternoon we thought there would not be enough time to visit Shaolin as the journey. Instead we decided to head for the Longmen Grotto’s; Luoyang’s premier tourist attraction and a designated world heritage site. Getting there was easy, a direct bus right outside of the hostel to the Grottoes. The caves were definitely worth the 120Yuan entry fee.
Hundreds of Buddhist statues carved out of the rock, ranging in size from the microscopic to the gargantuan.
At first we were breath-taken by the scale of this devotion to the Buddha and then we could not believe that such a feat could have be accomplished hundreds of years ago by simple monks, although there must have been some deaths during the construction since the mountain face was quite steep.
Unfortunately as a result of the Cultural Revolution most of the Buddhas were without heads or hands, except for the largest statues.
This site proves both the immense capability and ingenuity of Chinese civilization throughout the ages and also their capacity for destruction and suppression at the hands of tyrannical leaders such as the late Chairman Mao.
The rest of the site is quite magical once we escaped the hordes of tourists and the sound
I love kung fu!!! speakers playing ‘classical Chinese melodies’. We crossed the river and climbed to a temple, which provided superb views of the opposite mountain face carved by the Buddhist devotees.
Spiritual moment over, we headed back towards the hotel and got off the bus a few stops early to check out the night market. This is the first time I travel China and very interested in the night market here too.
At this point, apart from a Chinese take on the Magnum ice cream we had not eaten since breakfast so we headed straight for the food. Sitting down at an open-air, roadside food stall we each ate an amazing bowl of noodles, my Dan Dan Mian was the best I have ever tasted and it only cost 5 yuan. Naturally we washed our noodles down with 2 Yuan large bottles of local beer. After the beer we were intrigued whether the waitress who served us was wearing anything under the red-dress we was wearing. Before heading back to the hotel to watch TV5 Quebec News I grabbed a few more Chinese snacks from the night market including kebabs, Chinese sweet Pizza bread, some fruit and Coconut juice. And have a nice sleep! What a wonderful day!
After my room-mate and his friend caught up on each other’s lives we took the bus from Zhengzhou to Luoyang where I had booked the hotel from my China travel agency for the night.
I arrived at Luoyang and decided to take a cab to the hotel since we could not find the bus number that the staff recommended to take from the station. The cab driver overcharged us (as usual).
The hotel staff were extremely friendly and welcoming, and the room we booked was amazing and it was only 100 Yuan per person a night!
Since we had arrived at the hotel in the afternoon we thought there would not be enough time to visit Shaolin as the journey. Instead we decided to head for the Longmen Grotto’s; Luoyang’s premier tourist attraction and a designated world heritage site. Getting there was easy, a direct bus right outside of the hostel to the Grottoes. The caves were definitely worth the 120Yuan entry fee.
Hundreds of Buddhist statues carved out of the rock, ranging in size from the microscopic to the gargantuan.
At first we were breath-taken by the scale of this devotion to the Buddha and then we could not believe that such a feat could have be accomplished hundreds of years ago by simple monks, although there must have been some deaths during the construction since the mountain face was quite steep.
Unfortunately as a result of the Cultural Revolution most of the Buddhas were without heads or hands, except for the largest statues.
This site proves both the immense capability and ingenuity of Chinese civilization throughout the ages and also their capacity for destruction and suppression at the hands of tyrannical leaders such as the late Chairman Mao.
The rest of the site is quite magical once we escaped the hordes of tourists and the sound
I love kung fu!!! speakers playing ‘classical Chinese melodies’. We crossed the river and climbed to a temple, which provided superb views of the opposite mountain face carved by the Buddhist devotees.
Spiritual moment over, we headed back towards the hotel and got off the bus a few stops early to check out the night market. This is the first time I travel China and very interested in the night market here too.
At this point, apart from a Chinese take on the Magnum ice cream we had not eaten since breakfast so we headed straight for the food. Sitting down at an open-air, roadside food stall we each ate an amazing bowl of noodles, my Dan Dan Mian was the best I have ever tasted and it only cost 5 yuan. Naturally we washed our noodles down with 2 Yuan large bottles of local beer. After the beer we were intrigued whether the waitress who served us was wearing anything under the red-dress we was wearing. Before heading back to the hotel to watch TV5 Quebec News I grabbed a few more Chinese snacks from the night market including kebabs, Chinese sweet Pizza bread, some fruit and Coconut juice. And have a nice sleep! What a wonderful day!
Shanghai In My Eyes
After a 06.40 bus from Huang Shan, we arrived in Shanghai at about 1.30 in the afternoon. From the long distance bus station, we took our first ride on the metro system to the centre of town in the hope of finding a room for the next four nights...our hopes quickly faded! We spent a good few hours walking round the busiest area of town, through busy pedestrian streets, all with 10kg strapped to our backs, and another small rucksuck on our fronts...in the bright sunshine and temperatures in the high 20's! Not exactly what I had envisioned, but we kept soldiering on, we eager want a hotel to stay.
To be fair, it was a city never sleeps Saturday, it was July, and the Shanghai Expo was on! We would have booked, but we didn't know when we were going to arrive, and were a day ahead of schedule anyway! Along the way I had found a ridiculously overpriced hotel, and then a mid range one, and by this time it was about 5pm, we'd had no lunch and were a bit over it....we paid over the odds but needed a room, nearby, and soon, before it got too dark and we got further and further afield! We booked a nice room, with internet, which meant we could book a place online a little further out for 3 nights in a row.
That night, we had a much needed hearty Chinese dinner and walked to the Bund to see the city properly, not through tired traveler, backpack-wearing eyes! We had a nice walk along the riverfront and admired the impressive skyline along with the crowds!
We left our hotel, and took the metro to our new accomodation which was a mission to find....helped by the fact that we'd missed off a line of the address, not naming names on who did that. Once again we found ourselves wandering in the Shanghai sun with bags on our backs, maps in hand!
The metro system was easy to navigate, and it didn't take us long to get in and out of town from our new hotel. Due to the Expo, Shanghai have added eight new lines to their metro system, and you still smell the glue drying in some of the stations!
Finally we check out and we walked along the bund, took a crazy train across to Pudong district where we went up the worlds 3rd tallest building and viewed Shanghai from the 100th floor - very impressive, if a little smoggy. We explored the French concession area which was very nice with its wide tree-lined streets and calmer nature! After much walking we rewarded ourselves with a Peking duck dinner, even though we were not in Beijing, it was still as tasty!
Another scorcher of a day in Shanghai and we visited the Shanghai museum with an impressive collection of all things Chinese. Outside we enjoyed the beautiful weather and blue skies in the park before walking to Old town to visit YuYuan gardens, a beautiful traditional Chinese garden and rockery complete with pond and coy carp. We had the traditional "xiao long bao" for lunch which are famous shanghainese dumplings, and after explored the rest of Old town...which is actually quite new looking but has been made to look traditional. Under the ornate buildings there is still a starbucks! There are some bustling side streets if you explore a bit though!
Another Chinese dinner with strange crispy noodles and a complicated time buying train tickets ended our day. The self service machine provided much confusion so we got in line for the counter, and I had a good conversation in Chinese with the sales person, and could tell her what time we needed our train because tomorrow was our day trip to Suzhou....
To be fair, it was a city never sleeps Saturday, it was July, and the Shanghai Expo was on! We would have booked, but we didn't know when we were going to arrive, and were a day ahead of schedule anyway! Along the way I had found a ridiculously overpriced hotel, and then a mid range one, and by this time it was about 5pm, we'd had no lunch and were a bit over it....we paid over the odds but needed a room, nearby, and soon, before it got too dark and we got further and further afield! We booked a nice room, with internet, which meant we could book a place online a little further out for 3 nights in a row.
That night, we had a much needed hearty Chinese dinner and walked to the Bund to see the city properly, not through tired traveler, backpack-wearing eyes! We had a nice walk along the riverfront and admired the impressive skyline along with the crowds!
We left our hotel, and took the metro to our new accomodation which was a mission to find....helped by the fact that we'd missed off a line of the address, not naming names on who did that. Once again we found ourselves wandering in the Shanghai sun with bags on our backs, maps in hand!
The metro system was easy to navigate, and it didn't take us long to get in and out of town from our new hotel. Due to the Expo, Shanghai have added eight new lines to their metro system, and you still smell the glue drying in some of the stations!
Finally we check out and we walked along the bund, took a crazy train across to Pudong district where we went up the worlds 3rd tallest building and viewed Shanghai from the 100th floor - very impressive, if a little smoggy. We explored the French concession area which was very nice with its wide tree-lined streets and calmer nature! After much walking we rewarded ourselves with a Peking duck dinner, even though we were not in Beijing, it was still as tasty!
Another scorcher of a day in Shanghai and we visited the Shanghai museum with an impressive collection of all things Chinese. Outside we enjoyed the beautiful weather and blue skies in the park before walking to Old town to visit YuYuan gardens, a beautiful traditional Chinese garden and rockery complete with pond and coy carp. We had the traditional "xiao long bao" for lunch which are famous shanghainese dumplings, and after explored the rest of Old town...which is actually quite new looking but has been made to look traditional. Under the ornate buildings there is still a starbucks! There are some bustling side streets if you explore a bit though!
Another Chinese dinner with strange crispy noodles and a complicated time buying train tickets ended our day. The self service machine provided much confusion so we got in line for the counter, and I had a good conversation in Chinese with the sales person, and could tell her what time we needed our train because tomorrow was our day trip to Suzhou....
Travel in Guilin
Arriving in Guilin mid-day we were greeted with the hustle and bustle of a city with a big-town atmosphere. The buildings were no sky-scrapers, but the people were moving quickly in every direction, and we could see the layer of hazy smog hovering above us. We stay in a small inn for a night. 10am we were awoken by a knock on the door and the owner trying to come into our room. Scott sprang out of bed and slammed the door in his face before we hastily packed up and moved to the much nicer feeling backstreet youth hostel. The room was decent enough, 120¥ ($19 cnd) it was a bit more expensive but felt much safer and the staff were friendly, and best of all, no wall mould!! We spent the afternoon wandering around Elephant Hill (a hill with many paths, a nice view and wild pot plants growing on the sides of the foot paths) and taking the path along the lake and river back to the hostel.
The next day we were on a trip to see the amazing Dragon’s Rice Terraces, and the hill-side village of Longsheng. The trip to the rice terraces was a bit overwhelming, on a bus with some 50 other people, we arrived at the Ping ‘an village where we were herded into the village like sheep and told to buy tickets to watch some hair show (the woman of the village cut their hair once in their life, when they were 18.) which we passed on and opted to wander around the village alone while the hoards of people went into to watch some woman and their long hair. We then realized how popular the rice terraces were, there were plenty of buses (maybe between 10 and 20) and they were all FULL of people (20 - 40 people per bus I would think). After switching to a more... ‘mountain friendly’ bus we hurled up a mountain road twisting and turning as the bus came close to flipping itself over numerous times, we eventually made it to the top, alive and safe and sound (phew). A good half-hour hike up the hill found us at a restaurant for lunch with a sketchy Chinese/Chinglish menu and just in time for the heavy seasonal rains to start!! We lucked out though, it poured the entire time we were eating and stopped just before we got ready to continue the journey up the hill. Another hour long hike with many other people and many amazing views and we found ourselves at the top of the terraces, looking out on what can only be viewed as an engineering marvel of rice terraces. The expansiveness of the rice fields was amazing, and not because of the size, but how they managed to build so many onto the sides of these steep hills for miles and miles. After viewing the terraces from the many lookout points along the way up, it was time to trudge back down and through the hillside village of Longsheng. It was amazing to be up there, the majority of locals went about their daily lives as if we were not even there, and the few who had opened up shops were very friendly and smiled for every picture. The most amusing part of the trip up and back was the many tourists who opted to be carried up in old-fashioned people-carrier carts. Locals could be hired to carry you up the hill, and (I couldn’t understand this) back down again.
Our last full day in Guilin we went to the Chinese acrobat circus, where we were treated to a show that before hiking up Elephant Hill could have been part of Cirque du Soleil, with high-flying acrobatics, spinning plates and a young girl balancing 5 flaming chandeliers’ as she twisted her body in ways I didn’t think were humanely possible. At one point a jolly Chinese clown came out, now as some of you may know Scott has a problem with clowns that he has never fully explained. When the clown came out everyone was cheering and clapping.... except Scott. I warned him that clowns pick on the people who don’t look thrilled and sure enough, within seconds of getting on stage he called upon Scott and another un-sure looking Chinese woman to be his assistant in a thumb trick. A rather confident looking Scott got up in front of hundreds of onlookers and wound up with the clown’s thumbs tied together wrapped around him. I think this was my favorite part of the show!!
And so we find ourselves embarking on the 22hour journey to Shanghai via train. We are going to see the Shanghai World Expo next day!
The next day we were on a trip to see the amazing Dragon’s Rice Terraces, and the hill-side village of Longsheng. The trip to the rice terraces was a bit overwhelming, on a bus with some 50 other people, we arrived at the Ping ‘an village where we were herded into the village like sheep and told to buy tickets to watch some hair show (the woman of the village cut their hair once in their life, when they were 18.) which we passed on and opted to wander around the village alone while the hoards of people went into to watch some woman and their long hair. We then realized how popular the rice terraces were, there were plenty of buses (maybe between 10 and 20) and they were all FULL of people (20 - 40 people per bus I would think). After switching to a more... ‘mountain friendly’ bus we hurled up a mountain road twisting and turning as the bus came close to flipping itself over numerous times, we eventually made it to the top, alive and safe and sound (phew). A good half-hour hike up the hill found us at a restaurant for lunch with a sketchy Chinese/Chinglish menu and just in time for the heavy seasonal rains to start!! We lucked out though, it poured the entire time we were eating and stopped just before we got ready to continue the journey up the hill. Another hour long hike with many other people and many amazing views and we found ourselves at the top of the terraces, looking out on what can only be viewed as an engineering marvel of rice terraces. The expansiveness of the rice fields was amazing, and not because of the size, but how they managed to build so many onto the sides of these steep hills for miles and miles. After viewing the terraces from the many lookout points along the way up, it was time to trudge back down and through the hillside village of Longsheng. It was amazing to be up there, the majority of locals went about their daily lives as if we were not even there, and the few who had opened up shops were very friendly and smiled for every picture. The most amusing part of the trip up and back was the many tourists who opted to be carried up in old-fashioned people-carrier carts. Locals could be hired to carry you up the hill, and (I couldn’t understand this) back down again.
Our last full day in Guilin we went to the Chinese acrobat circus, where we were treated to a show that before hiking up Elephant Hill could have been part of Cirque du Soleil, with high-flying acrobatics, spinning plates and a young girl balancing 5 flaming chandeliers’ as she twisted her body in ways I didn’t think were humanely possible. At one point a jolly Chinese clown came out, now as some of you may know Scott has a problem with clowns that he has never fully explained. When the clown came out everyone was cheering and clapping.... except Scott. I warned him that clowns pick on the people who don’t look thrilled and sure enough, within seconds of getting on stage he called upon Scott and another un-sure looking Chinese woman to be his assistant in a thumb trick. A rather confident looking Scott got up in front of hundreds of onlookers and wound up with the clown’s thumbs tied together wrapped around him. I think this was my favorite part of the show!!
And so we find ourselves embarking on the 22hour journey to Shanghai via train. We are going to see the Shanghai World Expo next day!
China trip 2010: Hohhot and Grassland
I was worried about the weather; we were set to leave for the grasslands to the east of the city early next morning. The night before, the concierge had called. A friend of mine, he had arranged our transport and lodging, with a private driver and at a resort about two hours from Hushi; now that I was back in town he wanted to finalize the deal and address any concerns I might have by meeting the driver and making our needs and requests clear to him. After dinner with the manager, I had met them in the hotel lobby at nine o'clock, and had asked the driver about prices for horse-riding, meals, etc. I was tolerably pleased with the answers, and now if only the weather would hold, we would be all set.
The day of the excursion dawned fair and sunny, and by all accounts would remain so. The concierge ushered us into the four wheel drive Ford vehicle, and we were off. Our driver was fast and relatively savvy; scarily, many of the drivers on the highway were not. I ignored many of the differences in driving etiquette, only pressing my invisible break a few times. I was too charmed by the countryside, now so transformed from the yellows and browns of spring to green pastures and fields blue with the blossom of local potatoes. The only moment where I truly could not avoid noticing the road danger was on a mountain pass, where a Mack truck came around a blind curve, in our lane, passing another Mack. Our driver slammed on the brakes and veered slightly to the right; had he veered too hard we would have hit a concrete barrier. Not the most fun I've ever had on the open road.
Soon we left behind all of the trucks headed to Beijing, as we got off of the highway and headed north on a provincial road for a while. Turning east again, the road took us past "Sleeping Buddha Mountain," which really did resemble a person under Mongolian-style welcome drink in the grassland covers with feet sticking up at the end. This marked our ascent into yet higher ground. Our driver pointed and said, "Once we pass through those mountains, we are there." We rose higher and higher, and passed through rounded hills on either side. Suddenly we were through, and we saw the hills open out onto vastness. Green waves of folding land as far as the eye could see, and brilliant white giants everywhere: windmills, harnessing the power of the sweeping winds in the open plain.
Soon after driving into the plain we pulled onto a side road and wound our way through the windmills, until we arrived at the parking lot of the resort. The driver told us to wait in the car while he "helped us check in." We got out and stretched, and then the music began. Turning round, we saw a man in dark glasses at a keyboard, and men and women in Mongolian silks and hats, singing as they walked smiling towards us, scarves across their palms and bottles of a clear liquid ready to be poured into little cups. Our driver said, "You must drink!" The clear liquid was nai jiu - milk alcohol; we all downed our cups, the music ended, and we were free to walk through the front gate.
The front gate led into a large plaza, where crowds can assemble to watch performances on a stage which is graced with a statue of Genghis Khan. We walked around a bit while the staff finished cleaning our "yurts." We didn't stay in the canvas yurts on the property (although some people had opted to that night) but rather in cabin-like plaster "yurts" with indoor plumbing, beds, and other comforts (like an electric kettle for boiling water). We were never really given a reason why we were booked in the plaster yurts instead of the canvas ones (we didn't know there was a choice), but it wasn't much of a sacrifice. If I'm going to sleep in a real yurt, I would rather it belonged to a family that had invited me, not to a hotel that is housing me.
We had been told that it was too hot to ride as yet, so we settled into our cabin-yurts and rested. Dad and I both conked out. Mom, amazingly, had a signal that her iPhone could use before reading a new novel that she had brought with her. Our driver, Mr. Bao, was in effect our travel China guide, and he had thus far been sticking to us like glue, very concerned that we found the hygiene of the cabins up to standard, understood how to lock our doors, etc. He only left us at the last possible moment, and we would discover that he was always at least ten minutes early. He would say, "Meet you at three o'clock" and then turn up at fifteen 'til to hurry us along, setting out five minutes before agreed upon. Thus Dad and I headed out with Mr. Bao to meet our horses and haggle over the price.
The horses and their keepers were all in one field up above a gully called "Yellow Flower Canyon." Mr. Bao got very animated in speaking to the bosses, saying, "Give them some safe horses, old mares, don't let them go too fast," etc. I found his concern for our safety interesting, as I had noticed a total lack of regard for safety in some tourist areas. It was appreciated, nonetheless. If anything our lead was they were everywhere! Be cautious, never letting us handle the reins (even on flat ground) and making us walk for half our "ride" as the ground was very steep and rocky. The first precaution I can understand: the horses might not have minded us. But the second took a lot of the ride out of our ride.
As we were walked out of the corral by our lead, I asked some question or other and he was surprised that I spoke Chinese. He asked where we were from and how long I had been in China. I asked him if he could speak Mongolian; he said no, but he had lived out here in the grassland much of his life. As we passed the last of the fences, my horse (a beauty) pricked his ears forward, and I had only just spotted the horses coming our way when he let out a thundering whinny, as did the mare that Dad was riding. I asked our lead, "Why did he neigh like that?" The man's answer was "打个招呼" - "Saying hello."
The day of the excursion dawned fair and sunny, and by all accounts would remain so. The concierge ushered us into the four wheel drive Ford vehicle, and we were off. Our driver was fast and relatively savvy; scarily, many of the drivers on the highway were not. I ignored many of the differences in driving etiquette, only pressing my invisible break a few times. I was too charmed by the countryside, now so transformed from the yellows and browns of spring to green pastures and fields blue with the blossom of local potatoes. The only moment where I truly could not avoid noticing the road danger was on a mountain pass, where a Mack truck came around a blind curve, in our lane, passing another Mack. Our driver slammed on the brakes and veered slightly to the right; had he veered too hard we would have hit a concrete barrier. Not the most fun I've ever had on the open road.
Soon we left behind all of the trucks headed to Beijing, as we got off of the highway and headed north on a provincial road for a while. Turning east again, the road took us past "Sleeping Buddha Mountain," which really did resemble a person under Mongolian-style welcome drink in the grassland covers with feet sticking up at the end. This marked our ascent into yet higher ground. Our driver pointed and said, "Once we pass through those mountains, we are there." We rose higher and higher, and passed through rounded hills on either side. Suddenly we were through, and we saw the hills open out onto vastness. Green waves of folding land as far as the eye could see, and brilliant white giants everywhere: windmills, harnessing the power of the sweeping winds in the open plain.
Soon after driving into the plain we pulled onto a side road and wound our way through the windmills, until we arrived at the parking lot of the resort. The driver told us to wait in the car while he "helped us check in." We got out and stretched, and then the music began. Turning round, we saw a man in dark glasses at a keyboard, and men and women in Mongolian silks and hats, singing as they walked smiling towards us, scarves across their palms and bottles of a clear liquid ready to be poured into little cups. Our driver said, "You must drink!" The clear liquid was nai jiu - milk alcohol; we all downed our cups, the music ended, and we were free to walk through the front gate.
The front gate led into a large plaza, where crowds can assemble to watch performances on a stage which is graced with a statue of Genghis Khan. We walked around a bit while the staff finished cleaning our "yurts." We didn't stay in the canvas yurts on the property (although some people had opted to that night) but rather in cabin-like plaster "yurts" with indoor plumbing, beds, and other comforts (like an electric kettle for boiling water). We were never really given a reason why we were booked in the plaster yurts instead of the canvas ones (we didn't know there was a choice), but it wasn't much of a sacrifice. If I'm going to sleep in a real yurt, I would rather it belonged to a family that had invited me, not to a hotel that is housing me.
We had been told that it was too hot to ride as yet, so we settled into our cabin-yurts and rested. Dad and I both conked out. Mom, amazingly, had a signal that her iPhone could use before reading a new novel that she had brought with her. Our driver, Mr. Bao, was in effect our travel China guide, and he had thus far been sticking to us like glue, very concerned that we found the hygiene of the cabins up to standard, understood how to lock our doors, etc. He only left us at the last possible moment, and we would discover that he was always at least ten minutes early. He would say, "Meet you at three o'clock" and then turn up at fifteen 'til to hurry us along, setting out five minutes before agreed upon. Thus Dad and I headed out with Mr. Bao to meet our horses and haggle over the price.
The horses and their keepers were all in one field up above a gully called "Yellow Flower Canyon." Mr. Bao got very animated in speaking to the bosses, saying, "Give them some safe horses, old mares, don't let them go too fast," etc. I found his concern for our safety interesting, as I had noticed a total lack of regard for safety in some tourist areas. It was appreciated, nonetheless. If anything our lead was they were everywhere! Be cautious, never letting us handle the reins (even on flat ground) and making us walk for half our "ride" as the ground was very steep and rocky. The first precaution I can understand: the horses might not have minded us. But the second took a lot of the ride out of our ride.
As we were walked out of the corral by our lead, I asked some question or other and he was surprised that I spoke Chinese. He asked where we were from and how long I had been in China. I asked him if he could speak Mongolian; he said no, but he had lived out here in the grassland much of his life. As we passed the last of the fences, my horse (a beauty) pricked his ears forward, and I had only just spotted the horses coming our way when he let out a thundering whinny, as did the mare that Dad was riding. I asked our lead, "Why did he neigh like that?" The man's answer was "打个招呼" - "Saying hello."
China trip 2010: Hohhot and Grassland
The horses repeated this ritual several times as other riders returned to the corral. When we set out a little foal followed us; he would stay with us for the whole ride, nursing a little from the mare but mostly grazing, falling behind, then cantering gaily to catch up with us, often passing us by several yards first. My steed was well-behaved enough (he didn't seem bitter, like a lot of horses are at similar riding places in the U.S.) but he was obviously getting tired of walking the same route over and over. He would stop suddenly, causing our lead to say, "Che, che!" while tugging the rope. This started happening as soon as we turned towards the gully; it was like the horse was saying, "Come on, man! This is boring!"
We didn't ride nearly as far as we thought we would. When we got to the canyon floor, our lead let the horses graze and told us to take a look around. The canyon was lovely, and geologically interesting. We didn't go far, but took in the water and rocks and headed back after some photos. As we headed up a path, I was swinging my hand carelessly and accidentally brushed it against a harmless-looking plant. I was rewarded by several moments of fiery pain, followed by numbness in my palm and two of my fingers. My Dad thought I was overreacting to the initial pain until he saw the angry red swelling around the point where I had touched the plant. Upon investigating, we discovered that the plant had tiny, almost invisible thorns; these thorns probably contained some kind of poisonous agent. I can only imagine what falling into the shrub would feel like. Returning to the horses, we once again walked out to smoother ground, then got on our horses. We switched rides this time; I took the mare, who was older and seemed to have asthma. He had raced horses as a child. I'm not the horse racing sort but it was fun anyway.
We returned to the main campus of the hotel and went to wash up before dinner. Our guide was way too early, of course; he took us to the banquet hall before it had even really opened for dinner. We had ordered roasted lambchops (they had to be ordered ahead of time due to long roasting time); as we waited we ordered some other dishes: peanuts, potato shreds, chicken soup. The peanuts were ordered by our guide to accompany - guess what - [i)baijiu. We ordered a bottle of a regional product, this one of the "heavy" variety. It was also named after Genghis Khan.
Mom was not into it; Dad and I got sucked into drinking with our guide. We apparently were not only paying him for his driving and guiding services, but we were also his meal and drink ticket. Well, in this case, the more the merrier. I think he wanted to see how wasted we would get. I have been in Inner Mongolia for months, so I have learned how to drink the hard stuff at a meal. It's all about pacing oneself, sipping instead of gulping where possible, and keeping one's stomach comfortable with appropriate foods. We were drinking the Mongolian version of milk tea, as well: unlike its sweet southern counterpart, it is salty and slightly oily; somehow, I think this helped to me to down more of the liquor.
We wouldn't have had half so much to drink if it weren't for the travel group sitting towards the front of the banquet hall. They were the only other people in the room, but they had ordered a whole roasted lamb, which was served to music and great ceremony by the restaurant staff. This included the imbibing of more milk alcohol by the honored guests, who were soon in high spirits. The waiters and waitresses also passed by our table with the bottle of milk alcohol; having been instructed by our guide, I did the honors for our table by standing, dipping my ring finger into my cup, and making libations first to heaven, then to earth, before smearing the last libation across my forehead and downing the rest in one go. This brought applause from the guide and my parents. I had always thought that ritual was so cool, and now I was the one performing it.
A few minutes later, another waitress came by with a plate full of lamb. I thought this must be our dinner, but the waitress explained that the travel group at the front of the hall had sent it to us with their compliments. We were properly moved, and consulted our guide as to the best way to thank them. His answer was, "Go toast them." Great. When they seemed properly unoccupied, we walked over and thanked them, and then drained our cups. The men in the group stood, a bit blearily, and slugged massive amounts of alcohol. We were drinking from tea cups; they, from tall glasses. We were impressed, but not particularly envious: it was clear that their condition
One Mongolian cowboy, a little princess, some heavy-weight drinkers, and us
was quickly deteriorating.
Da Zhao Temple with a disco-type step. A tall giant of a man approached first my mother, then me, opening his albatross arms wide and stepping in place to invite one of us into the beat. When we declined, he pressed his hands together in the Buddhist fashion of blessing, his feet moving the whole time, before moving off into the night.
I walked out into the morning sun and the electric buzz of hundreds of grasshoppers calling; knocking on my parents' door, I was greeted by Mom. We walked for a bit on the path and looked out toward the windmills; the lower-lying ground was filled with mist. Finally we returned to our cabins and began packing up.
Although the performances and Mongolian-style clothing were all part of the hotel experience, this seemed to me a much more authentic experience than when I went to the Zhao He grassland; much more complex and involved. The staff presented us with customs and foods traditional to the region, doing so with enthusiasm and flair. Further, the location was gorgeous, and the employees were all people who lived nearby in the grassland in more or less a "traditional" fashion. The motorcycle is indeed replacing the horse in the practical use of traversing large distances, as I have read, but our horse-riding lead was still an active horse racer, and he was proud of the horses he was leading (his main point of pride being how expensive they had been).
I hope to go farther to the north and east in my travels; I am nurturing a Wutasi interest in Mongolian culture and want to begin studying the language(s); I would find it fascinating to see what is changing and what is remaining the same from a more informed point of view. But for now, I am bound to my city life, and I was pleased to spend this precious time off with my parents. We returned to Hohhot in good spirits, I think refreshed by an experience so different from anything else we had done so far.
Well, I guess my milk tea was my Mongolian cowboy breakfast because, although I had been plenty hungry at breakfast, I didn't feel hungry again until dinner. Mom, still on U.S. time, declined dinner; Dad and I ate at a Thai restaurant, where we had a lovely chicken curry and where we saw our first foreigners since entering the domestic flights terminal in Shanghai. (A side note: security at the domestic terminal of Shanghai's Hong Qiao airport was the tightest I have seen in China. We had to pass through security before we could even check in. I would bet a fair amount that it is because of Shanghai Expo.)
China Trip 2010: Hohhot and Grassland
We arrived in Hohhot on the morning of the 19th, having flown in from Shanghai. First order of business: relax! It was the first time since Beijing that we didn't have to hail a cab at the airport; my working at a local hotel has some nice benefits (including free airport pick-up service for me and my parents!) The airport representative, a pal of mine, was cheerful and curious to see my parents. I got my parents settled into the hotel, a little bit nervous as many of my coworkers were looking on or helping with the luggage. It was interesting to hear their impressions of my family later. We were engaged that evening for a dinner with one of the managers in a hotel restaurant; I would hear from a housekeeper who roomed with the waitress who served us that she thought my parents were very proper and serious.
If my parents were proper and serious, the manager was even more so. She had arranged a full banquet, and since she manages all the restaurants in the hotel, the food was of the best quality and the waitress was at top form in service. We started with prawns in curry sauce, followed by stir-fried softshell crabs, stewed fish with tofu in spicy broth, vegetables rolled in tofu strips, hui cai (Mongolian mixed vegetables, very potato-rich) and rice at our request, as most of the food was very spicy.
The next day we set out for some local temples and more shopping. Dad was set on buying a pair of boots in Inner Mongolia, so first we headed to the "ethnic minority goods shopping center" and found a store selling all sorts of Mongolian souvenirs: wedding clothes, knives, horse head violins, sheep skins, and of course, boots. Dad found a reasonable pair of boots that said "urban cowboy meets grassland." Mission accomplished, we lunched in the shopping center and then hailed a cab to Wutasi, the Five Tower Temple.
I hadn't been to Wutasi since the fall, and I was interested to see the changes summer had brought to the arbor: it was brilliant green, with two kinds of squash vine growing and birds flitting in and out. The reason I liked this temple the first time around was its smallness and quietness; we were practically the only tourists in the temple complex. I would have gone into a worship hall, but I prefer to have a Buddhist practitioner with me to guide me on etiquette and prayer, so I passed.
Dad and I climbed the slick marble stairs up to the top of the Five Tower Temple (at the far back of the last courtyard) to take in some of the frieze on the towers up close. The temple frieze, which covers the exterior walls from almost the base to the top of the towers, contains over 1,500 Buddha figures, with no two exactly alike. It is lovely, and stands out among the structures in the region as it was constructed in a style imported from India.
Also interesting thing is that inside the temple is a giant circular stone slab, which is an ancient Mongolian star map. Like any of the statues of deities and bodhisattvas in the temple, it is a sacred object; thus, there is a prayer mat placed in front of it and a platform for making offerings. The temple blends Indian architecture, Himalayan Buddhism and ancient Mongolian cosmology; one would think that had to be a Silk Road phenomenon.
Next, we moved on to Da Zhao Temple, a larger temple, also Himalayan Buddhist; we didn't cover much ground but did visit one worship hall. I love the worship halls at this temple. Walking in, one must pass along the periphery of the room, touching prayer wheels as one goes. Inside the boundary made by the prayer wheels are elevated platforms for meditation and prayer; we saw one woman deep in meditation, completely still, her prayer beads grasped in one hand, her eyes as distant as if she were dreaming.
If my parents were proper and serious, the manager was even more so. She had arranged a full banquet, and since she manages all the restaurants in the hotel, the food was of the best quality and the waitress was at top form in service. We started with prawns in curry sauce, followed by stir-fried softshell crabs, stewed fish with tofu in spicy broth, vegetables rolled in tofu strips, hui cai (Mongolian mixed vegetables, very potato-rich) and rice at our request, as most of the food was very spicy.
The next day we set out for some local temples and more shopping. Dad was set on buying a pair of boots in Inner Mongolia, so first we headed to the "ethnic minority goods shopping center" and found a store selling all sorts of Mongolian souvenirs: wedding clothes, knives, horse head violins, sheep skins, and of course, boots. Dad found a reasonable pair of boots that said "urban cowboy meets grassland." Mission accomplished, we lunched in the shopping center and then hailed a cab to Wutasi, the Five Tower Temple.
I hadn't been to Wutasi since the fall, and I was interested to see the changes summer had brought to the arbor: it was brilliant green, with two kinds of squash vine growing and birds flitting in and out. The reason I liked this temple the first time around was its smallness and quietness; we were practically the only tourists in the temple complex. I would have gone into a worship hall, but I prefer to have a Buddhist practitioner with me to guide me on etiquette and prayer, so I passed.
Dad and I climbed the slick marble stairs up to the top of the Five Tower Temple (at the far back of the last courtyard) to take in some of the frieze on the towers up close. The temple frieze, which covers the exterior walls from almost the base to the top of the towers, contains over 1,500 Buddha figures, with no two exactly alike. It is lovely, and stands out among the structures in the region as it was constructed in a style imported from India.
Also interesting thing is that inside the temple is a giant circular stone slab, which is an ancient Mongolian star map. Like any of the statues of deities and bodhisattvas in the temple, it is a sacred object; thus, there is a prayer mat placed in front of it and a platform for making offerings. The temple blends Indian architecture, Himalayan Buddhism and ancient Mongolian cosmology; one would think that had to be a Silk Road phenomenon.
Next, we moved on to Da Zhao Temple, a larger temple, also Himalayan Buddhist; we didn't cover much ground but did visit one worship hall. I love the worship halls at this temple. Walking in, one must pass along the periphery of the room, touching prayer wheels as one goes. Inside the boundary made by the prayer wheels are elevated platforms for meditation and prayer; we saw one woman deep in meditation, completely still, her prayer beads grasped in one hand, her eyes as distant as if she were dreaming.
2010年8月10日星期二
Zhou Zhuang, Xin Tian Di Travel Guidance
Zhou Zhuang is located 37 miles west of Shanghai in Jiangsu Province. This town is more than 700 years old. The highlight of the visit was a boat tour along the canals.
It is well-preserved village in the ancient Chinese style. It is amazing to walk beside the creek and see people still moving about and living in this old village. The boats that move up and down stream carrying tourists do much to bring back the feeling of old China.
Zhou zhuang has a number of little bridges, the most famous of which is the Ming dynasty Double Bridge. All the bridges are clearly marked on a map handed out with the entrance ticket.
It was pretty quite when I was there and the place kind feels like deserted. We enjoyed the not-touristy place but there were nothing much to do. We completed the whole place in 2.5hrs and we had about 4 hours to explore the place.
One thing that you gotta do is to take the boat ride around the town. Nothing fantastic and just enjoy the cool breeze of the day.
Note that there are quite a number of seafood restaurants but we didn't dare to dine at those restaurants course we can see that they cut the fishes on the floor along the walkway. The vegetables/shell fish were left on the floor and there were alot of flies hovering around it. The fishes in the tank looked sick too.
Luckily there's one quaint Illy's cafe at the town and we settled for a cuppa of latte and tuna sandwich.
Xin Tian Di is the other hottest new entertainment district in Shanghai.
Design is what makes Xin Tian Di so attractive, inside and out. Each of the two to three-story Shikumen looks unique, reflecting the exquisitely-preserved twists and turns of an evolving neighborhood, over the decades. It retains the antique walls, tiles and exterior of the Shikumen housing of old Shanghai.
On the other hand, its interior embodies a totally different world of international gallery, bars and cafes, boutiques or theme restaurants. When you walk into Xin Tian Di, you will get the taste both of Shanghai in the 1920's and the sonic modern lifestyle of urbanites of the 21st century.
Shanghai Xin Tian Di has become the best place for tourists to appreciate the history and modern life of the city, and is also a meeting place for local citizens and foreign visitors.
It is well-preserved village in the ancient Chinese style. It is amazing to walk beside the creek and see people still moving about and living in this old village. The boats that move up and down stream carrying tourists do much to bring back the feeling of old China.
Zhou zhuang has a number of little bridges, the most famous of which is the Ming dynasty Double Bridge. All the bridges are clearly marked on a map handed out with the entrance ticket.
It was pretty quite when I was there and the place kind feels like deserted. We enjoyed the not-touristy place but there were nothing much to do. We completed the whole place in 2.5hrs and we had about 4 hours to explore the place.
One thing that you gotta do is to take the boat ride around the town. Nothing fantastic and just enjoy the cool breeze of the day.
Note that there are quite a number of seafood restaurants but we didn't dare to dine at those restaurants course we can see that they cut the fishes on the floor along the walkway. The vegetables/shell fish were left on the floor and there were alot of flies hovering around it. The fishes in the tank looked sick too.
Luckily there's one quaint Illy's cafe at the town and we settled for a cuppa of latte and tuna sandwich.
Xin Tian Di is the other hottest new entertainment district in Shanghai.
Design is what makes Xin Tian Di so attractive, inside and out. Each of the two to three-story Shikumen looks unique, reflecting the exquisitely-preserved twists and turns of an evolving neighborhood, over the decades. It retains the antique walls, tiles and exterior of the Shikumen housing of old Shanghai.
On the other hand, its interior embodies a totally different world of international gallery, bars and cafes, boutiques or theme restaurants. When you walk into Xin Tian Di, you will get the taste both of Shanghai in the 1920's and the sonic modern lifestyle of urbanites of the 21st century.
Shanghai Xin Tian Di has become the best place for tourists to appreciate the history and modern life of the city, and is also a meeting place for local citizens and foreign visitors.
Shanghai Attractions
Yuyuan garden is an historical Chinese Garden. Outside the garden, there were some buildings in the traditional Chinese style. Inside most of these buildings are the restaurant or the shops for the tourist. Besides Yuyuan Garden, a tea cafe called Huxingting is in the center of the lake through a zigzag Chinese bridge. A famous traditional dim sum restaurant called Lu Bo Lang and another famous Nanxiang Bun Shop are also located around the lake. City God temple is also in the vicinity.
In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two Jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately the jade Buddha statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928 and named after the jade statues. Although the history of the Jade Buddha Temple is not very long, the old-time and classical architectural style makes the temple unique and well worth a visit.
The Bund was the land rent to England in 19 and 20 centuries. The historical buildings of the European style were built along the Huang Pu river. Across from the river, the skyline of Pudong which develops quickly in this decade is also viewed. Waibaidu (The Garden) Bridge is located at the north of the Bund across the Suzhou River. The present bridge was opened in 1908. It was a famous landmark of Shanghai. It is special experience to see the historical buildings at one side of the river while the morden skyscrapers at the other side of the river. These buildings are also decorated with the light at night. This gives a famous night view at this area.
In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two Jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately the jade Buddha statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928 and named after the jade statues. Although the history of the Jade Buddha Temple is not very long, the old-time and classical architectural style makes the temple unique and well worth a visit.
The Bund was the land rent to England in 19 and 20 centuries. The historical buildings of the European style were built along the Huang Pu river. Across from the river, the skyline of Pudong which develops quickly in this decade is also viewed. Waibaidu (The Garden) Bridge is located at the north of the Bund across the Suzhou River. The present bridge was opened in 1908. It was a famous landmark of Shanghai. It is special experience to see the historical buildings at one side of the river while the morden skyscrapers at the other side of the river. These buildings are also decorated with the light at night. This gives a famous night view at this area.
Forbidden City and Summer Palace
North Gate of Forbidden City is the main entrance. Walk through Tianamen Square and head towards Chairman Mao's portrait - you cannot cross the road and have to use the underground walkway.
Entrance fee 60rmbs (8.30am – 4pm) – allow 3 hours to visit. The queues to buy the tickets are huge as there are hundreds of people all lining up to do the same thing you're here to do!! You may get approached by ticket scalpers who walk up and down the queues offering to sell you entry tickets - at approx 10 RMB more than the entry fee -we were hesitant in doing this as felt it may be illegal and were concerned the tickets might have been counterfeit.
The Forbidden City was a humongous site - you have to see it to believe it. I was disappointed not to be able to enter any of the buildings - you can look through doorways but not allowed to enter. The highlight of this visit had to be the Imperial Gardens, they were amazing and our first sighting of the Cherry blossoms was awesome. I didn't feel a great connection with this place - it felt very concrete-e and obviously extremely crowded - it was one of our must see location but all three of us were slightly disappointed. The souvenir shops were very reasonably priced.
Situated in the western outskirts of Haidian District the Summer Palace is 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from central Beijing. Having the largest royal park and being well preserved it was designated in 1960 by the State Council as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Site of China. Containing examples of the ancient arts it also has graceful landscapes and magnificent constructions. The Summer Palace is the archetypal Chinese garden and is ranked amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world. In 1998 it was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Constructed in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) during the succeeding reign of feudal emperors it was extended continuously. By the time of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) it had become a luxurious royal garden providing royal families with rest and entertainment. Originally called “Qingyi Garden” (Garden of Clear Ripples) it was know as one of the famous “three hills and five gardens” (Longevity Hill Jade Spring Mountain and Fragrant Hill Garden of Clear Ripples Garden of Everlasting Spring Garden of Perfection and Brightness Garden of Tranquility and Brightness and Garden of Tranquility and Pleasure). Like most of the gardens of Beijing it could not elude the rampages of the Anglo-French allied force and was destroyed by fire. In 1888 Empress Dowager Cixi embezzled navy funds to reconstruct it for her own benefit changing its name to Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). She spent most of her later years there dealing with state affairs and entertaining. In 1900 it suffered again being ransacked by the Eight-Power Allied Force. After the success of the 1911 Revolution it was opened to the public.
Entrance fee 60rmbs (8.30am – 4pm) – allow 3 hours to visit. The queues to buy the tickets are huge as there are hundreds of people all lining up to do the same thing you're here to do!! You may get approached by ticket scalpers who walk up and down the queues offering to sell you entry tickets - at approx 10 RMB more than the entry fee -we were hesitant in doing this as felt it may be illegal and were concerned the tickets might have been counterfeit.
The Forbidden City was a humongous site - you have to see it to believe it. I was disappointed not to be able to enter any of the buildings - you can look through doorways but not allowed to enter. The highlight of this visit had to be the Imperial Gardens, they were amazing and our first sighting of the Cherry blossoms was awesome. I didn't feel a great connection with this place - it felt very concrete-e and obviously extremely crowded - it was one of our must see location but all three of us were slightly disappointed. The souvenir shops were very reasonably priced.
Situated in the western outskirts of Haidian District the Summer Palace is 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from central Beijing. Having the largest royal park and being well preserved it was designated in 1960 by the State Council as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Site of China. Containing examples of the ancient arts it also has graceful landscapes and magnificent constructions. The Summer Palace is the archetypal Chinese garden and is ranked amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world. In 1998 it was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Constructed in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) during the succeeding reign of feudal emperors it was extended continuously. By the time of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) it had become a luxurious royal garden providing royal families with rest and entertainment. Originally called “Qingyi Garden” (Garden of Clear Ripples) it was know as one of the famous “three hills and five gardens” (Longevity Hill Jade Spring Mountain and Fragrant Hill Garden of Clear Ripples Garden of Everlasting Spring Garden of Perfection and Brightness Garden of Tranquility and Brightness and Garden of Tranquility and Pleasure). Like most of the gardens of Beijing it could not elude the rampages of the Anglo-French allied force and was destroyed by fire. In 1888 Empress Dowager Cixi embezzled navy funds to reconstruct it for her own benefit changing its name to Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). She spent most of her later years there dealing with state affairs and entertaining. In 1900 it suffered again being ransacked by the Eight-Power Allied Force. After the success of the 1911 Revolution it was opened to the public.
Chengdu trip
So we were going to be spending our last week in Chengdu, we booked to see the Pandas at the Panda Breeding Base the next and we really wanted to make the most of it as we were really looking forward to seeing the pandas! We went with a tour with the hostel, and they took you to the Panda site really early so that you caught them in time for feeding time where they are active, most of the day they just sleep! We saw the young pandas first, and they were so sweet!! It wasn't too busy so we got some very good views of them! We then went to see the red pandas, which are beautiful and have more of a mischievous look about them. The big pandas weren't in sight as much when we saw them but we saw them none the less! The pandas were like children in suits, they had some real human characteristics! After we saw a new born panda, which hadn't even grown his black and white fur yet, and then we went to watch a very corny but nice documentary on Pandas and what they do at the breeding base. Before leaving we had a short stop at the Panda museum. Was a really lovely morning, just wanted to pick one up and hug them! You were able to actually hold a panda, but it was 100 pounds and you barely get 5 minutes so wasn't worth it, and probably more favorable to the pandas that people don't come and hold them all the time... No one did in our group anyway.
We decided to add some variety to our stay in Chengdu and booked into another hostel for the last 5 nights. We stayed at the Traffic Inn and it was 1 pound a night in a dorm. Absolute bargain! It was a very nice dorm as well! It also had a restaurant with cheap good food with a big tv to watch movies and lounge about in and free internet (albeit could never stay on long as everyone stands around wanting it too) The people were friendly and we met a cool Canadian girl called Adrienne from our dorm who has an obsession for Leonardo Dicaprio and refried beans and hung out with her sometimes. Over the 5 days we relaxed, explored the city and watched a lot of sweet movies! There was also a hot pot night for people in the hostel. There was lots and lots of food, veggies meats etc and there was too massive pots of broth, one very spicy and one mild. Each person had a small bowl of coriander, oil and chilli. What you did was put in what veg and meat you wanted in the communal pots, and then waited a few minutes then take it out with your chopsticks and eat! It was all very tasty and very hot! There was a competition to see who could eat 10 slices of potato completely covered in hot chilli the fastest Toe decided to partake in (only one that got a free beer for entering!) Only two other people took part and another British guy won in the end. Toe's mouth was positively burning afterwards and there was a lot of eye watering! After the meal ended we sat and chatted with Adrienne and another couple who were there who endured an experience as they were stuck in Tiger Leaping Gorge when all the landslides had happened which was actually one of the reasons we didn't go in the end. They were there on panda the day we found in Lijiang it had been closed. When we left Chengdu, what we thought was going to be a very very long 40 hour train journey didn't turn out to be too bad, we slept most of it. We got to Shanghai and got a bus to the airport, and waited all day to check in before departing for Sydney!!
We decided to add some variety to our stay in Chengdu and booked into another hostel for the last 5 nights. We stayed at the Traffic Inn and it was 1 pound a night in a dorm. Absolute bargain! It was a very nice dorm as well! It also had a restaurant with cheap good food with a big tv to watch movies and lounge about in and free internet (albeit could never stay on long as everyone stands around wanting it too) The people were friendly and we met a cool Canadian girl called Adrienne from our dorm who has an obsession for Leonardo Dicaprio and refried beans and hung out with her sometimes. Over the 5 days we relaxed, explored the city and watched a lot of sweet movies! There was also a hot pot night for people in the hostel. There was lots and lots of food, veggies meats etc and there was too massive pots of broth, one very spicy and one mild. Each person had a small bowl of coriander, oil and chilli. What you did was put in what veg and meat you wanted in the communal pots, and then waited a few minutes then take it out with your chopsticks and eat! It was all very tasty and very hot! There was a competition to see who could eat 10 slices of potato completely covered in hot chilli the fastest Toe decided to partake in (only one that got a free beer for entering!) Only two other people took part and another British guy won in the end. Toe's mouth was positively burning afterwards and there was a lot of eye watering! After the meal ended we sat and chatted with Adrienne and another couple who were there who endured an experience as they were stuck in Tiger Leaping Gorge when all the landslides had happened which was actually one of the reasons we didn't go in the end. They were there on panda the day we found in Lijiang it had been closed. When we left Chengdu, what we thought was going to be a very very long 40 hour train journey didn't turn out to be too bad, we slept most of it. We got to Shanghai and got a bus to the airport, and waited all day to check in before departing for Sydney!!
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