During past few days we travelled around Sichuan province (Leshan, Emaishan), Shaanxi (Xian) and Shanxi provinces (Pingyao). As of today, we enjoy the square one of China - Beijing. Below you can find short summary of what we went through.
Dafo (rocks)
Leshan is famous for the biggest Budha statue in the world (71 meters carved into cliff giant). Locally known as Dafo, it is guardian of fishermen of the three rivers that merge under his feet. It was carved into the cliff by monks during seventh through tenth century (Tang dynasty). Dominant of the temple complex on the opposite river bank to the city centre, it sits comfortably on his stone chair. Tourism industry offers many option to look up to this giant protector (walking the temple trail or taking the boat trip) from strong currents. With fingernails the size of family table and ears tall as one story building, it represents pretty intimidating part of UNESCO World Heritage. City by itself is navigatable by foot with long promenade along river banks. This promenades copies preserved city walls on which locals practice their dance routines and tai-chi.
Emeishan (mountains)
From Leshan we travelled to Emei, which spreads around mount Emei. This 3,099 meters tall mountain is another gamous Budhist mountain. As such it draws plenty of pilgrims or curious visitors from all over China. It offers two main approach roads which convulge in two thirds up the mountain itself. On top sits giant sculpture of Budha touching earth on his elephant (four face one with each face facing different direction). Allegedly you require two days to climg this mountain and return to 'base camp' in Baoguo village. It is mainly due to fact to allow you to watch sunrise over surrounding hills and peaks of Emeishan range.
Unfortunately, weather necessary for the above stated avoided us and we had to settle for simple satisfaction of climbing another wonderfull mountain of China. We climbed first day to 2,540 meters where we slept in local binguan (accommodation providing facility - as it does not deserve the title 'hotel'). Second day we climbed remaining 500 meters and also descended all the way to Baoguo. Of all the mountains I have visited, this has undisputable the most beautiful scenery (particularly route through Magic Peak monastery is awesome) and most pristine nature (even water can be called crystal clear - I almost relent to the temptation to drink it - almost...). The biggest attraction and tourist draw (at least of Chinese nationality) are monkey dwelling on the mountain. After my previous experience from Gibraltar, I avoided any contact and left enough space for others interested in tounting and feeding these laze mammals.
Whole climb requires c. 15-20 hours of net climbing time with plenty of stops for rest and picture taking. We did it in 16 hours but it depends on weather conditions and physical abilities of climbers. Accommodation on the top is negotiable and you can negotiate room with heater for the price of the blankets-only monastery (30kuai). For the first time we actually enjoyed the scenery as we started the climb relatively late (two o'clock in the afternoon and 5.30am before the sunrise). Also it helps that asphalt road is built up to 2,540 meters above sea level and Chinese tourists can take this option to cheat the sweat. Although, both trails are paved with stone steps, climb is demanding both on your muscles (going up literally 10,000 stairs) and bones (knees suffer as you go down the same number of stairs).
We followed the recomendation of Lonely Planet and left our luggage (no one sane would climb the mountain with 20kg backpack in two days) in Teddy Bear Hostel which is sort of backpackers base camp. As usual with LP recommendations, it promised a lot but reality was something different. Although staff tries to answer your questions, their answers are unsatisfactory at least and grossly incorrect at most. The prices are overcharged (even for a mountain resort) - 5 kuai for shower or baggage storage if you do not use accommodation in the hostel - and information about sunrise (allegedly 6.30am - real 6.00am) and time necessary for final ascent to the top (allefedly half an hour - real at least one hour) are seriously off. Of course, considering that staff speaks English pretty well, one can oversee such annoyances.
Xi'an and Pingyao (people)
After mountain we entered civilisation - precisely ancient city of Xi'an. Although not much is left of former capital, preserved an repaired walls are beautiful sight. The same goes for Pingyao which unlike Xi'an managed to preserve also inner city center and thus you can see how Han people lived during past three centuries. Xi'an is today 13million metropolis with wide boulevards and European like feel. Pingyao is on the other hand mecca for foreigner tourists eager to discover Chinese history - at least they think so. Diversity of foreigner nationalities dangerously approached the level of Prague city center during peak season. In Xi'an we enjoyed wonderfull barbecue dinner with muslim flavor (in muslim quarter of the city) with my former Chinese laoshi (teacher). She is Xi'an local and was able to show us around a little and introduced us to wonderful inner house restaurant serving plum-jam-like juice and barbecued cow stomach.
Chinese capital deserves its independent post and thus see you next time!
4/23/2009
Eat hot or die trying!
Finally I got some internet access although with three Chinese teenagers literally looking over my shoulder. Here follows my account of past couple of days (since my little brother's arrival to great neon wonder) when we ascended mountains, seen some cities, visited green lungs of China and saw great many buffalos and rice paddies.
Shanghai
The way we spent Shanghai days is described in previous post. Here, I would like to elaborate on how we spent the nights. Literally it was only one night which we spent in Yifu theater watching Chinese opera. This time it was one of the classics (meaning one of the four most famous works of Chinese literature) - Dream of the Red Chamber. As usual with opera, story was simple (guy loves girl, guy can't settle down quite yet, guy wakes up and promises eternal love, some mix up follows, some more mix up follows and tragic graduation with even more tragic finale) or at least this was what I get from watching the performance with my lame Chinese. I bet some of my Chinese friends will say completely opposite but you know - foreigners...
This opera was again Shaoxing kind of thing and thus heavily relying on sensitivity and feelings. Particularly interesting were the parts after the break when boy saw girl planting flowers and promised her eternal love (awesome - even by my brother's standards...), tragic graduation when family of the boy negotiated different bride for the boy (comical), tragic finale of dying broken hearted girl (way too long - like half an hour long dying scene!) and aftermath (traditional Chinese style standing ovation - imagine football match in Italy). Ultimately, it was very nice experience and we decided to go for a Beijing opera to spice up our travel.
Huashan
First stop of the journey of two brothers was Huashan - one of five Tao mountains - after overnight train travel. Climbing was awesome with wonderful weather, quick pace and throngs of Chinese tourist on top. Due to time restrictions of our dense travel plan, we climbed only two out of four main peaks (West and South) in order to get to Xi'an on time for another overnight train to Chongqing. On the very first stop my brother started to wake up from his dream of quite mountains and untouched nature he expected in China. Carved steps with concrete supplement where lack of stones prevented carving, were undoubtedly pretty rough awaking by itself. The sheer amount of people climbing the mountain on usual working day during early season, was entirely different category.
Mountain is possible to climb in one day with pretty fresh tempo both up and down way. No problems should be expected if you take dancing shoes as trails are renovated into safe and wide highways. You can ascent one way (from Huashan village) and descent another (to parking lot at the begining of newly built cableway) or vice versa. Those unlucky or lazy enough can take cableway up to the two thirds of the climb.
Hot pot of all hot pots
Chongqing is allegedly capital of hot pot culture and the very place where hot pot is done so spicy that no one can stand it - literally no one - not even the locals. We spent the night in Ciqikou, which is left over old village quite far from city center, with plenty of local restaurants and traditional craft stalls. City proper looks similar to Hong Kong with modern highrises and incredible amount of construction work. It looks very livable as locals are nice, very open and willing to help (e.g. even the hawking cruise sellers are nice enough to help you buy bus ticket to your desired location when you refuse his offer - another explanation is that it is somebody else doing his work...).
In Ciqikou we had traditional hot pot, wisely divided into non-spicy and spicy parts, as we were warned multiple times that we won't stand the full attack. I have to admit that bumbling bloodlooking sauce was intimidating by itself, but we had to try it. If somebody tells you that hot dishes usually burn twice (on both ends), I tell you that Chongqing hot pot burns all the way through. I personally felt exactly how it moved through my digestion track. Besides the previously mentioned, I admit that I was crying like a whimp for at least solid 45 minutes when we were eating it - eventually I got used to it but boy, those croccodille tears... AWESOME!!!
Dazu and Yibin
Instead of original Dunhuang we visited carving place (UNESCO heritage) in Dazu, Sichuan province. Although very interesting - where else can you see huge stellas and statues carved into mountain valley? - it was definitely overpriced. Even if it is UNESCO heritage site and has 30m long sculpture of Budha entering Nirvana, nobody should charge 80rmb (9 euros) for it.
After Dazu we moved into Yibin county to visit Bamboo Sea of Southern Sichuan. Unfortunately, the weather conditions prevented us from enjoying allegedly the area with the highest oxygen rate in China (although our noses were much cleaner compared to previous stops). We left today morning when waking up at five o'clock turned out to be pointless due to rain. Pretty satisfied with three hour walk during previous evening and my improved negotiation skills which faced much practice during past few days, we concluded that the colors surrounding us were same as those from Clan of Flying Daggers movie which was shot here.
I would not write about incredible Sichuan cuisine because it would be like bringing wood into forrest. You should try by yourself. Be encouraged that it is not so hot as we were told - now we are able to stand it without crying. Reaction, that we are served mild versions of local dishes by pitiful cooks is not accepted! Next legs of our journey will take us to Leshan and Emeishan. More on this later. Spice rules and Sichuan is mother of all spices!!
Shanghai
The way we spent Shanghai days is described in previous post. Here, I would like to elaborate on how we spent the nights. Literally it was only one night which we spent in Yifu theater watching Chinese opera. This time it was one of the classics (meaning one of the four most famous works of Chinese literature) - Dream of the Red Chamber. As usual with opera, story was simple (guy loves girl, guy can't settle down quite yet, guy wakes up and promises eternal love, some mix up follows, some more mix up follows and tragic graduation with even more tragic finale) or at least this was what I get from watching the performance with my lame Chinese. I bet some of my Chinese friends will say completely opposite but you know - foreigners...
This opera was again Shaoxing kind of thing and thus heavily relying on sensitivity and feelings. Particularly interesting were the parts after the break when boy saw girl planting flowers and promised her eternal love (awesome - even by my brother's standards...), tragic graduation when family of the boy negotiated different bride for the boy (comical), tragic finale of dying broken hearted girl (way too long - like half an hour long dying scene!) and aftermath (traditional Chinese style standing ovation - imagine football match in Italy). Ultimately, it was very nice experience and we decided to go for a Beijing opera to spice up our travel.
Huashan
First stop of the journey of two brothers was Huashan - one of five Tao mountains - after overnight train travel. Climbing was awesome with wonderful weather, quick pace and throngs of Chinese tourist on top. Due to time restrictions of our dense travel plan, we climbed only two out of four main peaks (West and South) in order to get to Xi'an on time for another overnight train to Chongqing. On the very first stop my brother started to wake up from his dream of quite mountains and untouched nature he expected in China. Carved steps with concrete supplement where lack of stones prevented carving, were undoubtedly pretty rough awaking by itself. The sheer amount of people climbing the mountain on usual working day during early season, was entirely different category.
Mountain is possible to climb in one day with pretty fresh tempo both up and down way. No problems should be expected if you take dancing shoes as trails are renovated into safe and wide highways. You can ascent one way (from Huashan village) and descent another (to parking lot at the begining of newly built cableway) or vice versa. Those unlucky or lazy enough can take cableway up to the two thirds of the climb.
Hot pot of all hot pots
Chongqing is allegedly capital of hot pot culture and the very place where hot pot is done so spicy that no one can stand it - literally no one - not even the locals. We spent the night in Ciqikou, which is left over old village quite far from city center, with plenty of local restaurants and traditional craft stalls. City proper looks similar to Hong Kong with modern highrises and incredible amount of construction work. It looks very livable as locals are nice, very open and willing to help (e.g. even the hawking cruise sellers are nice enough to help you buy bus ticket to your desired location when you refuse his offer - another explanation is that it is somebody else doing his work...).
In Ciqikou we had traditional hot pot, wisely divided into non-spicy and spicy parts, as we were warned multiple times that we won't stand the full attack. I have to admit that bumbling bloodlooking sauce was intimidating by itself, but we had to try it. If somebody tells you that hot dishes usually burn twice (on both ends), I tell you that Chongqing hot pot burns all the way through. I personally felt exactly how it moved through my digestion track. Besides the previously mentioned, I admit that I was crying like a whimp for at least solid 45 minutes when we were eating it - eventually I got used to it but boy, those croccodille tears... AWESOME!!!
Dazu and Yibin
Instead of original Dunhuang we visited carving place (UNESCO heritage) in Dazu, Sichuan province. Although very interesting - where else can you see huge stellas and statues carved into mountain valley? - it was definitely overpriced. Even if it is UNESCO heritage site and has 30m long sculpture of Budha entering Nirvana, nobody should charge 80rmb (9 euros) for it.
After Dazu we moved into Yibin county to visit Bamboo Sea of Southern Sichuan. Unfortunately, the weather conditions prevented us from enjoying allegedly the area with the highest oxygen rate in China (although our noses were much cleaner compared to previous stops). We left today morning when waking up at five o'clock turned out to be pointless due to rain. Pretty satisfied with three hour walk during previous evening and my improved negotiation skills which faced much practice during past few days, we concluded that the colors surrounding us were same as those from Clan of Flying Daggers movie which was shot here.
I would not write about incredible Sichuan cuisine because it would be like bringing wood into forrest. You should try by yourself. Be encouraged that it is not so hot as we were told - now we are able to stand it without crying. Reaction, that we are served mild versions of local dishes by pitiful cooks is not accepted! Next legs of our journey will take us to Leshan and Emeishan. More on this later. Spice rules and Sichuan is mother of all spices!!
4/12/2009
Point: blank
I start to like the land of the living and, even Shanghai. Since my return from the land of the dead I was able to experience various joys of life scarcely available in Shanghai. Snack shopping in Qibao, skiing at Shanghai's indoor ski 'resort' and delicacies of Sichuan provenance, together with arrival of spring (sunny days and temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius) create combination which stabilize the force and balance the dark energy of study requirements. Details are written out below.
Qibao
Traditional Chinese old town visited mainly by Chinese tourists (still relatively undiscovered by foreigners) is area where you can see try various snacks characteristic for Shanghai area - from pig nose through duck head to smoked sparrows and roasted octopuses. Besides various dumplings I have stick my nose into pork. Qibao has nice old school touch with architecture of traditional peasant houses (go for Yuyuan neighborhood for upper class architecture) and remodeled seven floor pagoda. Unfortunately, this pagoda suffered concrete remodeling of what Chinese understand under 'renovation and preservation of historical building'.
Skiing in Shanghai
Never mind that it is almost subtropical climate and it snows once in a century here. As a true modern center of China it built for itself and its citizens indoor skiing stadium. 300 meter long slope offers something what those who never seen snow, call skiing. Basically, you ski on granules size of underdeveloped peas. In combination with loose rental equipment and old school skis it lays perfect ground for skiing on your bottom (which most of Chinese skiers manage gracefully). I would suggest going for snowboarding as the equipment at least looks not so ancient...
Frogs
Unable to eat dogs and rats in Guangdong, I settled for variations of frog dishes prepared in Sichuan restaurants around our campus. Unsurprisingly, I am smitten by the food and vowed to continue in exploration of Chinese cuisine. Hopefully, I will be one day able to compare frog a'la French with frog a'la Sichuan (same as I was for the snails) :)
Yuyuan
After arrival of my brother we visited Yuyuan (Yu garden), one of the main attractions in Shanghai for tourists (all nationalities present). This magnificent garden in traditional Qing dynasty style rivals those of Suzhou (those who have not time to visit Suzhou should be ok with exploring Yuyuan). Only problem is throngs of tourists. Surrounding streets offer wonderful architecture which is full of narrow streets, bending roofs and ornamental front doors. Also, many snacks stalls offer traditional Shanghaineese specials (crabs & co. are plentiful).
Shanghai museum
Indisputably one of the best museums in China (and believe me I have visited plenty of them), offers explanation of Chinese traditional bronze, ceramics, porcelain, painting and calligraphy for those willing to absorb Chinese culture. And it is for free :)
With arrival of my brother for a China visit the travel period starts again :) Next two weeks we will be traveling in Sichuan, Shanxi, Beijing and Taishan - hopefully - and thus I will again switch this blog to travel mode. For updates please check later. ENJOY!
Qibao
Traditional Chinese old town visited mainly by Chinese tourists (still relatively undiscovered by foreigners) is area where you can see try various snacks characteristic for Shanghai area - from pig nose through duck head to smoked sparrows and roasted octopuses. Besides various dumplings I have stick my nose into pork. Qibao has nice old school touch with architecture of traditional peasant houses (go for Yuyuan neighborhood for upper class architecture) and remodeled seven floor pagoda. Unfortunately, this pagoda suffered concrete remodeling of what Chinese understand under 'renovation and preservation of historical building'.
Skiing in Shanghai
Never mind that it is almost subtropical climate and it snows once in a century here. As a true modern center of China it built for itself and its citizens indoor skiing stadium. 300 meter long slope offers something what those who never seen snow, call skiing. Basically, you ski on granules size of underdeveloped peas. In combination with loose rental equipment and old school skis it lays perfect ground for skiing on your bottom (which most of Chinese skiers manage gracefully). I would suggest going for snowboarding as the equipment at least looks not so ancient...
Frogs
Unable to eat dogs and rats in Guangdong, I settled for variations of frog dishes prepared in Sichuan restaurants around our campus. Unsurprisingly, I am smitten by the food and vowed to continue in exploration of Chinese cuisine. Hopefully, I will be one day able to compare frog a'la French with frog a'la Sichuan (same as I was for the snails) :)
Yuyuan
After arrival of my brother we visited Yuyuan (Yu garden), one of the main attractions in Shanghai for tourists (all nationalities present). This magnificent garden in traditional Qing dynasty style rivals those of Suzhou (those who have not time to visit Suzhou should be ok with exploring Yuyuan). Only problem is throngs of tourists. Surrounding streets offer wonderful architecture which is full of narrow streets, bending roofs and ornamental front doors. Also, many snacks stalls offer traditional Shanghaineese specials (crabs & co. are plentiful).
Shanghai museum
Indisputably one of the best museums in China (and believe me I have visited plenty of them), offers explanation of Chinese traditional bronze, ceramics, porcelain, painting and calligraphy for those willing to absorb Chinese culture. And it is for free :)
With arrival of my brother for a China visit the travel period starts again :) Next two weeks we will be traveling in Sichuan, Shanxi, Beijing and Taishan - hopefully - and thus I will again switch this blog to travel mode. For updates please check later. ENJOY!
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