Archive for the ‘China’ Category
Walled village to Moss Mountain hike by the Great Wall
An early start today for an outing with the Beijing Hikers to the Great Wall in Huairou County about 90 minutes outside of the city. From the description:
In the area of the village is what the locals reckon is the original White Cloud Temple in the Beijing area. It’s just ruins now, but we’ll take a look at it, as well as a ginkgo tree that is more than 500 years old and is protected by the government as a Level 1 Natural Treasure. (Level 1 is the highest.)
From the temple site we’ll follow a gravel trail on a gradual climb up through chestnut orchards and virgin forest, heading for a big pine tree on a ridge. Along the way we’ll pass a big white rock that allegedly has magical properties – after drinking the water that a small piece of this rock has been boiled in, new mothers will have no trouble producing plenty of breast-milk for their baby.
It will take us around about two hours to reach the pine tree on the ridge, and we’ll stop for a lunch break next to an shepherd’s abandoned house.
After lunch we’ll continue along the ridge, hiking up a bushy trail to another saddle on a ridge. From there we’ll be able to see Moss Mountain. Many years ago it rained so much that the village in the valley was encircled with floodwater, and the mossy foliage on Moss Mountain grew so dense that the whole mountain turned black.
An easy trail leads down to the foot of Moss Mountain, and from there we will follow a flat trail to finish the hike at a park.
The walk was a decent 6.8 miles with 1300 ft of climb. It stayed below freezing and there was snow falling for much of the day. It was good to make it out of the city into marginally cleaner air and get some decent exercise.
798 Art District
Clear blue skies made for a great opportunity to do some exploring. An easy ride on the 909 bus (which seemed to sport more technology than any I’ve previously ridden on)
The 798 Art Zone was built as a joint factory complex between the PRC and the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Its buildings and layout were designed by East German engineers and have a distinctive appeal. After the electronics and military manufacturing came to a close the area saw a rebirth as a community for artists and studios.
The building designs incorporate specific considerations for maximizing the amount of natural light inside. The lofting ceilings give a sense of expanse inside.
A maze of interconnected pipes still remains with random steam discharges throughout the area.
I only ventured into one or two of the galleries themselves and while I’m no expert I did enjoy what I saw.
Trip to Yunnan
The week-long Spring Festival holiday provided an excellent opportunity for some longer travel within China. The successful trip to Harbin the weekend had given us confidence that the already-spent investment on this organized tour with the China Culture Center would be good. We were not disappointed.
Briefly speaking our itinerary took us from Beijing into Kunming, onto Jianshui, a full day at Yuanyang, back to Kunming for a flight to Xishuangbanna and then back into Kunming for a day before flying home. Amy is doing a much more thorough job of telling the story in detail over here: Yunnan Adventures, Rice Terraces, Xishuangbanna.
Kunming-Jianshui
We stayed in a courtyard hotel which felt like an overnight stay at the Summer Palace. During the day we spent time in the city as well as smaller villages and saw a side of Chinese life that seems entirely absent in the huge bustling capital.
Hani rice terraces at Yuanyang
With a full day from before dawn to well after dusk there was plenty of time to take photos. Although the morning fog stayed well into the day it did lift in the middle of the afternoon to reveal some incredible feats of manual labor and engineering.
Xishuangbanna
In Xishuangbanna we explored local markets, visited a much smaller traditional village and took a trip to a tea plantation by tractor.
Kunming
A bonus final day in Kunming gave us the opportunity to reconnect with the same local guide we’d had earlier in the week and visit the nearby ‘Stone Forest’.
Overall it was an excellent trip. I would happily recommend the CCC tour for its organization and efficiency, and particularly the efforts of our guide, Edwin, who made a deliberate and consistent effort to ensure a good time was had by all.
Ditan Park Temple Fair
This weekend marks the start of the Spring Festival holiday here in China with today being the last day of the year of the Ox, and tomorrow the first day of the year of the Tiger. To mark the occasion there are temple fairs across Beijing including performances, food, and other entertainment.
After watching the start of the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony, we took the subway over to Ditan Park for one of the larger fairs open today. Red paper lanterns can be seen everywhere.
There are all sorts of performances and lots of loud music which is all discordant yet somehow fitting for the managed chaos of the occasion.
And it wouldn’t a real fair without a wide selection of food for all tastes.
And now, as it nears 6pm and the sky begins to darken, I can see the fireworks already. In fact there has been a constant rattle of explosions in the distance for about the last hour and I can only imagine this is going to escalate as the evening goes on.
It’s exciting to be in Beijing for this!
Ditan Park Temple Fair slideshow
Trip to Harbin
This last weekend Amy and I traveled to Harbin, a city of about 4M in the north of China, to visit the Snow and Ice World, see some Siberian Tigers and enjoy some Russian-influenced cuisine. After an early flight on Saturday morning, we went straight to a park full of snow sculptures of all styles, ideas and sizes.
This particular one was about the width of a city block:
After a tasty lunch we headed out to a military/industrial-looking camp which was home for some 400 Siberian tigers. During a safari-like tour in a caged bus, visitors can select from a menu of animals including chickens, pheasant and even a cow which are then given to the tigers as their source of food and hunting practice.
Saturday night we wore everything we had taken with us (literally – about seven layers total) and headed out for the Ice World, a collection of life-size buildings made entirely of blocks of ice containing lights. The result is stunning.
The pace was kept up on Sunday with a very early start to visit a fish market and a sobering trip to Unit 731, a Japanese biological/chemical warfare research center.
We had a brief opportunity in the afternoon to spend some time in the center of town amidst a snowstorm and walk to Saint Sofia Church before making the journey back to the airport.
I would consider it a success on all counts. The trip was organized by the China Culture Center and while organized tour groups aren’t normally something we’d gravitate towards, the convenience of having transport, accommodation, dining and activities all arranged was hard to beat in a country where I still have difficulty ordering lunch. Many of the other people in the group were in a similar situation and overall I was very comfortable and pleased with the arrangement. Recommended.
Visiting the Summer Palace
Today we explored the Summer Palace on the north west side of the city. Essentially destroyed and rebuilt at the end of the 19th century, it boasts a huge man-made lake, many buildings, courtyards and long walkways.
Imposing statues are found throughout the different courtyards.
Seventeen-Arch Bridge connects Nanhu Island to the perimeter and provides a great spot for kite-flying.
And since it’s not exactly summer, Kunming Lake is covered with a few inches of ice and provided an easy shortcut to the island.
Cell phones in China
When you find yourself in a city that has full five-bar cell phone service on the subway, it’s really hard to do without a cell phone. The process wasn’t entirely painless but in all fairness I can’t exactly say it’s much easier with AT&T or Verizon when you actually speak the same language. I learned quite a lot in the process so figured I’d write it down in case I needed to do it again or in case it’s of use to others.
Notes:
- A China Mobile prepaid SIM (SIM kar) can be bought from a supermarket or China Mobile affiliate. You pick your number upfront and the price is largely dependent on the composition of digits. 4s are not favored since it is an unlucky number, since the words for four and death differ only in tone. Prices seem to range from 20 RMB to 1000 RMB for essentially the same thing, stores off the tourist track seem to be much more reasonable.
- Some SIMs need to be activated. It’s an easy call but the instructions are all in Chinese on the accompanying documentation so it’s not obvious how to do it. Call 13800138000 and then press 2 to cut over to the pseudo-English prompts.
- Credits can be refilled easily by in many stores by buying a refill card. I am told you can get better deals on TaoBao but it’s all in Chinese so buying a voucher in a store was easier for me.
- Data plans are incredibly reasonable ($3/mo for 200 MB) and can be set up with just a text message. The M-Zone SIM cards (donggandidai) seem to be better than the EasyOwn ones for GPRS/data usage so look for the orange card with a youth on it rather than the bald guy. And definitely call 10086 to set up a reduced rate plan; I found out the hard way that once you pick your plan you’re stuck with it for six months.
- The iPhone can be coerced into working here with some helpful free pointers from the internet. Sadly, the two apps I actually use while mobile (Tweetie and Facebook) don’t work for obvious reasons. But the Maps app is proving very useful. I’m not sure if 3G is possible with my setup but the EDGE connection seems to be working out fine.
- Calling up AT&T prior to our departure and getting carrier unlock codes was a good idea.
- SMS text messaging is really popular and seems to be used across the spectrum from casual to business interactions.
Sunday at Beihai Park and Back Lakes
We had a great day of exploring today around Beihai Park and the Back Lakes in Beijing. We walked the city all day, working our way from Wangfujing past Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (past all the tour guides and art students), turning toward and then on through Beihai Park (much more serene) and onward through the Back Lakes. We covered big roads, small hutongs and peaceful parks and although cold outside it’s felt great to get some exercise.
We sat down twice. Once for lunch (pork and egg on rice, chicken in spice sweet sauce, both good) and once again to enjoy the sport I can only describe as ‘ice chair skating’. Two persons to ‘cart’, two sharp metal poles each, and a good upper body workout is guaranteed. Great fun!
Beihai Park and Back Lakes photos
A wealth of new foods at the Chinese supermarket
Our apartment building runs a daily shuttle to the Carrefour Supermarket in Beijing which is convenient. We made the trip to get some groceries, a SIM card, and some other items for around the apartment. The sights, sounds, colors, smells and unfamiliar foods are quite overwhelming. Supermarket shopping hasn’t been that interesting in years!
Chinese food, week one
It’s been an interesting week of new cuisine. I think I’ve tried everything that’s come my way and the stomach still seems to be holding up OK. Some of the notables include roast duck (very rich and tasty), deep fried chicken cartilage (interesting texture), steamed dumplings (tasty but pushed chopstick skills to the limit), pork rib bites with gristle in sweet sauce, sticky buns for breakfast, noodles and bok choy in the morning.
On the western front, I gave my stomach a rest with McDonalds (didn’t think I’d ever say that) and a celebration at a Brazilian/Latin grill. The western-style restaurant at work has some familiar components but I don’t know the shorter English name for the dish I would describe as ‘cajun breaded pork cut served in a sizzling fajita dish with rice topped with egg’. I have found the Starbucks machine in the office, the tea in the cooler and am thoroughly enjoying the daily fruit service.
I am told I’ll need to recalibrate my spicy scale on Monday when we go out for Sìchuān-style food.
