Our 15th day in the far east was also our last morning on the Sunshine China cruise ship before it docks in the early morning in Chongqing (the sister city of my hometown Brisbane). We only had a half day in Chongqing before heading off to Guilin after lunch. We docked in this huge city with a population over 30million (well the municipality of Chongqing) around 8 am. Of course we get the standard merchants when you get off any form of transport trying to sell some sort of kite, map, scarf, jade etc. We headed off to the Chongqing Zoo to see the handful of panda’s they have in their compound. Due to some time restraints, we had around an hour in the zoo before we headed off to a park for a tea drinking ceremony. We arrived around the time that the giant panda’s were being feed their breakfast, so other than running to the food, there wasn’t a whole lot of activity in their respective compounds. After around 20 minutes of some ohh’s and ahhs, we quickly scouted the rest of the zoo. I can’t remember the last time that I was at a zoo (probably 15 years ago, in Melbourne when they had the Panda’s), but most of the animals here are fairly stock standard. Most of the enclosures were quite big, however I was a little bit saddened when we came across some of the monkey cages though. Our guide did mentioned that years ago the enclosures were a lot smaller, so at least the zoo management are trying to make a change. Once everybody has been accounted for, this time for real, we headed off to a park in the city. I am not sure of the name of the park, but I think it was Pipa Shan Park (I think, but no matter). I was more concerned that my sister was hit on the head with the gate beam as she was trying to dodge the merchants selling the wears. Thankfully she has a hard head! The park is located on a small mountain and one of the highest points in Chongqing, on a clear day you can get some great views of the city. The day we arrived in Chongqing was a very smoggy day (well compared to home, but probably not by Chongqing standards), where visibility was at most a few hundred metres. In the park is a small teahouse where they will teach tourist the Chinese way of drinking tea. Of course they sell tea, tea pots and various other accessories. If I was a regular tea drinker, I would probably go a bit crazy here as some of the regular tea drinkers did. After lunch we headed off to the airport for a short flight to Guilin. Guilin is famous for it’s karst hills that surround the city, the caves in the hills and the rice terraces located at Longsheng (commonly known as Dragon Backbone Terraces). After dinner we had the option for a Lijiang River cruise around the city, the city is not only surrounded by karst hills but the Li River and a bunch of lakes that have been joined by canals. You have to give credit to the local government of Guilin who have done an amazing effort in making this short cruise (around an hour long) into a great way to see this small (by Chinese standards) city. The canals have some really nice parks and they even build some interesting bridges that include pictures and calligraphy on the underside. As part of the cruise, you get to see some cormorant fishing, musical and signing performances. Later in the night we headed into the night markets that happen every night from 8pm on the main street. They don’t seem to hassle you a lot in these markets as they do in the other markets in the big cities. So you can at least wonder at your own pace and look without having a calculator shoved in your face by an overly eager merchant.
2010年8月4日星期三
Great China Trip: Chongqing to Guilin
Our 15th day in the far east was also our last morning on the Sunshine China cruise ship before it docks in the early morning in Chongqing (the sister city of my hometown Brisbane). We only had a half day in Chongqing before heading off to Guilin after lunch. We docked in this huge city with a population over 30million (well the municipality of Chongqing) around 8 am. Of course we get the standard merchants when you get off any form of transport trying to sell some sort of kite, map, scarf, jade etc. We headed off to the Chongqing Zoo to see the handful of panda’s they have in their compound. Due to some time restraints, we had around an hour in the zoo before we headed off to a park for a tea drinking ceremony. We arrived around the time that the giant panda’s were being feed their breakfast, so other than running to the food, there wasn’t a whole lot of activity in their respective compounds. After around 20 minutes of some ohh’s and ahhs, we quickly scouted the rest of the zoo. I can’t remember the last time that I was at a zoo (probably 15 years ago, in Melbourne when they had the Panda’s), but most of the animals here are fairly stock standard. Most of the enclosures were quite big, however I was a little bit saddened when we came across some of the monkey cages though. Our guide did mentioned that years ago the enclosures were a lot smaller, so at least the zoo management are trying to make a change. Once everybody has been accounted for, this time for real, we headed off to a park in the city. I am not sure of the name of the park, but I think it was Pipa Shan Park (I think, but no matter). I was more concerned that my sister was hit on the head with the gate beam as she was trying to dodge the merchants selling the wears. Thankfully she has a hard head! The park is located on a small mountain and one of the highest points in Chongqing, on a clear day you can get some great views of the city. The day we arrived in Chongqing was a very smoggy day (well compared to home, but probably not by Chongqing standards), where visibility was at most a few hundred metres. In the park is a small teahouse where they will teach tourist the Chinese way of drinking tea. Of course they sell tea, tea pots and various other accessories. If I was a regular tea drinker, I would probably go a bit crazy here as some of the regular tea drinkers did. After lunch we headed off to the airport for a short flight to Guilin. Guilin is famous for it’s karst hills that surround the city, the caves in the hills and the rice terraces located at Longsheng (commonly known as Dragon Backbone Terraces). After dinner we had the option for a Lijiang River cruise around the city, the city is not only surrounded by karst hills but the Li River and a bunch of lakes that have been joined by canals. You have to give credit to the local government of Guilin who have done an amazing effort in making this short cruise (around an hour long) into a great way to see this small (by Chinese standards) city. The canals have some really nice parks and they even build some interesting bridges that include pictures and calligraphy on the underside. As part of the cruise, you get to see some cormorant fishing, musical and signing performances. Later in the night we headed into the night markets that happen every night from 8pm on the main street. They don’t seem to hassle you a lot in these markets as they do in the other markets in the big cities. So you can at least wonder at your own pace and look without having a calculator shoved in your face by an overly eager merchant.
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