Lama Temple

David and I had a great night sleep and thankfully I didn't wake up with a head the size of Texas. My back now was just itchy and still a little sore. David once again affirmed, yup I had gotten bit.

We were excited to for our private China tour today to see the Lama Temple, Hutongs, Drum Tower and to have a ride on a Rickshaw. We were to meet Alice in the lobby at 10am. Sure enough she was there waiting for us. We proceeded out to our driver and we were on our way.

I had told David so much about Alice I was excited for him to meet her. She had become more like a friend then a tour guide. David was enjoying talking with her as we drove and he was asking some general questions. She laughed and said, "are you a journalist?" In reality the people in China are leery about saying too much about their country and having their names associated with it. David immediately assured her he was not and apologized if he had frightened her. Honestly, his questions were very general in nature so I was somewhat surprised by her reaction.

Our first stop was going to be the Lama Temple. The temple is Beijing's most visited religious sites and one of the most important functioning Buddhist temples. Only about two dozen monks live in this complex today, but the temple once was home to as many as 500 monks. We were dropped off at the entrance and the first thing you smell and see is the thick spicy smoke of incense. There are five main halls to visit. One of the halls houses a 85 foot Maitreya Buddha carved from a single sandalwood block. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside any of the halls. The entire open courtyard is full of people burning three sticks of incense and bowing to the Buddhas. Jenny explained to us, even those that are not practicing Buddhist in China come here to ask for a wish and light the incense. If your wish is granted you are supposed to come back and thank the Buddha. She also said during one of the Chinese Holidays celebrated on January 1st the entire area is covered in smoke and the line to get into the Temple is very long. Outside of the temple are shops after shops selling incense. We wonder how they all stay in business.

After our visit to the Temple we proceeded to go to a restaurant for lunch. We went to a restaurant that was Sichuan style. We had some wonderful food that tasted much more like Chinese food in the states. After lunch we headed on to the Hutong area where we would have our first Rickshaw ride and a tour of a typical Chinese home. Hutongs are alleyways that are living museums of the old city. They are still used streets of courtyard houses and shops. They are full of life: washing is strung out from windows and telephone poles, vegetable and flowers are planted where ever space is available. Old folks sit playing chess, drinking beer or tea. Jenny pointed out that all the houses are painted grey or are grey brick, she explained this is because in ancient times the only house that could have colors other then grey were in the Forbidden City. I cannot imagine why they have stayed to this rule as it looks pretty sad to me. Especially since the sky seems to always be
grey as well. We enjoyed a Rickshaw ride through some of the area and then proceeded to tour a typical Chinese home. This seemed a bit touristy to us although it was interesting. The gentleman that owned the home sat across the street and waved to everybody as they went in to his home and paid the fee. Jenny did explain this home had been in his family for many years and this would be the only reason he still had it today. It was a typical courtyard home where four small individual rooms all opened up into a small courtyard. Each room was for different members of the family based on age or gender. She also explained to us that the number of posts over the door symbolized the importance of the family that lived there. She said most of the people that had lived in these homes during the time of the Dynasties were members of the government.

We then went on to our final stop which would be the Drum Tower. Until late in the 1920's this tower housed 24 drums and was Beijing's timepiece. Sadly all but one of the drums was destroyed and the
one remaining is in need of renovation. The climb to the tower consists of 67 stairs that are straight up, I figured this would be a piece of cake after the Great Wall but it actually took my breath for a few minutes. We were lucky that when we reached the top we would be able to hear the drum ceremony that they perform a few times a day. It was wonderful. We then headed downstairs to meet our driver and proceed back to our hotel. We said our good byes to Jenny, swapped emails and went back to our room. It is hard to explain but just being out for the day in China seems to make you feel dirty. I am not sure if it is the dust, the smog or just he amount of people. Once we were showered we decided that we would have a quiet night in the hotel...........or so we thought!

We headed downstairs to the lobby at around 7pm to take advantage of the happy hour. I ordered a cosmopolitan and David ordered a Gimlet. The offer is buy one get one free of each type of drink. As we were sitting enjoying our cocktails with no one else in site we were talking about our experiences over the last eleven days, and feeling pretty lucky that we lived in a country that was clean and allowed personal freedom. It seemed a little bit away from us on another sofa in the lounge was a young man that was acting a bit odd. I might tell you at this point that we had some previous issues with the hotel and the General Manager and his assistant had been in touch with David to make their apologies. I will not bore you with the details but the issues were around the services we were offered as part of the Executive package that we were not receiving. So back to the young man, he seemed harmless although I did mention to David that he was running around the lobby area quite strangely. Well he decided I guess that we were good company so he sat down with us, which was not a problem at first. He then proceeded to throw pillows at us, take our newspaper and then reached for Richard's drink. David kindly told him it would be best if he would leave.
I joked once again with David, that I really was not searching for blog material but somehow it just finds me. Well the young man would not leave so I motioned to the hostess to come over. As I have stated in the past most of the people in the hotel do not have a great command of the English language but she seemed to be aware of what was happening. Well in minutes there must have been an all points bulletin call that the "nice" Americans were having issues!! No less than five "suits" appeared into the area and tried to assist with the problem. Rich and I truly felt bad, it was obvious that his young man was mentally impaired and we really are accepting people but the throwing of the pillows and the attempt to drink our drinks was more then we could handle on our own. Well just as the suits appeared somehow so did the General Manager's assistant, he was off duty but stopping by. He at once came over to us to see what had happened now. We explained and low and behold here comes the General Manager of the hotel we proceeded to
have a few more cocktails with the two of them and enjoyed some great conversation about their lives. They asked where we would be dinning that evening and we told they we were going to the Japanese restaurant in the hotel. Within in minutes someone was walking us to the restaurant and making sure we were well taken care of.

We were seated in a private room around a typical Japanese cooking table. We made our selections and also purchased a good bottle of red wine! Dinner was wonderful. Since drinking wine is not a common part of the Chinese culture the young lady poured wine into our glasses a sip at a time and stood there with the bottle of wine all evening. David and I thought it might be morning before we finished this bottle as we took a sip and she replenished. Finally at one point the young lady left the room for a minute, David quickly got up and poured full glasses of wine and finished the bottle. When she returned to pour our next sip, she
smiled and left the room. I hope we did not insult her but we had finished eating quite sometime ago. So off we went to our room laughing about our quiet evening in the hotel.

Tomorrow is our last day for our China tour and Alice will be taking us shopping to the Silk and Pearl Market !!

Dali

On my China trip, I made a bike trip from Dali old town to Lijiang old town with my friend Jelly and my guide Li. The Chinese guide is a very nice boy. I have learnt a lot Chinese when we were travelling.

D1 Having no problem to find the guesthouse. The guide led me to the hotel directly and helped me check in. In previous China trip, I used to mistook the hotels in Xi’an, that was awesome experience. So this time I appreciate this very much. I have right name but the are three guesthouse was called four seasons guest house in Xi’an old town.And unfortunately they three such hotels with the same name.I found my friends at the last one.

We started our trip at 8am.We have very good landscape when we cycled between Mt.Cangshan and Erhai Lake.We have saw a lot of local people farming there.And above all the best thing is the hotspring in Xiashankou,and the guesthouse is a good price:80yuan for room with a bath room,and a small hotspring pool in the bath room.
We spent one night at a small village called Xiashankou(actually it’s was full of hotels because of the hotspring).People form the down of Dali come here very often,because it’s 75km from the downtown and 60km form the Dali old town.And it’s flat road is very good for cycling(very few mountain to climb in the trip).

D2 After a wonderful night at Xiashankou we started our cycling journey to Baihanchang(Jiu he bai zu xiang).The fresh milk in Xiashankou is so good,because Xiashankou is very close to Denchuan which is the major milk producing area of Yunnan province.You can buy the bottled and boiled fresh milk.
Today we have at least 50 km to climb up. According my GPS we have arrived at a mountain with the altitude 3000m,and we begun at 2200m..

D3 It’s a luckily day today.A road from Baihanchang to Lijiang was under construction so there is very few traffic,but actually there is few construction too.It seemed like that this road has been reserved for us.When we arrived at the peak of the mountain a beautiful landscape show in front of us!

Back to Home

Finally after 12 days and then 27 hours (and a half) on a train we arrived in Guangzhou, we were almost home!
By chance as soon as we came out of the train there were signs directing us to buy tickets to Shenzhen. Half an hour later we were on the train back to Shenzhen (albeit with no seat...until later when people got off).
When we finally grabbed some seats two women began talking to us. The contrast between the two women could not have been more striking. One was a young, skimpily dressed Cantonese who barely spoke English and had instantly fallen in love with my room-mate, the other was a middle-aged Harvard educated international business woman who spoke fluent English, had children working in banks all over China and Hong Kong and had many fascinating stories of life and business to tell us. Both women were amazed however that each of us spoke Chinese (even though we only said a few words). My room-mate got the number of the young lady who I definitely thought was a hooker, I on the other hand regret not getting the business card of that woman who was joined by the husband and grand children since I’m sure she would have been a good contact to have. Oh well, lesson for the future.
Then, finally after passing immigration and the like we were back in Hong Kong!
Home!
Many visitors to Hong Kong complain that it is crowded and polluted, but compared to most big cities in mainland China it is quiet and the air is fresh.
From Hung Hom we took a direct bus back to Pok Fu Lam. After a quick elevator ride to our floor, I rushed to the toilet for the most satisfying release of the entire two weeks.
This trip was tiring to say the least. After staying put in HK for a while I think I will return to the Mainland soon (especially now since I have a multiple entry Visa).
The top places I wanted for my China trip are:
Shanghai (post-Expo), Hangzhou, Huangshan, Suzhou and Nanjing (one trip)
Then Xinjiang Province and maybe Gansu
Hainan Island
Wudangshan Kung Fu temple in Hubei, along with the Three Gorges Dam and the Yangzte towards Sichuan.
Sichuan province: Emei Mountain, The Wulong Panda reserve, JiaZhaigou and Chengdu for Hot Pot!
And then back to Taiwan in the Republic of China.
I despite the complaints and stuff (which is just for humour), overall I do love travelling China!- it is such a fascinating country after all.

Tibet Impression

Tibet does have a different feel to it - I think its real and not just me wanting it to be real. It is the most attractive place for my China trip. There are the obvious differences in the faces, the architecture of the houses, the chortens & prayer flags scattered across the landscape. But also the Tibetans seem to smile more, when we ride past on the bike there's enthusiastic waving and joy. In Xinjiang Province the people were quite reserved, when we rode past they just stared open mouthed and almost seemed afraid to wave.

We are currently bobbing along the Tibetan Plateau between 4200m and 4900m making our way east. The climbs over the passes aren't that big, only a few hundred meters but at the top of each pass there are a host of multi-coloured prayer flags fluttering in the breeze. Don't know why but they are really comforting, they are like a mini reward for achieving a few more miles and do seem to help you on your way. Perhaps its just seeing the bright colours in the sea of browness.

We are now far enough east to have the Himalayas as our constant companions to the south. Predictably they provide a spectacular backdrop
to the yellow steppe grasslands. Occasionally we come across a nomadic village with their herds of yaks. But here, the yurts of the Stans have been replaced by the oblong Tibetan tents decorated in colourful religious symbols. In the villages the same colourful symbols appear on the door curtains of each house.

From Douma to Ali we pass lots of salt lakes. At first you can't quite make out if its snow or salt but apparently its salt - I'm too lazy to stomp my way across the grasslands to double check. Then we skirt the northern and eastern shores of Pangong-tso. The southern shore is in Ladakh, India as are the snowy mountains we can see. The lake is famous for its fish, which is presumably why there are so many seagull hanging round. Anyway in the absolute middle of nowhere on the edge of the lake we come across and enormous fish restaurant. The locals tell us the fish is just like trout and cook us 2 large specimens - they obviously don't have a lot of trout in Tibet!!! Our resident fish expert said it was more like perch. Still it made a pleasant change from the usual lunch of top-box snacks.

Further down the road there is another treat in store - tarmac, and nice smooth tarmac at that. Its turning into a real day of treats; pre-historic petroglyphs at the side of the road, a real town with shops and restaurants and, after 4 days of wet-wipes, real showers and flushing toilets. We also passed some black necked cranes en-route, this is considered a very auspicious sign - so fingers crossed, we might make it to the end.

The treats keep coming the next day - from Ali to Lake Manasarovar we have a whole 180 miles of tarmac - luxury. There's no other traffic on the road, just the occasional truck and a few Tibetan motorbikes in their version of safety gear - see photo. This means we whiz along covering the miles which was the plan as we are headed for the most holy lake and mountain in Tibet.

Mt Kailash (6714m) might not be the highest mountain in these parts buts its certainly the most important. Its central to the mythology of over 1 billion people from 4 different religions: Buddhists (who believe the cleft on the south
face resembles a swastika, the symbol of spiritual strength), Hindus (who believe it is Mt Meru, the home of the god Shiva), Jains (who believe it is the site of emancipation of their 1st saint) and Bons (who believe this is where their founder, Shenrab, alighted from heaven). Many people spend their whole lives striving to come on a pilgrimage to this mountain, to make the 3 day kora round it. Some even prostrate themselves all the way round the kora circuit. And here we are just nonchalantly riding past. Compared to the pilgrims we have had a pretty easy journey here. Just to make us realise how lucky we are a tremendous storm comes in from the direction we need to go. It snows on us briefly then the skies clear and Kailash reveals herself in her full glory. To travel China, you always have lots to experience.

Nearby is Lake Manasarovar another pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhists and our home for the night. The lake is allegedly the source of Asia's 4 mightiest rivers which arise at the 4 cardinal point; the Indus to the north, a tributary of the Ganges to the south, the Brahmaputra to the east, the Sutlej to the west. Don't
look at a map too closely though, they might not all arise for the lake but they do all start in this watershed. At the lake we're back to homestays, no running water and communal toilet block. When I say communal I mean communal - behind the concrete there are 4 little holes in the ground lined up next to each with no partitions in between!!

We wander up to the little monastery on the hill, its good to stretch the legs after all that sitting on the bike. We even help the monk to carry the supplies up the hill. Its very peaceful and restful up here. There are clear blue skies now and sitting by the prayer flags there are views in every direction; down to the lake, over to Mt Kailash, down to the stupas and prayer flags and mani stones, over to the snowy mountains way off in the distance. It just reinforces how privileged we are, some people spend their whole lives hoping to make a pilgrimage to this spot. A few days of no showers and communal toilets outside Lhasa is a small price to pay.

Memorable Yangtze Cruise

Yangtze River is most rich in water energy. It is the big attraction for China trip. The gross water energy exploited from the river is up to 200,000,000 kilowatt. The trunk line of the river for navigation is more than 2800 kilometers long, it claimed to be the Golden waterway for business and trade at home and abroad.

Between Chongqing and Yichang area is marvelously magnificent. This area is generally called Three Gorges area: Qutang Gorge, Wuxia Gorge, and Xiling Gorge. The world largest water conservancy project, the Three Gorges Dam is located in Xiling Gorge in Yangtze River drainage area. Some major cities along the river include Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing and Shanghai,
Yangtze River Delta is China's most dynamic place. It is roughly comprised of Jiangsu Province,Yangtze River Cruise, southeast part of Shanghai and northeast part of Zhejiang Province. Thanks to its rich rainfall and advanced waterways, the area is also called the water village. It has fertile farmland and the main produces include rice, cotton, wheat, cole, peanut, silk, shrink and fishes.

Different from the Mississippi, the Niro and the Amason,Yangtze River is the largest river in China, it starts from Tibetan Plateau and passes through Yunnan Province, Sichuan Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province, Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province and Shanghai and eventually flows into the East China Sea.

The highlighted golden travel attractions here are the Three Gorges and the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project. After the completion of the whole Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project, there will be more attractions available and meanwhile more new attractions revealed soon.

Suggested Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Chongqing, during the day. Board in the night, fantastic Yangtze River Cruise trip start.

Day 2: Shore excursion to Fengdu Ghost City.

Day 3: Via Qutang Gorge, via Wuxia Gorge & Goddess Peak, Shore excursion to Shennong Stream or Little Three Gorges, via Xiling Gorge

Day 4: Shore excursion to the Three Gorges Dam. Finish the Cruise trip.

Trip to Xi'an

I have been in Xi’an this summer, for a splendid China tour. And I learnt a lot and experienced a lot about China history.
Xi'an, the capital of Shannxi Province,is stuated in the fertile Wei River Valley. One of the few Chinese cities where the ancient fortress walls can still be seen. Xi'an dates back more than 3,000 years and has impressive collection of archaeological relies to help explain its rich history. Formerly known as Chang'an("eternal Peace"),the city of Xi'an had served as a capital under 13 dynasties.
Xi'an is vest known as within the local arts and crafts community for its thriving archaeological reproduction industry, which features painted Neolothic pottery; life-size Qin Terra-Cotta Warriors figures, glazed Tang funeral wares,and Tang tomb murals. A wide variety of folk crafts is also produced in the region,including needlework,ceramics,paper cuts,and rubbing(made from the impressions of stone carvings). For visitors who travel China, it is a big attraction to visit Xi’an.
China had 231 emperors and one ruling empress, 79 of whom were buried in Shaanxi. One imperial mausoleum in Shaanxi,which apples to most of visitors,is the Oianling Tomb where Wu Zetian, China's only tuling empress, and her hubband Li Zhi, who has Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Emperor Qin shihuang's Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses acclaimed as the "Star Pool" in the Zhou Dynasty 2,800 years ago,the Neolithic Banpo Museum with a history of 6,000 years---an important excavated restored Neolothic Chinese village, the China's best-preserved Ancient City Wall built in the early Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), the Big Wild Goose Pagoda erected in 652, the Forest of Steles, the largest stone library in China and also called a treasure house of Chinese calligraphy with a superb collection by famous calligraphers form Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) to Qing Dynasty(1644-1911).
My next destination is Luoyang, another ancient capital city in Chinese history, believe that I will get much to see.

Foreign guests visit Huangshan Mountain

On July 16, 2010, a group of foreign students from overseas universities climbed Huangshan Mountain, which is located at the south of Anhui Province. This is their second stop for their China trip, starting from Shanghai, and have just experience the Shanghai Expo. Mount Huangshan, literally translated as Yellow Mountain, located in the southeast of Anhui Province, one of the China’s most luring tourist attractions. Huangshan City is at the foot of the Mount Huangshan, also include the suburb Xidi and Hongcun Village.
Among many peaks, the three widely know are The Lotus Peak, The Brilliant Top Mountain, and The Celestial Capital. Besides these three peaks, Hot Spring, Jade Screen Tower, Xihai, Beihai, Yungu Temple and Songgu Nunnery.
The rain from the day before has cooled the air thus making the weather ideal for mountain climbing. With its clear skies and fresh air, visitors were able to get a clear and beautiful view of Huangshan Mountain’s stunning pine trees and magnificent rocks.
The group rode the Yungu cable car to White Goose Ridge Station before continuing their journey to Bright Peak, Baiyun Hotel, Beihai Hotel, Black Tiger Pine, Couple Pine and Shixin Peak.

They are invited by local universities in Anhui Province to learn about Hui Culture. All the foreign guests were excited about their experience.
"This is a great chance to explore Huangshan Mountains, which is totally unearthed and unexplored. This is like a dream come true. I’ve been told this is the most fantastic location in the world.” Said Sijle, student from the engineering major, who came to know of Huangshan Mountain from a tour guide when he was traveling in China’s Lijiang.
"It’s a big stress in Shanghai. You’ll find rural areas in Anhui are quite different now. If you don’t get out of the city, you’ll never know what the country is like,” said Jonny, who almost travel China every year.