Lijiang

Day 26 – Tiger Leaping Gorge

This was our ‘outdoor’ day, where we had a driver for the day and went to look at the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. In the morning we met Steven, a very nice guy who spoke splendid Englisch and drove us in about 1,5 hours to the gorge. The site was just amazing, it is a place where the river is driven between two mountain ranges and on its narrowest side is only 20 meter wide with a  big rock in the middle, the famous place where a tiger escaped its hunters by jumping over the river. The mountains range 3000 meters high here, an incredible site and one really feels small and humble here.

The viewpoint itself is of course in Chinese style set up with stairs and well maintained view platforms. But still, amazing…

After we got back up again we drove on over very interesting mountain streets and were even more happy with Steven, as he drove very slow and safe. If you have 500 meters of cliff next to you that is really something to appreciate 🙂

We then had lunch in Sean’s Guesthouse, which has a great garden with views on the gorge and good food. This was the spot where we were really thinking, why can’t we just stay here and take a nap in a hammuck in the shade 🙂 So our next trip to this region is already planned as we definitely want to do the two day hike when Charlotte is up to it.

After the ride back we said our farewell to our driver Steven and in the guesthouse we were asked by the owner if we wanted to have a typical local diner, she then walked us across town to a very interesting local hotpot restaurant with a special kind of dried ribs in it. Unfortunately not really Charlotte’s taste, so she was more into the rice eating.

After we returned to the guesthouse we were even provided with a  real tea ceremony, where a stone frog is given the first tea as a blessing and Martijn had to have some local booze – burning in the throat.

 

 

Lijiang

Day 25 – Lijiang Baisha Village

After our first night in Lijiang we had a small breakfast in our room and headed for a small village north of Lijiang called BaiSha. It was mentioned in our guidebooks as still rural and original, and we would be able to see the real Naxi lifestyle there.

After about 1 hour bus ride with the local bus we arrived and walked through the small main street. Then suddenly we heard music, a group of old man playing self made instruments with a sign saying they were keeping the old traditions alive. We were quickly invited to join them and suddenly we were “playing” music in BaiSha, very nice.

Playing music together with a local BaiSha music group, Manu can do the "ting"
Playing music together with a local BaiSha music group, Manu can do the “ting”
Doesn't it look professional
Doesn’t it look professional
Self made music instruments, with a beautiful dragon head
Self made music instruments, with a beautiful dragon head

After walking a bite further we soon found out that the guidebooks were definitely dated, this town was also filled with coffee shops and souvenir booths, all having the same stuff. So we had lunch in a not so traditional coffee shop and had the best dumplings we have had so far in China a well as a great noodle soup for Charlotte.

After lunch we came to the house of Dr. Hu, a 95 year old Chinese medicine doctor who is still practicing. He was very sweet, and when he discovered Martijn was from the Netherlands he showed a whole range of business cards from Dutch guests, and even Maxima had been there.

Dr. Hu
Dr. Hu

I had to promise to give Maxima the best from him and inform her that he was still alive 🙂 So next time we have tea I will do exactly that.

On leaving the village we decided to take a d-tour with the bus to the local Walmart to get some food for breakfast etc (Marmalade is difficult to get in normal shops) and witnessed something quite interesting there. On the square in front there was a hiphop and break dance contest and the team were really good!

On our way back we got hit by the rain and were very happy we had a bath tub this time, something very rare in the guesthouses we normally stay 🙂

Lijiang

Day 24 – Trip to Lijiang

Today we had to get up early to catch our flight from Chengdu to Lijiang. We already packed everything the night before and around 6:45 am (!) we were outside and searching for a taxi. That did not went well, the district we were in somehow was completely empty of cars and taxis, so after waiting some 10 minute we decided to go for plan B and run for the subway. A short ride later we were further away from the airport but at the south railway station and managed to get a cab there, after some cursing when a Chinese took the cab right in front of us.

Arriving at the airport about one hour before take off we were just in time to check in, after seeing a big sign at the entrance that due to some regulation check in now closes not 30minutes but 45 minutes before takeoff. Pfeeew.

The airport of Chengdu was again big as ever, and they are still building and extending to make it a real international and national air hub within China. When we could board we were driven a long way to one of the outer positions and Manu was really happy that the plane was new, good looking and everything during the flight went without any issue.

Arriving in Lijiang we were picked up by a driver holding our names (a bit of comfort is necessary) and in 40 minutes we arrived at our Charming Heart Inn. Due to the fact that we were a bit early we dropped off our luggage and went for diner and a stroll in the old town, quite nice with all the little alleys and small shops etc. But like in every Chinese tourist destination we’ve seen so far every 100m the same kind of shops repeat itself,  so the typical Yunnan Coffee, Bongo shops, Scarves, etc. You just have to look through it.

After lunch we could get in our room and it was perfect. We even had a big bath tub, which we surely would use. We enjoyed a bit of time on the roof top, took a little nap and later we went into the city for Diner and more site seeing. We also met Keith, an Australian Guide, with whom we made plans for going to the Tiger Leaping Gorge on Wednesday. Nice guy, had his office in a western restaurant called N’s place and we could barely find him but wenn we looked for something to ear there he was  🙂

 

Chengdu, Emei Shan, Sabbatical

Day 20 – Emei Shan

After a good night sleep in a room full of teddy bears (Remember the name of the Hotel) we had our breakfast and went to the bus station to get to the holy mountain Emei Shan. Based on the weather, afternoon would get a bit rainy, and the fact that we did not want to do a 2 hour drive through the mountains twice with Charlotte to get up and down we decided to do only the lower part of the mountain.

After about 30 minutes of bus ride we arrived at the Wannian Cable station and wanted to buy the ticket… and that was a shock. We had to pay 185 RMB entry fee as well ass 65 RMB for the cable car, altogether 630 RMB. A very big bite in our budget, but then again, when you’re at a holy mountain and made the trip you do not say no. Only thing we were thinking when seeing the hordes of Chinese tourist later on was that is must be even more expensive for them.

After a short cable car ride we arrived at the Wannian monastery and had our first experience with the, sometimes very aggressive, monkeys who live on the mountain. They jump on tourist who have water bottles outside or open backpacks and steal what they can get. But we were warned and got sticks for walking and for ‘hitting the monkey’ as our guesthouse owner said. Only problem was that Charlotte was now very keen on hitting a monkey, not the best education 😉

to be continued…..

Chengdu, Leshan, Uncategorized

Day 19 – Visiting the Giant Buddha of Le Shan

Today we checked out in time and went to the Chengdu East Railway station to get the bullet train to Leshan. As we will return to Chengdu we decided to split up our stuff and leave one backpack at the railway station with the left luggage, also a primer for us to try this out. So after handing over the backpack and ensuring multiple times to the lady that we would be in time to get it back (she closes at 9pm) we got on the train and went to Leshan.

Arriving after a mere hour ride we were already there. Time again for some logistics, as we wanted to take the bus in the evening to EmeiShan we took at taxi to the XiaoGao bus station and dropped the second big backpack off there with the left luggage. Then it was on to the big Buddha park, and we were amazed. Everybody is always talking about the Buddha, but there is much more to see. There is also a big Oriental Buddhist Park which contains thousands of Buddha statues, unfortunately we did not have enough time to see those. So if you go to Leshan, you can easily spend two days there, and enjoy the bit less crowded parts of the area.

For the Buddha we just let the pictures below speak for itself, after leaving the park we walked through a small fisher village where we had a well earned drink (there are a lot of stair to be done here) and Charlotte had noodles again to show off her chop stick capabilities. And of course the mandatory Lao Wai pictures..

Then we took the bus back to the main bus station to get a long distance bus to Emei Shan, as our hotel there should be right next to it. Well, that went a bit wrong, as we’re standing at the ticket desk and want to buy the tickets we got the typical Chinese “Meo”, as in we do not have tickets anymore. Shit!

Now what, ok, good to have 3g on  the mobile phone in China, a quick check showed that there were still train tickets available. It was 17:14 and the next train left at 17:48. Get a taxi!

Somehow the taxi driver understood we were in a hurry because we were going at much too high speed through the city, only slowing down when there was a speed trap. At 17:28 we arrived at the train station, thanked the driver and went to get tickets. Again shit, a long queue in front of us. This was already where we decided to take one train later and then everything was relaxed again. We go out tickets, waited about an hour for the train and arrived after 15minutes of bullet train and 5 minutes of taxi ride safely at the Teddy Bear Hotel.

 

Chengdu, Sabbatical

Day 18 – Chengdu Tibetan Quarter

Today the Tibetian Quarter of Chengdu was on the program. So after we got up and had breakfast with pancakes, yogurt and some very not nice dumplings we took the line 1 bus across town and got out near the WuHou Temple. Right next to it is a well known ancient street that has been redone where a lot of small shops are, so we jumped right in.

Good time for some souvenirs, all small stuff as we have to carry everything around and we also found a Calligraphy Master who sold big paintings. We are still thinking to get one, but 7000 RMB is a bit much for one of those – especially if we have to ship them back to Germany.

After the shopping street we went into the Tibetan area and had lunch in a real Tibetan restaurant where we had nice Yak Dumplings, some kind of curry dish as well as our first Yak Butter Tea. Well, the latter one we can now check off on the todo list and perhaps later in life we have another in Tibet itself, but for now we do not really need one 😉 It has a very specific salty taste.

Unfortunately the meal was not so right for our princess, so she got a bit out of control and we had to speak some clear word with her that she is not the only one on this trip who wants stuff. After we sorted that out we hopped in a small guesthouse and got her French fries there, then everything was ok again.

Interesting enough the area is also know for its outdoor shopping options, there are a lot of shops there and you get everything for hiking, camping and mountain tours. We had some looks around as Manu always has trouble finding a fitting outdoor pants in Germany, but funny enough it wa the same here. We found one, which was of course a brand one, and that was quite expensive. But for the rest even here a lot of the shops did not have her size… and we though the Chinese were small 😉

After the bus ride home we enjoyed the real warm weather a bit on the terrace and then  started to pack for our short trip to Leshan and Emei Shan. As we return to Chengdu we’re planning to leave one, the biggest, back pack with all the stuff we do not need here at the train station and travel a bit lighter. But this sorting out did take some time and we also got rid of some old stuff. Still, it seems our luggage is self-expanding 🙁

Diner we had in a small restaurant nearby, greasy and old, but the food was great. One problem though that two quite drunk Chinese liked the fact that we could speak a bit Chinese and kept hanging around, Charlotte got a bit scared by those two and also we were not that amused.

Chengdu

Day 17 – Chengdu Panda Center

Today we did one of the highlights of our China tour, a visit to the Panda Center in Chengdu to see some Giant Pandas in the flesh. First we wanted to go there by ourselves with a taxi or bus, but a German couple we met said that it was quite small and two hours for the center was more than enough, so we decided to follow their advice and book the tour with the hostel.

This meant getting up early, as the car left at 7:50 am sharp to ensure we were early enough in the center to see the pandas active. Because they are smart animals, after breakfast they go to sleep and you won’t see them a lot anymore. The early rise was though not so great for Charlotte, who was still sleepy and did not eat a good breakfast, something that would come back on us later.

After a short 40min drive we arrived at the panda center and walked straight in to search for those cute animals. And yes, we saw several nice pandas which were eating, walking around or just hanging in a tree. Almost even more cute than the giant pandas were the red ones, they are very small and climb up in the trees, one walked just right pass us.

And then it came, Charlotte was tired, hungry and had a very bad temper. In search of the restaurant we skipped part of the park only to find out it was not open yet. So let us tell you, perhaps it is not the healthiest of breakfasts, but the ice cream was definitely a life saver at that moment 🙂

For every one out there who think 2-3 hours is enough for the panda park, that may be the case without children, but next time we would definitely go on our own and ensure we do not have a hard deadline for the ride back.

Back in the hostel we made use of the DVD room and had some time as Charlotte watched Pocahontas and got slowly a better mood 🙂 After everybody was well rested we took the bus line 1 to the WenShu monastery where we were just in time to take a short look and then had diner in the monastery’s own vegetarian restaurant. This was very nice, a veggie hotpot and even Charlotte was amazed what kinds of vegetables she could cook herself.

 

Chengdu

Day 16 – Arrival in Chengdu

After a good night sleep in the train we woke up around 7:30 by the baby who was awake. Breakfast was made on the fly with toast bread and marmalade, as well as some apple slices. Always good to find out that one does not need that much :o)

After we arrived at the station shortly before noon we decided to book the next batch of train tickets ourselves (online booking through an agency would have cost 10$ per ticket, so much more than the price of the tickets we booked.  We had written all the trains, dates and times with the prices down and Manu went into the long queue as Martijn and Charlotte waited outside. After what seemed age she came back, not amused, as we’ve forgotten the passports which you need for each booking. So while she managed the queue, had all the right trains marked in the system and was ready to pay the lady asked for the IDs, and then all was for nothing.

So again, passports out of the bag, and one more time in the queue. This time it went a bit faster and in altogether one hour we booked our 3 trains (Chengdu-Leshan, Lijiang-Dali and Dali-Kunming) and saved with 90$ about the price for our next 3 nights of hostel.

So we headed to the taxi queue, got one right away and went to the Hello Chengdu Hostel, one that was mentioned as very good in both booking.com, tripadvisor and lonelyplanet. If that doesn’t make you full of expectations. Arrived there we checked in and were shown the tripple room. Unfortunately it was small, damp, smelled of fungus and was on the ground floor directly across the small pond, so full of mosquitos. No way we’re gonna stay here.

As Martijn already looked for a more upper class place Manu talked to the staff and we were offered to have a look at a  family room on the 3rd floor. This was definitely better, and we decided to stay here and see how it gets.

Alltogether the room is now ok, but it is very clear that this hostel once was an absolute pearl. Probably when the original owners, Sim and Maki were still there, but in our opinion it lost much of its atmosphere as it seems that no maintenance is done since a new owner took over (late 2010). Even some of the menus and postings still contain the old name, 5 years later.

In the evening we had just a short stroll through the neighborhood and our diner was more of a snack with the local fried chicken/sweet potato/squid booth. For Charlotte we tried the Hamburger&Fries option in the hostel, which was ok.

Then it was time to go to bed early, as for the next day the Panda tour was planned.

Pingyao, Sabbatical

Day 11 – Bike tour around Pingyao

Today we want to do some active time – so last night we asked Lilly to arrange us some bikes and she would get us, if possible, also a child bike for 10 RMB each. So in the morning after breakfast, which was again very good with the fresh dumplings, some guy showed up with two of the oldest bikes we saw in a long time as well as a foldbike for Charlotte. The foldbike was ofcourse much to high so we had to switch to a child seat for the bike of Martijn.

In a typical Chinese way this took a bit back and forth, in the end we had an Ok seat which was modified so that our daughter would fit…. so on the road we went.

Well, that was definitely not the typical tourist scenery road we picked. We wanted to go to the XXX monastery about 7km outside of old town Pingyao and the road there took us through some dirty factory outskirts of town. It was definitely interesting, this was the real China that you normally only see from a train window 🙂

On time we had to carry the bikes across a road work site, but all in all it was nice to be on our own. And we had the opportunity, as we passed the high speed railway station, to get our next train tickets that we ordered for the night train from Kunming to Guilin. After some doubt regarding the local airline the decision was made to have another ride in a night train, something that we all like.

At the temple we were amazed by both the amount of and the situation in which the many Buddha statues were. But hey, lets put some incense on for them, Charlotte also really likes those sticks. So we bought them with the guy who introduced himself as “bike-watcher” and charged us 4Rmb for parking our bikes. One thing we did forget though, a lighter to get that incense burning… so anyone nearby, there are quite some sticks in the temple waiting to be “enlightened”. Further on in the temple we discovered that art students were making copies of the statues, some of them really impressive.

After viewing the temple we tried out the local restaurant and had also the here famous Pingyao beef dish, which is basically cold beef sliced with some herbs, nice enough, but nothing to have twice 🙂

On the way back we used more of the main street and arrived safely at the hostel, proud on our 16km biking tour in the traffic of Pingyao, China. In the evening we used the bikes again to have another diner at the food market and slept like babies afterward.

 

Pingyao, Sabbatical

Day 9 – Trainride to Pingyao

As somehow our back packs were getting bigger and heavier (or at least it felt that way) we took a taxi to the train station and that was a good idea. During a nice ride we could enjoy the Tianamen Square and the entrance to the forbidden city one last time and were amazingly fast at the train station, of course way to early.

After going through security check (they’re here everywhere) we found our waiting room and the  whole high speed train thing in China is really more like checking for a flight that the train rides we know.

Packed like mules we enjoyed some of the interesting things in the train station:

Packed for the trip

Interesting fruit to buy

Now this is interesting

The train ride went very well and we found out that we definitely need to take some food, as Charlotte kept asking about the (very expensive) food there was in the train 🙂

Arrived in Pingyao we were picked up by the hostel and were amazed by the beautiful place we landed in. The host Lilly was very attentive and we quickly felt at home in here hostel, where we  then had a nice diner and after that a little tour of the streets before we laid down in old Pingyao for the first night.