Travel China and Beyond

Here is a great newsarticle in the Beijing media — “Beijing to appologize for erroneous weather forecasts…”

Last year I saw an “interesting” article in the  China Daily -  at the time one of the government departments had stated that they are forecasting a “perfect” weather for the opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  Many of us (residents in Beijing) were surprised at the forecast — how could you make such a long range prediction…but then many things surprise us in China every so often, so what’s new, right

Well, this week the Beijing weather bureau appologized to the public for providing incorrect forecast for a couple of days — they missed the temperature forecast by 6 degrees C or so… In the big scheme of things this does not surprise me — after all weather forecast is not an easy science, but I wonder who and how will not predict the weather forecast for August 8th, 2008 — Olympics Opening Day….

Day Trips from Beijing - Visiting Chengde, an ancient imperial resort North of Beijing

So the weekend comes and you are feeling adventurous and with strong urge to challenge the roads North of Beijing This is where you decide to take a road trip of roughly 150 miles from Beijing. The destination is Chengde — an old imperial resort North of Beijing. Yes, this is definitely an adventure. Here is a summary of the trip and some photos for you.

Chengde is best known as the summer resort for the Qing dynasty emperors. For those of you who would really like to get a deep understanding of the Qing dynasty, here is a very comprehensive study of that period: New Qing Imperial History: The Making of the Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde

Probably the main attraction there is the Mountain Park / Resort, which includes a vast area of gardens, lakes, pagoda, and palaces. The whole place, of course is surrounded by a wall. Outside of the imperial park are several temples (the 8 Outer Temples) — all built as replicas or in the style of famous sites around China. Probably the most famous one is the Pǔtuó Zōngchéng (in Chinese: 普陀宗乘) - essentially a temple built to resemble the Potala Palace in Lhasa / Tibet. Here are some photos from the Putuo Zongcheng — first several from 1987/88 (Yes, I was in China then as my first stay there (as a student)) and then a few from last several months (2006/07) — more pictures will show up in the photo album section soon enough:

  
Getting to Chengde and going home, though is at least half the fun. Heading out towards that city you will take the “famous” JingShun Road (it could be really congested and slow), you will go through Huairou,

and eventually you can get on the JingCheng (Beijing - Chengde) Expressway or you could continue on the back country roads (interesting but quite challenging from traffic point of view). On your way to Chengde you could also spend time at the Simatai section of the Great Wall. If you do that though you may want to plan to spend the night either near Simatai or in Chengde and make it a two day trip.

Visiting the Lama Temple - YongHeGong - in Beijing

Temples in China have many different origins…The Lama temple in Beijing is (per the Chinese historians) the biggest Buddhist Temple in Beijing.  It was built in 1694 as a residence for the Qing Dynasty prince Yong.  Then in 1725 it was made into a palace with the name Yong He Gong (apparently the name is supposed to mean Harmony and Peace Yong He, palace Gong).  Then in 1744 the palace was changed into a Lamasery.

The construction of the place carries the characteristics of multiple cultures - Han, Manchu, Tibetan.  There are many Buddhist statues in the various halls of the place.  With the three most famous ones being:

• Niche of Buddha - carved from NanMu (one of the precious hard woods of China)
• Five Hundred Arhat Mountain - carved from red sandalwood
• Big Buddha Maitreya - 18 meters high statues. its main part carved from one single piece of white sandalwood

Here are some images from the Temple so you can decide for yourself if you would like to visit.  More images will be posted in the blog Photo Album web page.  Enjoy!
          

Visiting the Lama Temple - YongHeGong - in Beijing

Temples in China have many different origins…The Lama temple in Beijing is (per the Chinese historians) the biggest Buddhist Temple in Beijing. It was built in 1694 as a residence for the Qing Dynasty prince Yong. Then in 1725 it was made into a palace with the name Yong He Gong (apparently the name is supposed to mean Harmony and Peace Yong He, palace Gong). Then in 1744 the palace was changed into a Lamasery.

The construction of the place carries the characteristics of multiple cultures - Han, Manchu, Tibetan. There are many Buddhist statues in the various halls of the place. With the three most famous ones being:

• Niche of Buddha - carved from NanMu (one of the precious hard woods of China)
• Five Hundred Arhat Mountain - carved from red sandalwood
• Big Buddha Maitreya - 18 meters high statues. its main part carved from one single piece of white sandalwood

Here are some images from the Temple so you can decide for yourself if you would like to visit. More images will be posted in the blog Photo Album web page. Enjoy!

The Red Snail Temple (Hongluo Si) - an interesting place to visit in the vicinity of Beijing

If you are looking for a way to experience somewhat of a different side of Beijing, you need to head out in the countryside outside of the city. Earlier last year I posted an article about touring the Beijing area - mountains and villages within driving distance. Today I will point you in the direction of one of the temples outside of the city — the Red Snail Temple located North-East of Huairou (north-east of Beijing).

The temple is one of the most attractive and (possibly) largest temples in Beijing and vicinity. It includes a significant area set in the mountain immediately behind the main temple grounds. Thus you could spend almost a whole day hiking the slopes of the mountains and enjoying the views of the plains towards Beijing (in case you are lucky to have clear weather on the day you visit). According to historians, the temple was built in 4th century A.D. Later in the 14th century it was named as “temple guarding the country” as it had relatively commanding position in the mountains… Then the legend states that red snails were found in the pools of water in the temple and the new name was given — Hongluo Si (Red Snail Temple).

No matter what the legends are, the temple is a beautiful place to visit, especially in the early spring when trees begin to blossom. Here later in the year, you can also see plenty of ginko trees. Here are some photos from the temple grounds and a view from the mountain above the temple.

If you need directions for getting there, essentially you need to head out on JingShun Road towards Shunyi. Then follow the signs for Huairou and once in that town look for sign for HongLuo Si. Drop me a line via the comment option on this blog or email me if you need more information. Here is also a map you can pick up Beijing Travel Map: China Regional Maps 2005/2006 Edition (Periplus Travel Maps)

Chengdu Visit - Wenshu Temple

One of the more interesting and beautiful sites to see and experience in Chengdu is Wenshu Temple — located in the Northern part of the city - at No. 15 Wenshu Yuan Lu. The temple is usually relatively busy with worshippers but overall there are few tourists. According to the signs at the location, the temple was initially built during the Tang dynasty, but the currect structures are from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Here is some good reading on the Qing Dynasty - China’s Cultural Heritage: The Qing Dynasty, 1644-1912.
The grounds of the temple are beautiful - after all this is apparently one of the best preserved Buddhist temples in China.  Here are some images from the temple (check back on this blog - I will post an album):
 
One of the notable aspects of the temple is the presence of 300 Buddhas, with one of them being a jade one brought by a monk from Burma in 1922.

While you are the temple you could also enjoy a nice lunch in the famous vegetarian restaurant (yes, this is a Buddhist temple after all) in one of the temple courtyards.   You can spend a whole day if you so desire.  There are many things to see and you can also just relax in the nice gardens.

Travel to Chengdu - Wen Shu Temple, Panda Research Base

Several postings ago I wrote a short article about travel to JiuZhaiGou (in Sichuan province). Today I will continue with a posting on another significantly more well known place in Sichuan province — the city of Chengdu. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province. While 900 km away JiuZhaiGou offers stunning views of nature, high, snow-covered peaks, rugged terrain, waterfalls and lakes, Chengdu offers interesting sites like:

• The Panda Research Base
• Wen Shu Temple
• People’s Park
• Shunxing Old Teahouse - a place where you could enjoy a few cups of tea while watching Sichuan Opera (here is an interesting CD with music from Sichuan opera An Introduction to the Chinese Opera, Vol. 1: Kun Opera; Sichuan Opera)

Getting to Chengdu is probably best by airplane. The airport is approximately 40 minute ride from downtown. In terms of cost - it should be about RMB70.

In terms of staying, I recommend the excellent Chengdu Lidu Sheraton hotel — located very centrally in the city. If you are looking for ways to see as much as possible of day-to-day life in the city, right behind the hotel you would find a booming vegetable, fruit, and meat market. While I would not venture to buy meat here, the fruit and vegetables are excellent.

Here are some interesting photos from our recent visit to Chengdu:

traditional baby basket Sunday in Renmin (People’s) Park

The images above should give you some idea about the beautiful architecture of Chengdu. In my next postings in the next few days I will provide more details and images from the Wen Shu Temple, and the Panda Research Base. Here is a book that provides a historic backdrop to today’s Chengdu Street Culture in Chengdu: Public Space, Urban Commoners, and Local Politics, 1870-1930

Happy Travels!

China Quickly Coming to Virtual Reality World - “Second Life” with China Twist

Have you checked out “Second Life” - the virtual community developed by Linden Labs in the US? If you have not you can read first about it on the Business Week web site

This virtual community web site has gathered tons of netizens who are leading an active literally “second life” on the web.  Now China has its own answer to the virtual world experience — the creators of the Chinese version are Hipihi.com

Despite the interesting Businessweek.com article on Linden Labs, I am not sure how successful has Second Life really been.  I keep hearing about it in multiple references but at the end of the day, I believe the US consumer is less likely to embrace the concept wholesale.  Now, the Chinese consumer is a different story.  China has long had the success of multiplayer on-line video games.  If you go by a Chinese on-line cafe you will see hundreds of teenagers and 20 something year olds spending hours in on-line virtual game worlds. I have talked with many Chinese parents who are REALLY concerned about the health of their kids who are fully absorbed by on-line video games.

Then in early 2006 some of the Chinese on-line video game companies like Shanda and Netease, decided to make many of their games “Free to play”.  What that means is that you can actually play the games without any hourly or monthly fee.  However you use virtual cash for buying accessories, tools, clothing, etc. for your game characters…Also in order to win higher and higher levels you most likely need to spend cash to acquire tools, strength, powers… That cash comes via prepaid cash cards, smart cards, etc.  So it is linked to real money.

Given that well established trend, I can see how Hipihi.com could be very successful in China.  This new virtual world could become even more successful than on-line video games as it offers (based on quick scan through the beta version of the site) all sort of experiences….i.e. a whole lot more variety and challenges than a video game….

So, lets see what happens.  In the mean time enjoy the real world…Or is it

Renting a Car in China

Recently I was asked “How do you rent a car in China…?”

Well the answer is — This is not that difficult of a problem…There are several scenarios:

Are you visiting China?

or

do you reside in China?

If you are visiting China for a short period and staying in a hotel, the staff there can help you. Many of the international hotels have even cars of their own that you could rent by the hour or by the day (with a driver). If not the hotel consierge could assist you with some of the local rental companies. In the big cities you could rent from Hertz…

If you are residing in China for a longer period of time, there are many local companies that do that. They provide a wide variety of vehicles - sedans, minivans, with or without a driver. If you need pointers for this case, please email me or leave me a comment.

Another option is for you to negotiate with a local taxi cab driver. In Chengdu I have negotiated with a taxi cab driver and rented his vehicle with him as a driver for RMB500 for the day including driving 100km each way to another city.

So there are many options. Keep in mind — in China anything is possible