Street Performer off WangFuJing

Just recently I was scanning through the videos we had taken during various times in Beijing and came across an interesting one (not great quality unfortunately — the evening we took the video we had just a small pocket digital camera with us which had basic video functions). That evening friends of ours and us went out for dinner in the Pacific Plaza Mall (near the intersection of JianGuo Avenue and WangFuJing) and after dinner decided to take a stroll in the area. We ended up in one of the backstreets (near the night food market) selling the usual small eats and trinkets but we also came upon a stage where amateurs performed various Beijing Opera acts….. So if you are interested in that, this could be an easy area to get to and spend some time checking out the various performers — apparently they are different each evening….Here is a short video of what we saw and heard:
Beijing Opera Performer off WangFuJing in Beijing

Beijing Botanical Gardens and WoFu Temple

In the cold winter days of Beijing it is good to remember the nice sunny weather of the summer — that is when I remembered about our visits to the Beijing Botanical Garden. The Garden is located near the West Hills in a nice wooded part of the city outskirts. It is a nice place to escape in the summer as the garden itself has plenty of greenery, nice walk through fountains and plenty of interesting plants to see. The complete Garden is comprised of:

• The Ornamental Plant Section
• Rose Garden
• Ornamental Peach Garden
• Tree Peony Garden
• Herbaceous Peony Garden
• Lilac Garden
• Crabapple and Cotoneaster Garden
• Magnolia Garden
• Bamboo Garden
• Perennial Garden
• Aquatic Garden
• Mume Flower Garden
• Arboretum
• Acer-Rosa Section + Coniferous Section + Tilia-Populus Section + Magnolia-Berberis Section + some other ones we did not see
• and Glasshouses
• Tropical and Subtropical conservatories
• Here you can find also examples of Chinese Penjing — which includes Tree Penjing (also known in the west as bonsai), Water & Land penjing and Landscape penjing. Essentially all these forms of art are focused on recreating parts of a landscape in a very scaled down format. Some of the trees grown in those landscapes are over 100 years old — quite an accomplishment indeed! I must point out also that the art of penjing also has geographical / regional aspects. I did not quite see all different types but from what I understood from some exhibits, there are essentially Penjing styles in pretty much most provinces of China - e.g. Jiangsu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Beijing, Fujian, Yangzhou, Anhui, Zhonzhou, and EVEN a Taiwan style.
• Another interesting part of the Botanical Garden is the WoFu Temple - also known as the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha.

At any rate, you should plan a visit to the Gardens, and spend a day among beautiful trees as well as surrounded by colorful Chinese Halls in the WoFu temple.

You can see some images from both the Garden and WoFu temple in the Photo Album area of the blog. (Scroll to the area labeled Beijing Botanical Garden and WoFu Temple)

Do you want to go on a Safari in Beijing ? — a Trip to the Beijing Wildlife Park

Just recently someone asked me — “Is there a place to see wild animals in Beijing?” Of course most people’s natural reaction is — “Go to the Beijing Zoo…!”

Well, I have something else for you — you may want to go to a place a bit off the beaten track (for China / Beijing) — the Beijing Wildlife Park (also referred to as the Beijing Safari Park). The park is located on the Badaling Expressway — the same road that you may take to go to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. If you are driving yourself — look for big signs to exit from the highway and follow signs to the place.

My family and friends of ours actually visited the park in the winter — it was a sunny, but cold day (you can see the snow patches on the ground — on the photos below) — but being relatively cold had its advantages — there were hardly any people in the park.

Once you get to the park you will have to stop your car and go and purchase entrance tickets (about RMB70 per adult and 50 for students, kids below 120cm as usual gain free admission). Near the entrance you will also see a sign advertising the purchase of various small animals to “yes, you guessed it” feed the tigers and lions….

The park has a wide array of animals including some very rare White Siberian Tigers (see the photos above).

While in the park you can also have a glimpse of a section of the Great Wall — added bonus :-)

And the final piece of information — you will be glad to know :-) that you can drive your own car through the park — it is quite unnerving to slowly inch your way among several lions or tigers but it is also pretty exciting. We felt relatively safe as we were one of the few people in the park and there were guards / park employees (you can see their jeep in at least one of the photos) near some of the electric gates.

At any rate, if you want to experience the thrill of having a lion, tiger, or a bear within an arm reach, this is the park to visit. Happy travels!

If you doubted that Tour Guide companies lead you to shopping, now you have a proof

In discussions with some visitors to Beijing you would often hear their descriptions and some times complaints about the fact that they were lead to various stores or left for a long time at shopping arcades on visits to museums or historic sites around Beijing. I personally do not think much of tours as options to see the city, but many people do participate.

At any rate, now Sina.com reports that the Beijing Gov’t has not only confirmed (via their recent orders) that being the case, but are also mandating that the tour companies stop the practice. Here is a link to the article: http://english.sina.com/life/1/2007/0424/110414.html

So, now that you know this, isn’t it better if you explore the city on your own :-)

Travel to Fenghua, Zhejiang Province — Off the beaten track

Most visitors to China spend certain amount of time in Zhejiang Province, but that is usually in the city of Hangzhou - a beautiful place famous for both its natural scenery as well as tea plantations. If you want to get to a less travelled location after visiting Hangzhou, you could head to Fenghua located near Ningbo city (south of Hangzhou).
Fenghua is the hometown of Chiang Kai-Shek, a Chinese figure who has influenced China and Taiwan’s history to a large extent (Chiang Kai-Shek fled with Kuomintang troops to Taiwan in 1949)

Fenghua is famous for both natural scenery as well as great fruit, yellow-fin tuna (from the Eastern Sea), tea — yes there are tea plantations in the hills around the city.

The notable sites around Fenghua are Xikou Xuedou Hill (northwest of Ningbo city) together with the ancient town of Xikou (here you can find Chiang Kai-Shek’s house and the tomb of his mother — apparently a tunnel 668 meters long) Xuedou Temple located on Xuedou Hill, is one of the famous Buddhist temples in China. The temple (rebuilt in the late 1980s / early 1990s) has also a Sheng School (associated with Chan Buddhism).
Near by is also the Tingxia lake — a man-made lake on the Shanxi River (south of Xuedou Hill) - which offers some good opportunity for relaxing away from large crowds.

Overall a visit to Fenghua will give you the chance to see some old Chinese towns and architecture and step away from the rapid development in the big cities of China.

Travel to Hangzhou - sites, shopping, places to see

I have travelled to Hangzhou on numerous occasions over the past 19 years. My first trip there was in 1988 (while I was a student in Shanghai). Friends of mine were studying in the Hangzhou Fine Arts Institute. At that time the city was a very nice escape from the overcrowding and smog of Shanghai. Plus you could not miss the beautiful hills and tea growing areas.

Over the years Hangzhou has changed as the rest of China. It has grown and become modernized.

The famous sites remain pretty much the same though:

• The West Lake — with many scenic pagodas and temples as well as the natural beauty of the surrounding hills (I used to love the beer made in Hangzhou with the same name XiHu PiJiu)
• The Buddhist carvings at the Feilai Feng Caves
• Multiple Tea plantations

If you like Tea, Hangzhou is the place to enjoy fresh picked tea — the famous Long Jing (Dragon Well) variety of green tea.

In the early Spring (April timeframe) you can visit some of the small restaurants on the outskirts of Hangzhou in the hills and both have very nice dinner or lunch as well as enjoy some very aromatic tea and also see and smell the freshly picked tea.

At that time of the year you will find tea leaves drying in woven baskets everywhere infront of the houses in the hills.

Shopping related:
Tea - You can also purchase the fresh green tea at a very reasonable prices — read Cheap… :-)

The famous Long Jing teas are:
XiHu Long Jing
Lion Xi Hu Long Jing
Emperor Long Jing / Emperor Lung Ching
Silk Umbrellas
Hangzhou silk and Zhejiang Bamboo
Hangzhou is also famous for silk — the other famous silk city in China is Suzhou.

Shopping street:
Hubin street (near Hyatt)
Qing Hefang Street
XuHu TianDi — a bar and restaurant / tea house street. Does this remind you of the name sake in Shanghai :-) ?
Some Museum sites:

• The China Tea Museum located in Shuangfeng, Longjing Road ,Hangzhou
• China Silk Museum (on bus number 38) - located at the bottom of YuHuang Hill near the West Lake.
• West Lake Museum — a nice place to relax and enjoy the scenery — located near XiHu Tiandi

Other places to visit:
Chenghuang Temple
Leifeng pagoda
Dragon Well Village
Su Causeway
JingCi Temple
Yue Temple

With regards to places to stay, here are some options:

• If you would like to be located at a really nice spot - near the West lake — essentially across the street from the paths around the lake — you should consider the Shangri-La hotel; Rates are around RMB1100
• The Radisson Plaza Hotel — also a nice one. Rates are in the range of RMB1000
• Hangzhou International Holiday Inn — you can get a nice room for about RMB600

In terms of getting to the city, you probably should consider travel via train to Shanghai. The train ride is very comfortable and relatively fast (make sure you get on an express train). Otherwise if you are travelling by plane keep in mind that the airport is a good distance away from town and a taxi ride to the airport will run you around RMB120.

I have heard also about a new service of Air China. If you are traveling via Air China and you need to get from Hangzhou to Pudong Int’l Airport you can use the Free Shuttle. The bus leaves from Hangzhou Tourist Center and goes to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Well, this is a quick summary. Enjoy your trip!

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!

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!