More Beijing exploration

After we got back from the Big Wall, we continued our exploration of Beijing. So much to see, so little time...

The next day, we woke up to a totally different Beijing compared to the previous days. The famous pollution had reached peak levels, with the famous smog rolling in. Pretty scary actually, not something I could imagine living with all year around... Anyway, we decided to brave the warnings and head out to explore town anyway.

We started with another one of the main sights of Beijing, the Summer Palace. It's quite a long metro ride to get out there, as the place is 9km outside of town. The palace complex, which is actually the largest and most well-preserved Royal Park in China, dates back to 1750, when it was constructed as a place for the Emperor and his family to enjoy and entertain guests. Empress Dowager Cixi actually embezzled navy resources to make the place as splendid as it is today.

It's a huge place, and to really see it  all in one day is a pretty challenging task. We did manage to see most of the highlights. We probably preferred the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which sits on one of the highest spots in the Summer Palace. The views from there towards the Royal park are pretty amazing - even if the smog did admittedly ruin the view a little bit.

We were also treated to the spectacle of some Chinese theatre at the Grand Theatre, which is located in the poetically named Garden of Virtue and Harmony (most famous historic places in Chinese palaces seem to have grandiose names like that).

All in all, I was a little bit disappointed by the Summer Palace, actually. I mean it's an impressive place, for sure, but I just didn't enjoy the visit as much as say the Forbidden City. I'm sure the tourist masses had something to do with it (but then again, they were at the Forbidden City too...), and even more so, the pollution. Perhaps the best time to visit the place is during summer, when the pollution is less oppressive... Still, the Summer Palace is obviously worth a visit, no question about that!

We then made our way to the town centre, where we decided to check out one of those famous Hutongs we'd read so much about. Hutongs are basically small historic alleyways, lined up with historic stone house complex, with inner courtyards. As we quickly discovered, they are basically the heart and soul of Beijing, just great areas to have a walk around. They are becoming rarer and rarer, sadly, as Beijing continues to raze them in its mad rush for modernization.

Thankfully, they are becoming very popular with tourists, with trendy cafes, restaurants and bars lining up the alleys, which I suppose gives some intensive to preserve them. If you ask me, the Hutongs of Beijing are just as much a most-see "attraction" as the Forbidden City or the Summer Palace!

For dinner, we decided to try out the Beijing Branch of my favourite steamed bum dumpling restaurant chain, Din Tai Fung, located (as they often are), in a fancy modern shopping mall, not to far from our youth hostel. As always, the dumplings were nothing short of amazing - I tried truffle-flavoured as well as chocolate dumplings this time around. Yummie!

The next day, we checked out the third absolutely must-see Beijing attraction - the modestly named Temple of Heaven. This Imperial temple dates back to the Ming Dynasty, or 15th century - it was mainly used by the Emperor to pray for good harvests. It's actually not a temple in the ordinary sense in that normal people do not come here to pray.

The temple is surrounded by a huge park, which was actually a very fascinating place to observe Chinese people in leisure mode. There were people doing jogging there, people doing sports, people playing go, people playing cards, people doing Tai Chi, choirs singing communist hymns, people walking their dogs. So we actually spent a good hour just walking around, watching people going about their routines. Fascinating!

The temple itself was, as expected, overrun by tourists - and for good reason! I definitely enjoyed the Temple of Heaven more than the Summer Palace - I found the architecture more impressive here. The highlight of the temple complex is definitely the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - this is where the emperor came to pray. This 36-meter high circular, tower-like building must be one of the most magnificent wooden buildings in the world.

Almost equally beautiful was the Imperial Vault of Heaven, also circular, and just perfect. There is plenty of more to write about the Temple of Heaven, its buildings, and just the important the complex used to have in Imperial China, but I shan't bore you with the details - please read wikipedia or something if you want to know more ;-).

Anyway, I would say that if there is one place you need to visit in Beijing, I would say it's the temple of heaven (even more so than the Forbidden City) - I just loved the place. In spite of the touristy hoards and the pollution that was still very much there, ruining my photos...!

Isabelle absolutely insisted on doing a bit of souvenir shopping, so we decided to check out a proper Chinese antiquities market. We decided to go to the big daddy of Beijing antiquities markets - Panjiayuan. What a massive place it is - and actually I found the whole experience rather fascinating (that's saying a lot from a guy who dislikes shopping as much as I do!). I mean, there is so much beautiful stuff on display here! We also ate duck head soup here - now that's something that doesn't happen to me very often! I even gave in and bought a couple of souvenirs myself there...

This was actually Isabelle's last night in Beijing, so we decided to have a rather fancy meal at a nice boutique hotel located in the same Hutong as our hotel (anyway, I felt like a proper meal, after that Duck Head soup - there just ain't that much meat on the duck heads to dig into!). Anyway, excellent meal, and a nice way to end our common journey together.

So, one more day for me to explore Beijing solo, before it was time for me to head back as well (argh, was already starting to get a bit fidgety about going back to the office after 4 months off work!)

I started off with a visit to the Yonghe Temple (aka. the Lama Temple), which is biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing. And an impressive one it is. What's nice about this one is the fact that it's also a temple mainly for real worshippers, rather like camera-wielding tourists like myself. The main place to check out here (apart from the peaceful Tibetan atmosphere) is the 26 meter Buddha statue sculpted from a single piece of sandalwood (now that's what I call an impressive piece of engineering!). It was a gift from the 7th Dalai Lama to the Qinglong emperor, and took no less than three years to transport from Tibet! It was also quite interesting to read all the official party jargon about how the temple promotes unity and harmony for Tibet as a part of China...

There's an interesting Confucian Temple  near the Lama Temple, that I decided to check out as well. As other Confucian temples I've been to, it's a rather austere place, not a place of worship in the traditional sense. The main thing to see here is the huge collection of stone steles here, upon which the 13 Confucian classics have been engraved. Wow, that's impressive, I guess, to the initiated... What was more fascinating was the beautiful Confucian University, located just next to the temple, with its beautiful gardens and ponds.

I spent the rest of the afternoon Hutong-hopping, just enjoying the local life and atmosphere in those atmospheric back alleys. Yep, I would say the Hutongs are definitely the part of Beijing I prefer. I even came across the oldest microbrewery in Beijing (interestingly, operated by an American). The cherry on the cake for my Hutong tour.

I ended up my Hutong walk by checking out the famous Bell and Drum towers. As mentioned before, all major Chinese cities seem to have their Drum and Bell towers, usually pretty impressive historic buildings. The Drum towers are usually located at the symbolic centre of a city. They were originally used for musical purposes, and later on to keep track of and announce the time. IN Beijing, they stand facing each other along the Northern end of the central axis cutting through Beijing (the Forbidden City is directly to the South of the towers).

I decided to finish my visit of Beijing with a big bang - so I went to check out the Legend of Kung Fu show. It tells the somewhat tacky tale of a young and innocent boy who goes to a monastery to learn about Kung Fu, but alas, he's led astray by a beautiful girl, only to refind his way and become a master of Kung Fu. So, like I said, the storyline is tacky (told in a badly dubbed English voice over), but boy is that Kung Fu impressive. Most of the show consists of beautifully choreographed spectacular sequences that are a bit like a mixture between martial arts and dancing. Pretty impressive!

That, alas, brought an end to my Chinese adventure, and my 4-month Asian adventure as well. China was certainly a fascinating place to visit. There is so much history, nature and culture to visit. I think China gets a lot of bad press - for sure some of it is deserved, but I think if people actually travelled around China a bit, they might also discover another side of the coin...

Beijing, and one Big Wall

The final stop on our trip in China was Beijing - a place I've been looking forward to visit for a long time. We'd booked yet another youth hostel in a Hutong (Hutongs are traditional Beijing alleys, which are lined with historic courtyard homes). We arrived pretty late at night, so we just had a burger in the cozy bar/restaurant, before hitting the sack.

The next day, we started our exploration by heading off to one of THE emblematic places in Beijing, Tiananmen Square. The square is named after the "Gate of heavenly peace", located to the north of the square, separating the square from the Forbidden City. It's a pretty impressive place, the soldiers touring the square kind of reminds one of the sad events of 1989.

Most of the people around the square were tourists, though, this time around. Of course, we planned to visit the Forbidden city, but we stated off by checking out Mao's Mausoleum, which is located opposite to the Forbidden City. It's a special place, in a kind of morbid way, as Mao's mummified body is actually on display. One does, again, feel a kind of resonance of history.

The next stop was the Forbidden City, which needs no introduction, I suppose. This was the Imperial palace from the Ming dynasty until the end of the Qing dynasty, which ended the Imperial Era (so from 1420 to 1912). The name comes form the fact that nobody was allowed to enter the palace without the Emperor's permission.



It's a huge place, and also the most visited museum in the world (with nearly 15 million visitors per year). The Forbidded City measures 961 meters by 753 meters, and has no less than 980 buildings and 8886 rooms - pretty impressive numbers. Of course, not all of it is open to visitors, but there is still more than enough to keep one busy even for a full day.

We spent about 3 hours there in total, gaping at all the impressive treasures. The place kind of reminded me of the imperial palace we visited in Seoul, except that the Forbidden City is obviously much more impressive in all respects. I won't bore you with the details of all there is to say - what I can say is that you obviously need to visit this place if you ever make your way to Beijing. In spite of the inevitable hordes of tourists.

The Forbidden City ticket off the bucket list, we headed off to the nearby Jingshan park, or Prospect Hill. It's a pretty nice little park, and made for a nice change, as there are significantly less tourists here than in the Forbidden City. And the views from the top of the hill over the Forbidden City are rather magnificent.

The next day, since the weather forecast was rather good, we decided to head off to check out THE other place one really has to visit when coming to Beijing, the Great Wall of China. We decided to visit a section that's a bit harder to access than the place most tourists go to (Badaling), at Mutianyu. As it's a bit further away, getting there was a bit of an expedition, which took about 3 hours in total.

We then had to buy an entrance ticket, then a shuttle bus ticket, and then there is the optional cable car ticket. We decided, rather, to walk up, as it only takes about 30 minutes or so. Now, as we approached the top of the wall, I was kind of worried I would be disappointed - after all, one has heard so much about this place, so there is always the risk that expectations are not met.

I needn't have worried, the Great Wall really deserves its name - the sight of the mighty wall snaking its way up and down the surrounding mountains really takes ones breath away. The Great Wall here at Mutianyu is (apparently) particularly interesting, since the watchtowers are particularly densely spaced here. The views are also quite simply spectacular. And what's important too is the fact that the place is not overrun by tourists.

We spent about 4 hours on the wall, walking back as far as we could towards the Western end, and then doubling back, walking past as far as the Eastern-most cable car stop. I also had one of the most expensive beers ever on the wall (the Golden Rule in China - always agree on the price before buying ANYTHING). As the sun was starting to set, we decided to walk down and catch the bus back to Beijing.

So all in all, a fantastic day out. The Great Wall of China definitely deserves its place among the wonders of the world!

Guilin and Yangshuo

From a rather chilly Xi'an, we headed down to the South of China, go Guilin. After Shanghai & Xi'an, both big cities even by Chinese standards (but it like this, both have a far bigger population than all of Finland...), we felt the need to explore the Chinese countryside a bit (especially after the wonderful few days we spent in Huanshan).

So, as implied above, the main reasons to visit the reason are natural, rather than man-made wonders. We checked into our youth hostel, a nice enough place, with the predictably slow WIFI being the main drawback.

After a good night's sleep, we decided to head off and explore the famous Longsheng rice terraces. It turned out to be a bit of an expidition - we first had to take a city bus to the bus station, then take a bus out to a small town, and get on a minibus from there. Amazingly, in spite of the fact that we didn't encounter a single person who spoke any English, we made it to Longsheng without too much hassle of delay (it did take us about 3 hours, though).

A brisk walk took us to the village at the bottom of the rice terraces, from where there is a cable car service up to the top. We had a slight disagreement on how to get up - I wanted to hike, whereas Isabelle fancied a ride in the cable car. Eventually we came to a compromise, we decided to take the cable car up, and walk down. A good idea, as it turned out, as the too means of transport offers different perspectives of this magical landscape.

So, as I mentioned, the landscapes are truly amazing, especially from the top. So functional, and necessary to grow rice in this challenging environment, yet so beautiful at the same time. The area up at the top is a bit touristy, with restaurants, tourist shops, and the like (Isabelle even bought a selfie stick, noooo....!). We were quite thankful for the restaurants, as  we were hungry, so we decided to grab a bite. We decided to have bamboo rice (basically rice, that has been treated with the juice of young bamboo shoots - apparently it gives the rice a boost of vitamin B and a green tea-like taste).

The walk down to the bottom of the valley was wonderful - the landscapes were amazing, of course, but it also gave us a bit of an insight into how the local village people live and work. It seems that they have managed to maintain their way of life, in spite of the no doubt constant presence of tourists.

Actually, it was getting a bit late, and since a mini bus driver was looking for some passengers for Guilin, we decided to go for it. We didn't have the energy to do much in Guilin, we did have a walk around, checking out a couple of impressively lit up pagodas by the Li river, and having one of the most awful burgers (think worse than McDonald's!) ever in a restaurant that was well recommended in our Lonely Planet for some odd reason.

For the next day, we'd decided to join an organized tour to head down the Li river to Yangshuo, where we were spending the next couple of days, before heading up to Beijing. The Chinese organized tour experience was quite interesting. We (together with 4 Americans who were as clueless as us) managed to figure out the rough plan - we were to ride the bus for about an hour, then take some river boats down to Xingping, where we were supposed to find a bus, which would take us to Yangshuo (we were supposed to find the bus using a rather dodgy hand-drawn map, which we were allowed to take a photo of).

Then, the lady went on to speak non-stop (and I mean that literally, we were starting to suspect she was a robot or something since she didn't even seem to stop to catch her breath) for about 1 hour, no doubt explaining what we were supposed to see during the river cruise. She summarized it all in 5 minutes in English (rather efficient!).

Anyway, enough sarcasm - the river cruise was actually wonderful. We rode down the Li river on some traditional bamboo rafts (or rather, modern boats made to look like traditional bamboo rafts), and the views were just amazing. The images have been justly made famous by numerous Chinese artists and photographers (sugar cane shaped hills, lined up along the river).

We stopped by at a place where they sold touristy trinkets - you could also pay to pretend to be a Cormorant fisherman. Cormorant fishing is a traditional form of fishing in this part of China, where the fisherman basically has a pole on his shoulders, with a cormorant at each end, tied with a rope to its leg. The birds then does the fishing, basically. Isabelle, pictures besides this text, had a go... (OK, I'm lying, the pretending to be a fisherman means only posing for photos ;-) ).

We then carried on to Xingping, a nice-seeming traditional town, one which we didn't have time to visit, unfortunately, as we were desperately trying to locate the elusive bus that was supposed to take us to Yangshuo. Thanks to one of our American friends, who actually spoke a bit of Mandarin, we made it in time. (well, we didn't actually, but the bus was even more late than us).

Yangshuo was apparently a bit of a backpackers' haunt, about 20 years ago. Those days are long gone - mass tourism has taken over, to doubt about it. Still, it's a pleasant enough town, and the Youth Hostel we were staying at was an absolute gem. Located just outside of the town (but still a comfortable 10 minute walk from the town centre), we had lovely views from our rooms towards the surrounding countryside (as well as a nice terrace and even a swimming pool).

The thing to do in Yangshuo is to take out a bike and explore the countryside. Isabelle was more for renting an electric scooter, but I managed to talk her into a bike ride ;). So off we went, into the rugged countryside - the plan was to head off Liugong, a nice little village. It was a wonderful bike ride, taking us through some truly sublime landscapes. We passed through quite a few small hamlets (some of which were on our map, some which weren't - finding our way was a bit of a challenge actually).

Amazingly enough, we ran into the American couple we'd met on the organized tour on our way to Liugong, so we decided to team up, as they were heading to the same place. And we did amazingly find the place, and even a nice restaurant where we had lunch. It was quite a nice little village, a bit rugged, but not a tourist in sight. After lunch, we walked around in the village for a bit, and then headed back to Yangshuo.

In the evening, I decided to check out the famous West Street - which used to be the backpackers haunt in town. These days, it's an INSANELY busy tourist trap, full of bars, shops and restaurants. The street was just ridiculously busy - think Oxford street the weekend before Christmas. Well, I suppose that counts as an experience as well - but I rather preferred the calm countryside during our bike ride...

The next day, we were weighing up various options, but decided to do another bike ride in the end. The plan was to check out a traditional Chinese market at a small town called Baishapu. Again, the bike ride was fantastic, taking us along the river, with wonderful scenery (and more of those sugar cane hills).

We ran into some kind of old communist crazy tourist guide, who was dressed up as a soldier, who seemed to be really keen to take us on a guided tour. We gracefully turned him down, and he equally gracefully agreed to pose for a picture with Isabelle.

The market we ended up in was very traditional indeed - again, not a tourist in sight. Pretty much everything edible (and non-edible) imaginable was on sale - including dog meat (which is a local speciality, apparently!). I decided to have a haircut at the local barber shop, always a cool experience. Unfortunately I forgot to bargain the price beforehand, so no doubt I paid about ten times the price locals pay (which still makes it about 3 times cheaper than in Europe).

We had a wonderful lunch at one of the food stalls (for the more than reasonable price of about 1 Euro). Yummie.

The ride back was great too, with more fantastic landscapes, with some gorgeus riverside views. Looks like we'd hit a more popular section of the river, as there were quite a few tourists, cycling like us, checking out the views. Unsurprisingly, we got lost (too busy enjoying the views to follow the road signs, I suppose), but managed to find our way back "home" thanks to some helpful locals.

For the evening , we decided to check out the famous Impressions Sanjie Liu show, directed by the great Zhang Yimou (known to the wide public for having orchestrated the Beijing Olympic games opening ceremony, also a great film director whose films I rather enjoy). The show, based on the legend of Liu Shanjie, is a rather over-the-top affair, but undeniably impressive.

It takes place on the Li River at night (some of the nearby hills are lit up for added effect), the spectacle itself is a mixture of light effects, singing and dancing. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many extras in one show, either... Anyway, it's a spectacle worth seeing, but only once.

The next day, 'twas time for us to head off to Beijing. It felt a bit wistful to leave this beautiful region with its lovely countryside, but then again, I was very keen to explore the treasures of Beijing!

A Terracotta Army, some Big City Walls, and other cool stuff at Xi'an

Our next destination was Xi'an, one of the ancient capitals of China. This time we decided to try the night train - and it was actually a pretty cool experience. We shared cabin with a very interesting Chinese chap, an astronomer who'd lived in the US and Europe. We had quite interesting conversations about China and democracy, and Trump. Basically his message was - please stick to your democracies, even if they ain't perfect, they're the best we've got... (hmm, I think Churchill might've said that, actually...)

We arrived in Xi'an, and immediately got our first whiff of the sadly famous Chinese pollution. Can't quite imagine what it must be to live with that grey haze all year around... The Chinese do seem to be taking action to reduce pollution - one interesting thing that sort of stands out is the fact that all scooters and motor cycles in China appear to be electric... Good for the environment, well, except I suppose they use coal to generate the electricity mainly. Oh well...

Anyway, me and Isabelle settled into our rooms in yet another lovely youth hostel. And again, dirt cheap (one piece of advice - if you are in China, don't use the tourist hotels, the youth hostels are far more charming and great value for money, too...). Nick was actually staying at another hotel on the other side of the town centre. Me and Isabelle foolishly decided to go to his hotel on foot - looked so close on the map. 2 hours later, we arrived... (poor Nick had a bit of a wait...). But it was quite an adventure, that took us through the old Islamic quarter (Xi'an was actually one end of the silk route, so it used to be quite an cosmopolitan place - and Islam was introduced in China via the silk route).

I really loved the Islamic quarter - it's a rather strange mixture of your average Chinese street market and an Arabic Medina. A very fascinating place, full of exotic scents, food and characters. Once Nick joined us, we spent a bit of time walking around. We found a pretty cool little merchant's house that was open for visitors - we even participated in a play of shadow puppetry. A pretty cool experience.

Me and Nick also decided to check out the great mosque. It was quite an interesting place too - actually the place really resembled any old Chinese temple, there were very fews hints as to the fact that the place was a mosque. We did find a Moorish style portal with some arabic writing.

The next day, it was time to check out THE tourist attraction of Xi'an. You guessed it, we were off to see the Terracotta Army - something I've been looking forward to doing for years and years. We embarked on a guided tour, with a really excellent guide who spoke English with an impressive set of accents (Australian, Texan, Irish, to name a few!).

The Terracotta Army is a collection of lifesize terracotta statues, representing the army of Qin Shi Huang (who was actually the first emperor of a united China, and the founder of the Han Dynasty). The army was buried in a collection of pits - hence the army was only discovered in 1974 by a local farmer. Estimates put the number of soldiers at an astounding 8000 soldiers, 150 chariots (with 520 horses) and 150 cavalry horses. And EACH soldier has been individually crafted from a human model. Just an absolutely amazing feat... It's for sure one of those few places on the planet that almost literally takes the breath away...

After a lunch in the nearby touristy town (rather tasty...), we headed off to check another famous tomb - that of Emperor Jingdi's. The place is in a way similar to the Terracotta Warrior site, and at the same time completely different. The idea is the same - the tomb contains a number of tombs with buried collections of terractotta statues. But this guy was obviously more peaceful than his ancestor Qin Shi Huang (indeed that is the case - he was one of the first emperors to really embrace Confucianism) - as the statues are of farmers, farm animals and so forth, rather than soldiers (well, there were some soldiers too). It's all a lot more small-scale too, but the place was just as interesting (if not as impressive) as the Terracotta Warriors site in its own way.

Me and Nick had a walk around Xi'an by night, checking out the lit-up city walls (dating back to the Ming Era - like those in Nanjing) as well as the famous Bell and Clock Towers (seems that all major Chinese towns have - or used to have - a Bell Tower and a Clock Tower). Pretty impressive, all in all.

The plan for the night was to check out the Big Goose Pagoda Light show. The Big Goose pagoda is one of the oldest historic buildings standing in Xi'an, dating back to the 7th century. Unfortunately it was too late to visit it, so we had to contend with a very impressive light show. Those Chinese sure know how to put up a big show, eh ? This was unfortunately Nick's last night in China, so we 'twas time for us to say our goodbyes to our trusty travelling companion.

We started the next day, our last day in Xi'an, by checking out the famous city walls. The current walls date back the 14th century, but they have been reinforced several times since. They have also been beautifully restored. Unlike the City walls at Nanjing, the Xi'an ones are open to the public. As they are a full 14km long, the way to explore the city walls is to cycle around them, which is exactly what we did.

It was all great fun - the pollution-originated mist gave the whole experience a bit of a spooky atmosphere. The views from the city walls are pretty good too, gives you a great birds-eye view of the busy street markets, people doing Tai Chi and so forth. There were also great signposts for giving you the low-down on all monuments in view (and a lot of monuments that no longer exist as well). So, anyway, if you do come to Xi'an, dear reader, you must check out the Xi'an city walls, I really recommend it.

To wrap up the day, we decided to visit the Shaanxi History Museum. Like the Nanjing History museum, it's free to those holding ID, which is great. It's also a great museum, covering a big part of Chinese history, but ending before the start of the Ming dynasty. Which is actually kind of convenient, since that's about the point in history where Nanjing's history museum picks up!

And then, alas, it was time for us to leave Xi'an and head off to the south of China, to Guilin. Xi'an was definitely a fantastic place to visit, with its historic heritage (hard to think of many places on the planet that can match it, in fact), a pity about the pollution....