Cap d'Antibes, one more time!

Our good friend Adrian just so happened to be visiting the Cote d'Azur, just before my planned departure date for Japan. Funnily enough, Adrian was one of the first people to pay us a visit here (as he used to live and work here), and he shall also be one of the last to visit... Instead of usual clichee activities blokes tend to do when meeting up, we decided to do something a bit more healthy...

The original plan had been to go mountain biking, but we had to change plans since I actually sold my mountain bike. So we decided to go for a hike instead. And what better place for a leisurely hike than Cap d'Antibes. What's best, we could combine that with a lunch with Mathilde (who couldn't join us for the hike, since she was working). So after a pleasant hike near Cap d'Antibes, we started off.

We were rather busy chitting and chatting, so the 3 hours hike turned out to be more of a 4 hour one, due to a couple of bad turns on my part. (pretending to be the local, and all...). But anyway, Cap d'Antibes was, as always, a fantastic hike. That beautiful coastline, the Med, and the deep blue sky, that's something I sure will miss over in Japan...

Oh, and we did manage to get a beer in before I had my train to catch back to Cagnes-sur-Mer. Anyways, it was great to meet Adrian again!

Moonlight walk at Greolieres-les-Neiges

We have (or rather, had, since I left my employer!) a rather cool tradition at STMicroelectronics, where each winter, we do a moonlight walk at one of the local ski resorts. My ex-colleagues were kind enough to let me join them for  this year's walk, even if I was no longer employed at STM.

We (myself, Lionel, Eric and Alain) started off towards Greolieres-les-Neiges from Sophia-Antipolis, and arrived just before the sun was starting to set (the walk was a bit late in the year this time around, so it got dark later than usual), and we started our ascent. As usual, I had some technical difficulties - this time one of my walking poles was broken. Oh well, it happens every year to me, so I'm getting used to it. As usual, Alain galopped ahead of us, like a mountain goat (not quite sure how he could see anything, since he wasn't even wearing a frontal lamp??).

The snow coverage was a bit sparse, so we had to take off our snow shoes every now and then, when the snow cover got too sparse. We got a pretty decent full moon this time around, like last year, and had some pretty awesome views from the top. We made it all the way up to the of the Cheiron, from where we enjoyed the views, and more importantly, some of Mathilde's grand-dads inimitable Calvados. And then, time to head back down. All in all, a great way to spend a Monday evening, I would say!

Circuit de Castellet

One of the things we missed during our 4 month absence from the Cote d'Azur is for sure the nature. Asia in general, and Japan in particular, can feel rather crowded at times. Hiking in Japan was quite a relevation - on our hike up Mount Tsukuba, we sometimes had the feeling of being stuck in a Parisian traffic jam or something...

So, this sunny weekend, we decided to do a hike. After some deliberation, we decided to do a hike called "Le Circuit de Castellet" near Saint-Jeanette we'd already done a few years back (we've done all the coastal walks available in our hiking books already!). We started off by walking around the village for a bit, trying to find the start of the trail - which in itself was pretty nice, since the French medieval villages is something else I missed in Asia (there is sadly quite little left in terms of historical buildings in Japan). Saint-Jeanette is not one of the most famous ones on the Cote d'Azur, but it's certainly a charming place to stroll about.

We eventually found the footpath, and headed off. The hike took us around the Baou de Saint-Jeanette (rising up to the lofty altitude of 802 meters) - a popular spot for people doing hang-gliding. This hike didn't go to the top, rather we walked around it, ending up at a nice ruined medieval sheepfold, where we stopped for a picnic lunch.

From there, the footpath took us back to the village. All in all, quite a fantastic way to spend a wintery Sunday afternoon.

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!

A couple of busy days in Nanjing

The next stop on our epic journey was Nanjing - yet another minor Chinese city with a humble population of 8.25 million people, Nanjing is one of the centres in China for education & culture (something that's quite obvious, as it seemed that about every second person in town is a student). Nanjing also has a very prominent place in Chinese history, as it was the Chinese capital during several dynasties (in fact, Nanjing means Southern Capital).

So far, our travels in China have been surprisingly trouble-free. We've never really gotten lost (or when we did get lost, we never lost too much time) - so I suppose it was about time for a bit of drama. We really struggled to find our hotel - we must've spent 2 hours walking up and down one of the main drags of Nanjing, trying to find the damn place (we even had the address, shouldn't be difficult right?). At one point, we ended up in some dodgy massage parlour - fearing for a minute that was our hotel. Anyway, we eventually found the place. Not that the place was really worth all the hassle - the hotel was definitely the worst place we'd stayed at so far...

Anyway, after checking in, we decided to hit the road, and decided to head to Fuzimiao, an area located around a Confucian temple. The temple itself is a truly venerable institution, dating back to the 4th century. It was actually a very interesting place to explore - there are paintings describing the life of the old sage. It's also interesting to note that a Confucian temple is more like a learning institution than a place of worship (after all, Confucianism is more a life philosophy than a religion).

Interestingly enough, the area around the temple is actually the nightlife & entertainment district of Nanjing, and boy was it busy tonight! They put up some pretty nice dance/theatre performances (it's worth noting that Nanjing is one of the best places in China to experience Chinese theatre/opera) on the river, it all looked very spectacular, lit up at night time.

The next day, we got up bright 'n early, and headed off to explore Nanjing's historical heritage. We decided to start with a UNESCO-heritage site, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. It's the tomb of the founder of the Ming dynasty, one emperor Hongwu. The place is rather grandiose, no denying it (it took 100,000 labourers to finish the construction of it). But actually there isn't all that much to see there, since the tomb itself is sealed. There are some pretty nice views from the top of the tomb building towards the surrounding woodland & nicely maintained park.

Somewhat disappointed, we carried on towards another famous resting place - the mausoleum of Sun-Yat-Sen (the father of modern China, who died in 1925. The architecture is an interesting mix of historic Chinese and modern styles - and again, the place is rather majestic, located on the slopes of Mount Zijin (the purple mountain). Judging from the hordes of tourists (a phenomenon one gets used to pretty quickly in China), mr. Sun-Yat-Sen is a very well-respected historical figure indeed...

We then made our way to the third major attraction located around Mount Zijin, the Linggu temple. The temple was actually located where the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is located today - since that is where the emperor wanted his tomb, so the temple had to be moved here. It was a pretty interesting place to visit, in particular since there were a lot less tourists than at the other two sites we'd gone to. And the sun also came out from behind the clouds, making the surrounding landscapes look very splendid indeed, in their autumn colours (especially from the top of the Linggu pagoda (which dates back to 1929).

For the evening, we decided to go and see an opera play, Nanjing being one of the cradles of Chinese opera, after all. It wasn't an easy task, as it was hard to find any information on the internet (at least in English) about it. We also had a rather hard time finding the place - on the map it seemed so easy to find, yet we wandered about like headless chickens for about an hour until we eventually found the venue, more or less by luck! Anyway, the play was actually great, very much worth the effort of walking around randomly in Nanjing in the dark.

The play we saw (the name of which I've forgotten, unsurprisingly) actually reminded me a lot about some of the Shakespeare plays I've seen, which is kind of surprising. There are the themes of confused identity, confused gender identity (men pretending to be women and vice versa), some very low-brow humour (for the masses...), all tied together by a pretty entertaining story. Thankfully, there were screens with English sub-titles ;). All in all, certainly more accessible than for example Kabuki. We had dinner and a couple of drinks in a nice brew pub, run by an American chap, after which we hit the sack, satisfied with a great day!

The next day, the plan was to get the train back to Shanghai, where we were meeting Isabelle. But we had plenty of time to visit Nanjing before that. We decided to start by checking out Nanjing museum, a fantastic museum covering Chinese history, mainly the Ming and Qing dynasties (which was Nanjing's heyday) - that would mean from the 14th century to the beginning of the 20th century. It's a fantastic museum, basically, with loads of interesting artefacts, very clear explanations (well-translated into English) - a real journey through Chinese history. And what's best, it's all free!

Having checked out the museum, we decided to check out another feature Nanjing is famous for, its city walls, which date back to the Ming Dynasty. They are also among the longest city walls remaining in China. So I was quite looking forward to checking them out. Unfortunately, most of the sections aren't walkable, so instead of walking on top of the walls, we decided to follow a guided walk in our Lonely Planet which follows the city walls (on the outside of the city.

It turned out to be quite a nice walk. The walls themselves are not the main attraction actually - rather the lakes and nice woodlands we walked through. We found what seems to be THE spot for people getting married having their picture taken - nice lake, with the city walls as a nice backdrop. We actually staid for so long (well, I blame Nick here, who's an even worse paparazzi than me!), that we were starting to be in a bit of a hurry as far as catching our train was concerned.

The end of our walk took us past the rather beautiful Xuanwu lake. Actually, there's a section of the city walls that can be visited by the lake, so we decided to go for it, even if we were in a hurry. It was well worth it, in spite of the rather stiff 10 Euro entrance fee. But the views more than made up for that!

It felt a bit wistful heading back to Shanghai - Nanjing is a great city, the cultural and historical heritage the place has to offer certainly merits a longer visit than the 2 and a half days we gave it.

The Yellow mountain and some beautiful villages

We arrived at Huangshan, at a relatively small town called Tunxi (by small I mean it has a population of less than 1 million - this is China, after all). We barely survived our walk (being a pedestrian in China is fraught with danger, something one quickly realizes...) from the bus station (which was located outside the town centre) to the picturesque old town, where our hotel was located.

Our hotel was actually a youth hostel, but that was mostly reflected by the low price. The place itself was absolutely lovely - located in a traditional Qin dynasty house, just off the main street (which is named Old Street, quite appropriately). The interior is nothing short of stunning, with traditional furniture, wonderfully decorated rooms - and all this for about 20 Euros a night? Add to this very friendly staff, and it all amounts to an absolute bargain! (the only drawback was very slow internet, but then again that's pretty much standard in China, I suppose it's due to the Great FireWall...)

We started our exploration of the Huanshan area with a place called Honcun - which is famous as it was used as a location for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (one of my favourite Chinese action/fantasy movies). We got the tourist bus there (which cost about 7 Euros, not an insignificant amount...), and gaped at the 10 Euros entrance fee ! (what, an entrance fee to a village!?). Anyway, we grudgingly paid up and entered.

The place is a real stunner, no other word for it. The first sight of the village, with a narrow stonepath crossing a tranquil lake to the village, with a beautiful bridge in the middle of it, just takes one's breath away. This was one of the location used for Crouching Tiger (etc)... The mist lingering above the lake and village just added to the atmosphere.

The village itself is just as stunning - there are no modern buildings at all in the village, and the houses that have been restored have been done so with great taste. It's just like taking a step back in time - well, the hordes of tourists do sort of detract from the experience a bit (but not much, actually, as the village is pretty big).

The other top spot in the village for wannabe photographers like me is Moon lake, a beautiful little pond in the middle of the village, surrounded by beautiful Qin-era houses. The reflections in the perfectly still pond add to the atmosphere... Even the news of Donald Trump having won the presidential elections didn't detract from our enjoyment of the place, now that's saying something!

We then carried on to a bamboo forest, located not too far from Honcun (we negotiated a reasonable-seeming fare with a local taxi driver - he probably earned a week's salary or something, though!). The bamboo forest is another location for Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon (you may remembe an aerial combat up in the trees, in a thick bamboo forest). It was actually pretty hard work, but the views certainly made up for the effort.

The walk took us through a very nice little village (which wasn't actually touristy at all, a nice change from Honcun). We were also treated to the rather impressive sight of locals (including some rather diminutive-looking women) carrying up to three bamboo tree trunks along some pretty steep paths (I can also confirm those bamboo tree trunks are pretty darn heavy, even one of them!). Respect, I say!

After our little walk, we were treated to some amusement as a big group of ladies (most of a certain age...) got completely obsessed about posing for pictures with me and Nick (especially Nick - I guess the Chinese ladies must find his grey hair and the air of wisdom it gives him a turn-on or something - not that I'm jealous or anything!). Anyway, posing for pictures with Chinese people was something we got pretty used to by the end of our trip....

We finished the day walking around Tunxi old street - a very nice little street actually. It's very touristy, but the shops are pretty classy places selling authentic (well, at least authentic seeming!) antiquities and handicrafts - not your average mass produced touristy trinkets on sale here. We got grabbed a pretty average meal at one of the (very touristy) restaurants on Old Street.

The next day, we continued our Qin-Era (actually the villages date back to the 11th century, but their glory days coincided with the Qin dynasty during the 18th century) village exploration with Xidi, another stunning village (with a hefty entrance fee, but hey, we were getting used to it by now). Actually both Honcun and Xidi are Unesco world heritage sites - quite rightly so.

The entry into Xidi is a bit less dramatic than into Honcun, but not by much. There is a lake, again, with a nice red boat floating in front of the village (somehow I suspect it was put there to enhance tourists' photos, although maybe I'm just being cynical). The ornamental entrance gateway is pretty impressive, as well.

We started our visit by hiking through some rice fields up to a small hill, from where we were treated to some pretty stunning views over the village, with the rice plantations providing a nice forefront for those inevitable photos... Again, we had the honour to pose for some pictures with some Chinese ladies... (this time they were high school students!)

The village itself is predictably picturesque, but maybe a bit less so that Honcun (or maybe that's just since we visited Honcun first, hard to tell - but then again there were no Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon scenes shot in Xidi). It's a bit more spread out than Honcun, which means smaller concentrations of tourists. We ended having a rather delicious lunch in a traditional house, with a nice lady cooking up some local traditional food for us... (I'm pretty sure the prices were not "local", though...).

After Xidi, we decided to head to another village, Pingshan. It's a bit less famous than Xidi and Honcun, but far less touristy (I mean, c'mon, there wasn't even an entrance fee). So basically it was a very nice place to stroll around, with its traditional houses, and a nice river flowing through the village. A little bit less picturesque than the Xidi and Honcun, but the lack of tourists and feeling of authenticity made up for that.

One funny thing about the place was that it was basically overrun by young people painting - and very beautifully at that. Very odd - I guess they were all art students or something. Maybe Pingshan is a "designated artist village" or something. Anyway, there are certainly a lot of pretty spots to paint over there! We also checked out a pretty interesting Taoist temple (actually, that would, I believe, be the first temple visited so far in mainland China).

Back in Tunxi, we had dinner with an Australian lady we'd met at our hotel (who gave us some good hints for how to tackle the Yellow Mountain, which we were planning to do the next day), and a German lady she'd been travelling with. We found a nice restaurant (with an interesting concept whereby they display all their dishes on a long table, and you just jot down what you want to eat on a peace of paper - maybe better than those often badly translated menus actually...)

The next day, then, we were tackling the famous Yellow Mountain (Huangshan). That is the main reason, after all, to come to this part of China (although those stunning villages we'd seen in themselves would for sure have made the trip worthwhile). What has to be said here is that the Chinese authorities are pretty good at making the most (financially) of their national treasures (be they natural, or man-made).

First of all, getting to Huanshan is a bit of an expedition involving some rather expensive buses (nearly 10 Euros one way). Then, there is the entrance fee to the national park (about 30 Euros). Then, there is the cable car up to the top (walking up to the top takes at least 4 hours, and the same to walk down, which basically means you need to spend the night if you actually want to walk around the mountain top) - another 10 Euros or so one way. You get the picture ?

Well, again though, I don't regret at all paying the 80 Euros or whatever it cost altogether... The initial sights once up at the top were a bit disappointing for a a couple of reasons. First of all, the hordes of tourists at the top (things got better, thankfully, once away from the cable car station). The other reason - there was a lot of mist, which meant visibility was about 5 meters max. So things didn't start well.

Thankfully, we decided to walk on, since once we got out of the mists... Wow! To call the landscapes stunning is a bit of an understatement actually. What made the views so great was actually the sight of the mountain peaks coming out of the mist - the place really was unreal. No wonder they talk about the "sea of clouds" here, no wonder many Chinese painters came here to capture the beauty of the place.

For sure one of the most stunning landscapes I've seen in my life. The mountains may not be as high as the Himalayas or even the Alps (the highest peaks are a bit over 1800 meters high), but the landscapes of strangely jutting granite peaks is something pretty unique. Our walk took us back to another cable car - and thankfully we were now treated to pretty clear skies (apart from the sea of clouds below us, of course).

Unfortunately, we missed our bus back to Tunxi, so we had to take a taxi (which actually didn't cost that much more than the bus).

That brought an end to a fantastic stay in Huangshan, as it was time to carry on to Nanjing the next day. What a beautiful part of the world!