Life of pi

I pause. What of God's silence? I think it over. I add:

An intellect confounded yet a trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose.

Huihang Ancient Trail May 15th to 17th 2009

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
-- Robert Frost

Off the beaten path we go… to Huihang Ancient Trail- a road that is used by merchants to connect Jixi Country in Anhui Province to Zhejiang Province to shorten their 50km route to 25km.

In this series of travel story, we have four interesting characters – The Commander, The Magician, the Truck and of course me the Red-hooded traveler.

We departed on Friday night for Hangzhou – and as usual our super worried Commander was super-worried and super-charged that she left her office at two to prepare for the eight o’clock train. Whereas the Magician managed to make himself disappears till 15 minutes before the scheduled departed time and luckily he is so good that he managed to make himself appears again on the correct boarding gate at the Train Station.

Phew! So finally we could all leave for what would be the most unexpected adventure of our life.

We stayed a night in Hangzhou, then in the morning 4 hours and 2 buses later we arrived at Yu Chuan, which is the entrance of Huihang Gudao!

The trail started with cemented path through the villages, where left and right are farm houses and often on the background, we can hear the cow’s bellowings in the air… also the smell was pretty evident. Then the view changed to paddy fields- against the backdrop of blue mountains and rows and rows of trees!

About 2 km later- we found a pool! I suddenly remembered what lee mack – city weekend’s armchair traveler wrote about this- he wrote that he swam into the pool. I can totally figure the reason- the pool looked so tempting… clean greenish blue, moreover the sun was out and after a long journey the pool brought a refreshing change. After negotiating between the guys and the girls… we decided to take the dip- except for Truck who enjoyed himself sun-tanning on the rock, eating kuaci on one hand and a camera on the other….!

After a refreshing dip in the pool, the next part of the trail is the staircases- lots and lots of them going up and going down to the first point- jiang nan di yi hang.

The sky was changing a bit- the wind started coming and rain poured down not long after we left the jiang nan di yi hang on the way to xia xue tang.

Our destination is supposed to be lan tian ao where we camp the night however we missed the sign of the turned off and we got lost. 10 km later we realised.

We ended up staying at a farmer's house also with another group of people from Hangzhou that also shared the same fate of getting lost as us.

Next day, reain cleared and we took a short hike to Lan Tian Ao... the name said it all.. everything is blue and the mountains are just layers and layers of blue... and green!

Beautiful!

Lijiang - Forgotten Kingdom

Forgotten Kingdom by Peter Gullart:

" The concept of time in Lijiang was totally different from that in the West. In Europe, especially in America, the greater part of time is devoted to making money, not so much to sustain life in decent conditions as to accumulate more and more comforts and luxuries. The rest of the time which remain unoccupied, is "killed" in a manner which has become routine and rigid. ... In the beautiful valley of Lijiang, then still untouched by the complexities and hurry of modern time, time had a different value. It was a gentle friend and a trusted teacher, possessing, there, a magical property which not only I but others had noticed. Instead of being too long it was too short; the days passed like hours and the weeks like days; a year was like a month; and my ten years spent there went by like one. It was not true that we were so busy that we had no time to perceive all the beauty and the goodness that was in that blessed valley. There was time for both. The people in the street interrupted their bargaining to admire a clump of roses or peer a minute into the clear depths of a stream. Farmers paused in their fields to gaze at the ever-changing face of the Snow Mountain. A flight of cranes was breathlessly watched by the market crowds and the songs of birds was commented upon by at length by busy Minkia carpenters who leaned back on their saws and axes. The groups of applecheeked old men, with flowing beards, laughed and joked liked children as they descended the hill, with rods in hands, for a fishing trip. A factory closed for a day or two as the workers suddenly wanted to have a picnic by a lake or on the Snow Mountain. And yet their work was done and done well. "

Hui-Hang Caravan Trail - planning diary

Didn't know that this place exists until our train ride to Huangshan.
The couple that shared our bunk in the train were heading there for a 25km hike... walking from the Anhui Border to Hangzhou- hence the name Hui-Hang.

After the Huangshan trip, we started looking for more information about this place... since we are now officially addicted to hiking and going to new places...

And the overnight train ride made it especially attractive because the scenery of the villages that we passed while on the train was really beautiful. And the overnight train ride made it possible for a 2 day weekend trekking adventure.

After popping the idea to my partner in crime- we managed to got another two accomplices for our trip- it was going to be a camping trip! And i have never been one before since I last left school ages ago so it was very exciting.

The date was set 24th to 26th April.

20th to 22nd.... we were planning so vigorously...!!!

As it was self-hiking route we have to make sure we take the right bus and we have timing in schedule....

After we managed to plan everything. And booked the tent- I made my way to the train ticketing office- long queue... it was a week before the famous Wu yi holiday across China.
When I finally got to my turn- lady said mai wan le....
Sad face.

So we started planning to go from the Hangzhou end... also hoping that there will be train ticket to Hangzhou, BUT the same... mai wan le... why is there so many people heading that direction?
It must be the spring travel fever that all of us got....!

Anyway second try coming this Friday.

I made my way to the ticketing agent office for the second time for the same purpose- bought the tickets and got them easily... then partner-in-crime discovered that I bought the wrong one- train time depart at 17:00 instead of 22:35 that we were planning to ride on.
Whoops my bad did not check properly- so I made my way back to the ticketing office and to my surprise discovered that Shanghai - Huangshan night train has been changed to evening morning 15 hour ride!!!

Since we are all working... we refunded our tickets- and bought a Shanghai Hangzhou ticket.

It would be interesting since we are going Hang Hui not Hui Hang. Plus the predicted thunderstorm this weekend- the boys ofcourse are kept from this news!

It is going to be an interesting trip so watch this space...

Roller Coaster

I had the busiest week ever, and yet I felt that I did not achieve much. It feels weird.

But I love the way this week ends... and I think God is so great to give me that grace to just let go...
The blessing that I received was - The Farmer's Market at the DC was not crowded but it feels good just to be out of the office.
To feel the sun- to feel the grass on my feet- to see the kids and their simplicity - to be able to breathe...
The meeting with CM- and to know that I am not the only one feeling this way - so frustrated- not knowing exactly what to do - and to not know what to expect next.

I think it is weird that my life is such a roller coaster experience... there are some things that are just beyond my control... eventhough I believed in relying on myself to make things happen or did not happen - but some things I think it is better just to ride on... just like surfing on the sea of waves....
Where does life bring me next?
Who knows!

BUT I thank God for the present and His presence in my life.

Let's ride it all.... with Him.

Lijiang- Yunnan 30 April 2009 Yulong Xue Shan - Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Anything with Jade and Dragon in China must be good in China....
So we have discovered the Yulongxue Shan... which means in direct translation Yu- Dragon, Long- Dragon, Xue- Snow and Shan- Mountain.

It is a short enjoyable 30 minutes ride from Lijiang city to the Yulongxue Shan Park.

I think that one can get so confused in Lijiang on how to get to places (if one is not travelling with a tour like I did) and also confused about how much ticket costs because there are so many types of them. So here i will also share on what i know.

Upon arrival in Lijiang, we were asked to pay 80RMB each person for Environmental Protection of Lijiang Fee. This ticket is white with green fonts. Remember that you have to KEEP this ticket all your stay in Lijiang- because if you don't pay it or if you lose it, you can't enter the Old City (gucheng) or you have to buy one again when you want to enter the Yulongxueshan.

This ticket also guarantees you a free entry to the Black Dragon Pool Park (just above the "old city"- gucheng).

Anyway, my family and I asked the hotel to arrange our transport which worked out to be quite reasonable at 35RMB per person return with a nice van and a free tour guide (whom without our request brought for us a light lunch of sandwiches and boiled eggs as well in case we were hungry!). There were taxis as well that offered to take us there for 150RMB return.

There are three options for trails: we chose A: which supposed to bring us the highest we can go, that is to 4680m (the height of the mountain is 5000m something) and no one has ever gone there. So the first part was to pay entrance fee which is 80RMB per person at the gate, when the car stopped, and then next when you get down at the locket, pay the cable car fee which was 150RMB return, plus 20RMB bus fee and 2RMB insurance if you should wish to pay. If you haven't got the 80RMB Environmental Protection Ticket, you have to buy one here.

Phew! What a mathematic confusion and a hole in the pocket! (The only consolation is that the park keeps the place real clean and protected so I feel good still)

Anyway after that, get into the internal bus service that brings you to the entrance of the cable car station. Not far maybe about 10 minutes ride up a hill. When you get down, it is already the cable car station, and just jump into one of them. The cable car ride is long! Imagine 3 km , up and slow.... my Dad who has height phobia dare not looked down!

The view is nice... the pine trees and the spring pink and purple flowers can be seen sprouting up and also the glacier covering the mountain top. However I should say that is quite sad that I think there is much less now than before due to the global-warming.

Once you get down from the cable car, all white!!! Snow! Glacier!
From here, there is a man-made wooden staircase that will take you to the 4680m level. Which is not far but because the air is so thin... is hard to go very fast and absolutely not recommended to go fast!

I was okay going up because i took a lot of breaks and synchronised my breathing at the different heights but when I went down, I took it a little fast and I suffered quite badly from it. the whole night of headache and neck pain... so actually I would recommend buying an oxygen tank 60ml at 60RMB and if you haven't got a jacket to keep you warm at zero degrees, you can rent them for 30RMB.

BUT please do not be discouraged from going up because the view is fantastic and moreover the sense of achievement that you feel- like on top of the world!

Lijiang - Yunnan 29 April 2009 - Naxi Guyue

Before the 7.2 earthquake that hit Lijiang in 1996, Lijiang is probably unknown to many. Lijiang was so isolated, even to the Chinese then, as there had been invasions and military campaigns in Yunnan, but they rarely affected the inner life of the Naxi people- as the valley is surrounded by the mountains and it was so remote and difficult to access... the life condition was also still barbaric hence soldiers hardly wanted to stay a day more. Thus, Lijiang has always remained so peaceful and isolated and could devote itself to the ancient arts.

One of the very well preserved tradition is the Naxi Ancient Music - 纳西古乐.

Xuan Ke- the President of the Naxi Ancient Music Tradition, is the man who is responsible for leading the preservation of this Ancient Music and publicised it world wide.

On my first night to Lijiang, I really did not know what to expect when I bought the ticket to see the Naxi Ancient Music performance. Upon entrance of the music concert "hall" - one will expect nothing of the grandness of the modern concert hall... it was basically rows of wooden chairs, with a wooden platform with chairs and instruments laid out on them already. No sound system. No covered sound proof or enhanced wall... so you can imagine that is is pretty basic, where one would expect to be a hundred year ago but without a roof maybe and without the decorations.
Authentic!

Anyway at 8pm, it started promptly with all the performers marching in the stage! Men mostly in their 60's 70's and 80's walked in... and noticed that one of them was wearing a black sunglasses and had to be led when walked in- discovered later that he was blind! He was blind since birth but he gives out this sense of funkiness, we were told later by the narrator that he is 80! And he could speak 4 English sentences, which are: How are you, Where are you from, That is a nice country and Bye Bye! (Imagine a "laowai" in conversation with him... A: How are you, Laowai: I am fine; A: Where are you from?, Laowai: Britain (for eg.); A: Oh that is a nice country, Laowai: Oh you know that country; And before Laowai could ask anything else, A: Bye Bye (in a quick manner and escapade!)) :)

They played well- almost all of them hold a different instrument, some string like things- called "sugudu", "quxiapipa", and then there is the "guchen" and some gong chimes. What I found to be so amazing is that there is no conductor, no music scores in front of them, and funnily enough some of these old people look as if they were sleeping when they were playing as they had their eyes almost closed.... how did they play in harmony I have no idea.... perhaps they have practised endlessly... i am guessing perhaps that they were playing with their heart, and feelings...

The sound of the music, had a lot of the Daoism influence in it. It sounds as if music that would be heard during meditation rituals or funerals in the temple... During the performance we were also treated to a Naxi style opera (as opposed to the well known Beijing Opera) the old man told a joke about borrowing his neighbour's wife. Ofcourse I could only understood 30% of it but I could guess from the mimick of the opera singer... he was real funny!

Nearly one hour to the performance- we were treated to a surprise when Xuan Ke himself walked in to the stage. He dressed really simply and pretty modern for a Chinese Man I thought. But what was surprising is that he speak fluent English. He told us a story that he just turned 80 years old and he regretted celebrating it because now all his friends told him to be careful when he walk, and do this and that... things that a 80 year old should watch out for. BUT he definitely did not look like 80 and his spirit - firing like a youth!
He told us that he went to a Mission School in Kunming when he was young ( did not know that a mission school exist in Kunming in 1940's?) and he majored in music and the English language, but because during the cultural revolution, he went to jail (not sure why) and then when he was released he taught Maths! And he became the best Maths teacher! He has gone to many universities to study and lecture inc. London and Oxford Universities...

On my first night in Lijiang- I was very inspired by him and all the 60-80 years old who played the Naxi music instruments... feeling very proud of their culture and still believe in passing on the tradition to the next...

The Naxi People are really special. More on the next chapter why.

Shanghai F1 Grand Prix 19th April 2009

"Red Bull makes you have wings... "

9am my phone rings: "Lydia, i have two f1 grand prix tickets, do you want them? "

An immediate YES followed.

So I was in for a very interesting and super exciting Sunday!

We took the bus to the F1 racetrack in Jiading... arrived there at 11.45 ish and the sky was getting darker. By the time we found our entrance, the sky was starting to drizzle. There were surprisingly a large attendance at the China F1- thanks to the "huang niu" I think a lot of people could get tickets at a very cheap price...

We had good seats... grandstand section 2a... just in front of the finishing line and the entrance to the pit stop. Just one right hand corner, was the 10th corner of the track...

Race was exciting right from the start... because it was raining (again, since Malaysian Grnad Prix ended due to the hard rain). The first six laps started with the safety car... but once the safety car came off... the real fun began! A lot of overtakings especially between Mark Webber and Jenson Button. Vettel who took home the championship was very lucky to be in front, hence he had gained distance when the safety car came out after the sixth lap.

It was really a wet and exciting Sunday f1 race with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on the 1-2 podium. Moreover, this is their maiden victory- a historical moment for the f1 fans and the Red Bull team.

I feel especially happy despite the fact that Mclaren has not been doing well since the start of the season, that this F1 Season has started with a very interesting spin... looking forward to the next one in Bahrain! And to see other talents dominating the podium!

See who will fly next....

I want to be Jughead suddenly

And I am sure he will not want to leave this place once he stepped in!

Where is it that I am talking about....

Gourmet Cafe - 455 Shaanxi Bei Lu, near Beijing Xi Lu.

An English owned "cafe" that sells only burger. What a surprising find since I had always thought burger is an american thing and a cafe will be like selling sandwiches and pastries but this cafe sells burgers. But maybe that's why, the burger patty is yummy, i am sure it is made from a good quality meat. And the burger is non-greasy. And ever heard of a vegetarian burger... I had one before made from tofu but the ones here are very innovative: aubergiene with goat cheese and toasted tomatoes, i dun mind being a vegetarian for a day! And they are named so creatively... Lamburghini for a lamb burger... how yummy eh... makes you wonder what the rest of the names are? My only regret that I discovered this place so late, BUT never too late to try to go through all the burgers in their menu. The mini tasting burgers that they incorporated into the menu is an amazing idea- not only that they are so cute but they are a good indication of what to order next time. Also the fact that all of them were good gives a good indication that this place's menu is generally good!

I will definitely be coming back for more burgers! And those yummy garlic french fries! YuM!

Lao Tian Di - Taikang Road (French Concession)

老天地-also more known as 泰康路: is basically old lane houses (and i mean really small lane) that has been transformed to art galleries, stores, cafe's, restaurants, and a hang-out place! It is a brilliant idea- to whoever started it to promote keeping a local environment with an international taste!

My favourite time of the year to visit this place is on a sunny Sunday Spring morning, sitting at one of the cafes while sipping a cup of latte and people watching. I love the art galleries as well and the shops are tacky!

I have visited this place several times in the last couple of months and there's always something new that I discover.

Taikang Road is Shanghai's best kept gem!

Donghu Road (French Concession)

Donghu Road (东胡路) - the East Lake Road. The road is about 500 metres long... there could be a lake here before but I am just speculating.

This road has been my "second" home for the last 6 months. My office is located on this road... strangely enough I did not know this road exists till I went for my 1st interview in the company that I am working for now.

What's famous on this road is the Donghu Hotel. Consisting of seven separate buildings, it takes up most of the area in Donghu Road... trees and flowers surround the buildings, making this road graceful and pleasant to walk on.

The other bits that I love about Donghu Rd is the El Willy's corner. Not apparently visible from the main road, one needs to go in through the little tube to see the old two storey house where El Willy is. A Spanish Restaurant, that I must recommend for their tapas and rice dishes and also for using the freshest ingredients for their dishes, this place also has a wine bar at the back and a little shop consisting of little cube shelves for anyone/ burgeoning artists who would like to sell their stuff but has no proper store yet. On saturdays 11 to 2pm they also have a farmer's market- a few tables selling really really good tasting vegetables! I can testify for this!

My office is in the old villa across diagonally to El Willy's. An old building where I bet is gonna turn into something spectacular (hopefully) in the next 6 months. Our office space in the Old Villa building has been taken over by the owner because they want to do something to it. So... I would be re-locating next month.

I feel that Donghu Road is a little unknown gem in the French concession... the Cheng Cheng Restaurant- all in blue is a very unique thematic restaurant. Jenny's Bar- nice and quiet if one wants to enjoy a drink without the crowd. The florist shop next to it... is just the perfect complement to the whole street. One can usually find themselves hearing to nice music on this road thanks to the sidestreet CD sellers. I love Donghu Road. Hence this post is wholly dedicated to her!

Yellow Mountain and Hongcun 27-30 March 2009

Yellow Mountain, also known as Huangshan (黄山）located on the southern part of the Anhui Province, is one of the great mountains in China.

We departed night of 27th March by the overnight train from Shanghai to Tunxi (屯溪). The train takes 11 hours, departing at 22:35 from the Shanghai Railway Station and arriving at 09:35 the day after. We bought the soft sleeper seat- meaning a seat consisting of a bed, a pillow and a decent blanket; and only four beds in a compartment... probably the most comfortable seat one can get on a overnight train. Inge- my travel partner had the lower bunk and I had the upper one! Lucky for us, we shared the compartment with another two Chinese, a youthful and nature enthusiast that have been to Huangshan and they were going for a hike at a city one stop before Tunxi.... they were also planning to walk from Lin An to Hangzhou (what I imagined to be quite a long long walk as car drive is about 1h 30 mins).


As this was my first time on an overnight train, I did not know what to expect and really... the train ride was amazingly nice. It was expectedly ackward in the beginning to share the compartment with two strangers but we met with the most interesting people- they are actually I think part of a group that meet once a month to go on a nature walk/ trip of some sort... cool huh! And these people are so knowledgable... and they have been everywhere too.... Inge in fact exchanged numbers with one of them... who knows where she is going next. Another interesting part of the train ride was also that the Train Office who checked our ticket was having his last day of work... by today he has started his retirement... :) How nice!

Anyway, we slept most of the trip and it was comfortable and only to wake up at the train officer's warning that we are going to stop soon. Well he woke us up 2 hours too early... anyway we woke up to have our breakkie- a simple bread slices and instant coffee while enjoying the view of the countryside from the train- rows and rows of fields covered with yellow flowers.... refreshing change from the rows and rows of skycrapers of Shanghai :)

28th morning of 9:35 am we arrived in Tunxi Railway Station. We were approached before hand by a travel agent asking us if we need a ride to Tangkou (汤口) the city at the bottom of Huangshan, and she was charging us 15 kuai for one person for the ride. So we agreed and bought the tickets to save some trouble and anyway she said the bus was going to leave at 10am.

We took our seat on the front row of the bus... enjoying the full view of the journey while listening to the tour leader of the rest of the group giving introduction about Huangshan... meanwhile the sky is pretty dark.

An hour later... we smelled something like a burnt smell, looks like the break of the bus is having problem. True enough... our bus stopped and they announced that two minutes later another bus is gonna pick us up (Chinese likes to say optimistic words) anyway about 15 minutes later we boarded into another smaller van and we were dropped off at the Bus Interchange (not Tangkou) that was full of 新国线车(blue bus with this writing meaning "New Country Line" Bus). So anyway at this point we were confused as we thought we were going to be dropped off at Tangkou and we were going to walk from there to the Mountain. But we were at a totally different place and the staff there told us we need to buy another ticket (15 kuai each) to take the Blue Bus to the Yungu Cablecar Station. So anyway that's what we did... we took the bus - a 15 minutes ride up to the Cablecar Station, then we tooke the Cable car, another 15 minutes ride to the White Goose Peak Cablecar Station on the North Sea (北海) part of the Huangshan National Park.

We were super excited because we finally were reaching Huangshan but we were starving by then too!!! We knew that finding food was hard in Huangshan so we we came packed with small handy food- in the cable car we took quick bites of the bread... and then when we were gonna start peeling our hard boiled eggs, the cablecar stopped... we had to get down.
It was a whirling turn of events from now on. We got down quickly, it is raining, hard! We put our eggs inside our jackets... and started taking our our raincoats. Inge had a separate rain cover for her backpack so she just needed to put on her rain coat. Being the cheepo that I am, I did not want to spend on the separate rain cover for my backpack so I had none! Stupidly I thought my rain coat was huge enough to cover both me and my backpack but ooo noooo...
I had a disposable cheepo yellow (this colour is important to note) raincoat for myself and then I had to cover my backpack with another cheepo yellow raincoat. It was MESSY. Anyway we had to walk, first to our hotel in Beihai. We put on our backpack and started walking... boy was it difficult. Hahaha.... seriously did not think that it was going to be challenging carrying the backpack and climbing flights and flights of stairs when it was written only 0.5km to Beihai from the White Goose Cablecar St. So much for thinking that we were going to hike up from the bottom to the top with our backpack and in the rain! A big No No.
So we were walking in the rain, hands freezing, stomach starving, and peeling our eggs to eat. Really a moment to remember. Half hour later, we arrived in the hotel lobby. Checked in. Went to our lodge. And sorted ourselves out. It was around 1pm by then. We sat down and planned our hike for the day.
The rain was not stopping and fog was thick. The weather was really not on our side. So we stick to Beihai area for the hike as we did not expect the rain to stop.
We went to the Bright Summit Peak a 2.5km walk from the Hotel. We arrived there eventually after flights and flights of staircases, and to find sea of people. The fog was getting thicker and we could not see anything from there except that there was this tower with a huge ball on it- discovered later that it was the meteorigical tower. It was weird. And anyway everything was white, we could not take any photos nor see any views so we took the on the next peak which is the Flying Over Rock (飞来石). We saw this huge stone, trying to balance itself on top of another stone... cool! Then... we took our next stop which is the Purple Cloud Peak. This was a tough hike- 0.5km of non-stop small staircases up. And then to our "amusement" when we reached the top, we found a locked gate with a notice that said that due to safety reason this peak has been closed - since 1 July 2007. We both felt cheated and was "cursing" the map that still showed it there. The views on the way were nice though... the umbrella pine trees were everywhere. They stand really elegantly complementing the mountain... superb view. Especially in the cold.
It was getting dark, the fog was low now and feasibility was maybe just a few metres ahead. Inge and I decided to make our trip back to the Hotel... praying that the weather will get much better the day after.
It was cold. Even in the room. We had a simple dinner in the room- a glass of instant miso soup, with another hard-boiled egg (which we decided later to dunk it in into the miso so it becomes warm), slices of bread and macadamia nuts. Our TV was not working, so after planning our hike for the next day coming up with raining plan and not raining plan, and carrying backpack and not carrying backpack plan, we retired for the day. It has been a long day.
29th daybreak 4:45am. We woke up... so happy because we did not hear any rain drops at all at night. We were excited that our prayer for good weather was answered! Inge and I prepared ourselves to see the sunrise on the Refreshing Terrace... we dressed warmly and equipped ourselves with warm jackets, opened the door and... you can never guess why we did not hear rain drops... because it was snowing!!!
What!?!?!?!?!
Yes Huangshan was snowing. So went back into the room, got the umbrella and we had the torch flashing the surroundings to see that everything was covered in white blanket. For the rest of the day, needless to say, we were in for a treat!
Excited for the sunrise, we still made our way into the Refreshing Terrace a 10 minute walk from the Hotel. There wasn't any sunrise but at 5:20 ish the sky was getting lighter. We stood on the terrace enjoying the snow covered pine trees. With the sky lightening, the mountain was showing itself slowly as if shy to the new day. Breathtaking. By far the most enchanting view. Sadly our camera were not good enough to capture the moment. But somethings are better left as it is.
After the sunrise, we took a hike to the peak nearby... everything looks so clean with the white snow. Fun!
We then return to our room to have a quick breakkie and then started to hike around the Tian Hai (天海) area.
The highlights of the Tian Hai Area is the Jade Screen Peak, the Lotus Peak, the Turtle Cave Peak.
It was a 5km hike through the Bright Summit Peak to the Jade Screen Peak, passing the Turtle Cave Peak. It was a nice quiet walk in the morning. Again... flights and flights of stairs but the view compensates them all... I must also say that lucky we started early as the tourist groups from the bottom of the mountain started coming a few moments after. The winter panoramic view in Huangshan was enchating, if there were less people I could even describe it as romantically mysterious. The hike is not easy and I could even say dangerous for those who has weak knees and weak heart. The snow was stopping by then and the ice was melting, so it was a bit slippery on some parts.
We hiked up and down and then we went back to the hotel by 11am so we could be in time to check out.
What a morning exercise! But it was really refreshing. The air was just crispy clean if....
(I should hope that people has the decency to stop smoking in the Huangshan National Park)
We had no time for Xi hai and the fog was not dissappearing so we had to come back to Huangshan on a better weather. We checked out and carried our backpack to the cablecar station BUT before that we made our final stop at the Begin-to-Believe Peak, 0.5km before the White Goose Cablecar Station. With our backpack we climbed the thousands fleet of stairs... oh boy did we make a good decision not to hike with our big backpack in the morning! We made it in the end and it was worth the effort... beautiful winter sonata view. The peak somehow accumulated a lot more snow there... and all the tree branches were beautiful covered in snow and some in ice (will post photos). We were happy!!!!
Hungrier than ever, with no lunch, we had to much on our final two "Cliff" bars... yum even when they were quite hard to bite as it was cold!
We took our cablecar and the same way down as we were up.
Inge and I: "Huangshan, we are definitely coming back for you on a friendlier weather!"

hungry hungry hungry.... a hungry stomach makes one cannot think straight...

Inge remembered that in the town near the Bus Interchange there in Hui Food Restaurant that the Bus Guide mentioned to be good and cheap so we made our way there. It was 13:30 is and the restaurant was pretty empty by then. Good we can get our food faster. On the restaurant window, we saw the menu written on it and we were gleeful to find that prices were around 2-10 kuai! Ok so we ordered without really looking at the menu. We had the "yecai" - wild vegetables, egg omellete fried with some black wild mushroom and hongshao rou... a typical anhui dish. They were good, or were we just hungry? Throughout the whole lunch, we were both making guesses on lunch bill... and come to a conclusion that it was gonna be about 30-40 kuai... so after we finished everything and full... and Happy ofcourse... we asked for the bill. Inge went to the counter to pay and i heard the fuwuyuan said yi bai ling qi... i started laughing at myself... Inge asked how can it be 107kuai? Apparently all the things we ordered were the Anhui special dishes and they cost like 30-40 each! It was hilarious. We did not get angry as actually they were written on the menu (which we could not be bothered to see in the beginning) and made order straight from the waitress. The waitress was nice too, and i think in general Anhui people are really nice... she showed us the bus that will take us back to Tunxi.

In Tunxi, we checked ourselves into the International Youth Hostel near the Railway Station on 58 Beihai Rd. Nice clean and friendly place. We stayed there for the night. Tunxi at night: try exploring the old road "老街". We took the pedicab there from our hostel: a 10 minute ride for just 5 kuai. Taking a taxi will also cost 5 kuai. The lane is a shopping area but they still retained the old Anhui style houses. One can find all sorts of things there but mainly the calligraphy stuff (as Anhui is known for that), chinese fan, 薄饼 (round biscuit like thing filled with salted vegetables) - 5 mao each from the old lady at one of the corners...
Dinner was another interesting event. We weren't that hungry but we had to eat something. I was craving for noodle soup, so chose one of this restaurants there that outside on the menu they said they have noodle soup. But amongst other things I think they served Hui Food...
Inge ordered the Wonton, and I ordered the noodle soup. A few minutes later the waitress came back and said no more noodle soup. So she asked if we wanted hu juan mi fen (we have no idea what it means but we thought it would be mifen) so we said ok... one please. A few minutes later, the chef came out and came to our table and asked us if we wanted this "mifen" we ordered and we said yes and we've already told the waitress. Everything was quite confusing. 10 minutes later, food came out... huntun in a small bowl and it looks decent enough. Then a few minutes later, a large plate with brown coloured porridge like thingy was placed on our table. Right... what is this thing? Mi fen? I see... it is 米粉- rice powder, instead of rice. more like the yellow fine rice fried with some salty brown sauce and blended to form a porridge! Never seen something quite like this before. So with optimism, I tasted it... man... so salty... not bad but we could not finish it but at the same time we could not help laughing at ourselves and understood finally why the chef had to come out before to ask twice.

30th morning 5:30 am.... Inge woke up in the morning with a jump oh no we are late!!! We were supposed to leave at 6am for the bus station to go to Hongcun (宏村)- a village 1h 30 mins away from Tunxi. We had to leave very early because we had to come back by 12pm to catch the 1pm bus back to Shanghai.
Anyway we took the cab to the Bus Station only 6.50 kuai. Then from there we asked for a bus to go to Hongcun, we were pointed to a small van that was due to leave for Yi Xian (黟县) at 7am, we had to go to Yixian first and then transfer to Hongcun. We were early so we went it to take our seat while waiting for the rest of the bus to be filled up. All kinds of people were heading to that direction apart from us tourists there were another two girls who seemed like tourists too. The journey was long and was quite interesting. 15 minutes into the ride, the van stopped because a man from behind was saying that somebody wanted to throw out (puke!). Oooh so the bus conductor (a lady by the way) hurried to get a plastic bag and rushed to give it to him. The driver stopped and asked him to get out of his bus (poor sick fellow!)... after telling him that he better not think about himself and puke in his van... he continued driving and the want to puke man continued to hold on to his puke I suppose and stayed inside the van. 20 minutes later the bus stopped and then some passengers got out. The lady conductor went to the window beside me ( i was seating right in front row on the left) and was talking loudly to someone outside while i heard a thud on my left shoe- a pink gum from her mouth dropped on my shoe! A I opened my mouth while she bent down to pick it up and said bu hao yi si, gave me a big grin with her red painted lips and blinked with her black painted mascaraed eyes... and threw the gum away out of the window! The van ride was very memorable indeed. About half hour later, we were dropped on the road and the bus conductor told us that behind there was a bus going to Hongcun... we went it... it was a smaller van than before and only fits 5- 6 people. 2 kuai and 10 km later we reached Hongcun after almost getting intoxicated with overdose of carbonmonoxide in the van. We were glad we reached Hongcun. We paid a hefty 80 kuai ticket and went in to the village. It is a Unesco listed village and the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was shot there. The village was unique... and surprisingly well-preserved indeed. They had a very good water-system and the water is clean eventhough we could see people washing their clother in the waterways. Eventhough that the houses have almost been turned to a commercial place, i.e. selling souveniers, etc. I think the village still retains its own charm... and uniqueness- definitely worth having a look around just to have a feel of how the villagers lead their life there.
We spent an hour there. And after buying our shou zhua bing and sticky black tofu we head back using a better bus this time, just 12 kuai all the way back to Tunxi.
We made it on time back to the Hostel and then we departed back to Shanghai using the 1pm bus back to Shanghai. Reached Shanghai finally at 6.45pm.

The past three days have been a trip full of surprises. But really God is a wonderful God and His creation is just another testimony to us all.

DaMingShan's Winter Sonata 14-15 March 2009

大明山 Da Ming Shan (direct translation Famous Mountain), is apparently not as famous as the other mountain in China, nevertheless it still exudes its own charm... has a 4-star rating in China, a high one considering that 5-star rating goes to Huangshan.

It is located in Zhejiang, a nice four hour drive from Shanghai through Linan.

Damingshan is said to be the mini-version of Huangshan. I understood why after... it has the same stone like structure mountain, only in Huangshan is much more and bigger in scale. However for those who is just looking for a relaxing weekend at the top of the mountain, Damingshan is worth the trip. Moreover, if you come early enough before the other tourists start coming, the mountain is very peaceful and serene.

Five of us rented a car from Shanghai. We've got a good deal for 2 days 1 night car rent with a driver. Our route was Shanghai - Damingshan - Hangzhou (we spent the night there) and then back Shanghai. I remembered it was a cold 13th March in Shanghai, in fact it was raining. Spring was abound and rain... were pouring day in day out then. We left nevertheless for Damingshan on the 14th morning. We reached the park just before 11pm. Very early indeed. Ticket to enter the mountain was 80 RMB per person. There is additional charge if one wishes to take the cable car. There is also the additional bus ride (10 RMB one way per person)from the entrance to either the cable car station or the entrance where one can start walking. We walked.

Flights and flights of man-made stairs... but nothing in scale as compared to Huangshan. It was enjoyable as there were mini-waterfalls and stream of water that has not dried up along the way. Half way up the mountain... we discovered that it was snowing the night before. So... we were in for a nice white winter scenery treat! Everything is just beautiful when it is white. However it could be a little slippery on the steps. The tree leaves had ice molded on it- super cool! Throwing snow balls on each other (not highly recommended) but that's what we did... as breaks for our way up. The few so-called scenic spots in Damingshan would the waterfall. There is one huge one on top. The hanging bridge - between two mountain tops... surely not for the faint of heart. However not to be missed as the view is fantastic from the top. You would feel like you were on top of the world! There is a man-made lake too, clean but average looking. On the way up to the hanging bridge and if you take the cable car up, you will pass through a cave- which I think is an old abandoned mine. It is called the ten thousand metre cave. This is a must when you go there but in winter it is freezing cold!

Damingshan also has a lodge on top of the mountain near the lake... would be a nice resting place for those who are just wanting to chill out.

We took 3 hours walking up and down... all in all it is definitely a recommended place. Less commercialised hence less tourists but very nice!

Nanjing Historical Charm - 28 Feb 2009 -

Upon landing from the "动车" (high-speed train) in Nanjing Train Station, she presented herself as any other Chinese city... an old station full of people carrying all sorts of things and everyone walking towards the same direction but never in an organized manner...

We finally got into a cab after managing to squezze really squezze our way into a non-existent queue for the cab... and found the four of us seating in the cab riding towards our first destination - "南京大屠杀博物馆" (Nanjing Massacre Museum). We've got a friendly cab driver, looking so happy to meet chinese immigrants... and was endlessly talking about the rich history of Nanjing and at the same time trying to find out if my poor (or I should say lucky) male friend of mine already had a girlfriend because he had a daughter available for hand of marriage... while I, seating at the back enjoying the city of view of Nanjing.

Nanjing is an interesting city as it was once a capital city of China during the Ming Dynasty. She still has her city walls enveloping those modern high-rise buildings. They have managed to thankfully keep them pretty nicely and incorporated them into the modern structure of the city.

The Nanjing Masaccre Museum was unexpectedly impressive. It was really something that I did not expect- architecture wise and "content" wise. The black marble wall on the entrance was quite similar to the World War 2 Memorial in Washington... all black and engraved with names. It did cross my mind if all memorials are built like this or... anyway they served its purpose pretty well. The museum was totally comprehensive covering the war, how the Japanese entered into China, the Sino-China relationships then, the people who were in the Army, the people who survived, the weapons they used, and lots and lots of pictures of what happened then. I could feel myself having mixed emotions.... angry but sad, a sense of helplessness that the people were feeling... but also a sense of spirit that there were people still fought and there were people that risked their life to save people and hide them fro safety... wonder what I would have done if I was there...

After the trip to the memorial, we hurried to lunch. We heard that Nanjing is famous for its 粉丝汤 (soup with vermicelli and duck inerds) - didn't think it was appropriate to eat this though after seeing all the gory pictures at the Memorial. But hey we only have one day in Nanjing so we took some laughter and swallowed our lunch.

With full stomach... we scurried our way to 中山公园 - Sun Yat Sen Park. It is a really huge park with the 种山 (Purple Mountain) as our backdrop. We are in search for the UNESCO listed Ming's Tomb that our friend who has been to Nanjing three times but unable to find... (poor her, you will understand why later...). We bought our 80RMB 门票 and looked at the map for our destination. The park is so huge that I think one won't be able to walk through it in one day... so we had to pick where we want to go this time... and fortunately we discovered that the Peach Blossom Festival was also going on at the same time... (yeah finally Spring is here!).

The path leading to the Ming's Tomb was lined out nicely with statues of horses, elephants, camels, lion like thing... and they all come in a pair, there will be a pair standing first and then a pair sitting down. The animals represent something each (and I obviously can't remember what they stand for... )
After walking through this path, we came across this huge stone in a shape of turtle carrying on his back a tablet. Turtle has always been a symbol of longevity, so perhaps that is the reason that it was there. It was a really huge tablet on his back (could be tablt of wisdow or something).... with writings but they have faded away with age... Centuries of rains and wind and erosion... nice to feel it though with your hand, only to realise later that some parts have been vandalised by irresponsible tourists.
Anyway it was pretty weird, the road to the Ming Tomb kinda ended there. We thought we would find the Ming's Tomb after this turtle tablet... but it wasn't there and we could see that the other visitors were confused like us. So we turned back, made a possible speculation that we had missed a sign. Somehow through talking and playing a fool along the way, we found a slope lined with lots of trees and from a distance we could see a hint of yellow and red... we were sure then that it was the Ming's Tomb. Serene and enclosed by the trees, I could imagine that there is a stream of water running through it centuries ago..., sadly now they have dried up... We walked about 10 minutes from the entrance and then found ourselves facing a blockade... with "construction in progress" sign. Apparently the Ming's Tomb has been going re-touching for the past few months and the back part is still not done. I had a peek through the holes... and it was something quiet magnificent and it felt grand and holy. Just one problem though, I think the Chinese has re-touched it too well... that it looked like brand new. The yellow paint just looked too glossy and I am sure in Ming's time they did not have Dulux like paint. Somebody should write to the UNESCO about this because I found in quite disturbing. So... my poor friend, looks like we will be back again to see the re'touched Ming's Tomb.

The Ming's Tomb was built while he lives on earth. That thought I found quite disturbing... moreover he was very auspicious in looking for the perfect place to build his Tomb. Such a contradiction to the modern life of "Seize the Day!" attitude. However it could have been that he knew there is life after death and this is how he "expressed" that idea.

Well I believe anyway that life goes on beyond life on Earth... and to those who prepares it... Life is Eternal