Beijing Travel Bug

Archive for the ‘Tourist spots’ Category

Go to the Jade Screen Pavilion to view the South Sea,
the Refreshing Terrace for the North Sea,
the Paiyun Tower for the West Sea,
the White Goose Ridge for the East Sea
and the Legendary Turtle Peak for the Sky Sea.

There are a lot of poems which describes the ever immortal beauty of Huangshan (黄山). “Clouds in a myriad of forms”, “Peaks piercing the sky”, “A cool world”, “Fantastic and beautiful”, “Scenery of exceptional charm” are some phrase that describes the mountain. It is also an inspiration to some ancient famous painters of China. You can check out the description of Huangshan here. It is said that the four wonders of Huangshan are the strange pines, absurd stones, sea of clouds and hot springs. I’ve researched and found out that the best time to travel Huangshan is in winter because the place will look like winter wonderland. Unfortunately, the winter season this year is warmest ever (the locals said). So there wasn’t a lot of snow to see.

Our tour package includes a bus transfer from Shanghai to Huangshan city. We stayed for a night on the town proper and toured their city which is called Lao Jie (老街）means old street like Hutong.

The street has multitude of stores that sells different kinds of delicacies in their city and also souveneir items as well as maps of Huangshan. I also saw the cutest thing, a cat with two different eye color!

The next day, we left our luggage at the bottom hotel we stayed in and went up the mountain area. There’s a different bus to preserve and control the external variables, preserve nature. We took a cable car up to a certain location but alas, we need to walk up around 4-5 hours to reach our hotel! Read the rest of this entry »

Fragrant Hills , a public park in Haidian District, is said to have a beautiful view when autumn comes. The pine trees turning fiery red or orange is a sight to behold. We always heard rumors that it was already turning that color but alas, we got the wrong timing. I went here twice already but I never behold the famous sights. Locals love to visit this place not just for the scene, but also a good exercise for them. There was a choice to walk or take the cable car, I always take the later since I’m not fond of mountain climbing/walking. The entrance for student for the park is around 5 rmb but 10 rmb if you’re an ordinary tourist. The cable car costs around 25 rmb one way if I remembered right. Unfortunately, the cable car is only up to 530pm.

Major places we should have gone:
Studio of Tranquil Heart

It was first built in mid-16th century under the Ming and was reconstructed in the Qing period. In the enclosure there is a large semi-circular pool in the shape of a heart. The studio was burned down in 1860 and was renovated after 1949.

Bright Temple

Lying to the south of the Studio of Tranquil Heart, the Bright Temple was built in 1780 as a residence for the Sixth Bainqen Erdeni when he visited Beijing. The compound has a 10-metre-high red terrace in Tibetan style. It was destroyed by the Anglo-French troops in 1860. (from Beijing 2008 site)

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I love this place! Seemingly, it’s because of the serene surroundings that it has amidst being inside the urban city of Beijing. I’ve seen that this is the symbol that China decides to parade in the Olympics 2008 Summer games rather than the Great Wall. I’m not very good at the history of this place so I took time to research in Wikipedia (which is banned in China internet, don’t know why).

Temple of Heaven is in the Xuanwu District southeast of Beijing. This ancient temple is one the temples where the emperors prayed for good harvest. I got a hold of a map of the place, but I wasn’t able to finish getting around the place since we took a lot of time taking pictures while in the big hall where it was said that the emperor would shout, and the whole city will hear some rumble (that was before because everything was quieter before!)

Some facts from WIKI:

* The Temple is surrounded by two cordons of walls; the outer wall has a taller, semi-circular northern end, representing Heaven, and a shorter, rectangular southern end, representing the Earth.

* All the buildings within the Temple have special dark blue roof tiles, again representing the Heaven.

* The Altar of Heaven was constructed with details representing the number nine, the representative number of the Emperor.

* It is said that if you stand at the centre of the platform and clap your hands, you can hear the echo because of the concavity of the surrounding wall.

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They say that one the must-do before anyone dies is walk the Great wall in China which some see as one of the new seven wonders of the world.
YES! At least I can cross that off my list of must-do! I’ve walked up the Great Wall thrice and each time I did..it blew me away..from the sights and also the walking!
I dare say, that the old ones walking up are far better than I am.

Mutianyu: This area is where tourist mostly go. We went here for our field trip in school (BLCU ’06).
We went up these stairs first before reaching the Great wall.

My classmates chose to go to the right, but both ends have some limit where tourist need to stop since it’s dangerous already. The steps here are more messier. I had a harder tiem walking up but I reached some end! I reached some end after meditating about getting my breath. And friends pushing me to go!



After the long walk, I rode a toboggan ride..which costs around 100rmb if I remember correctly. Takes you down fast!

Badaling: This area is also packed with tourists from all part of the world, young and also old! I remember when I was young (1994) , this was part of our tourist package. The placed was packed! I sometimes wait for people to go up before me so that I can hold on to the railings. The second time (2005) I went here with my friends, with so many people still, I was able to reach up to the forth tower. My journey was long and hard..for a weakling like me. My knees were trembling each time I stop…and yes…the old ones are far more healtier than I am.
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Jiu Zhai Gou Valley is said that this place was formed after an earthquake happened long before. The beautiful lakes were a product of a natural disaster.

According to chinatravelguide, “Jiuzhaigou Valley is located in Nanping County, 450 kilometers (about 280 miles) to the north of Chengdu City. Its name is due to the existence of nine stockaded villages of Tibetan origin, and it is always regarded as a holy mountain and watercourse by the Tibetan people.”

It was a long ride from the city Chengdu. We stayed in 3-4 hotels if I remember correctly. The first one was good but as you go nearer to Jiu Zhai Gou, the quality of the hotels deteriorate.

Our third day, we reach the valley and enjoyed a whole day there. This is such a marvel..it was like heaven on earth. The beauty of nature is beyond words to describe. You can just imagine nature at it’s finest…the whole scenery..breathtaking, wonderful!

The only downside of it is the hotels you will stay in is overly expensive but not worth it. I saw one nice hotel, Sheraton, but we weren’t able to stay there because we took a travel package tour. Since there are few hotels available because of the proximity from the city, you will have to bear and sacrifice for the sake of the beautiful sights.

For the food, if you’re a vegetarian, you’ll love the variety of vegetable meals they serve. The comfort room (WC) was not at all comfortable. For girls, it means squatting if you can bare to see some unsightly things.

But overall, I still enjoyed the trip, it was all worth it!

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Happy valley in Beijing! Newest amusement park near the city. I expected it to be far but we arrived 40 minutes from Woutaukou, Haidan District. Entrance fee: 180rmb.
We went there on a Monday so we were fortunate that the place was not crowded. Haven’t been to any Disney park so I can’t compare them. But I like the place because it’s huge! Talk about nice architectures.

Pendulum –scariest

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