Emei Shan

Today I spent most of the day on the bus and on Emei Shan, one of the four famous Buddhist mountains. I wasn’t completely sure what I was going to do here. My original plan was to do just part of the mountain and not go to the summit. The mountain is not very high, but it’s quite spread out, so I didn’t think I’d have time to hike to the summit. However, on the bus I met some people who were also going to Emei Shan and were planning to take a two hour bus ride up the mountain to get near the summit. I decided to do the same thing.

From where we were dropped off, we had about 650 meters of elevation gain to get to the top. It was quite foggy and it seemed unlikely that we would have any views from the top. The forecast called for rain.

I set out at a pretty good pace and I found it to be quite a work out. There were stairs all the way to the top and for me this was more challenging than just a hiking path. But still, it didn’t take long to get to the summit. It’s known as the Golden Summit (3077 m), because of the brass clad Jinding Temple (Golden Temple) at the top.

Once I was at the top, I was absolutely in awe. It was not only clear, but the huge statue of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra was quite a sight. There were hundreds of people, some pilgrims some tourists. From the cliffs a sea of clouds spread out as far as the eye could see. I was so glad I made the decision to go to the top.

After taking some photos, I sat down for lunch and waited for my bus friends to catch up. Tonight I’m staying in the town at the base of the mountain and will explore a few more hiking trails tomorrow.

Starting out the hike with Momo, Eric, Jason & Kathryn:

Jieyin Temple (2540 m):

Sea of Clouds:

Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (aka Puxian):

Jingding (Golden) Temple:

Sheshen Cliffs:

What to do in Chengdu

I almost missed my flight to Chengdu this morning. I was supposed to leave my Bejing hotel at about 5:30 am and set my alarm for 4:30 am so that I would have enough time to pack. I woke up without an alarm, decided to check the time and noticed it was 5:15 am. The alarm I set was for 4:30 pm! I quickly got out of bed, packed my things and showered by the time I received a phone call from reception to notify me that my airport taxi was waiting.

The flight itself was only two hours. I started up a conversation with the man next to me, once I realized he spoke a little English. He moved to Beijing from Chengdu for work. He was telling me that a lot of people only get a week of paid vacation in China. After ten years you get two. That seemed pretty bad, I wonder if it's true. As we approached Chengdu, I could make out some extremely high mountains in the distance. The Himalayas perhaps?

I got to the hostel, put my things in the room and went sight-seeing. I went to the nearby Wenshu Yuan, a Buddhist monastery. It wasn't too big and I got through it fairly quickly. There were a lot of monks, tourists, people praying and some just taking advantage of the quiet park within the monastery walls. I took a few pictures then sat down for a meal at one of the restaurants within the monastery's grounds. A vegetarian restaurant serving dishes that would normally be done with meat. In some photos on the menu, they even shaped the ingredients to look like meat. I enjoyed a Sichuan style soup, which wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be.

Right in front of the monastery there is a kind of reconstruction of an old Chinese town. A China town? It seemed to be an amusement park of sorts, with locals eating candy, playing games and buying useless trinkets. It was all a bit odd. To get back to my hostel, I took a few back streets and went through a nice little street market.

When I got back to the hostel and realized I forgot the cable for my netbook in Beijing. I was too rushed when I packed. At first I was quite upset and a bit stressed. I really didn't like the thought of having to carry a dead computer in my backpack for the rest of my trip. Also, I like keeping my blog going and without the netbook I would have to use internet cafes. That's what I've done in the past and it's a lot more effort, time and money. I got a little mad at myself for not checking the room over before I left, but decided to calm down and just see if I could find a cable locally.

Explaining my problem to the reception at the hostel, they showed me an area on the other side of town that had a lot of computer stores. I hoped into a taxi, pointed on the map and I was off. The taxi dropped me off right in front of a computer store. I went in and within minutes they had my netbook hooked up and ready to go. They only charged me fifteen dollars for a new cable! I was so relieved.

Staying at this hostel is quite nice. The staff is extremely informative and there are a lot of travelers coming through. Sitting in the lobby is just like watching the world come to you. I talked to a girl from Israel, a couple from England, some folks from Australia and Japan, it was quite nice. I think tomorrow I'm off to Emei Shan to do some hiking and perhaps stay a night on the mountain.

Wenshu Yuan (Buddhist monestary):

Outside the monastery:

Street market:

Summer Palace

I've changed my plans a bit. The whole train thing was giving me a bit of a headache. So rather than heading to the places I mentioned in my previous blog and making my way south, I've decided to take a flight as far south as I want to go and then head north. I've chosen Chengdu as my destination. I read a little bit about it, probably won't be staying there for two long. I'll use it as a base for a couple of days. The weather will be much warmer too and it'll get warmer as I head back north. Though it looks like there might be rain waiting for me when I arrive. My flight is tomorrow.

I used the time today to check out the Summer Palace, in the northwest area of Beijing. It's a pretty huge area and I spent the entire day walking around it. I entered through the north, made my way over a hill, through a number of buddhist temples, then down the hill to the Kunming Lake and over to the South Lake Island. The area is quite pretty and quite bit. I managed to cover just half of it. Just like in the Forbidden City, there were thousands of tourists. Often shoulder to shoulder squeezing through corridors. Sometimes it seems the people just go with the crowd, unsure of where they're going. I've noticed that when I aim my camera at something bizarre, soon everyone behind me starts looking in the same direction and taking pictures of the same thing.

I had a couple of delicious meals today. Finally decided to check out some restaurants. Both times I had a beef noodle soup. One was pretty plain and the other quite spicy. I wasn't sure how to order what I wanted, so I just pointed to a pictures they had on the wall or in the menu. Either way, I'm starting to feel a little more brave with going into restaurants.

I got around primarily with the Beijing Subway. I have to say I'm so impressed with it. I've never experienced city transportation that's so intuitive and efficient. The trains come within three minutes, so usually there's one right when you get there. It costs about thirty cents and you can transfer to eight or more lines without paying anything extra or leaving the subway. It'll get you to pretty much every part of the city. It's quite clean too, though most of the city is suprisingly well kept. I barely noticed any garbage on the streets when I walked around. I wonder how much of that is due to the Olympics. The city government put a lot of money into teaching people certain manners. Posters and videos are still all over the city showing people to line up, not to spit or litter, to give up seats to the elderly and I even saw a video in form of a cartoon showing that groping others on the train is not appropriate.

I've got to start writing these blogs when I'm not so tired. I've dozed off a few times during the previous entries. Time to get some sleep.

Suzhou Street at the north entrance of the Summer Palace:

North side of Longevity Hill:

Inside one of the temples:

One of many paintings on the wooden beams of the Long Corridor:

The Marble Boat:

Buddhist Fragrance Pavilion:

Kunming Lake:

South Lake Island:

The Great Wall

What a day! The Great Wall is so far my favorite sight. I had originally intended to do some of the unrestored sections, but that plan fell through. So instead I booked with a nearby hostel. I did the hike from Jinshaling to Simatai, approximately ten kilometers along the wall, passing through thirty-one guard towers with very nice views of the surrounding peaks and valleys.

Everything worked out quite well. I was a little hesitant when I found out the tour I booked was made up of twenty some people, but we quickly spread out when we started hiking. For a while I was further ahead and had much of the wall to myself. In the group I met Lorraine and Ray from Ireland, who I accompanied for much of the hike. It was great to have some good company and good conversation, as I've been having a lot of trouble communicating with non-English speakers. Next time I'll have to put a lot more effort into learning the local language.

The hike really didn't feel like ten kilometers and part of me wishes it was a little bit longer. We ended it with a ride with a zip line and over a river. The tour also included a dinner at a restaurant in Simatai. What a relaxing day! On the three hour bus ride back to Beijing, I spent a good amount of time exchanging information about Canada and Ireland with Ray. It'd be nice to be able to visit Ireland someday.

I'm a little concerned now though, as I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I'm thinking of going to Pingyao, Xi'an or Zengzhou and for either one the best way is the train. Everything I've read says that you have to book the train a few days in advance to get a ticket. Tomorrow I'll go over to the train station to see if I can get one right away. If not, I may have to spend an extra day or two in Beijing.

Jingshalin Gate:

A few guard towers:

A man selling water, beer and hats:

Ray and Lorraine:

Some of the loose sections:

Simatai and zip line area:

P.S. Noticed my comments were restricted to register accounts only. I've changed that so that anyone can leave a comment. Feel free to comment, it encourages me to do this blog.

A lot of walking

My feet are so sore! I easily walked over fifty kilometers today. Beijing is so big. Looking at the map, I didn't think it would take me that long to walk from place to place. What I didn't realize was that one Beijing "block" equals about ten in Calgary.

I started walking with the Forbidden City as my first destination. I got there fairly quickly, with thirty minutes to opening time so I killed some time walking around Zhongshan Park. It's a really pretty park, with people scattered all around doing various forms of exercise.

When I made back to the Forbidden City entrance, it looked like thousands of people were starting to gather. It was a long line up. I managed to get my ticket fairly quickly and hurried inside with the hope of getting some photos without hundreds of people in them. I wasn't too successful, but I did find a number of places where there werent too many people. There were so many cooridors!

From the Forbidden City, I made my way north to the Jingshan Park. It overlooks the city, built on a mound of dirt left over from the construction of the city moat. The views were pretty nice. Skyscrappers seemed to be rising in every direction. Nice views of the Forbidden City too.

On my way out, I decided to stop by an ATM to take out some cash. To my surprise my bank card didn't work. I tried two more nearby ATMs and same thing. I panicked, as this was the method I was hoping to use to fund my trip. With very little money in my wallet, I hurried back to my hotel and searched google for Beijing ATM use. It seems there are only a couple of banks that accept international bank cards, so my new mission became to find them. Using the internet, I found a couple of distant ATM machines and began walking. The first one I got to worked and I was very much relieved.

Looking at the map, I was not too far from the Temple of Heaven, so I headed in that direction. It took a long time to get there and I really should have used the train. The temple is surrounded by a beautiful park and that was refreshing after a long walk along busy streets. There isn't a whole lot to see at the temple itself, but it is structure often associated with Beijing. It too was swarming with tourists. One group in particular seemed to think it was a good idea for all fifty of them to wear neon green shirts. This made getting photos without them visible in it pretty tricky. I pretty much waited for all of them to leave.

After the Temple of Heaven, I headed up to Tiananmen Square, where I watched soldiers goosestep across a busy street for the sunset flag lowering ceremony. It seemed to be a popular event with the locals, I couldn't barely make out the top of their rifles. I spent a little bit of time hanging around Qianmen Daije, just south of the square, which is a wide street only for pedestrians.

As light disappeared, I headed back to my hotel. On the way I was asked by several women to join them for dinner. This is apparently a trick meant to lure you to an expensive restaurant where you end up flipping the bill. I also came across a few "art students" who want to practice English. One swore she met me before, thought I was German, then proceeded to try and sell me some paintings. I read about both of these occurances in the guidebook and quickly moved on.

Zongshan Park:

Forbidden City:

Jingshan Park:

Temple of Heaven:

Tiananmen Square:

Beijing - First Impressions

What a long flight! I read a good bit of the guide book for Beijing and watched two movies. Tried sleeping, but never got a good big of rest. The plane followed the west coast line, flying all the way to Alaska before heading over to Beijing. It made for some pretty scenic views of the mountains, while it was clear. I should have taken more shots. The one to the left is a mountain range near Port Hardy.

I arrived at the Beijing airport about 3:30pm and didn't get out of the airport until 5:00pm. It was a pretty slow process. Oddly our bags were delivered to section of the airport which required a five minute train ride. Then I took another train to the downtown area and yet another train to get me closer to my hotel. These are similar to the c-train in Calgary, but there's quite a few more tracks!

From the third train station, it took me a few minutes of figuring out where I was on my map and by then my GPS locked onto some satellites and I was able to find my way fairly quick. Unfortunately it was already getting dark by the time I got to my hotel, so other than this single photo, I don't have much to show from Beijing.

Once I was checked in, I decided to explore the nearby area. First thing I noticed was the air quality, you can definitely feel the pollution. The second thing was my hunger. I thought about going to a restaurant and quickly realized that unless the menu has photos, I have no idea what I'm ordering. I settled for some skewered meat from a street vendor.

So I'm finding things aren't as simple as I thought they would be and the government doesn't help much. For starters, my GPS is off by 300-500 meters because of government regulations. That's right, unoffical maps are not allowed to be accurate. Also, facebook and blogger are blocked. While I did find my way around it, it'll make keeping up the blog pretty difficult.