tourism

Allgemein, Beijing and Beyond, Wanderlust

The Eastern Qing Tombs and Dowager Empress Cixi’s Final Resting Place

Gallery | Posted on by RITNB

Sunday, 30th of April 2017

Strolling towards the tombs of one of the most powerful women of the Qing dynasty – the dowager empress Cixi.

Weekends are for daytripping – at the end of last month that motto brought us to the Eastern Qing Tombs in Zunhua, almost 130km northeast of the Jing in the province of Hebei. Since online research suggested that regular public transportation wasn’t an option we went to Qianmen to buy a bus ticket with one of the public tourism companies a day in advance. We must have scored two of the last tickets, because early the next morning when we entered the bus, almost all the seats were taken. Five hours later, when we finally arrived at the Qing Tombs, we definitly learned some lessons:

  • Always arrive some 30 minutes ahead of time if you want to have adjecent seats

    I’m not gonna translate that (go ahead and use the translator)

    in the bus (that one should go without saying, and it proved to be true once more);

  • Boiled eggs are a type of “fast food” snack in China and a fart-like smell that creeps through the centre aisle does not necessarily mean that somebody couldn’t restrain themselves;
  • No matter how innocent an intersection looks, you can be almost certain that traffic will jam for miles nonetheless (giving you the time to stretch your legs and buy some ice cream at a rural 小卖部);
  • If you didn’t think about “doing your business” before the trip, you better be prepared to pay 10 Kuai to use the roadside thunderbox for a No. 2.
  • Never trust that the bus driver knows the way – even after continously consulting his cell phone map, he chose a road that allowed only vehicles no taller than 2.9m (yes, a long distance bus is taller than that). Luckily, pragmatism wins, and ten minutes after being stuck here a

    Our bus driver didn’t agree with the hight limitation of the road he chose, so he asked the gatekeeper to lift it.

    chubby gatekeeper arrived to ramp up the steel barrier and let us pass.

Exploring the Qing Tombs

The burial site was too large to see it all in three hours, and we will definitly come here again with a rental car. Along the way many locals offered rural homestays for rent, so it might even be an option to make this a weekend trip. The imperial mausoleum complex is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and requires a whole day of sightseeing if you want to see it all. On the tomb grounds, shuttle buses and golf caddies transport visitors from one grave to the next.

Again, I have embarrassingly little to write about the historic significance of the Qing Tombs. In fact, I am still waiting to discover a tourist site in China that actually has meaningful descriptions that provide some background information about the place you are visiting. So instead of paraphrasing Wikipedia I trust that the images convey the grandeur and splendor of the Qing Tombs. Enjoy.

At the entrance to the expansive tomb grounds ponds with water lilies and marble bridges greet the visitors.

Three gates granting access to the necropolis of the Qing emperors. The left (eastern) gate is the entrance gate for the emperor, whereas the west gate was used by the ministers. The coffin was carried through the center gate.

The Eastern Qing Tombs.

Yu Tomb (Qian Long) Stone Tributes, representing an altar with an oven, two candle holders and two vases on it. It was used to worship the ancestors. During the Qing dynasty, the royal harem could go no further than here.

Yuling, the tomb of the Qianlong emperor is one of the most magnificient royal graves in Chinese history. A series of nine vaults separated by four solid marble doors, weighting 3 tons each, are located at a depth of 54 metres. In 1928 the underground palace was robbed by the warlord Sun Dianying.

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Down below in the Yuling tombs, all the walls, vaulted ceilings, and gates are covered with Buddhist imagery and more than 30,000 words of Tibetan scripture and Sanskrit.

Reenactment of a royal ceremony.

Marble bridges leading to the Xiao Tombs Tablet Tower. The double eave gablet roof covers the tablet on which Emperor Shun Zhi’s title is carved in three languages – Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese.

Cixi Tomb Small Tablet Tower.

Looking down from the Ming Tower of Cixi’s Tomb, the highest site of the mausoleum.

Below, the grave grounds span all the way to the mountains.

Allgemein, Beijing and Beyond, Wanderlust

The Pride of Lions guarding Beijing’s Marco Polo Bridge

Gallery | Posted on by RITNB

Saturday, the 29th of April 2017

One more of Beijing’s sights is down from our tourist bucket list. Last weekend we took a bus all the way out to the suburbs of Beijing and visited the Marco Polo Bridge, a historically significant place in the south-west of town. There is not much else out there, but the bridge in itself is definitly worth the trip. Along the railing over the river some 500 different lions from different eras of Chinese history guard the bridge, and myth has it that no two persons will count the same number of lions there. One of the reasons why is that each individual lion is oftentimes joined by many more small baby lions hiding all around the stone sculpture. Below is a small selection of the creatures that can be seen there.

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Northern Vietnam, Wanderlust

Backpacking Northern Vietnam Part I – Crossing the border from Hekou to Lao Cai

Image | Posted on by RITNB

January the 28th, 2017

Not too long ago we had this idea of traveling from China to Vietnam, crossing the border from Hekou (Yunan, South China) to Lao Cai (North Vietnam) on foot. The easiest and most straight forward preperation we did was to buy a Lonely Planet of the destination country and do some googleing to research the feasibility of this endeavour. Turns out it is much easier than anticipated. Since we live in Beijing we booked a flight to Kunming, which took around 3 hours to bring us from the eastern capital to the southern edge of China. Since our flight touched down late that night, we took a cab from the Kunming airport to the Jinjiang hotel close to the train station. That way we gained some extra hours of sleep the next morning and only had a 10 minute walk up the road to reach the train station.

In order to save time and to avoid the masses queueing up at the ticket counter at the train station, find one of these ticket offices and collect yours well before starting the trip. It's 5 RMB service fee per ticket.

In order to save time and to avoid the masses queueing up at the ticket counter at the train station, find one of these ticket offices and collect yours well before starting the trip. It’s 5 RMB service fee per ticket.

Tipp: Claim your train ticket before heading to the station. We bought the train ticket on CTrip some days before the journey and only needed to present our original passports at the small local ticket booth to be able to receive it ahead of time.

Boarding the train at Kunming’s main station the route all the way down to Hekou Bei (North) took around five hours. The landscape was unexpectedly unremarkable: 70 percent of the time we passed through tunnels, while the remaining 30 percent were equally divided between highly unsustainable coal factories and small valleys. Since one of the main objectives of the journey was to cross the Chinese-Vietnamese border on foot, we were bound to take the train, but just for the joy of riding a train through “rural” China I would not recommend this particular route. There is no direct flight from China’s capital to Hekou – the bordering city to Vietnam – and as far as we know Hekou does not have an airport anyways. Arriving in Hekou North in the early afternoon, we walked out of the train station and expected to be pointed into the right direction by a billboard or an information counter. There is none, only a long line of small buses headed for the city center of Hekou. Board any of these buses for 2 RMB and get driven to the river that divides the two countries.

Once you cleared customs and decended the escalator, you are allowed to pass through to the other side.

Once you cleared customs and decended the escalator, you are allowed to pass through to the other side.

It’s another 30 minutes walk from where the bus drops you off to the actual border control. Keep on walking down the same road along the river until you see the massive triangular gate to the border bridge. The access to it is blocked by a high fence, so you will have to continue down the road to the left, then take the first street right. On the day that we crossed over to Vietnam there were not particularly many tourists there, but enough people were entering the inspection center to guide us into the right direction. Don’t expect helpful signs to guide your way, just follow the other travelers and take the elevator on the far left side of the government bureau up to Chinese customs. Much like the country exit on the airport, you are asked to fill out the small yellow departure card when leaving China and queue up to have your passport reviewed by a border control officer.

Tipp: On the small yellow departure card, simply put in “Walking” in the field “Flight No./Ship’s Name/Train No.” as a means of exit.

The front of the builing housing the Hekou Entry and Exit Inspection Center P.R.C.
To the left of the building’s front take the elevator up to the inspection center.

Once you handed your passport and departure card to the border officer, smiled into the digital camera to take the picture for the data base and passed the usual checkings at the border, you will receive the Chinese exit stamp into your passport. Now you are free to decend the escalator on the other side of the building and cross the bridge over to Vietnam.

Lao Cai International Border Gate Administration Center

The next building to come into view is the Lao Cai International Border Gate Administration Center, where you must first pass the usual “quarantine control”, which mainly consists of a woman checking your passport and a heat camera measuring your temperature, before going through the Vietnamese border controll and receiving your entrance stamp into your passport. Interesting side note: As a German citizen you don’t need a VISA for Vietnam unless you plan to spend more than 15 days in the country. Congratulation – you made it over the South China border and into Vietnam!

Allgemein, Beijing and Beyond, Wanderlust

Temple of Ancient Monarchs Li Dai Di Wang Miao in Beijing

Gallery | Posted on by RITNB

Saturday, the 21th of January 2017

The Temple of Ancient Monarchs

Today is another day of brilliant blue skies and sunshine in Beijing. Three weeks into the new year the weather is freezing cold, but due to the icy winds the air is clear again and you can see the mountains surrounding the city miles away. Naturally, we always want to make good use of bright days like this and decided to go visit the Temple of Ancient Monarchs, also called The Historical Emperial Temple of Beijing [Li Dai Di Wang Miao 历代帝王庙].

You can take the bus to Baitasi [白塔寺] and the temple will be only a few meters walk from the station.
Built in the 9th year of the Jiajing period of the Ming dynasty (1530) the palace is constructed with a thickeave roof, spun gold Nan Mu wood pillars and a Jin Zhuan paved floor, all of which are regarded as the perfection of imperial construction.

Personally I get the impression that many of the sights in Beijing look quite alike and I’m sure architects or historians see the many unique features in every one of them. Risking to appear ignorant I’d say I rather visit the temples that are a bit off the trail and attract less visitors but appear to be carved from the same wood than join the masses and squeeze through the entrance of the Forbidden City. First time visitors to Beijing will probably disagree and will gladly endure the crowds to enjoy the magnificence of the top rated tourist sites. And I have to admit that you probably cannot travel to Beijing and later tell your friends and family that you wouldn’t visit the Lama Temple in fear of too many people. I will still try to convice you that the Temple of Ancient Monarchs is very worthwhile even though it might not be the number one priority on your Beijing bucket list.

One week until Chinese New Year and the streets and tourist sites all over Beijing have a festive decoration.
Laterns are hung from tree branches all over the temple.
Lucky symbol decorate the temple grounds.

Since we only have one week left until Chinese New Year – a week of holidays with abundant fireworks and merry family get-togethers – red laterns and lucky symbol appeared all over the city virtually over night. Contrary to the jammed experience of tourist sights during the Spring Festival itself, today the Temple of Ancient Monarchs was almost completely deserted. On the one hand, that might be due to the fact that almost nobody is actually a “native” Beijing citizen and thus returned to their home provinces for the festival already. On the other hand minus 5 degrees C and a stiff wind probably convinced people to stay indoors despite the beautiful sunshine.

Inside the Temple of Anchient Monarchs.
Inside the Temple of Anchient Monarchs.
Inside the Temple of Anchient Monarchs.
6m high, the stele in 1764.
Composed of green coloured glaze, the furnace was used to burn the paper or silk prayers offered for sacrifices to the emperors whose tablets appear in the Imperial Temple. Rebuilt in 2004.
Built around 1530, this furnace was used to burn the paper or silk prayers offered vor sacrifices to the eminent ministers and generals whose tablets appear in the Imperial Temple. Rebuilt in 2004.

The Historical Imperial Temple of Beijing is easily seen in an hour’s time. There are three major halls, all of which contain religious artifacts. There are also two halls housing a large buddha, and two pavillons with traditional Chinese “turtles”. In the west annex hall leading off the main structure to the left you’ll find the small Guan Di Temple. Outside, a small steel oven is used to burn incense, while inside a regious entity may be adressed for prayers. In the east annex hall visitors may see the Well Pavilion, used to make sacrificial soup and to clean up after the animals were slaughtered for sacrifice.The well’s roof has a square hole in the center facing the mouth of the well, symbolizing that heaven and earth were linked together.

Incense oven in front of Guan Di Temple.
Guan Di Temple.
Details on the rood of the incense oven in front of Guan Di Temple.
Sticks of burned out incense on front of Guan Di Temple.
The Well Pavillon.

For an overview of the temple’s layout see the map below.

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Allgemein, Beijing and Beyond, Wanderlust

Winterly Temple of Heaven in Beijing

Image | Posted on by RITNB

It’s our first week back after the Christmas holidays and I have to say the weather treated us very nicely. Over newyears our friends who didn’t return home as well as the German media repeatedly reported the devastating smog situation in Beijing, and I already expected the worst. Fortunately, we brought the clean air back with us and the last few days have seen brighter and brighter skies. Exploiting the opportunity to be outside without wearing a mask, we paid a visit to the Temple of Heaven, one of the few sights that I haven’t been to in the 16 month that we have been living here. It’s quite an amazing monument and is conveniently located at it’s own subway station (Tiantan Dongmen, Exit A). As it so happens the Pearl Market is directly across the street, so you could also get some (souvenir) shopping done since you’re already in the far south of the city. Tiantan one of the less expensive tourist attractions of Beijing and a regular “through ticket”, which grants you access to the main temple and some other importants parts of the area, costs 28 RMB (student price is 14 Kuai less). I recommend to buy the through ticket immediately and pay the extra 18 Kuai on top of a regular ticket, otherwise you can only get access to the front plaza and won’t be let through to the main temple. You’d have to buy a seperate ticket for 20 RMB if you haven’t gotten the through ticket right at the entrance.

Walking towards the main temple, you will see groups of elderly people playing cards and mahjongg. I’m always inspired by this routine, prefering to spend the sunny hours of the afternoon with old friends outside, rather than sitting isolated in your living room and counting the hours.

Chinese elderly passing time in Tiantan Park.
Chinese elderly passing time in Tiantan Park.

Many parents also took advantage of the clear and sunny day and visited the temple grounds today. A mother with her two kids positioned themselves in front of the main structure and captured the trip with their cell phone camera. She tried to convince her daughter to let her sister give her a smooch on the cheek, but as you can imagine she wasn’t too fond of the idea.

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Seoul, South Korea, Wanderlust

Five Day Trip to Seoul, South Korea

Gallery | Posted on by RITNB

One of the banes of living abroad (and especially in China) are visa runs – being forced to leave the country simply for the purpose of renewing your residence permit. So why not use the compulsory trip to catch up on some long due traveling, in our case bridging the 1000km distance from the Jing to the South Korea. More precisely to Seoul, the capital of South Korea, a stone’s through away from their atomic neighbors. The pictures below were taken on our five day trip to the capital, which is about the time you need to get a rough idea of the friendliness of the people and the cleanliness of the food. But first, let me (take a selfie…) give you a small list of impressions that were the most remarkable about Seoul, either compared to Beijing or compared to the general public opinion about Seoul:

  • You don’t need a visa to enter the country (at least not as a German passport holder), which was a very good thing given that we talked about looking up the visa regulation for Korea but in the end totally forgot to check again (that would have been one nasty surprise at the border)
  • Flight time between Beijing and Seoul is something like two hours (again, I didn’t have the time to gather more concrete travel information about this trip, so I simply assumed that it would take more than a few hours to get there. Which is also why I devoured that aweful plane meal, being under the impression that I wouldn’t get any food for the next couple of hours…)
  • The traffic (and the general demeanor of pedestrians and car/bus/taxi/motorbike/bicycle drivers) generally adheres to the rules
  • People in the streets don’t spit/fart/burp on a crowded sidewalk
  • Contrary to common notion the people of Seoul don’t speak English (at least using English won’t get you much farther than it would in downtown Beijing and sign language is still the means of communication for any non-Chinese speaking visitor)
  • You can buy beer that doesn’t taste like stale water (which is especially nice for people used to German brews)
  • Juice is actually made from fruit (we bought the most amazing fresh apple juice in an ordinary convenient store)
  • Koreans have a high quality coffee culture, so even smaller cafés tend to have portafilter machines (plus the milk that’s used tastes much better than in China)
  • One can receive ashtonishingly decent public wifi connections (we didn’t manage to buy a mobile phone card, so we used the public wifi, and except for some smaller bumps we got along quite well)
  • Art & history museum are for free, because the government provides cultural education for everyone (you do have to pay to gain access to the shrine and temples)
  • Shockingly we weren’t able to use WeChat in every store (which is a major problem once you fully got used to the comfort of not having any cash in your pockets). AliPay would have worked though
  • People tend to have good oral hygiene, so you don’t keel over everytime someone yawns in a crowded subway next to you
  • The public education videos in the subway actually seem to have an effect on the behaviour of the metro users (i.e. the majority sits with their ankles crossed instead of shoving the soles of their shoes into your knees
  • Contrary to the general opinion, Seoul didn’t turn out to be a shopping metropolis for us. With a european size 42 and shoe size 39, I didn’t find a single piece of clothing that didn’t look ridiculously like something a manga character would wear.
  • It was however ok with regards to their assortment of cosmetics. Especially in the main shopping street in close vicinity to the M Korea Tower, stores specializing in body lotion, facial creams, lip sticks, fake eye lashes, contact lenses, neon eye shadow, skin masks, hand lotions, and whatever else you can think of to smoothen out those wrinkles or lighten up your tone of skin was offered in one street.

So without furher ado find some of our travel pictures below…Enjoy.

 

Gwanghwamun Square, a 555m long, 34 m wide plaza in front of Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbokgung palace. Statues of Admial Yi Sunshin and King Sejong, two of the most respected historical figures in Korea are watching over visitors.
Gyeongbokgung Palace – the first royal palace built in the Joseon Dynasty, where hte Joseon Dynasty’s 500 year history began. The largest of the five grand palaces remaining in Seoul, Gyeongbokgung Palace provides a glimpse into Joseon’s royal culture, palace life, and architecture.
Sumunjang changing of the guards ceremony (twice a day, 10 am and 2pm)
Ceremony drum
Sumunjang changing of the guards ceremony
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
Signs that attract little attention.
View from the Jamdoobong photo island, half way up the walk up to the M Korea Tower
Another visitor caught in a net.
Trees made of promise locks on the platform of the M Korea Tower
Thousands of locks line the handrails of the Korea Tower viweing platform.
A piece of China in Korea.
The M Korea Tower.
The M Korea Tower.
Myeong-dong Cathedral – located in the heart of downtown Seoul, Myeong-dong Cathedral is not only the first parish church in Korea, but also an important symbol of the Korean Catholic church. Father Eugene Coste of the Paris Foreign Missions Society began planning the construction in 1892. The cathedral was consecrated on May 29, 1898, to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception as its patron saint.
The Cheonggyecheon is an almost 11k long waterway flowing from the south of Gwanghwamun Square to Dongdaemun, passing under historic structures and through present-day Seoul. Originally a popular laundry spot and playground, it has now become a popular area for Seoul citizens to relax at.
Created by world-renowned artists Coosje Van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg. “Spring” is the monument of the nature regenerated in Seoul and the symbol of the Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project. The idea for the exterior spiral was inspired by a shell rising upwards like a pagoda. The vetical shape creates a dynamic atmosphere, representing the restored vitality of the stream and the cultural aspect of Seoul’s urban development.Looking inside, two colouful ribbons, inspired from Korean traditional dress of women, stream loosely down, one a luminous blue, the other a peony red, representing the unity of opposites in nature and human spirit.
Deoksugung Palace
Beijing and Beyond, Roadtrip to Inner Mongolia, Wanderlust

Heilongtan National Scenic Area – Beijing’s Black Dragon Pond

Posted on by RITNB

Some 60 k out of Beijing one can visit the Black Dragon Pond, or Heilongtan, in Miyun district. The area is marked by a collection of small ponds of clear water, that are fed by a well somewhere in the mountains above. It is a nice change to the busy city life in Beijing proper, and absolutely suitable for a one day trip. We rented a car and made it a destination on our way to Inner Mongolia. Driving out of town and into the mountains took us about two to three hours, with about a third of the time spend in traffic jams out of Beijing. The street up the scenic area are steadily winding up to higher ground, passing through almost rural areas. Especially interessting on the way were the many bee farmers that sold their locally produced honey to passers-by. We might have had luck, but arriving at the entrance to the area we had no trouble finding a parking space on the comparatively small parking lot, which is located very close to the ticket office. The entrance fee is 60 RMB for adults, but if you manage to produce a valid student ID with a date printed on it, you can get a discount. A nice little extra with regards to the entrance ticket is that they come with a small postcard of the sight you are about to visit, with the postage fee already payed. In the park one walks past smaller and larger ponds of clear mountain water, and after only a few hundred meters you see the first waterfall. It hadn’t rained in some time so the water level was somewhat lower than it could have been, but the steady fall of water was still a very pretty sight to see. One small downer with all the surfaces of water is that the park administration decided to provide inflatable boats and “hamster wheels” for all of them, so it is pretty hard to take a nice picture of the beautiful surrounding nature without them spoiling the view. This is a trip for which you need a good physical condition if you plan to take the full tour. It starts unsuspiciously easy, with even surfaces to walk on and handrails to guide you over the more splippery parts. If you don’t feel your best I advise you to enjoy the sight aroud the entrance of the park and skip the rest, because it soon starts to become more adventurous, with my personal hightlight being a climb of a narrow ladder between to even narrower parts of rock. The closer you come to the top of the mountain, the more exhausting the climb becomes, naturally. In general I would say that this trip is best suited for spring or fall and not in the mids of summer, because the heat does take its toll during the climb. The reward is worth it though. Atop the trails lies a small Chinese temple that overlooks the stunning mountain tops nearby and gives a splendid look over the valley below. All in all the black dragon scenic area is perfect for a day spend in nature, with a well-balanced mix of sightseeing and physical activity.

Word.
The first waterfall one encountres on the way up.
An adventurous climb up the mountain through a narrow cleavage beneath two parts of rock.
Crystal clear water.
Dragon Cut Stone. Legend has it that the black dragon was once blocked by a huge rock sent by the flood. The angry dragon cut the rock into half with its paw.
A frog taking a sunbath.
The pagoda at the end of the climb, overlooking the valleys.