Category: Travel

1 day tour

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How to get there

We were really lucky to travel in the time just when the COVID-19 situation normalized in China (June 2020) and travel was considered safe. I suppose many people still had concerns to travel, so there was little to none traffic / people. When we asked the staff of the park, they told us normally, they get around 100,000 visitors each day, now they have between 5,000-10,000 a day.

The entrance fee is around 100 RMB / person if I remember correct. You have to be prepare though, there are many other small cable cars or elevators in the park you have to pay extra (each around 60 RMB/person).

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The heavenly gate (Tian Men)

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The Mountain Plateau

A long path leads around the plateau which can be walked in either direction. We started eastwards. You can walk several glass pathways with a vertical drop of several hounded meters below you. It is actually quite scary, you should definitely not be afraid of heights.

There is a path leading around the plateau, you can take it in either direction. We decided to go eastwards. If you want to do the whole tour, it will probably take around 3-4 hours. We stopped in the middle and went down with the cable car.

There are other small temples and hiking paths, so you can easily spend the whole day or even two.

On our way back, we could view the mountains from below which was another impressive view, it revealed how high/big the mountain plateau really is.

Zhangjiajie is not a particular big city, but big enough to have a Starbucks, so we stopped there on our way back to the hotel for a coffee (you cannot really get good coffee easily in China…)

Highlights to see during daytime

Today was an outdoor day, we had several places on our list.

Shamian Island

The island has a long history. Without going too deep into it, it used to be a strategic port for foreign trade since the year 960 (Song Dynasty). Later in 1859, it was given to the UK and France as an foreign enclave. After 1949 the area was given back to China.

In any case, today, the architecture is still beautiful, although it feels a little out of place in China.

There are a some cafes and restaurants there and you can walk through the entire area in 1 hour easily.

Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Area

Next, we walked to the “major shopping street” from Shamian island. On the way, we came across a lot of strange shops, that sold dried mushrooms and many things we could not identify. I will share some pictures, perhaps you can identify what it is? Feel free to leave a comment. If I figure it out later, I will let you know.

Along the way we found a dumping area for rental bikes, or perhaps it was just a creative way to park them?

The actual shopping street was a different experience altogether, there were all kind of shops. However, it was very noisy and every shop really tried hard to attract customers. I don’t like shopping to much in general, so I could convince my wife just to pass through…

Lunch

It was already 14:30 when we left the area and we were already hungry. So we went to the next best mall and looked for a place to have a pizza. We found “The Pizza Factory” a nice place where you can get a “DIY Pizza” where you can choose the ingredients by yourself.

Address and link to Dianping:

披萨工坊The Pizza Factory(北京路店)
比萨,中山五路70号捷登都会五层L5011更多商户信息评价请查看

Yuexiu Park (5 Goat Park)

A little further north, there is the famous Yuexiu Park, which is also the biggest park in Guangzhou and a 4A rated scenic area.

Address and Dianping link:

广州市越秀公园
公园,解放北路988号更多商户信息评价请查看

The legend of the 5 goats goes more or less like this. In ancient times, there was a drought, lasting for several years. Suddenly, 5 heavenly beings appeared from the clouds, riding on 5 differently colored goats.. The heavenly beings left the goats and some wheat for the people and from then on there was always rain and good weather for enough crop harvest. To honor those goats, the statues were build.

The park is one of the nicest parks we have ever been to. There is a big outdoor swimming pool in the middle (I suppose for professional swimmers and contests as it looked like). You can take a boat ride on one of the many lakes, or just hike/walk around the area. The plants are tropical, from palms to bamboo forests to different flowers.

ShiShi Shenxin Cathedral

Unfortunately, we were too late to enter the cathedral, but it was a magnificent view from the outside nevertheless. It reminded me on the Notre-dame cathedral (I am not a cathedral expert, though).

The cathedral was build from 1863 to 1888 (22 years!) You should absolutely not miss to visit it when you are in Guangzhou.

A sightseeing guide for the area around the Canton Tower.

We arrived Monday 05th October (Chinese National Holiday week) by train D2961 from Guilin North Train Station.

The bullet train costs 165 RMB/person for 2nd class seats. Second class is absolutely fine. You could go first class (we couldn’t see any difference really) or VIP class, which is a very small part of the car with seats as you find them in business class flights on intercontinental flights. Since it was the Holliday week, there were not any other tickets available anyhow. The trip takes 3:05 hours for around 650km. This train goes up to 250km/h (There are others in China which go up to 300 or 350km/h, just as a side note).

After arrival we took a didi to our Hotel Langham Place (30min/90RMB).

We both each took a burger, one “Classic Cheeseburger” and one “Jucy Lucy Burger”. Both were OK, but could have been a little bigger. The service was fast, but there were not many people there at 15:00 either.

The prices were on the upper end of the scale, the burgers were each 80 RMB + 40 RMB / 0,25l beer.

As the restaurant was near a metro station (Tancun), we walked 900m to the station and rode 2 stops on line 5 (2 RMB/person, public transport is so affordable in China!) to Zhujiang New Town Station.

From there there’s a huge pedestrian area where you can walk up to the river, always having the Canton Tower in sight.

The tower and skyline lit up around 18:30. It’s a spectacular view.

Theres a huge mall around the area, called “Mall of the world”, it seems all shops and buildings are connected (they probably are). We just went through briefly and stopped at a noodle restaurant (Hefu Noodles)

Of course there are many other activities you can do in the area. Apart from shopping, you can take a pearl river cruise, but you can really not see that much more from the ship/boat so we skipped it. Naturally, you can also go up the Canton Tower, but we skipped that as well, perhaps we will go for it later. We will also most definitely come back tomorrow for some shopping.

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

On the last weekend of October (2019) we went to Chengdu for a weekend getaway. We arrived on Friday evening and had to leave already Sunday evening.

No question that there is more to do in Chengdu than you can cover in 2 day, so we focused on only a few things.

• Friday: Qingyang District
• Saturday: Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
• Sunday: Panda Park

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Qingyang District

We went there from our hotel (Mercure Chengdu Chunxi, around 900 RMB/night incl. breakfast) by taxi. There is a „tourist pedestrian zone“ with a lot of nice shops and restaurants. The Chinese name is „KuanXiangZi“

You can find a giant panda statue with a big bottle of Baijiu, which made a perfect photo spot.

Be sure to stop also in one of the many soup restaurants and try a delicious (yet very spicy) noodle soup. It should not cost more than 25 Yuan, normally, the price should be 10-15 Yuan.

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Leshan Giant Buddha Statue and Oriental Buddha Park

The Leshan Giant Buddha statue is one of the most impressive statues found in South China.

There are organized river tours there which go up and down the river near the statue. The trip we chose took about 30 minutes round trip for ca. 100 RMB/person.

This park features some really nice outdoor areas as well as several caves with different sized Buddha statues and other relgious figures and several temples.

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Panda Park

The park is huge, so it is better to plan the whole day. You can take “shortcuts” by taking electric cars/busses, which stop basically at every location, but if you like to walk, be prepared.

An exciting and easy way to explore the wonderful landscape

Due to the crazy holiday traffic we decided to explore the area by e-scooters. We saw them before in every-day traffic but never actually drove one. We could rent them at our hotel for 60 RMB per day per scooter. You do not need a driving license for it. The range is around 50km, depending on your driving style. They go up to 60 km/h which is incredible fun. Driving is not really dangerous, there are dedicated bike lanes next to the main streets (it is even a lane separated from the “real street”). On the smaller streets, of course, there are no dedicated lines, but people drive more slow there. You should expect people to drive differently than in Europe or the US, so always stay alert, there could be oncoming traffic on the wrong lane, or traffic rules are sometimes “flexible”.

Also, I supposed it goes without saying, drinking and driving is strictly prohibited in China, so do not drive under the influence of alcohol.

We stopped at majorly 3 places (as indicated in the map), there are many other minor places to stop. However, the „main attraction“ for us was the scenery. Just take in the gorgeous landscape around you while you drive and stop wherever you see something interesting. That’s the beauty of driving around on a e-scooter 🙂

The place below is called Yulonghe Scenic area.

For the final stop we drove another 15km to a place called “Shangri-La” which was supposed to be some sort of traditional village with rice fields. It turned out to be a “tourist-trap”. What do I mean by that? Firstly, you have to pay 60 RMB / person entrance fee (which is fine, it includes a boat tour). First, you take the boat tour along the “village” (it is actually completely artificial). It’s OK, you see a few old traditional buildings and the scenery is nice. After the boat tour you have to find your way back to the exit through approximately 10 or more different stores that offer all kind of touristy souvenirs. There is not any way to take any shortcut, and there is not much more to see except for the shops.

Therefore, we would not really recommend to drive all the way there. If it is on your way and you like buying souvenirs, sure take a shot, but otherwise, I wouldn’t.

On our way back, we got some great views on some actual rice fields right next to the street.

Back in our hotel for dinner, we ordered cucumber salad, mixed vegetables (lotus root, corn, peppers, mushrooms), mixed fried rice (chicken, shrimp and beef) and shrimps with vegetables. Simple, but extremely delicious.

An exciting climbing experience near Yangshuo

We wanted to experience some climbing activity near Yangshuo. There is one place called „Via Ferrata Climbing area“ (阳朔昂赛飞拉达攀岩溜索基地).

It took us 20 minutes (due to holiday traffic) from our Hotel Zen Garden to there by car.

The entrance fee is something around 150 RMB / person. There were not too many people so we got our climbing gear right away. After a very brief introduction in Chinese language, we got the basics of how to use the climbing equipment safely.

The climb started quite steep, you go up a ladder and then basically have different climbing stuff attached to the wall, such as grips, ladders, swinging bridges, ropes you have to walk on etc.

At the end, there are 2 zip-lines. Especially the last one is quite fast.

We really enjoyed the experience, it takes about 1.5 hours (possibly around 45 minutes if there are no people at all. We had to wait here and there for other climbers, you cannot overtake, which is logical for safety reasons.

Everything is done very professionally from the staff. The equipment is state of the art.

How to find the best spots around Guilin

On our second day in Yangshuo, we planned to take a Li River cruise and hike up the Lao Zhai Hill (老寨山).

This time, we took a DiDi (ca. 100 RMB one way) from Yangshuo to Xingping (about 40 km). We stopped at XingPing Ancient Town, which we just passed (it’s basically your “standard” ancient town with a lot of small souvenir shops and small restaurants).

Just take the way down to the “pier” and turn left just before to find the path up the mountain. It is really kind of easy to miss, so see the pictures for guidance.

The hike takes about 30 minutes. The path is really steep and there are some passages that involve climbing, but there are guide rails an kind of ladders. If you are careful, it is not dangerous, but you should watch your steps. On the top you will be rewarded with spectacular views.

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After coming back down, we went on a river cruise. The ticket terminal is right on the foot of the mountain, you cannot miss it. The ticket is 60 RMB per person and the ride takes about 1hour. It stops also at the famous river bend which is displayed on the 20 Yuan bill.

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For dinner we went to a place nearby, however outside the ancient city. The place is called “Half-Landscape-Hotel” or 半山云水餐厅 Chinese language. The price was reasonable, 150 RMB for 2 beer and 4 dishes. The food was great and the service as well, the staff even spoke very good English.

After driving back to Yangshuo, we could enjoy some great fireworks for the National Holiday (71st Anniversary of the P.R.C. and this year also coincidently the time for mid-autumn festival, so 2 reasons to celebrate at once!)

Quick facts regarding mid autumn festival:

• It is celebrated not only in China, but also Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines (probably more in south east Asia, I hope I did not forget any country)
• It is an over 3,000 year old tradition and the 2nd most important festival after Chinese New Year.
• Moon pies are a delicious specialty offered at this time.

It was spectacular, only we felt a little out of place, since we did not join singing the national anthem (we don’t know the text) and celebration a national holiday as foreigner felt kind of strange to us. Nevertheless, it was a nice experience!

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Location Details

Exploring the Li and Yulong River

We arrived late the last night, as we took a flight from Dali to Chengdu and then further to Guilin (there is no direct flight, this was the fastest connection) From the airport to Yangshuo, it takes another 1.5 hours by car. (300RMB, you could possibly get it for around 200 RMB using DiDi, but we did not want to take any chances of not getting a car in the middle of the night)

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First thing to mention is our Hotel, „Yangshuo Zen Garden“a very nice small (34 rooms) hotel in a rural area. The staff was very welcoming even at midnight. They were very supportive to organize basically everything (Day trips, special food requirements etc). You can also join a WeChat group, which makes the communication easier (in case you do not speak Chinese). Some of the staff at the reception speak English, and with some basic Chinese and English you can get around.

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After a good local breakfast, we explored the surrounding area. There is a very nice path along the Yulong river of about 2km length. We met a couple there (coincidently also from Dalian) which recommended us to go to the Xianggongshan (相公山) scenic area.

We booked a car from the hotel (200RMB round trip). The trip takes about 1 hour one way. The roads are really small and you go through some small villages up to a parking area. From there, it is 20 minute hike up the mountain (60RMB/person entrance fee).

Unfortunately, there were a lot of clouds and rain. We were lucky however and could get a better view on The Valley eventually after waiting 20 minutes. It had a quite mystic touch.

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We went back and after a short rest went for another walk where we decided to take a helicopter flight.

There were 3 different options, the shortest flight is 380RMB/person (4 minutes), the second longest 680RMB/person (about 7 minutes) and the longest 1380RMB/person (about 15 minutes). We took the 7 minute one and did not regret it. You will get a very nice view of the area and in reality, it feels much shorter than 7 minutes.

There are all kind of other activities you can do around Yangshuo/Zen Garden. There are quads for rent, electric bikes for rent, river raft tours and of course hiking options. There are also some climbing paths on the mountains which we will try out later this week.

A long trip from Dali to Lijiang

For visiting the Jade Dragon Snow National park, a AAAAA rated national park (highest category), we did not want to change hotels and move to Lijiang, therefore, we decided to have a day trip.

We started early, 7am. We booked a taxi with driver for the whole day.

The park is small but nevertheless amazing. It takes only about 30 minutes to walk around the small lakes, but if you have time, you can easily spend 1-2 hours. You have to show your local health code app and WeChat travel history as well as sign in on a paper form.

Around 11am, the road was clear again, so we went to the park. The entrance fee was 50 RMB/Person just to get into the park.

We stopped at the Ganhaizi Parking area. It is the farthest point you can reach by car, from there on, you can only move by bus or some small electric cars for smaller distances. The parking area is huge and leads to the main area. There are a lot of shops and also the ticket offices and waiting areas to get to the scenic spots. Most signs are in Chinese and English language so it is easy to get around. The staff did not speak English, so you should speak some basic Chinese or have a translation app ready. For the tickets and almost everything else you will need your passport for registration and your local and WeChat health code apps.

First, we went to the blue moon river first, which is a 10-15 minute bus drive for 20 RMB/Person. You have to take the 2nd stop of the bus, the first one is near another cableway which goes up to some meadow. Theres another „Yak“ meadow another bus ride away (probably another 15 minutes by bus) which we did not take.

For the blue moon river, depending on how much time you spend on photos, you should consider 1-2 hours.

At the Blue moon lake, about in the middle, there is a great photo spot where you can sit on a yak under a (fake) cherry blossom tree and a traditional hut, with the lake and mountains in the background. The price is 100 RMB/person with Yak, and 50 RMB/person without.

We walked back to the cable car station (15 minute walk, you can also go by electric vehicle if you don’t feel like walking) and up to the Meadow by the cable car. There is a round path around which takes about 20 minutes to walk.

Finally, around 16:00 we tried to get some tickets to the glacier, where we had been told should be ordered online at least 2 days before (normally you should do that, there is a limited number of people allowed up there) Luckily, the number was not reached today, so we got 2 tickets (140RMB/person). The cableway goes up to around 4400m and you have to walk the rest up to 4680m. It is doable without additional oxygen, which is offered plenty in small pressure bottles along the way.

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For dinner, we can recommend a place called „Avocado“ or Niuyouguo in Chinese. (Link to Apple Maps)

After 5 days of chinese food (which was amazing) we still wanted to have some western food for a change. So we went for Guacamole and 2 Pizzas, which were delicious. They had some nice Russian beer, which tasted like lager. The prices were also reasonable, the whole dinner was 160 RMB for 2 persons.

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Our day was really packed due to all the driving and left us basically only 6 hours.

• 10:30 – 11:00 Black Dragon Pool Park
• 11:00 – 11:30 Drive to National Park main area
• 11:30 – 12:00 Buy tickets and get some basic orientation
• 12:00 – 12:15 drive to blue moon lake
• 12:15 – 14:00 stay at the blue moon lake / photos
• 14:00 – 14:30 was back to cable car station + small break
• 14:30 – 15:30 drive up to another area and take a small hike
• 15:30 – 16:00 drive back to main area
• 16:00 – 16:30 drive up to the glacier (ca, 4,500m)
• 16:30 – 17:15 walk up to 4,680m and back down to the top station
• 17:15 – 17:30 Coffee break
• 17:30 – 18:00 Drive back to main area
• 18:30 – 19:30 Dinner
• 3 hours back to Dali

So seeing this schedule, we would definitely recommend anyone who want to visit the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain National Park to stay at least 1 or 2 nights in Lijiang in order to really enjoy the park.

There are also 2 „ancient cities“ in Lijiang, which we could not visit, but are supposed to be very nice.

One of the most amazing temples in Yunnan

We started the day with a trip to the Changshan Mountain National Park near Dali. The weather did not look too nice, but you have to to work with what you get, right? (We visited end of September, we have been told during November to March, in winter, there is always blue sky…)

We went up by the Gantong cable car, which costs 70 RMB / person one way. The base station is at around 2,200m, going up to around 2,700m.

Despite the rainy weather, the views were really breathtaking. The almost untouched nature was amazing.

Despite the upcoming national holidays, there were really almost no people at all.

From there, there is another cable car going from around 2,900m to 3,900m elevation. (70RMB/person) The weather got pretty rough, so we could not see a thing, only the sign showing the altitude.

We did not think much of it, but it turned out to be the most amazing temple installation we have seen so far in all Asia.

The pagodas themselves are already impressing, but as we ascended the mountain we discovered always another layer of additional temple buildings. Totally 8 „levels“ were there, each with a more impressing set of religious statues.

The temple is over 1,380 years old and used to be the royal temple of Dali.

This is definitely a must see on your visit to Dali. Don‘t miss it!

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Photo Gallery

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