Great Wall – Huanghuacheng – Jiuduhe Town – Huairou District

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Great Wall of China, Huairou District, Huanghuacheng, Jiudehe Town, prc

A visit to another part of the Great Wall of China – Huanghuacheng

Whilst studying Chinese in 2011 and living in Beijing, an Aussie friend of mine also living in Beijing  invited a few of us to visit a part of the wall I had not yet seen. So one very cold day in winter, we hired a bus and drove about seventy kilometres out of Beijing to Huairou District.

Near the wall is a Walled Village which is where we stopped to take a quick look and then walked to the wall. This Walled Village has thick brick walls surrounding the houses and courtyards which date back to the Ming Dynasty, when the village served as a base for the garrison at the Great Wall.

From the Walled Village to the Great Wall we walked for about half an hour along a dirt track and enjoyed wonderful views of the wall in the distance, along with some snow on the mountains.

We reached the wall which is located at the bottom of a valley, where there is an old gateway to walk through to actually get onto the wall.

I did hop up on the wall and took a few steps, so that I could say I had been ‘on’ this part of the wall but it was so steep and without any side walls was really too scary for me with my fear of heights!

It was a lovely part of the wall that unlike other parts, was unrestored…beautiful to see.

Qinghai Province – PRC – March 2016

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prc, Qinghai Lake, Qinghai Province, Sun Moon Mountain, Two Pagodas, Xining

Sun Moon Mountain, Qinghai Lake and the Qinghai Museum

Our second day in Qinghai Province in China was a full one.  It is the fourth largest province in China and has a population of about 5.5 million, not a lot of people really considering Beijing has around 23 million and is a lot smaller in size.

We were met in the foyer of our Chinese/Muslim hotel by our tour guide and driver and as we wanted to make the most of our second and last day in Qinghai, we set out early to visit places that were long distances from each other.  Our first stop was Sun and Moon Mountain.  As we were driving along we could see the mountain in the distance so I asked our driver to stop (on the freeway) so we could take photos…it was spectacular but rather scary to stop on the side of a busy freeway.  This mountain divides Qinghai into two parts; the stock raising and farming area and the watershed of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

We then drove for some time further and stopped in a more safe area so we could take more photos.  Wow…the mountain was truly spectacular.

It was absolutely freezing cold when we got out of the car and we saw a few men and women sitting on the hill; our guide told us they were waiting for work.  There they were sitting around chatting in the bitter cold but wearing appropriate clothing and balaclavas – unlike my friend and I who had come to Qinghai without any gloves, hats or warm coats!!

Our guide then offered us a stop for lunch which we accepted as we were feeling rather hungry and a little bit cold.  We stopped off at a local farmhouse which didn’t look very appealing, our tour guide was concerned it would not be up to our standard, but as I had eaten wonderful food at these types of ‘restaurants’ before I quickly said ‘yes’.

It was so worth us stopping.  The food was excellent.  We chose eggplant (of course), green beans, shredded potato and a vegetarian noodle soup….each dish was amazingly fresh and truly mouth watering.  And we knew our crockery was clean as it was a paper plate and bowl in plastic with lovely little bamboo chopsticks.

Our next stop was Qinghai Lake; a really beautiful salt water lake which is just over 3,000 metres above sea level. The altitude was high enough to give my friend a little bit of a headache.  For some reason I was ok and didn’t feel too ill but both of us definitely felt a tightening in our chests whilst walking around.  The lake was partly frozen near the shore and there were lots of frozen icebergs near the edge of the water.  It was so lovely.

The water is six percent salt, which means that it’s much more saltier than sea water with is about 3.5 percent salt.

My friend Jon and I decided to take a long walk around the lake area and met a lovely man from near Shanghai who was trying out his English skills which enabled me to use my Chinese; we were both suitably impressed with each other’s skills.  This made me very happy as it showed me my many years of language lessons have not been in vain.  Again the views across the lake were just beautiful so we just kept walking and enjoying the sights.

By the time we got back into our car and drove back into the downtown, it was getting dark but we decided to stop off at the Qinghai Museum which from my research, is said to be one of the highlights of Xining and I definitely wanted to see it.  It used to be the residence of  a local warlord of Qinghai and its refurbishment was completed in 1986 and now has over  10,000 items on display inside.

It was a very interesting museum with stone implements from the Palaeolithic Age, bronze seals and figurines along with porcelain, calligraphy and paintings from both the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  I enjoyed this visit very much.

By this time we were hungry again, so we left the museum and stopped off for another beautiful Chinese meal.  The restaurant was quite interesting as it was absolutely huge and when we arrived we were the only people there…about ten minutes later another group of about ten or so people arrived – not many for such a big restaurant but I guess it was winter and not many people were out and about.

Our guide advised us to try the local bread which we did (little bit boring without much taste really) but looked pretty interesting.

And we of course ordered my favourite dish, eggplant, and some other lovely dishes including egg and tomato (a wonderful dish that I really love), a fried potato dish that was very spicy but so delicious and a spicy tofu dish (which was a little bit too spicy for me and I think it was ‘stinky tofu’ and I really don’t like this – smells like old socks!!) and finally a beef dish (which my friend said was a bit tough).

Then it really was time to go to our hotel as the day had been long…and as it was a Muslim hotel there was no alcohol, so we couldn’t relax at the bar with a glass or two of savignon blanc…ah well!!!!  We needed a good night’s sleep as the next day we were off again early travelling to another province; Guizhou.

Bicycle ride along Beijing’s Hutongs – Beijing – PRC – April 2016

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beijing, bicycle ride, Mr Shi's dumpling restaurant, prc

An afternoon of bike riding around Beijing’s Hutongs

Whilst in Beijing, I stayed a week with my New Zealand friend Nicola and one day I borrowed her husband’s bicycle and together we rode about forty-minutes down to the Hutong area.

Hutongs are a type of narrow street or alley, commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, most prominently Beijing and they are a wonderful maze of shops, restaurants and courtyard homes and a fabulous way to see the ‘real’ Beijing.

I hadn’t been on a bike for years and whilst it wasn’t difficult it was a bit hard on the backside!!  And the Beijing traffic…wow!!!  It’s concentration all the time…but funnily enough cars are very courteous to us bike riders.  And as always owners of their vehicles put blocks against their wheels to stop dogs weeing on the tyres!!

It was lovely to see this part of Beijing; being able to take in the sights properly especially the wonderful doorways along the Hutongs.

We stopped off at Mr Shi’s dumpling restaurant which is renowned amongst the foreigners in Beijing…so many choices of vegetarian dumplings – lucky for me!!

Mr Shi is an actual person and is often seen in his restaurant with his six-year old boy, but unfortunately not on the occasion I visited.  My friend Nic was happy to just order vegetarian on this occasion so we ordered the cabbage, carrot and shitake mushroom, the egg, corn and chinese chives and the egg, tomato and eggplant dumplings…extremely good, two lots we ordered boiled and one lot pan fried – delicious!!

Outside the restaurant we had a lovely view of the Hutong and the people strolling past including lao Beijingren (old Beijing people) who were on the way to the communal bathroom still wearing their pyjamas.  Or others just sitting around wasting the day away chatting/playing cards or relaxing.

After lunch, we hopped back onto our bikes and rode to Lake Ho Hai.

I have been there in the middle of winter and walked on the ice; this day it was very lovely with beautiful blue skies (a rarity really in Beijing) and people enjoying themselves on small boats on the lake.

It was also a beautiful time of the year to see the blossoms blooming along the lake.

My friend Nic had also told me about a residence of the wife of Dr Sun Yat-sen.  It is located at Lake Ho Hai so we hopped off our bikes and paid 20 RMB each (abut $4 AUD) to walk around  the residence and the beautiful grounds.

It was a really interesting place to visit with a wonderful museum telling us everything about the life of Dr Sun Yat-sen but more about his wife as it was actually ‘her’ former residence.  Dr Sun Yat-sen was a medical practitioner and the first president and founding father of the Republic of China.  He married Soong Ching Ling who was born in Singapore and educated in the United States as a teenager where its democratic system had a great influence on her.

Soong Ching Ling was deeply concerned about the welfare of the Chinese people and once she finished her studies in the USA, she returned to China and dedicated her life to the quest for equality and freedom for China. It seems she was loved by all and played a very important role in the history of China.

After this, feeling a bit tired, we hopped back on our bikes and rode home; this time along the main streets (bit scary!!).

Yat Bun Tong Dumpling Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – April 2016

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ACT, canberra, Chinese restaurant, Dumplings, Peking Duck, Yu xiang qiezi

Dinner at Canberra’s newest dumpling restaurant

This week, friends and I went to try out Canberra’s newest Chinese/dumpling restaurant.  I also invited the friend who came to China with me as I wanted him to see if these dumplings and the eggplant dish tasted anything like what we ate in China.

The restaurant was fully booked and bustling inside with both Chinese and Australians – always a good sign to see Chinese at a Chinese restaurant – shows me it has good food.  We sat down and ordered some wine before ordering our dishes; vegetable dumplings (boiled), my favourite eggplant dish (yuxiang qiezi), my other favourite bean curd dish (deep fried bean curd with spicy peppery salt), shallot pancakes and Peking duck.  Everything came out very quickly and looked extremely appetising.  Service was very good and I got to practice my Chinese skills.

The dumplings looked better than the ones I usually buy at a local dumpling restaurant near my home but in my opinion they were not as delicious.

The shallot pancakes were really good and my friends said the Peking duck was delicious.

 We enjoyed the evening very much and spoke about our recent travels to China including some amusing stories that my other friends could relate to having lived in Beijing for two years.

And my friend Jon did say the dumplings were good and the eggplant tasted like the dishes he had in China…it’s a restaurant I shall return to.

Kyoto – Japan – April 2012

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Chion-in, Gin Kakuji, Gion District, Japan, Kyoto, Silver Pavillion, Tet Sugaku

Last of my sightseeing in Kyoto

My week in Kyoto in 2012 involved as much sightseeing as possible as there are so many wonderful places to visit.  One of the lovely places to walk through is the Gion District which is a traditional entertainment district.  It’s also known as Kyoto’s most famous geisha district.

The area is packed with bars, restaurants and traditional teahouses, and is really at its most atmospheric in the early evening, when the lanterns are lit and apprentice geisha flit about the back streets on their way to their appointments.

We did see one young geisha walking along but I didn’t get my camera out in time unfortunately.  But I did manage to snap a photo of one man in some sort of traditional garb; not really sure why he was wearing the clothes as he was just walking down the street.

We also visited Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion) and unlike the Golden Pavilion, this pavilion does not have a trace of silver on it.

When it was first built the plan was for it to be coated in silver leaf, but there was no money so the silver-less pavilion was converted into a Zen temple.

It does have a beautiful reflective pond and manicured trees, a raked sand garden, and a mossy wooded hillside from where you can see a low-rise urban backdrop.

We also took a stroll along the Path of Philosophy (Tetsugaku-no-Michi) which really is such relaxing way to spend an hour or two.  It was named for a Kyoto university professor who took his daily constitutional along this route.  There are also beautiful cherry blossom trees along the way.

 

Another wonderful place to visit is Chion-in temple which is the head temple of the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism.

 

The temple has spacious grounds and large buildings. The first thing you notice as you arrive at the temple is the massive main entrance gate and stands 24 meters tall and 50 meters wide.  It is the largest wooden gate in Japan and dates back to the early 1600s.

Kyoto is definitely one place that everyone should visit; it’s absolutely beautiful.

Xining – Qinghai Province – PRC – March 2016

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Dongguan Mosque, prc, Qinghai Province, Ta'er Monestery, Xinging

First day of two in Qinghai Province

After spending three days in Ningxia Region, my friend and I caught a plane to Qinghai Province via Xi’an as there are no direct flights.  Qinghai is located north/east of Tibet and took us about six hours from Ningxia and we landed in its capital Xining.  We then travelled about half an hour to Huangzhong County to see the Ta’er Monastery which is Buddhist but the buildings combines the architectural arts of both the Tibetan and Han Chinese nationalities.  It was very cold once we got out the car, with snow still around the area.

In the Tibetan language, Ta’er Monastery is called ‘gongben’, which means ‘10,000 figures of Buddha’. The whole area covers more than 36 acres with mountains surrounding.

The Monastery has 9,300 rooms and fifty-two halls. It’s actually not just one building but a group of  temples and halls.  It really is quite lovely with monks strolling past – some young and some old.  The younger ones were laughing and pushing each other around just being young boys. It was very nice to see.

It only took us around an hour and a bit to get around and I suppose it was so cold we were walking a little faster than usual but it was worth the visit as this monastery is one of the two most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside Tibet itself.

It presents a beautiful landscape of temples and residences nestled in the peaceful hills of Xining’s suburbs. In each of the temples there are huge candles and we found out that the local people provide yak butter to make them as well as to make sculptures (for seasons that are not too hot) and beautiful traditional embroidery which are hanging all throughout the temples.

By the time we finished walking around it was past 5pm, so we headed downtown to our hotel but on the way we stopped off at the Dongguan Mosque which is the largest mosque in Qinghai Province and one of the four greatest mosques in Northwest China.  We could not enter the actual mosque but could take a walk around the grounds which didn’t take us that long really – about 15 minutes.

By this time it was definitely time for dinner and we were tired from a very long day of travelling and sightseeing and quite hungry so our tour guide stopped by a small noodle restaurant where the noodles didn’t really look all that appetising but I must say they were absolutely delicious as was the plate of vegetables…My friend Jon also took my advice and tried a ‘tea egg’ which is a boiled egg cooked in tea and some other spices…like me he really loved them.

Then finally it was to our hotel – and this was not far from the mosque, in the Muslim area, so no alcohol could be bought – but you know what I actually enjoyed the abstinence for three nights – my friend Jon managed to find a bar and with his seven words of Chinese stayed out late drinking beers with his new Chinese friends…me – I was asleep!!

Aman Resort – Summer Palace – Beijing – PRC – April 2016

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Aman Resort, beijing, High Tea, prc, Summer Palace

High Tea at the fabulous resort within the Summer Palace complex

Whilst in Beijing recently and staying with some New Zealand friends, I asked them to visit a resort I had read about near the East Gate of the Summer Palace.

We drove to the resort and intended only to take a look inside and leave but after we sat in a lovely little courtyard with Chinese umbrellas hanging from the trees.  At this time we saw a family eating a huge tray of cakes, scones and little sandwiches, so we decided to stay and order our own.

This courtyard was lovely but after we ordered our High Tea, I took a little  walk around and found a round stone table with four little stone stools in a wonderful spot overlooking a beautiful lake.  We moved there!

The resort is like travelling back in time to the land of the Empress, but with the amenities and services of modern times.

The High Tea arrived in a fabulous three storey tray and then we had a pot of Jasmine tea to accompany the food.  The little sandwiches were  lovely with one vegetarian containing tomato bread with grilled vegetables.  Then I tried a scone with jam and fresh cream – lovely then a few of the little cakes – delicious too. My friends said the meat and fish sandwiches were really nice and one was a mini burger which looked too cute.

 

Around the lake, there are pathways and gardens and the resort guest rooms were not available to look at but they look fabulous on the internet although quite expensive.  The rooms were previously used by guests awaiting an audience with the Empress, Dowager Cixi who used to go to the Summer Palace in the warmer weather to enjoy the lake and cooler surrounds.  I was really pleased I made the effort to visit the resort as it was very beautiful.

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (3) – PRC – March 2016

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Helanshan Rock Carving, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, prc, Sand Lake, Suyukou National Forest Park

Last Day in Ningxia – Sand Lake/Helanshan Rock Carvings and Suyukou National Park

Our last day in Ningxia firstly involved a visit from the capital Yinchuan to Sand Lake. We took a boat across region’s largest fresh water lake.  The lake is home to over one million birds; we didn’t get to see that many but there were certainly a few thousand around.

The boat then dropped us off at a beach/sand dunes and we were told we had around forty-minutes before the boat took us back.

There was not enough time for a dune buggy ride so we had a little walk along the sand with millions and millions of these little flies (awful things) and as we were looking for shelter we saw a Chairman Mao museum – very unusual place to have one but we went inside to check it out…lots and lots of Mao pins and buttons and various other memorabilia.

Our next stop was to see some rock carvings at Helan Mountain. This was particularly interesting as there were many and all carved by ancient nomadic tribes some 6000 years before the Qing and Ming Dynasties. They are simple in design but afford historians enough material to study the way of life, religion and war of the nomadic tribes.

Our final stop before heading back to our hotel for the night was to Suyukou National Forest Park but before we did we stopped off at a tiny restaurant where dumplings are made fresh following our orders. The restaurant only sold dumplings and even when we asked for some Chinese tea, we were told they didn’t have any but gave us warm water that had been used to boil the dumplings..my friend drank it and asked for more, but I decided as the meat dumplings had been boiling in it I wouldn’t drink it. The dumplings, however were delicious.

We had to first buy our tickets to access the park via bus and we were told we were the only visitors for the day and it was 3pm. This was probably as the temperature was around minus six degrees and very windy!! Once inside the bus we were told that the cable car to the mountain was not working due to the weather which was unfortunate as there was nothing to do at the foot of the mountain and we had a stop there for one hour. We got out of the bus and it started snowing…good because it was pretty, bad because we didn’t have proper warm clothing.

But I think we were meant to be at the foot of the mountain on that day as there we saw a pretty fat cat but who appeared to be hungry so our lovely guide went and bought some food then we saw two stray puppies and two older dogs, so we went and bought some meat and fed them all…a nice meal for them to enjoy and we felt very good we were able to feed them. Then the sun came out and the puppies started playing – a lovely sight!

And then our bus driver must have felt sorry for us because he saw us walking around in circles and said he would take us back ten minutes earlier than the nominated departure time..hooray!!!  Next province to visit is Qinghai – about a two hour plane ride away from this region.

Buvette Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – March 2016

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ACT, Australia, Buvette Restaurant, canberra, eating

Dining with friends in a new restaurant in Canberra

Even though I am still in China on my holidays, I have internet access so thought I would post on a dining experience in Canberra last month.  This is a very new restaurant attached to one of the major hotels; the Realm Hotel and has been open for only three or so months.

I had a friend visiting from Guangzhou in southern China, (Sophie I thought I would let you know she is having a wonderful time in the city you lived in) and I had heard about the opening of this new French restaurant and wanted to try it out.  I knew my friend would not want to eat Chinese food having eaten it many times in southern China so along with another five of my friends we went to this new restaurant.

There was enough vegetarian choices on the menu and some of us started off with a cocktail or glass of champagne.  The restaurant is very nice inside with lovely furniture and low lighting for nice ambience.

My friends individually ordered steak tartare, steak (grass fed eye fillet/wagu beef) and chips and the fish (sand whiting/roasted blue eye cod) and a Caesar salad.

I ordered fresh asparagus with a poached egg on top – delicious. The asparagus was cooked to perfection as was the egg (I dislike runny white egg).

I enjoyed two glasses of a lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and others ordered a red to enjoy with their steak.  We decided to order all the ‘sides’ which were really nice especially the sweet potato dish which didn’t look particularly appetising but was truly delicious.

From talking to every one of my friends about the evening and the meals, we all enjoyed the evening and food immensely.  And more importantly my friend from China had a lovely night enjoying the great food and lovely company of people she had not met.