Sign Our Guestbook View Our Guestbook  

still under construction

NOTE : there's a lot of pictures waiting to be double-clicked. If you find that too troublesome you can go to the bottom of this page and open the slideshow. In either case enjoy !!

                CONTENTS                           

    1. PEOPLE                                               7. OTHER              

                                                     2. ARCHITECTURE                                  7a THE TERRACOTTA ARMY                                   

                                                               3. NATURE                                              7b. PANDA BREEDING CENTER                                         

 INTRO

In august 2004 we went to China. This is a report on that trip.

It is not really a day to day report, because I would like you to get to know China by  subjects : such as people, architecture, nature ,traffic, old and new, street life, other.

What did we see and where did we go : We started our tour in Beijing ( Forbidden City; summer Palace;   Pagoda; Great Wall and the Hutongs). Then we went to Xi'an (Terracotta Army, big goose pagoda), Chengdu (Panda breeding center, the Tao-temple and Wenshu monastery), Panzihua, Lijiang (the old town and snow mountain), Dali (Erhai-lake and the three pagoda's), Kunming (stone forest), Yangshuo (Karst mountains), Canton.

1. PEOPLE  

People in the city are more western styled. Especially younger people. And there is a lot of difference between rich and poor. However both are friendly.         As I had a few days on my own - before Ilke arrived- I stopped in a small restaurant somewhere in the alleys of Beijing. After entering, heads turned to see who had come in. After I had seated some girl came to ask whatever I wanted and of course there were some language difficulties. But immediately someone came to the rescue. After I had a cup of tea, we managed to order something. And good it was. When later I paid the bill, I then asked if the girl could pronounce some sentences in my voice-recorder, which she did (with a lot of giggles). I benefited these sentences all during the trip.

Another example. Traveling from one city to another we used the train (hardsleeper). This is a train with in every car about 60 beds, divided over 10 open rectangles (hard to explain) . Every time there were Chinese people trying to make conversation, which was a lot of fun. Also at the hotels - where we met a group of teachers- people tried to speak to you in English.

Thanks to a new bought GPS-system (recommended) I could go everywhere I liked and always find my hotel back. I did just that in Beijing. Therefore I came in places where you normally wouldn't go. I never, say never, felt unsafe. Although I walked there during the night as well.

 contents

2. ARCHITECTURE

Then there are the roofs on the houses. There is a lot to be seen. For instance the color of the tiles, which are important. And then there are the animal-figurines (Wenshou). These are to be seen on the main ridges or on sloping and branch ridges of the roofs.  The more animals the more important the building. Of course the most important building is placed within the forbidden city and belonged to the emperor. But I found out that the figures standing at the edge were different in different regions, as you can see in the pictures.

Next to the important houses are the temples, pagoda's etc. and with those the surrounding parks, where you can find nice "scenic openings (jingdongs). These are windows, arches, circles, bay leaves etc. They make part of the landscape or provide picture frames to natural scenes or different parts of the park-garden.

TEMPLES AND PAGODAS

Next to the roofs there are the temples and pagodas you must see. There are different kinds of religions in China (Tao - Buddhism - Islam  ) , but in all they're more or less the same. There are big gardens with trees and shrubs and in all these gardens there is peace and tranquility.

 contents

3. NATURE

Stone Forest : The Stone Forest is situated in the Lunan Yu Autonomous County 126 kilometers southeast of Kunming. A typical karst formation, the Stone Forest covers an area of more than three hundred square kilometers. Scientific research has shown that what is now the Stone Forest was 270 million years ago an immense expanse of water with a vast stretch of limestone sediment formed over the years on the seafloor. As a result of the crustal movement, the seabed rose gradually and a large piece of land thus came into being. Exposed to rains and winds, eroded by the elements, the thrtist-up limestone ranges were shaped by time. About 200 million years ago numerous stone peaks, pillars, and stalagmites rose abruptly from the ground and towered into the sky, extending now as far as the eye can see, looking like a vast forest of stone, hence the name "the Stone Forest".*

* this text by Sampson McGregor

Karst mountains along the Li-river (Yangshou)

 contents

4. TRAFFIC

When you've read my page about the traffic in Delhi you might think we've seen it all, but the Chinese are a very good second. I figure there are rules, but very few people take notice of them. Okay, there are pedestrian crossings, but don't think for one moment somebody is going to stop for you. Even when you're already crossing you'll have to find your way through the traffic going left and right next to you. Going to the right on a special lane ? Okay, but at the very latest moment. Overtaking ? No problem: over a straight white line, before a turn / curve, two cars overtaking at the same time ? No problem : three might as easily do it !

contents

5. OLD AND NEW

 contents

 6. STREETLIFE

As far as I could see, a lot of the daily life takes place in the streets. There are a lot of small stands with food, but people also repair things here, or play games (like chess, mah jong and with more western styled cards. We even saw some people play with special Chinese cards) or just sit.  Strange for us are the sights of people sleeping on their bikes or just sleeping on the ground. Of course this is in summer. In winter things will be quite different. A lot of trade also takes place in the many tunnels under the broad roads in Beijing. This is also the place where many people sleep during the night.    

Another thing you see in the streets are people collecting plastic bottles. Most of the time these are elderly people or people from a minority group, like Tibetans. Obviously there making some money by it.

In one town ( I can't recollect the name, because that was on a day we had to reroute because of the flooding the week before) we saw dozens of pool billiards on the streets. This was in a remote town somewhere in the mountains ! Very odd. 

And last but not least you have the common markets. This is a nice place to go to. You can see the locals, see all kinds of different food ( life stock, but also a "complete" -dead- pig or other creatures), find tools and so on. And the most beautiful part: you're not "harassed" by the vendors to buy anything. They ask, you say no and most of the time it's okay. And even if they persist, it's because they find it amusing to talk to you and sell you something way over the proper price (but all in good fun).

 contents

7. OTHER

7a TERRACOTTA ARMY

 contents

7b PANDA BREEDING CENTER

One of the highlights of your visit to China is of course the Panda breeding center. One of the few places where you can see the panda bear "free" . Don't expect to see much movement, because they hardly move at all. Only when they get fed, they're doing something. This is because the energy they get from the bamboo leaves is so low, that they have to use as little energy as possible. As you can see on the pictures for those big bears they are astonishingly supple as they hang in the trees. 

 contents

7c   ERHAI LAKE

 contents

7d   SNOW MOUNTAIN

 contents

7e   STONE FOREST

 contents

** this text from www.travelchinaguide.com

All pictures by H. Vink were taken with the Canon pro 90 IS camera and pictures by I.Harmsen with the Canon Powershot S 1.  All pictures are resampled and conversed (the quality gets worse) for use on the internet. Other than that they are not tampered with. And as always click on them to get the larger picture.

Here are the links to the main chapters of my site :

LADAKH

© 1999-2004 Henk Vink and Ilke Harmsen

last updated :27-04-2008 20:21:08