20/12/2012 Winter soltice. The winter soltice is yet another important festive day in the Chinese culture. The day is celebrate by having the Tang Yuan, as a child, we are told that we are officially another year older when this day comes. Anyway, the interesting thing about this year's Winter Soltice is that it falls on the same day which the Mayans seems to have believed to be the last day for the world.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
30/09/2012
30/9/12
Last day of the vacation, and the only day in Guangzhou, China.
There is not much agenda for today, as we are required to depart for the airport earlier as traffic congestion is expect.
Today's breakfast is buffet on the hotel's 39th floor restaurant, although things are less tastier than those we had before.
After breakfast they take us shopping at 北京路, where the whole streets have shops for fashion. This is what our tour guide told us, the last day of our vacation is meant for shopping.
The whole street is full of people slightly after 10am. And we all go separate ways looking for what we want.
And here is how I found out the reason why sales person are multi lingua and common, and the reason is that their books are so cheap!
No wonder the nation is developing fast. People can gain knowledge will so little price.
It makes me some what disappointed that here in my country books are costing 6 folds making purchasing books quite painful for some.
Anyways, we were at the shopping street till 12pm and proceed to lunch. And after that straight to the airport where we shall have tea break and dinner onboard.
That concludes our 9 days vacation in China.
Last day of the vacation, and the only day in Guangzhou, China.
There is not much agenda for today, as we are required to depart for the airport earlier as traffic congestion is expect.
Today's breakfast is buffet on the hotel's 39th floor restaurant, although things are less tastier than those we had before.
After breakfast they take us shopping at 北京路, where the whole streets have shops for fashion. This is what our tour guide told us, the last day of our vacation is meant for shopping.
The whole street is full of people slightly after 10am. And we all go separate ways looking for what we want.
And here is how I found out the reason why sales person are multi lingua and common, and the reason is that their books are so cheap!
No wonder the nation is developing fast. People can gain knowledge will so little price.
It makes me some what disappointed that here in my country books are costing 6 folds making purchasing books quite painful for some.
Anyways, we were at the shopping street till 12pm and proceed to lunch. And after that straight to the airport where we shall have tea break and dinner onboard.
That concludes our 9 days vacation in China.
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| Beijing Street, Guangzhou. (Downloaded photo cuz we didn't take any pictures.) |
Monday, December 10, 2012
29/09/2012
29/9/12
After breakfast, we set course for our flight to Guangzhou.
Guangzhou is one of the three largest cities of China. Also known as “羊城”，the City of Goat.
Probably because the city is one that is surrounding by the sea which shares a same syllable in Mandarin.
After touchdown we are to head for lunch place immediately, as is a large city, traffic jams are expected, it took us more than an hour to reach our destination. However the sights seen as we drive around the city definitely is one that is interesting enough. China, yet the culture is so much different compare to the Northern China states. Here, the GuangDong dialect, or Cantonese is more spoken as in Hong Kong.
We had a wonderful Zhao ”潮“ style lunch in a restaurant built right next to a park, their meal are prone to be much saltier and also prefers porridge over rice, and their preferred appetizer are soups in contrast of elsewhere in Northern China wherein soup are meant to be served later in a meal.
As in all developed cities which shares advance public transportation systems, the public transport here even utilize electric buses...utilizing the cables above the road, the buses have large wires connected to them as they drive around the city, a sight to be seen.
After that we went to “陈家书院”, Chen Family Library. A building that survived the dynasty era of China meant for taking exams in the past for scholars. Today the building is used for the exhibitions for all sort of art creations by locals, porcelain sculptures, Ivory sculptured, etc.
After the exhibition building, we process to “六榕园”，another building, a temple that has survived and been rebuilt throughout the history of China's politic struggles for many decades.
The resting place for our one night in Guangzhou is our last location.
After breakfast, we set course for our flight to Guangzhou.
Guangzhou is one of the three largest cities of China. Also known as “羊城”，the City of Goat.
Probably because the city is one that is surrounding by the sea which shares a same syllable in Mandarin.
After touchdown we are to head for lunch place immediately, as is a large city, traffic jams are expected, it took us more than an hour to reach our destination. However the sights seen as we drive around the city definitely is one that is interesting enough. China, yet the culture is so much different compare to the Northern China states. Here, the GuangDong dialect, or Cantonese is more spoken as in Hong Kong.
We had a wonderful Zhao ”潮“ style lunch in a restaurant built right next to a park, their meal are prone to be much saltier and also prefers porridge over rice, and their preferred appetizer are soups in contrast of elsewhere in Northern China wherein soup are meant to be served later in a meal.
As in all developed cities which shares advance public transportation systems, the public transport here even utilize electric buses...utilizing the cables above the road, the buses have large wires connected to them as they drive around the city, a sight to be seen.
After that we went to “陈家书院”, Chen Family Library. A building that survived the dynasty era of China meant for taking exams in the past for scholars. Today the building is used for the exhibitions for all sort of art creations by locals, porcelain sculptures, Ivory sculptured, etc.
After the exhibition building, we process to “六榕园”，another building, a temple that has survived and been rebuilt throughout the history of China's politic struggles for many decades.
The resting place for our one night in Guangzhou is our last location.
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| Chen's Library. |
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| Part of Chinese culture, elaborated roof decors. |
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| Most of these sculptures depicts studying situation in the old days. |
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| At the Entrance. |
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| Liu Rong Temple. 6 tiers Pagoda. |
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| The modern Guangzhou Library. |
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| Museum, intricate designs on the exterior. |
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| An overview of the buildings around the park, Stadium that held the Commonwealth sport to the right. |
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| Killing time at the park waiting for our bus, the previous driver is familiar with the road around town. |
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| PiQiu, mythical creature of Chinese folklore, this one looks cute. |
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
28/09/21012
28/9/12
Our agenda today, is to visit a unique art gallery dedicated to a local artist of local minority ethnic.
Our agenda today, is to visit a unique art gallery dedicated to a local artist of local minority ethnic.
The "李军声沙石画园" is an art gallery that is first of its kind, by producing art utilizing nature materials such as the stones, sands, rocks, and numerous faunas found within the vicinity of ZhangJiaJie's nature.
The art gallery while attending to tourists also is a place for people to study the art of constructing drawings with the said materials.
We stayed till lunch and after that its a long drive to the outskirt of town to the cable car station which we shall take a 30mins long cable car ride into the mountain range where the TianMenShan is located.
Then there shall be another 30mins long bus ride on the road with 99 180 degree turns all the way up to the foot of TianMenShan.
Upon taking a short photo taking break, we ascend up the 999steps of stairs that leads up to where the TianMenShan is.
The TianMenShan is a naturally formed short, hollowed cave that is large enough for a combat jet to fly through, which is also been done before and proved.
The 999 steps leading up does not have exactly 999 steps but is used as the Chinese believe the number 9 to be auspicious. The road the bus take us up also have less than 99 turns but was named so for it auspicious beliefs.
After heading down the same way we came up and had our dinner, the our bus took us to the valley where we shall watch a show in an open-air theater, the story is about a human who had fell in love with a Vixen spirit and how they end up together after many perils. The sound effects of the show are all lively sung by the local ethnics and boy do they have an amazing voice. The show also use a magic trick invented by David Copperfield where they had paid for the copyright of this trick.
Also amazing is the mountain range that is light up by spotlights in cue with the music at the end of the show, breathtaking and a must see if anyone venture down to ZhangJiaJie for a vacation.
That concludes our journey for ZhangJiaJie and we shall be leaving for Guangzhou the following day.
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| Entrance of the art gallery. |
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| A view from the 2nd floor of the building. |
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| A model of the mountain area of the TianMenShan. |
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| Going up by cable cars, from the outskirt of the town all the way up to the middle of the mountain range. |
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| You know him. |
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| A glass corridor, not for the faint-hearted. |
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| 2nd part of travel is by bus, more than 80 turns up hill. |
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| The foot of TianMenShan. |
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| A better photography skill would be nice. |
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| Steep flight of stairs down. nearly 1000 steps. |
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| Evening event, open air theater in the valley. |
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| Show's end, mountain range light up in cue, breathtaking. |
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