Beijing Nov09 part4: Tianjin

Tianjin ( 80KM south ) is linked to Beijing by a High Speed Train which cruised at a maximum speed of 333 KM/hr during our ride.

Time taken was about 25 minutes, departing every 15-20 minutes.

However, we were shocked to find the station packed with travellers, despite being on a Thursday morning.

We arrived at 8:15am, planning to board the 8:45am train, but all seats were sold out, even first class.

The earliest available seat then was 9:55am ;(

Upon arrival, Ms YangLing Li was there, welcoming us with a 5-Series BMW :) Dominick immediately volunteered to be the chauffeur, and impressed us with his Beijing driving skill.

We first took a cruise on the Haihe, 海河, and passed through many well designed bridges. This is probably the maximum number of bridges I passed through within such a short distance.

This bridge won a prize for the best bride design.

Over this steel bridge, we could see the Millennium clock.

I was so happy to catch this photo of a "Hundred Happiness", or " 百福", which is essentially my name :)

Then we visited the ever popular 文化街, and bought 3 Chinese paintings from this shop. Again Dominick used his bargaining technique to twist the arms of our shop owner :)

Lunch was an experience! Now we understand why Dominick, the gourmet, insisted that we must eat Sea food in Tianjin. This Sea food restaurant is huge, with ton's of fresh and swimming seafood. The cooking was good, and flower crabs were especially delicious!

However, we passed ordering those ' Sea Intestines' 海腸子. They are fat earth worm like swimming creatures.

Took a little drive to witness the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, which took 4 years to construct. This was a venue for Olympic 2008 football matches.

Caught this UFO shaped stadium which housed the 43rd International Table Tennis Championship in 1995.

We then took a time machine, 馬車, back to the olden days where the rich and famous stayed.

The tourist guide explaining as we rode by the 5 famous historic lanes.

An evening tea was planned in this little Italian town, and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Very nice boutique hotels and Italian style restaurants flourish this well kept small lane.

If you stare long enough, you will see 'Chiang Kai Shek' sitting right at the Center of this photo.

He waits for tips from tourists who wants to take a photo shot with him;)

This was where we sat down to have our afternoon tea, 意式風情街.

Many wedding couples came to take photos here. We saw 3 pairs within a short while.

This is Ling, MeiLing's staff in Tianjin, with her RMB30000 camera.
I admire her posture while shooting a bride nearby.

A short detour to a food street to try something like our 'putu piring', but coated with jam, instead of brown sugar & coconut.

Also we waited for this 'Hum Chin Phen' to be ready. They are called 耳朵眼 in China ;) Filling inside is also red bean paste.

Meanwhile, we wanted this drink, only to find out that the worker had clocked out.

Oh, this is a government operated 囯營 restaurant, no wonder ;(

On the dot, the workers stopped working!

Finally, the 'Hum Chin Phen' arrived, and you can see how simple was the restaurant.

As we were in Tianjin, we must take the world famous dumpling, 狗不理包子. This is our 3rd trial, still not impressed, except by its price.

However, by all fairness, the 包子 were very nicely wrapped.....

After dinner, we adjourned to Tianjing Train station, which is just beside the Haihe explanade.


The extent of the lighting here were far beyond our expectation. Tianjin has really changed so much, since we last visited 5 years ago.

Here we saw the well lit Millennium Clock!

Time had come for us to bid farewell to Tianjin.

Bye ......and Julie looked sad while posting in front of the High Speed Train.

Good night....

Beijing Oct 09 Part3: Xian2- 華山

Finally, we were at the foot of Hua Shan, 華山.






Thank God, our driver did an excellent job negotiating through some small village path, after1.5 hours dead stop on the highway.






We were contemplating hiking from the foot of the mountain, following this path?

We voted. Result: 0-3.

So we happily opted for the cable car for the first part of the journey.
What a relief!The cable car took us straight up, while I could see tiny hikers below, panting and sweating :)This saved us some 4 hour hike!

After alighting from the cable car, we immediately looked for a nice place for a photo shot.

Yummy cool, unpolluted high mountain air!

This place reminded us of Mount Serrapt Monastery near Barcelona, Spain.

After a short walk, we came to this place, a path turning toward the North peak, 北峰, 1615M.
Though the tourist guide recommended that we scale this peak, as it is the lowest and easiest, we decided to go for the tougher challenge:)

The thousands of locks with names of couples engraved, were locked onto track side chain to symbolise their united undying love!

As long as Hua Shan stands, their love never fade......:)

The first narrow path we negotiated was this path next to a big rock.

As the name," Rubbing ear lane" suggests, the path is narrow, bending along this big rocky mountain.

Next, we had to do a vertical climb!

Looked dangerous, but we were equipped with hand gloves:)

Julie's face could tell you how tense she was.


But HK sailed through with a breeze.....

We could afford to smile a bit after successfully performed the vertical climb!

However, the journey was only getting exciting........

The trail seemed endless!

Yet, step by step, we moved on....

From far, we could see this exciting, famous, dangerous long trail- the one we used to see in the Internet!

For the first time, we were a little worried ;(

We still had to clear another long narrow ascending trail, before the ultimate climb.




Perhaps, due to the severe traffic jam on the highway, the hikers were comparatively less than normal.



We were just lucky!









Wise people said, "Life is a journey, not a destination" Likewise, we did not rush to complete the hike.



We stopped quite often to admire the natural beauty of this place, like these autumn leaves.

Looking back, we could see the Northern Peak, which is at about our present height.

And the journey continued....

Now we must pass through a small opening of a rock, which lead us to a temple.

This is how it looked from inside.

As we emerged, the North Peak was clearly lower than us ;) What an achievement, we thought.....

Then, we began the real hike. This trail is called the vertebrate of Hua Shan, 華山龍脈
Climbing along the highest ridge all the way, we inched, step by step, not forgetting to stop and enjoy the breath taking views. Unobstructed in all directions, we experienced very strong, cold wind.

Turning back, this is the trail we just cleared, rather steep.

As I took this shot, a strong wind blew, and Julie's cap was sent flying.....

Luckily, I was fast enough to catch it before it fell into the valley.

HK was not that lucky, and had to donate his new cap to some lucky hikers below:)


As we braved this stretch, we noticed that we had cleared 6800 steps.



However, the first part was with the help of cable car, hehe.

At this time, our young guide did not look good now. She was pale and tired, so we asked her to wait for us here, while we tried to reach the middle peak.



Time allocated for us was 1 extra hour!


Finally, we reached our destination!
This restaurant marked the center of the Central peak, the "5-cloud peak", 五云峰.

From here, We could then proceed to East, West or the highest South Peak, 南峰,2155M, but time was the concern ;(

Remember 射鵰英雄傳？東邪, 西毒, 南帝, 北丐，就在 華山論劍........
We came too late.....!


This position commands an excellent view of the 'vertebrate of Hua Shan", aligning it straight to the North Peak.







The beauty of the scenery here is beyond description.
We could meditate here for hours and hours....



Time flew, and it was time to descend.
We took a different path to enjoy the scenic view from a different angle.










Looking up, we could see hikers trailing the same ridge as we did. Seemed so steep, boy!





Soon, we were lower than the North Peak.






Should time permits, we planned to scale the North Peak when we descend, much to the worry of our tired guide.



Meanwhile, the colourful trees made us feel like staying longer.......;(







En route, we have to squeeze through this narrow crack:)

and soon we were back to where we started, the entrance towards North Peak.

However, time did not allow us to continue our adventure :(



So we had a good look and then bid good bye to the beautiful 華山.

The Hua Shan Adventure is highly recommended!






Last day in Xi'an:

The highlight of this day was the visit to this newly excavated tomb of emperor 漢景帝，Han Jing Di.

There is an obvious improvement on the technology in the presentation and preservation of these smaller size terracotta( about 600mm high ).

They were enclosed in an environmentally controlled structure. This tomb is huge, and 13 holes were discovered. However, they have not dug out all yet.
Visitors walk on thick glass floor, and view the relics from the top.







These terracottas were originally silk clothed, and the arms were made of wood. Over the centuries, these wooden arms and clothes decayed, and only the clay bodies remained.

Later we went down a tunnel to the same level and view the Terracotta at eye level.

Interestingly, we saw hundreds of animal terracotta buried as well, goats, pigs, cattles, etc.

Also there were many big pots and pans, and other storage containers.....Guess the King wanted to ensure he will be well fed even after death.

Finally, we watched an impressive holographic projection bring ancient terracotta soldiers and emperor to live.

That brought our Xi'an tour to a grand finale. We visited some other attractions before flying back to Beijing.