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Posted On Friday, November 8, 2013 at
at
1:02 AM
by Alvin
At long last, having repeatedly planned and repeatedly dropped our journey to Mount Wu Yi on numerous occasions, we finally made it to this natural beauty this Autumn - and Wu Yi (武夷山) did not disappoint ! Having spent an uneventful night at the river-side town of Nan Ping (南平), we arrived in Wu Yi Shan City (武夷山市) bright and fresh; and by a complete fluke, we found this pristine resort called 崇陽溪山莊 which mainly catered for Party Officials attending conferences and training courses and the staff made an exceptional welcome to us and offered us an executive suite ! We made good use of the special tea-set laid out for us and enjoyed the world-renowned tea grown around Wu Yi - 大红袍 ! Time for some strenuous exercise - we were here afterall, to climb Mount Wu Yi and its many spectacular red dome-shaped sandstone peaks and cliffs. Our main challenge was the peak of 天游峰 where we had an absolute panoramic view of the Brook of Nine-Curves (九曲溪) where most visitors chartered a bamboo raft (竹排漂流) to slowly drift down the peaceful brook and the raft journey would normally take 2 hours. After some huffs and puffs, we reached the top and winded ourselves down the back towards the Taoist Temple of 桃源洞.
Of particular note about Wu Yi was that not only the mountain scenery was pure magic, the areas around here were once a place of great scholarly learning. Arguably the most influential scholar since Confucius was the man Zhu Xi (朱熹) from the Song Dynasty (南宋) who set up prestigious learning centres such as the academy of 武夷精舍 around Wu Yi. Zhu's theology, methodology and discipline had been adopted by governments as far and wide as Korea, Japan and Vietnam around the start of the last millennium. The next day saw us hiking through the famous tea plantations around Wu Yi and the journey from the scenic areas of 水簾洞 to 大红袍 and then on to 虎嘯岩 took up most part of the sunny day and it was time to rest our tired limbs and that well-deserved cup of 大红袍 tea at the end of the day ! Making our way to Nan Chang (南昌) where we would board our flight home, we passed through the Jiang Xi (江西) town of Shang Rao (上饒) where we witnessed an amazing sunset by the river of Xin Jiang (信江) - a wonderful roundup of the journey and I would spare the details of how we survived the cold snap (an overnight drop of 15 degrees Celsius) that was to follow in Nan Chang !
Posted On Saturday, September 14, 2013 at
at
9:01 PM
by Alvin
Visiting the UNESCO lauded Wu Tai Shan - Five Terrace Mountains (五台山) gave us a whole new meaning and definition of being "templed out" ! Located at an elevation of over 3,000 meters, Wu Tai Town and its surrounding spectacular mountains as well as over 40 temples and monasteries, warranted a busy 4-days stay. Wu Tai had been a Buddhist sacred ground for over 1,500 years and in particular the most important aspect had been the co-existence of Chinese (漢傳佛教) and Tibetan
(藏傳佛教) Buddhism being practised side-by-side amongst these temples. The
dizzying journey from Da Tong took 6 hours as we climbed and snaked
around the beautiful Shanxi (山西) back country roads. When we left Da Tong (大同), it was
a pleasant 26 degrees Celsius but when we reached Wu Tai Town, the
temperature dropped to a just-bearable 10 degrees Celsius. Luckily
during the day the sun shone brightly and warmth soon returned for our
visits to these stunning temples.
The temples were beautifully constructed and decorated with characteristic Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian scripts and the number of worshippers was thankfully low as we picked mid-week to visit the site. Of note, we visited and paid our respects at the temples of 塔院寺, 菩薩頂, 吉祥寺, 獅子窩, 鎮海寺, 白雲寺, 金閣寺, 瑞應寺, 楓林寺 ... Phew ! And we marveled at the different religious presentations and statues at each and every turn. We then spent the next two days carrying out our mega-hikes around the five terrace peaks. We passed numerous Chinese and Tibetan builders and painters hard-at-work in temple renovation and restoration, sleepy villages set amongst the Autumn colorful patchwork of gold, red, and olive green and responsible monks guarding rarely-visited temples. We felt a good vibe spending these few days in these pleasant surroundings and at the same time felt enlightened in absorbing the spiritual atmosphere of these sacred mountains - really felt serene and hassle-free. A BIG Thank-You to Wu Tai Shan !
Posted On Saturday, September 7, 2013 at
at
11:40 PM
by Alvin
A couple of pleasant bus journeys lasting 7 hours, took us away from Ping Yao (平遙古城) in the south, to Da Tong (大同) in the north of Shanxi Province (山西) via the provincial capital of Tai Yuan (太原). The main trunk road linking the south and north of Shanxi was dotted with many worth-while destinations such as Wu Tai Shan (五台山), glacial caves, picturesque mountains and countless ancient cities. But for now, we were satisfied in heading to Da Tong - being once the capital of Northern China around 400 A.D. during the Wei Dynasty (魏晋南北朝) era, Da Tong had a great deal of ancient artifacts including a series of imposing fortress walls, a majestic grand mosque as well as countless Buddhist and Taoist temples of royal heritage. We based ourselves here for an enjoyable three days when we visited the stunning Yun Gang Buddhist Grottoes (雲岡石窟), the Taoist mountain of 恒山 as well as a lazy look-around of the ancient city. We stayed right by the Da Tong train station and we watched with amusement the changing-of-lights (green-blue-red-purple-yellow) of the train station at night (a photo attached below).
Of particular note was the series of Yun Gang Buddhist Grottoes, located 16km from Da Tong - beautifully constructed, chiseled, moulded and painted, The Great Buddha appeared in more than 50,000 stunning presentations, all with different postures and expressions (but always kind and generous with that familiar knowing smile, of course) in over 50 grottoes; now that was a lot of hard work ! We casually spent over 5 hours at the site, peering, wowing and oo-ing over the fantastically constructed figures and statues, it was a most satisfying visit. Back in Da Tong proper, we visited numerous temples including 華嚴寺 and 九龍壁 as well as a long walk around the giant city walls, now almost completely being renovated. Da Tong turned out to be much more interesting than we had first anticipated, both historically as well as a relaxing destination.
Posted On Tuesday, September 3, 2013 at
at
2:24 AM
by Alvin
An ambitious bus journey to reach the famous Yellow River Hu Kou Waterfall (黃河壺口瀑布) from Shannxi (陕西) Province to Shanxi (山西) Province paid off as we arrived near 7P.M., having flown in to Xian (西安) from Shenzhen (深圳) in the early morning - the only brief detour was an electric tri-cycle journey across the busy Xian city traffic. We could hear the faint rumbles of the mighty waterfall at a distance where we stayed about 3km away. After a brisk walk in the morning towards the waterfall, Hu Kou did not disappoint and well worth our effort in getting here. The Yellow River took its time in getting here from the plateaus in Qing Hai (青海) Province and with the rock formation shaping up like a massive water jug, the muddy river, with its precious life-giving minerals just plunged down a gaping gap of about 20 meters in width. The effect was spectacular but be warned, getting too close would have your clothes ended up with muddy brown patches ! Also, from our experience, the Shanxi side was the side to be, to view the waterfall at its full glory !
Having experienced a natural "high" from the little adventure (and from the negative ions) at the waterfall, we hopped on a shared mini-bus and made our way towards Ping Yao (平遙) via a series of towns in Shanxi - 吉縣 and then 臨汾. The UNESCO lauded walled-city of Ping Yao was first populated about 2,700 years ago and developed into its present form over numerous generations. It was once a major financial centre in the Qing Dynasty (清朝) - think Wall Street, Western Union and SFC, then you would get the idea. We strolled the pleasant alleys as well as the main thoroghfares amongst the throngs of petite residence-cum-hotels (客棧) and well-stocked shops. The town was well-maintained insofar as tourist souvenirs shops were concerned - they mainly sold what they had been selling long ago - barber shops, noodles joints, Chinese stationery outlets, toy shops; not a Starbucks to be found anywhere, thank goodness ! Overall, Ping Yao did maintain the atmosphere that you were transported back in time to an ancient county town - you could easily imagine that you rode into town on your horseback !
Posted On Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at
at
11:16 PM
by Alvin
Arriving from Zagreb after a 3 hours' train ride, we found the laid-back Slovenian capital, Ljubljana was even quieter on the Sunday than we had expected. Although lacking in grandeur and un-forgettable historical monuments compared to the previous capital cities we had visited in central Europe, Ljubljana was nonetheless charming, compact and the River Ljubljanica played a central role to its many attractions. There were many bridges criss-crossing this river and the most interesting and famous being the Three Bridges; yep, where not only the tourists hang out to buy their souvenirs, ice-creams and took their river cruises etc. but also where many university students gathered and lazed around in the sun to discuss homework (?) or may be passing a few joints more like ...
We also took a day-trip out to Lake Bled where we had a picnic lunch right in front of the famous Assumption Church on the central island. It took us 3 hours at snail pace to complete the lake circuit and we took a hike up to the castle for a bird-eyes' view of the surrounding valleys. We managed to join a gathering of 4 other passengers (2 Taiwanese pensioners, one Canadian of Slovenian origins and a local girl) to charter a taxi back to Ljubljana. The middle-age taxi man spoke fluent English and he reminisced on the good old days of the Tito (pre-EU) era and gave us loads of stories of how things "were just better in those days" ... We listened with interest and did think about the country's affinity towards joining the EU. This contemplation about the EU could not have been better (worse) timed as we heard with shock after we arrived back to Ljubljana, that the French Air Traffic Controllers were calling a strike in response to EU's plans to reform the management of the European air-space. Perhaps the taxi man was right afterall ... Luckily at the end we only had a day's delay in getting home - and luckily a sunny day which we spent on a long stroll along the lovely River Ljubljanica, a mega-pleasant way to end our journey in this part of Europe !
Of particular note about Wu Yi was that not only the mountain scenery was pure magic, the areas around here were once a place of great scholarly learning. Arguably the most influential scholar since Confucius was the man Zhu Xi (朱熹) from the Song Dynasty (南宋) who set up prestigious learning centres such as the academy of 武夷精舍 around Wu Yi. Zhu's theology, methodology and discipline had been adopted by governments as far and wide as Korea, Japan and Vietnam around the start of the last millennium. The next day saw us hiking through the famous tea plantations around Wu Yi and the journey from the scenic areas of 水簾洞 to 大红袍 and then on to 虎嘯岩 took up most part of the sunny day and it was time to rest our tired limbs and that well-deserved cup of 大红袍 tea at the end of the day ! Making our way to Nan Chang (南昌) where we would board our flight home, we passed through the Jiang Xi (江西) town of Shang Rao (上饒) where we witnessed an amazing sunset by the river of Xin Jiang (信江) - a wonderful roundup of the journey and I would spare the details of how we survived the cold snap (an overnight drop of 15 degrees Celsius) that was to follow in Nan Chang !
Visiting the UNESCO lauded Wu Tai Shan - Five Terrace Mountains (五台山) gave us a whole new meaning and definition of being "templed out" ! Located at an elevation of over 3,000 meters, Wu Tai Town and its surrounding spectacular mountains as well as over 40 temples and monasteries, warranted a busy 4-days stay. Wu Tai had been a Buddhist sacred ground for over 1,500 years and in particular the most important aspect had been the co-existence of Chinese (漢傳佛教) and Tibetan
(藏傳佛教) Buddhism being practised side-by-side amongst these temples. The
dizzying journey from Da Tong took 6 hours as we climbed and snaked
around the beautiful Shanxi (山西) back country roads. When we left Da Tong (大同), it was
a pleasant 26 degrees Celsius but when we reached Wu Tai Town, the
temperature dropped to a just-bearable 10 degrees Celsius. Luckily
during the day the sun shone brightly and warmth soon returned for our
visits to these stunning temples.
The temples were beautifully constructed and decorated with characteristic Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian scripts and the number of worshippers was thankfully low as we picked mid-week to visit the site. Of note, we visited and paid our respects at the temples of 塔院寺, 菩薩頂, 吉祥寺, 獅子窩, 鎮海寺, 白雲寺, 金閣寺, 瑞應寺, 楓林寺 ... Phew ! And we marveled at the different religious presentations and statues at each and every turn. We then spent the next two days carrying out our mega-hikes around the five terrace peaks. We passed numerous Chinese and Tibetan builders and painters hard-at-work in temple renovation and restoration, sleepy villages set amongst the Autumn colorful patchwork of gold, red, and olive green and responsible monks guarding rarely-visited temples. We felt a good vibe spending these few days in these pleasant surroundings and at the same time felt enlightened in absorbing the spiritual atmosphere of these sacred mountains - really felt serene and hassle-free. A BIG Thank-You to Wu Tai Shan !
A couple of pleasant bus journeys lasting 7 hours, took us away from Ping Yao (平遙古城) in the south, to Da Tong (大同) in the north of Shanxi Province (山西) via the provincial capital of Tai Yuan (太原). The main trunk road linking the south and north of Shanxi was dotted with many worth-while destinations such as Wu Tai Shan (五台山), glacial caves, picturesque mountains and countless ancient cities. But for now, we were satisfied in heading to Da Tong - being once the capital of Northern China around 400 A.D. during the Wei Dynasty (魏晋南北朝) era, Da Tong had a great deal of ancient artifacts including a series of imposing fortress walls, a majestic grand mosque as well as countless Buddhist and Taoist temples of royal heritage. We based ourselves here for an enjoyable three days when we visited the stunning Yun Gang Buddhist Grottoes (雲岡石窟), the Taoist mountain of 恒山 as well as a lazy look-around of the ancient city. We stayed right by the Da Tong train station and we watched with amusement the changing-of-lights (green-blue-red-purple-yellow) of the train station at night (a photo attached below).
Of particular note was the series of Yun Gang Buddhist Grottoes, located 16km from Da Tong - beautifully constructed, chiseled, moulded and painted, The Great Buddha appeared in more than 50,000 stunning presentations, all with different postures and expressions (but always kind and generous with that familiar knowing smile, of course) in over 50 grottoes; now that was a lot of hard work ! We casually spent over 5 hours at the site, peering, wowing and oo-ing over the fantastically constructed figures and statues, it was a most satisfying visit. Back in Da Tong proper, we visited numerous temples including 華嚴寺 and 九龍壁 as well as a long walk around the giant city walls, now almost completely being renovated. Da Tong turned out to be much more interesting than we had first anticipated, both historically as well as a relaxing destination.
An ambitious bus journey to reach the famous Yellow River Hu Kou Waterfall (黃河壺口瀑布) from Shannxi (陕西) Province to Shanxi (山西) Province paid off as we arrived near 7P.M., having flown in to Xian (西安) from Shenzhen (深圳) in the early morning - the only brief detour was an electric tri-cycle journey across the busy Xian city traffic. We could hear the faint rumbles of the mighty waterfall at a distance where we stayed about 3km away. After a brisk walk in the morning towards the waterfall, Hu Kou did not disappoint and well worth our effort in getting here. The Yellow River took its time in getting here from the plateaus in Qing Hai (青海) Province and with the rock formation shaping up like a massive water jug, the muddy river, with its precious life-giving minerals just plunged down a gaping gap of about 20 meters in width. The effect was spectacular but be warned, getting too close would have your clothes ended up with muddy brown patches ! Also, from our experience, the Shanxi side was the side to be, to view the waterfall at its full glory !
Having experienced a natural "high" from the little adventure (and from the negative ions) at the waterfall, we hopped on a shared mini-bus and made our way towards Ping Yao (平遙) via a series of towns in Shanxi - 吉縣 and then 臨汾. The UNESCO lauded walled-city of Ping Yao was first populated about 2,700 years ago and developed into its present form over numerous generations. It was once a major financial centre in the Qing Dynasty (清朝) - think Wall Street, Western Union and SFC, then you would get the idea. We strolled the pleasant alleys as well as the main thoroghfares amongst the throngs of petite residence-cum-hotels (客棧) and well-stocked shops. The town was well-maintained insofar as tourist souvenirs shops were concerned - they mainly sold what they had been selling long ago - barber shops, noodles joints, Chinese stationery outlets, toy shops; not a Starbucks to be found anywhere, thank goodness ! Overall, Ping Yao did maintain the atmosphere that you were transported back in time to an ancient county town - you could easily imagine that you rode into town on your horseback !
Arriving from Zagreb after a 3 hours' train ride, we found the laid-back Slovenian capital, Ljubljana was even quieter on the Sunday than we had expected. Although lacking in grandeur and un-forgettable historical monuments compared to the previous capital cities we had visited in central Europe, Ljubljana was nonetheless charming, compact and the River Ljubljanica played a central role to its many attractions. There were many bridges criss-crossing this river and the most interesting and famous being the Three Bridges; yep, where not only the tourists hang out to buy their souvenirs, ice-creams and took their river cruises etc. but also where many university students gathered and lazed around in the sun to discuss homework (?) or may be passing a few joints more like ...
We also took a day-trip out to Lake Bled where we had a picnic lunch right in front of the famous Assumption Church on the central island. It took us 3 hours at snail pace to complete the lake circuit and we took a hike up to the castle for a bird-eyes' view of the surrounding valleys. We managed to join a gathering of 4 other passengers (2 Taiwanese pensioners, one Canadian of Slovenian origins and a local girl) to charter a taxi back to Ljubljana. The middle-age taxi man spoke fluent English and he reminisced on the good old days of the Tito (pre-EU) era and gave us loads of stories of how things "were just better in those days" ... We listened with interest and did think about the country's affinity towards joining the EU. This contemplation about the EU could not have been better (worse) timed as we heard with shock after we arrived back to Ljubljana, that the French Air Traffic Controllers were calling a strike in response to EU's plans to reform the management of the European air-space. Perhaps the taxi man was right afterall ... Luckily at the end we only had a day's delay in getting home - and luckily a sunny day which we spent on a long stroll along the lovely River Ljubljanica, a mega-pleasant way to end our journey in this part of Europe !
