Arrived in Taiwan! 台湾到了！

Disclaimer: this is the first post in a long while that I create on the day of the experience itself. I am however still writing articles about my past experiences in China, so you can scroll down from time to time to see if I wrote something new.

Time for episode two of my great journey through China!
I have parted ways with my buddies Yixin, Jan and Alice in Shanghai. I now embark on a month of solo travelling. My first stop is Taipei. I have no other concrete plan for the 10 days of my stay in Taiwan, but I'm sure that I will have many opportunities. I'll figure something out. ;)

Airport to city shuttle. I'm the only passenger.

My arrival in Taiwan is not without trouble. My luggage has mistakenly been removed from the airplane when I transferred in Hong Kong and I have not yet received it. I will probably only get it this afternoon.

I am now in the hip hostel called "I'm Inn Taipei". The staff has been very kind with me, helping me with the return of my luggage and many other things. We've had an interesting conversation about travelling, China-Taiwan and Tomorrowland. Since I have a lot of work to do and because I don't have my luggage yet, I am dedicating this day to blogging and learning some more Chinese.

Me writing this artice. Blogception.

Wrote a message on the wall of the hostel, token of gratitude for the warm welcome the staff gave me.

I decided to try something new here in Taiwan: couch surfing. Tonight I meet up with my host. He's a cool guy called Kenneth, 25 y/o, so I expect that we're gonna have a good time together.

P.S.: one big remark! The climate in Taipei is a lot milder than in Shanghai. I was expecting to only climb the ladder of transpiration, but I just love the weather here. This definitely proves a lot of people wrong. :p

Zhangjiajie National Park: a hiker's paradise

Tianmen Mountain

Ah, Zhangjiajie. This area in northern Hunan province is reknowned for its unique mountainous scenery. People from all over China travel to Zhangjiajie to see its famous national park. Popularity has risen even higher since the mountains have inspired the flying rocks in the Avatar movie (with the blue guys, not The Last Airbender).

In the whole area, there are two main 5A attractions. The first one is Tianmen mountain, which can be accessed by cableway from the city centre. The second one is the national park at Wulingyuan. We visited both.

While the view from Tianmen mountain is definitely amazing, I would not recommend doing it, as it is very pricy to take the cable car and the queue is 5-7 hours long. Up the mountain are some nice paths you can take. There are also two glass floor "skywalks", but you have to pay about €2/p.p. extra for that.

Forest path on Tianmen mountain

The really interesting part about Zhangjiajie is the national park at Wulingyuan. Here you can find the scenery that made Zhangjiajie so famous. The park features stone paths and hiking trails that allow for several days of hiking. We stayed in a hostel up in the mountains, which was definitely a good idea, because you can see a lot more of the park that way. You should not expect any more comfort than the absolute mimimum though.

The famous Zhangjiajie scenery, as it is found in the national park.

The park is the most beautiful after the rain, when you can see a "sea of clouds" in between the sharp rocky cliffs.

Our travel party. One person is missing from this picture: Xu Haoshuang, who travelled with us for 10 days.

And to finish up this article: here's an old Chinese song I'm totally into. I think it fits my mood in Zhangjiajie well. :p

Night Train to Zhangjiajie

Uploaded a video of the first few moments on the 20 hour train trip from Kunming to Zhangjiajie. After this trip I feel I have to review my opinion about the Chinese trains a little. :p

I still think taking the train is relatively comfortable in China if you have beds, but there are some things that are very different from Europe and some of them can be quite annoying. I have listed my annoying experiences below.

1) There is absolutely no way to open a window. The freshest air you can get is thus by sucking it through the cracks at the intersection of the train compartiments. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But, the lack of fresh air is still very annoying, especially when the train stands still, because then the AC doesn't work.

2) This one is not about the train itself, but about the procedure to get on it. Taking the train in Europe is easy, right? You buy your ticket at the train station or online and simply hop on. Well, in China things are quite different... Taking the train is as troublesome as taking an airplane. The procedure is complete with at least one security check, at least two passport controls and at least 3 ticket controls. Why? 你们的安全! For your safety of course. A terrorist might get through the first two ticket controls, but will surely get caught at the third one.
Also: queueing. In big train stations you can expect to wait 1h30 to just get your ticket. Even if you booked it online, you still have to fetch it at the administrative desk in the train station. This is particularly frustrating, because I don't see any usefulness to it.

3) There is music at the most inappropriate times. You wanted to sleep early, because you get off the train at 5 am? Too bad. Here's some tacky Chinese pop music that'll prevent you from doing that. Sometimes it's even worse, because the train staff communicates safety information (安全，安全，安全!) or publicity over the music at a deafening volume.

4) Hot water. This is actually a positive element. I listed it because it so unique to Chinese trains. In every train there is a water boiler. People use it to fill up the tea cans they carry around at all times and to prepare their instant noodles (THE Chinese train and pick nick food). It is actually very useful. I might introduce it in Europe. ;)

Rant over. But take it with a sense of humour, will you? :)

Beautiful Lugu Hu

Our trip in Yunnan lead us to the upper northern border with Sichuan. This is the location of Lugu Hu (泸沽湖), a beautiful lake amidst the mountains. This place is perfect for hiking. Swimming is, as usually in China, not allowed. We spent 2 nights around the lake, which was enough to enjoy the scenery to the fullest. The second day, we drove around the lake by scooter. It only takes 3 hours that way. The soft climate here is very comfortable. 

It was fun to get into Chinese traffic for a while. Although nothing compared to the business of a bustling city, the driving around Lugu Hu is still the same as in the rest of China, meaning: hazardous takeovers, speeding on small roads and a lot of horn blowing. Below you can find a video shot from the back of the scooter. Unfortunately, nothing exciting happened while filming, but you can get a glimpse of what the roads around the lake look like.

Feeling badass on a scooter...

Improvised hiking trail, not on a map.

Old (?) Lijiang

Ahh, we've arrived in the famous old town of Lijiang (丽江) in northern Yunnan. We've had the luck of finding a very good hostel just by exploring the area of Shuhe (束河), which is the one of the three main areas in Lijiang that is the most comfortable to reside in.

First day, we've strolled around in the old town (古城). The old town has some beautiful parts, but is crowded with tourists, shops and street vendors. The buildings are in old Chinese/Naxi architecture and look very nice, maybe a bit too nice... While 古 translates to "ancient", the town itself did not seem to be very old. If the buildings are actually as old as touristic brochures claim they are, then they have been renovated to the point where their ancient roots have become invisible. The buildings could just as well have been built in 2010 as in 1800. Nonetheless, there is a lot to do in the area around Lijiang and there are a lot of fun pubs and cafés, so we did have a good time here.

Shuhe

Lijiang old town entrance

Overview of the old town

This is the view you get when you turn around...

Typical street in the old town of Lijiang

Arriving in Yunnan

Kunming train station

We've arrived by train in Kunming, capital of the Yunnan province early in the morning of  friday 10th of july. The plan was to immediately continue travelling to the northern part of Yunnan, more specifically the popular sightseeing areas of Lijiang and Lugu Hu. However, since we travelled from Guiyang, a transfer in Kunming was necessary. Guiyang - Kunming took about 9h, Kunming - Lijiang would be be an 8 hour long train journey. We spent one day in Kunming and tried to use our time as efficiently as possible. After a quick noodle soup for breakfast, we visited a Daoist temple, went to a museum about the local history and later on went to Cui Hu (翠湖) park to relax a little bit.

Although dental care is still a big issue in some parts of China, this doctor likes to show off his skills to  people passing by.

Kunming atmosphere.

Cui Hu park entrance.

After a short day in Kunming, we took the night train to Lijiang. If you have berths, travelling by train is actually really comfortable in China. The nasty part is that they wake you up with tacky Chinese music at 6 am for no good reason (even though your train only arrives at 8). ;)

P.S. No, this is not night time. Picture taken the next morning. ;)

Pipa concert

In Guiyang, we went to the pipa (Chinese lute) graduation concert of Cai Yina, Yixin's cousin. The concert took place in the music hall of the Guiyang Normal University. We were all asked to help a bit with the preparations and did some roadie work during the concert. While I did not see that much of the concert from the audience, I can say that it sounded exquisitely. :)

For the last performance, 5 other musicians joined.

The presenters for tonight, both in Chinese and English. Although there weren't many English speakers in the audience.

A picture backstage. The agitation was visible.

One of the many, many group pictures.

Participating in such a local event was an amazing experience.

A couple of pictures from parks and waterfalls...

This post is going to be a long one. The main reason therefore is that I did not have decent internet acces in Guiyang, so I will be covering multiple days at once. The second reason this post is a long one, is the high amount of pictures. But, I suppose those are the most interesting after all... :)

First up is ... park in Guiyang. The park is quite large and offers many stone paths up the forested hills that split the town in different districts. Although not the most beautiful park, it has a lot of interesting things to offer. The biggest attraction here is definitely the monkeys. There are many of them freely wandering around the park. They are not shy of humans and might even try to steal your food. Although I would not dare to touch them, it is great to be able to stand very close to them.

Picture above: one of the many activities you can see in parks. This game is particularly interesting. The goal of the game, mostly played by elderly men, is to keep the top spinning for as long as possible by hitting it with a whip. I regret not filming it, because the noise really makes it complete. (It's loud!)

Next park we did was a park in the vicinity of Duyun. It was still quite a long bus ride away, but well worth it. Here, we witnessed some of the more untouched, wild nature of Guizhou.

Xiaoheche Park (小河车公园) in Guiyang is a new park with lots of things to see and do. You won't find any authentic ancient buildings here, but they did a very good job imitating the old architecture. The park is more fit for a sightseeing tour than an actual walk in the park, because, as is the case with many things in China, it is built on a massive scale. You can hop on what looks like a golf buggy limousine to get around more quickly.

In one part of the park, some of the many minorities in Guizhou province are in the spotlight. On the picture below, you see a pavillion constructed in Miaozu (苗族) style. While they rock some cool, unique ceremonial clothing, their architecture and culture looks similar to that of the Han majority. Not so very different from the majority after all, but isn't that the case for most minorities?

Like a dream...

The last trip we made from Guiyang was Huangguoshu Falls (黄果树). Rated AAAAA by the Chinese government, this view is definitely worth it. 很漂亮的景色！

Chinese feasts

Being friends of Yixin, Jan and I had the privilege of being invited to many family dinners. About his family and about the Chinese people in general, I can say that they care a lot about their guests. They will urge you to try every dish on the table and are interested to know where you come from and why you are travelling in China.

We enjoyed a variety of both local and national dishes. Guizhou cuisine is generally quite spicy. People here eat everything with a bit of extra chili pepper. The dishes are very tasty, but oily. The pictures below show some of the meals we've had so far.

Moutai, a famous baijiu from Guiyang. 干杯！

Of course, street food could not be left out from this list. O dear stomach, you might have to hold on tight for this tasty deliciousness.

At a fancier place in Kunming.

Suantangyu (酸汤鱼), a famous local dish. You pick the (living) fish you want to eat upon arrival in the restaurant.

Weird drinks: #2

Time for some more weird drinks. Today: these two nice looking citrus drinks.

They were quite similar, but the left one was better overall. The one on the right tasted very artificial and was way too sweet. The one on the left did not taste strange after all and could be compared to Schweppes Agrumes, but without the bubbles.

Seems pretty neat, right? Well, we think it was... ;)

Guiyang: de eerste dagen

Disclaimer: this will be in Dutch, future posts will be in English again. Why, you're wondering? Well, simply because I started writing this in Dutch. ;)

02/07/2015 – Beijing - Guiyang

Vandaag was een reisdag. We zijn opgestaan in Beijing na een korte nacht, hebben snel iets om te eten gehaald op straat en zijn dan met de metro naar de luchthaven vertrokken. Al het gehaast bleek echter voor niets te zijn, aangezien onze vlucht drie uur vertraging had opgelopen (vermoedelijk wegens het slechte weer). De rest van de voormiddag en de hele namiddag hebben we gewacht op onze vlucht en gewacht in het vliegtuig zelf.

’s Avonds kwamen we dan uiteindelijk toch aan in Guiyang. We werden zeer gastvrij onthaald bij Yixins tante, die ons op een heerlijk – en voor de eerste keer ook gezond! – avondmaal trakteerde. Na het avondmaal waren Jan en ik even alleen bij haar thuis. Ze deed duidelijk haar best om Engels met ons te praten en ik probeerde mezelf tevens verstaanbaar te maken in het Chinees, wat leidde tot enkele moeizame maar leerrijke gesprekken. Daarna hielden we ons rustig bezig totdat Jemoke, een Britse expat en tevens onze gastheer voor de komende dagen, van z'n werk terugkwam. Deze überchille kerel laat ons een week lang gratis verblijven in zijn appartement. Many thanks!

Jemoke.

Ontbijten met 汤面 (noedelsoep), met veel 辣椒, (chilipeper). Heel lekker!

Plein in het district van Guiyang waar we verbleven.

03/07 – Uitgaan in Guiyang:

Gisterenavond zijn we samen met enkele expats iets gaan drinken in een hippe bar in het centrum. Hun zelfgebrouwen bier is het lekkerste bier dat ik tot nu toe in China heb gedronken. Daarna zijn we gaan dansen in een nogal marginale club in de uitgaansbuurt van Guiyang. Als Westerling wordt je daar… zeer goed onthaald. Iedereen wil met je op de foto. Jonge kerels trakteren je op baijiu of bier. En de dames willen maar al te graag met je dansen. Het geheel heeft iets surreëels. Sommige Westerlingen genieten maar al te graag van de aandacht die ze hier krijgen. Ikzelf kom hier waarschijnlijk niet meer terug. :p