Notes from My Travels

caise · 2010-04-03 09:56

July 12-14, ZheJiang

3 days before my internship, 2 hours after I decided to go somewhere, I got on the bus to JiaXing, a city in ZheJiang province.

There are 6 famous ancient towns in the south of China, 4 of them are in JiaXing names as follows, XiTang (in JiaShan, about 100 kms from ShangHai), WuZhen (in TongXiang), XiaSha (in HaiNing), BaiBu (in HaiYan).

I arrived in XiTang after about 17 hours, early morning of July 13, the moment locals start their days by boating to the market. I was lucky to meet Mrs Zhu during the boring bus trip, after a long talk, she invited me to her family when she knew i had brought nothing, even my cell phone and my camera.
So dears, you see, im still alive leaving my phone.
Impulsive, yea, I am, sure.

I spent the morning with a boatman ( i called him ChangDaGe ) who just about to catch the fair. Thanks to Zhu I paid nothing to him, so again, I was soooooo lucky! I was trying to catch the local language so that to understand what the guys around were talking about when we arrived a stone bridge after 15 mins I guess. Chang led me to a small place around which was full of boats, I stepped on the flat and followed Chang walking through the crowd for about 4o mins. We picked up some noodles, some greenstuffs a piece of meat and some other things.

After I wrote down the address of Zhu, I leave Chang and had a walk around the old town. Though the whole town is circled by water, not like ZhouZhuang (another ancient town in JiangSu province), road works here developed well.

Tourism here is not as developed as ZhouZhuang, so locals seemed to have a lot of interest in me. In such a small town (only 1 sq.km, 60 000 people), people know each other well, so news flies, "你就是那个深圳来的小姑娘,叫丹容是吗?真的自己一个啊?!(You are Danrong from Shenzhen, alone?!)".

There are 9 riverways in XiTang, which divide this town into 8 parts, and using 27 old bridges here for joint. Locals seem to be closefisted with their land, building here are always congested and it seems there is no space for wasting.

I reached about 18 bridges that day, I will come again for photos and spend more days here.

At noon time, I found some snack in a narrow street, it tasted so good but it's a pity I didnt catch the name of it, I searched on the internet but...

I back to Zhu's at around 5 that afternoon, and helped her cooking our meal. We had fish from Chang (he gets up at 4 a.m. fishing everyday) and I knew finally, Chang is Zhu's husband.. -__-||... Well, I AM SLOW(insensitive to this..)...

The night of XiTang is serene and twinkling, we sat beside the small boatyard in front of the door, watching boats passing by, picked up a wonderful nocturne.

In order to get back to Shenzhen for the intern, I left XiTang at noon of 14th. Chang and Zhu boated me around the small town as a gift of farewell before I left. And again and again I said, "Xiexie".

I hope this small town keeps gentle, and people here remain simple and unadorned, and, beatific.

caise · 2010-04-03 09:59

eh...i find it's soooooooooo hard to upload pics to my notes...>_<

well...i would try later...ha

caise · 2010-04-03 10:01

September 26-29.HuBei

2 months and 12 days after my intern, I knew I need a rest.
It was National day Oct.1st, and we had 7 days holiday for that from Sep.29th to Oct.5th. To avoided the crowd, Sep.26th, Friday, I asked for two days(27 & 28) leave from GM, and made a trip to HuBei province.
The first stop was WuHan, the capital city of HuBei province.

I spent my first day in HongShan, and second day in JiangAn to visit two friends, but these two parts were not as good as expected, because I don't like big city anyway.
But there still some places I found interesting, you can google them if wanna a visit.
Yangtze Rvier Bridge build by Soviets (not the second one), don't miss it.
Wuhan University (I suggest go there in March or April, you can see a great view of cherry blossom)
JiangHan Road I will suggest taking a boat there (￥1 during the day and ￥5 after 8p.m. ) and, avoid weekends.

HuBu Alley(Snack Alley) on the way to JingHan road. Snack of kinds, such as Baozi, YouTiao(Fried bread stick), DouPi, MianWo...

ShuiGuoHu(Fruit Lake) it isn't a lake in fact, what I suggest to go is the market there.
There are not much traffic lights in WuHan while zebra crossing everywhere, drivers do not stop for passerbys so it was difficult for me to cross( well, Im not good at crossing the streets WITHOUT triffic lights as you may know), locals used to throw up their hands while crossing.
They eat a lot for breakfast, a big plate of ReGanMian(a kind of dry noodle) and drink something called HuangJiu, I don't really like.

I left WuHan the second day in the afternoon for LaoHeKou, and passed LaoHeKou after a rest went on to XiangFan that night.

Early that morning, I moved to Tea Mountain, the goal of this trip.

It was the tea flowers' season, small white flowers interspersed. I spent the whole morning in the fazenda and learnt to pick tea leaves from the locals, and watched the tea grower choosing and basking the green leaves the rest of the day. They taught me a lot that my father might not know. (My father is strict with tea.)

I had my dinner this time with the tea grower's family that night and left at 8p.m. for Shenzhen.

caise · 2010-04-03 10:05

October 16-23.GuangXi

After 3 months' intern, I back to my dorm in GuangZhou on 22th and made a plan to visist YangShuo again the next day.

YangShuo is quite a place that I had been there 4 times for resting and yea, still have a lot to say about it.

1st day

This time, I arrived at a new hostal called Flowers at around 6:30 in the morning, dont wanna to trouble others I tried to have a rest without taking shower, but after 3 hours lying in bed sleepless, when all my roomates got up, I decided to make myself more comfortable by taking a shower and visiting old friends here. I walked around the small town and feeling more and more familiar when I reached Mo's shop and Liu's home. And back to my room after some noodles for lunch, and have a nap for an hour and a half.

I skipped most of the scenic spots as before, but Silver Cave, I decided to visit again after 2 years, having no plans on hand, so I went there by bus at about 3 after I woke up.

Tourism has been developing rapidly here that I could hardly accept. Locals here disappointed me so much after years this time, that's something I really don't want to refer here. Guys you will understand if you know me well. And I knew at that moment I should stay alone before I can get back to my smile.

How do you understand "travel alone"? It means "you can keep silence if you don't wanna a talk", my cognition.

That night I wrote a letter to Jing and told her my actual feeling in her wedding 3 months ago. She must be astonished at the moment she read my words. And, I ate up a whole plate of slush ice that night as well.

2nd day

The next day, two of my roomates left for their next whither while I felt better for a talk with my only roomate Travis, from New Zealand, after I got up late at noon time. After "breaklunch" with Travis, I tried to help him to get a repellent liquid called OFF around the small town, but failt at last, after back to hostal, I had an impulse I should climb up somewhere to have a overall view of this small town while Travis asked me to join them, there was no reason I shouldn't go so I joined them to climb the Mt. of TV tower.

Well, for girls who travel alone, something likes "shouldn't go out with strangers" should always remembered, judging from Travis' question, I knew I seemed a bit funny to him, or incredible I guess.

I called Kit that evening to let him know what I was doing and my plans for the coming days, he said he had told mum I had had a plan to go out, so, I knew I should make a call the next day.

Before went to bed that night, I went out with Travis for ice-creams, well, excited even only heard the word ICE-CREAM for Caise, yea, ice-cream makes my day, especially when in bad mood. We walked for about 15 mins and finally bought ourselves two. And Travis picked up a nice Hat for ONLY 10 yuan on the way! The interesting way he used to buy it that did make me smile for times. I knew well that I should say "Thank you" to him. He made me think of Tomue in fact, we haven't seen each other for 3 months after Jing's wedding. We visited one of his friends who has a 2 -yr-old dog called SuSu after we bought the Ice-Cream, he said good bye to her (Fang,28 yrs old) cause he was leaving the next day. It was a pity for him to leave without a farewell to XXX(Lucy ?..er..I forgot her name.......-_-).

On our way back, we had our second ice-cream that night. ^@^

Sorry dears, I know you will be mad with me, I shouldnt eat ice-cream or anything cold, but, they did help me so much with getting back my day. Well, I admit, a pain in my stomach the whole night, so, no more the coming two months, I promise.

3rd day

It was the third day in YangShuo for me, I called mum after I got up and, she spoke to me quickly so I knew, she had noted I was trying to skip the topic on classes, what means, yea, she knows me well, always. I'm not good at lying esp. to her, so I finished the call quickly just let her know I AM FINE, HAPPY, HEALTHY..Hoo...

Sorry mum, and, thank you for didnt blame me at that moment.

After moved my bed to Travis' after he checked out, we went out for his last meal in YangShuo and took some pictures before he left for GuiLin to catch the bus to NanNing.

The afternoon after he left, I had a 3-4 hours trip to YueLiang Mt. on foot and visited DongLing on my way back to YangShuo Town.

And Yy, you know, I spent the whole afternoon missing you while watching the old house passing by.

4th day

Got up at 10 again, after answered some mails and updated my blog, I went out to have lunch with my new roomates Anna, Sana, and their friend Parker, after that I back to the hostal before my drift on LiJiang River for the sunset.

I called Chen(who boated me for the previous 3 times) to make sure the best time for sunset, and I left at 3 to catch the bus to Xingping.

It was a lovely day for me, I chatted with Chen and asked him a lot of questions that happened to meet there those day, yea, I need badly someone to talk to at that moment. He gave me a nice trip with a break on the shore side to taste a kind of small fish from LiJiang, I really appreciated.

And after I got my feet wet, I jumpped into the water and ...

On our way back to the shore, I saw a Mt. named Laozhai I havent seen on the map, but it was too late that day and I had to back to Yangshuo cause I had promised to go cycling with Anna and Sana the next day, and what's more, I need a shower...

Chen was so kind to have invited me to his family and, even promised I could take xiaowu's (his wife, who had helped me a lot the first time I was there) clothes if I want. Yes Caise, you are always so lucky..^_^
I was just so lucky to catch the last bus after I took a walk around the small market there. That night, I dreamed had climbed onto the Mt.

And I had an intuition that I should do it before long.

5th day

Got crunk cause it rained early in the morning, we had a wonderful weather for cycling. After I marked out the stages I wanna a visit and chose my comrade(a bike to my size), We left at around 9.

It took us about 2 hours to fetch all my stages and arrived at the YuLong Bridge(an old stone bridge on YuLong/MeetDragon River ), and 1 hours from there back to our hostal directly cause the two planned to take a mudbath in the afternoon, their last day in YangShuo.

The route of this journey as followsanTao Rd. -> LongYan Rd. -> DaCunMen-> YiMa -> ZhaoYang Village -> XingLong Village -> JiuXian -> YanMen -> BaiShan town -> YuLong Bridge -> take Country Rd. No.321 back to Yangshuo

After lunch they went on their trip from Yangshuo to water cave for the bath, and I cycled to Li Village.
I had made a decision to climb on the LaoZhai Mt. the next morning to catch the sunrise, so we hugged goodbye at Old Banian where I moved on to Li Village.

I arrived late that afternoon in XingPing and got the last bed in the hostal, yea, Lucky again. BUT...

I walked around the old town to view the stone houses there, and tried to forget that I would have to spend a night with the other 3 people in a room of ONLY 12 sq.M!! WHILE THE A/C STRIKING AT THE SAME TIME!!!

6th day

Woke up a few times that night because of feeling hot and to drive mosquitos, I GOT UP AT 5 in the early morning.

After ordinary cleaning up, I started off to the foot of Laozhai Mt. with the help of my little torch ( Thank you Tomue! ^_^), and arrived at 5 to 6, checked the sigh of map again and moved on when my watch sounded at 6 sharp.

The first 10 mins were quite easy with stairs clear seen in light, I reached a fork where there are two ways to two different Mt., I chose the path to the higher one that I repented of it few mins later. this was the first mistake. And when I found there was no more stairs on the way up, I decided to take a risk. Groped my way for about five mins in the dark tussock, I came to a scarpside. It was at that time I knew I must turn back, even when I knew for sure I could climb onto it, but the sunrise will not wait for me if I went on wasting time taking risks. But I made my second mistake, took the negative direction into the tussock, fell down, almost missed my foot. (Sorry Mum and Dad, you will never know this.) My toe hurt I knew, I could feel the pain, but could feel tired at all. 11 mins later, I back to fork again, I dont need my torch this time when I saw there is a third path with stairs, just above the stone door where I walked across, and a ladder with a sign " ↑ ".

I reached the top finally at 6:38, and found there were 2 more people on the top, who arrived 20 mins before me. Marcus from London I guess, has a job in GZ, with his cousin Sam, who was from California for her first trip here.

The sunrise at 6:51, several mins after Sui DaGe arrived, he had spent one month in XingPing and would stay in Yangshuo for the next month.

We stayed at the top for some time watching the sunrise and, I enjoyed the wind and the bird's eye view to the old town, we went down the mountain and had our breakfast in a new restaurant in XingPing town, and played glass checkers while had our breakfast.

I back to Yangshuo at about ten that morning with Marcus and Sam, they were leaving for BeiJing soon. I took a shower and spent the rest of the day watching TV and eating my megranates bought from a market nearby.

7th day

The last day in Yangshuo, rained heavily since early in the morning, that woke me up at 7. I have no idea why I felt excited, I went out for a walk with my umbrella, searching for everything I found interested in the rain, cars, people, dogs, trees, mountains, rivers...and west street.

I love the west street in the rain, tranquil and clean, no sot.

I picked up some snacks before I got back to hostal and ate while watching the TV, enjoyed the last few hours in the old town. While Sui DaGe happened to check in in my hostal that noon!!

Oui, beaucoup de coincidences, c'est la vie, je suis fortunate.

I left that day at 8 in the evening so that to catch the bus at 8:30.

caise · 2010-04-22 14:43

Trip to XiaMen
Hey there, I just came back from my tiny trip to xiamen, a city of FuJian Province. And I am thankful to Bernard as my travelling companion. And here, travelogue.

Shuttle bus from shenzhen to xiamen : ￥220(during the May holiday), 9 hours. Well, as Cole and many COLE LIKES buddies asked after knowing my leaving date, "Are you kidding?"

Obviously, my dear Caise. As a fact that I paid ￥142 (insurance included) back from xiamen.

Anyway, arrived xiamen late that day at about 7 p.m. and get to Dreamer's house(梦旅人) for our fisrt night there, I was lucky to meet Mickey who happened to reserve a twin and wanted to share with me, so I needed never again afraid of living in a tent, alone.

And I spent my first night mostly playing with Mimi( a cat of the hostel), after dinner with the "families".

小"国庆"("guo qing" a member of DH.

INFO>>>Dreamer's House: Add. No.332, ZengCuoAn, Island Ring Road.(环岛路曾厝垵332号)
Phone No. 0592 2080395
From Hubin nan Bus terminal, about ￥30 by taxi. (Starting fare is ￥8 in Xiamen)
And, try their coffee. I would like to inform that Rain(xiayu, who works for DH) makes the best coffee there and Lei, the owner, only middling.

The second day after coffee, we visited the Overseas Chinese Museum(华侨博物馆) that not too far away from Xiamen University. You could find more info. on http://www.hqbwy.org.cn/default.asp

Later that day, we went to a well Established Cafe named "Sugar Free" at Zhongshan road with Dragon, owener of another hostel near DH.

I should say their coffee (made by one of the owner who studied coffee making in Japan for 2 years) worth tasting. (about ￥25 sth.)

>>>Rd. zhongshan in SiMing District, Xiamen is famous for its snacks, such as fried tenderloin, Peanut soup, Shacha Noodle Soup, sea worm jelly, fried oyster, fried rice noodles, spring rolls, glutinous rice wrapped with bamboo leaves, Prawn Noodles...

The 3rd day, we visited Xiamen University, where is known as Lover's paradise.

And the Nanputuo Temple ( 南普陀寺) near the University will be a nice place for someone who takes an interest in mountain climbing.

After that we left for Gulangyu Islet before sunset.
You could find more info. about this small island on http://www.gly.cn/english/index.htm

From Xiamen to Gulangyu Islet cost only about 5 mins by Ferry, ￥8 ( only need to buy ticket on your way back, and +￥1 to get a seat on the second floor.) . and after 22:00, it will be free.

The second day on the Islet, after moved to Yoyo inn, and a hearty breakfast at Lin's, (fish ball soup, spring rolls, sea worm jelly...)

we visited Shuzhuang Garden, which was built in 1913 by a wealthy Taiwanese named Lin Erjia, who modeled it after his father's villa in Banqiao,Taipei of Taiwan, Mr. Lin gave it the name "Shuzhuang" after his stylized name of "Shuzang". The gardenis divided into two parts, with "Canghai" facing the sea and "Bushan" against the hill, each having five scenic sights. The Garden contains the Gulangyu Piano Museum, which is "China's only and the world's first-class" treasure house of pianos, with nearly 100 precious historic pianos from throughout the world. The museum is an epitome of Gulangyu's musical culture.

We spent some time in a cafe named Slowly (花时间), which means "takes/spends time", to have our late lunch at about 1:00, and, a talk.

Slowly Cafe (in an old buiding named FanPo Lou番婆楼 )
More about Slowly at http://www.slowly.cn/
and, and, I love the music in the cafe...http://www.slowly.cn/music/

Then followed by a walk to Jishan Rd. for a special tour to a cemetery, and then took a walk back to the exquisite cottage.

YoYo Inn
INFO>>>ADD:No.66, Rd.Quanzhou, Gulang Islet.鼓浪屿泉州路66号
TEL:0592-2196971/2196973
http://www.uuiinn.com/

There's nothing else I cherish more...

It's lucky that no BUS or CAR is allowed to get onto the islet, I could walk without opening my eyes. >_<

Miss Zhao's cafe & Keepsake
opens at about 9:30.
Well, you are not allowed to get up too early for your morning coffee here..

★must-see tourist attractions in Xiamen>>>
Gulangyu Islet 鼓浪屿
The Island Ring Road 环岛路
Wanshi Botanical Garden 万石植物园
Nanputuo Temple 南普陀寺
Huli Ancient Fortress 胡里山炮台
Jimei Learning Village 集美学村
The Turtle Park 鏊园
Tongan Tourist Zones 同安旅游区

Night life in Xiamen:
南华文化吧一条街
白鹭洲城市公园:晚上八点有音乐喷泉.
火烧屿风景区:烧烤.水幕电影
槟榔路酒吧一条街

☆"try to find" in xiamen>>>
Shacha Noodle Soup四里沙茶面:思明区湖滨路四里14之3号.(湖滨路与金榜路交叉口,沿金榜路向北走2-3米.)
sea worm jelly西门土笋冻:斗西路33号(坐车至斗西路站,沿斗西路朝南走2米)
鲜蚝馆:湖滨南路255号(马路北面)
八婆婆的烧仙草:太平路22号.(靠近思明南路)
明月虾面:大同小学站对面.(炒饭就别试了,虾面不错)
黄则和:花生汤,烧肉粽,虾面,蚵(ke)仔煎,炸五香条,贡鱿鱼...(中山路22号,靠近码头)
叶氏麻糍:龙头商业街近新华书店处
Coco milk tea奶茶:原味奶茶
Loving Hut爱家素食餐厅:厦大附近.抄手面和麦香卡滋块
光合作用书屋:中山路和厦大附近各有一家
fried oyster海蛎煎和碗糕:海坛路31号

★must-see tourist attractions on Gulangyu Islet>>>
Shuzhuang Garden 淑庄花园 ticket￥30
Sunlight Rock 日光岩 ticket￥60

You can buy a coupon ticket (￥80) for 5 tourist attractions including the above two if you can finish them in one day.(the rest are Organ Museum风琴博物馆 (Gossip Floor八卦楼)￥20, Lettering Museum刻字馆￥10, Haoyue Park 皓月园￥15)

☆"try to find" on Gulangyu Islet>>>
fish ball soup @ Lin's (林记鱼丸):No.54, Rd.quanzhou./No.183, Rd.Longtou(泉州路54号/龙头路183号)
仔饼:龙头路302号
Orange Juice马拉桑鲜橙汁:No.181, Longtou Rd(龙头路181号)
Milk-tea班沙客奶茶:No.6, fujian Rd.福建路6号
Baby cat's cafe & Pastry(BabyCat私家御饼屋):手工饼.No.143, LongTou Rd.(龙头路143号)
黄胜记肉铺:龙头路95号
Slowly Cafe(花时间咖啡店):No.36, Anhai Rd.安海路36号
百草园凉茶店:龟苓膏奶茶
叶氏麻糍:龙头商业街近新华书店处
Miss Zhao's cafe & Keepsake(赵小姐的店):手工饼干和咖啡(特浓意大利咖啡)