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So I don’t know if you’ve heard, but China is pretty big. I severely underestimated the amount of time I needed to visit my ancestral homeland and ended up staying for about five months! And I haven’t even seen everything I want to see!
Places (July 2009)
Places (August 2009)
Places (September 2009)
Places (October 2009)
Places (November 2009)
Hong Kong
June 24, 2009 – July 2, 2009
I first landed in Hong Kong after a moderately-grueling direct flight from San Francisco. The fare was super-inexpensive, so I really couldn’t complain. What does one do in Hong Kong? Climb Victoria Peak and eat, of course! Dim sum, congee, wonton noodles, char siu, and much, much more.
Although I say “Hong Kong”, I stayed in Kowloon, across Victoria Harbour, and did a lot of my daily living there. For example, when I had to address my Nintendo DS’s power needs, I went shopping in Mong Kok. When I went strolling for inexpensive eats, I did in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, and Yau Ma Tei.
But Hong Kong called, and I rode the Star Ferry and tram to Happy Valley race track, wandered around Central and other districts, visited the Dr. Sun Yat-sen museum, rode up the world’s longest outdoor escalator, and spent an afternoon at the top of Victoria Peak, dreaming of hiking to Aberdeen, but staying until the city lights came on. I even spent some time in a public library, looking at books I couldn’t read.
That’s not to say that shiny Hong Kong had the “better” activities. The Avenue of Stars harbour-side promenade (with a statue of Bruce Lee!) is in Tsim Sha Tsui, the informative History Museum is in East Tsim Sha Tsui, and the view of the Hong Kong skyline is wonderful from the Kowloon side (though the Symphony of Lights was a bit of a let-down). But that’s not saying that Kowloon had the “better” activities, either.
And then there was Lantau Island. Hong Kong (the territory) includes several islands, of which Hong Kong (island) is one. Lantau Island is home to a long, hilly hike that can be skipped over via suspended cable-car. (I skipped the hike.) It’s also home to a cool hill-top Buddha statue that’s been seen in many a movie produced in Hong Kong.
Finally, it was time to move on. The semi-persistent rain was also a bit of a bummer, too, although it also helped make for dramatic skies. I stowed my Octopus card for safe-keeping and took an inter-city KCR train to Guǎngzhōu.
Guǎngzhōu
July 2, 2009 – July 8, 2009
Welcome to Guǎngzhōu! Please proceed to Quarantine! Gah! Not a particularly auspicious start to my entering mainland China. All because I was honest. But since I wasn’t in a hurry, it wasn’t such a big deal. One of the reasons I was in Guǎngzhōu was to have fresh pages added to my passport. I’d heard that the walk-in U.S. processing center on Guǎngzhōu’s Shiamen Island was much less busy than the mail-in centers in the U.S.
Unfortunately, my information was out of date, and although Shiamen Island (formerly a foreign concession with its own colonial style) provided a pleasant stroll, the center had moved near the Guǎngzhōu East Rail Station!
While in Guǎngzhōu, I also visited the Chen Family Temple/Hall, Guangxiao Si, and Liu Rong Si (among the first of many temples), met some nice people from nearby Fóshān (among the first of many nice Chinese people), 
wandered through the city on foot (among the first of many such streets), got my passport amended with extra pages (the first of many bureaucratic procedures), enjoyed Yuexiu Park and Liuhua Park (among the first of many pleasant parks and gardens, vast and small), marveled at the treasures of the Nanyue Tomb and the dignity of the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (among the first of many tombs and memorials to men and events), ate some excellent meals (among the first of many excellent meals), and rode in a Chinese taxi (the first of not that many rides in a Chinese automobile). Many firsts among many. And did you hear, China’s big!
Yes, Guǎngzhōu was my “soft” introduction to mainland China, and now it was time for something a little different: Zhàoqìng.
Zhàoqìng
July 8, 2009 – July 10, 2009
Zhàoqìng is one of a number of interesting towns clustered around Guǎngzhōu. One fairly decent long-distance bus ride later, I was ambling through the streets of Zhàoqìng, trying to navigate without many English street signs and fighting the glare from the intense sun. Eventually, I came across the ancient city walls that surround the old part of town. After exploring the area a bit, I pushed on to the Seven Star Crag, a series of karst (limestone) formations sitting in a nearby lake.
Unfortunately, it had taken me too long to walk to the Seven Star Crag, and all of the attractions were closed by the time I arrived. I didn’t feel too bad, though, as the walk through town and along the causeway in the lake had been pleasant. Frankly, the karst formations here weren’t as awesome as the ones at Halong Bay in Vietnam, despite my trying consider the merits of each sight individually. Finally, the attractions looked like they had been cooked up to cater to the Chinese tourist’s sensibilities, e.g., “this spot calls to mind the classic poem by the poet ___”.
Although I did enjoy the walk, I ended up taking the public bus back into town. As with most places I visit, my walking hours extended in the evening, and I wandered around town, enjoying the neon and crowds. The next day, I took a public bus to Dinghu Shan, a nearby mountain with walking trails connecting a number of scenic sights. And I walked. And walked. And walked. I was repeatedly tempted to pay for a ticket for one of the electric carts that were whizzing tourists up and down the mountain, but in the end, my innate cheapness won out. I’m glad, since I feel that a payoff is often made even more rewarding after having to struggle to achieve it.
Dinghu Shan’s sights include green lakes, vistas of the surrounding area, a stretch of river high in anions, and Qingyun Si, a large temple sprawling down the terraced mountain-side. For me, Dinghu Shan certainly set the bar for hiking mountains in the Chinese way (i.e., along roads and paved trails).
Qīngyuǎn
July 10, 2009 – July 11, 2009
Ah, the memories! They burn!
Shēnzhèn
July 11, 2009
Somehow, I wound up in Shēnzhèn’s bus/train station. I’m not sure how or why I arrived there. Something… gnaws at my brain…
Cháozhōu
July 11, 2009 – July 13, 2009
I arrived in Cháozhōu in the dead of night. Only, the streets were still fairly lively! People were out and about, sitting and eating outdoors. I was already in a poor mood, so after an hour walking around looking at different places to stay, I splurged and treated myself to a nice hotel room. The next morning, I was quite glad to be in Cháozhōu. Many of the streets were lined with trees, providing shade and attractive greenery.
As usual, I covered a lot of ground on foot, crossing the river over one of the many bridges, including the Guangji bridge, originally built in the Song dynasty. Along the circuit, I stopped by Hanwen Si, rising up the side of a river-side hill, hulking Guangji Tower and the old Ming-era city walls, and ran into the only Caucasian I’d see all day.
Walking through the “old town” inside the city walls, I was distracted by the white-washed facades that had been slapped up over the old, crumbling buildings, which were plainly seen from the alleys. Still, it was an interesting Chinese take on marketing.
The rather disconcerting old town was followed by an afternoon visit to nearby Kaiyuan Si, where new temple buildings and halls were being erected.
I eventually wound up in the new part of town. This Cháozhōu was filled with dazzling shops and crowded with pedestrians and vehicles. It was a drastic change from the relatively-tranquil morning and afternoon, but I enjoyed it and soaked up the crazy energy. For my second night, I moved to a different, less expensive hotel, and then went walking around night-time Cháozhōu, revisiting the river-front.
My final day in Cháozhōu, before my onward bus to Fúzhōu departed in the early evening, I walked around town again. I wanted to see the Confucian Academy before I left, but it turned out to be closed for the day. I still had a nice time, walking along new streets, as well as revisiting areas I’d already been. I enjoyed my time in Cháozhōu. This walk-able town had a good balance of “old” and “new”, even if part of the “old” had been made to look “new”.
Fúzhōu
July 14, 2009 – July 16, 2009
Fúzhōu marked a departure from Guǎngdōng province, into neighboring Fújiàn province. The overnight bus deposited me not far from the train station, early in the morning. After eventually securing a hotel room, I ended up sleeping the rest of the day.
The next day, I walked around the sprawling, modern-looking town, planning on hitting the accessible sights. I greeted the large statue of Mao Zedong standing at the foot of Jade Hill. 
Sadly, the White Pagoda was closed for renovation, although the surrounding temple was accessible and quite pretty, as were the neighboring temples. I made my way to the Black Pagoda, not too far, next to a shopping mall. The Black Pagoda is leaning, so it has a cable running up the side to secure it.
For some reason, Fúzhōu seemed to be undergoing a lot of renovation during my visit. Even the Fúzhōu Museum was mostly closed! Only an exhibit of Thomson’s photos from the 1870′s was available, but it was luckily free (possibly as a consolation). By the time I made it there, I only had about half an hour to look over the selected photos, but I definitely liked what I saw.
With the rest of the afternoon, I walked around the neighboring lake and visited its amusement park and pleasant garden temple.
In the evening, I took a public bus down to a pedestrian shopping and snacking street, Yingzhou Lu. Perhaps not amazingly, nearby Taijiang Lu was also closed for renovation – a huge stretch of street! Perhaps they were putting in a subway system?
Wǔyíshān
July 16, 2009 – July 19, 2009
The next day, I was on a train to Wǔyíshān, famous for its teas and natural scenery. I passed the time by taking photos through the window. I had held off on doing that before, since I didn’t think I’d want to keep the photos, but I realized that a photo can always help jog the memory, no matter how crappy it turns out. I was surprised on how pretty some of the shots of the countryside turned out. Sometimes, I went into the lavatory just so I could take photos out of the open window.
After the train arrived in Wǔyíshān City in the evening, I made my way to the resort part of Wǔyíshān, 30 minutes away by public bus. These buses weren’t as big as regular public buses, but they were significantly larger than a van. Demi-bus? I found a reasonably-priced hotel and made friends with Xiao Ping, one of the English-speaking clerks, and she took me to her neighborhood the next morning for a bowl of noodles at her favorite restaurant (they really were quite good). She invited me to her place for some tea later that evening, but I didn’t see her when I returned, and I didn’t make a big effort to track her down.
Wǔyíshān (the nature reserve/tea plantation) charged a hefty fee for a multi-day ticket. In addition, there was a charge to use the shuttle buses; regular people were not allowed to use their automobiles within the park. You guessed it: I only got the admission ticket! I’m kind of glad I skipped the bus, since I was able to stop and take photos from anywhere along the roads running through the expansive grounds, but then, I did have to walk everywhere, including hikes up to the tops of the local mountains.
The Wǔyíshān area has a number of peaks. I decided to get one of the tougher ones out of the way first: Dawang Feng (Great King Peak). At times, there were branches in the paths, but I steadily made my way towards the peak. I didn’t see many other people climbing this mountain. In fact, I only saw three Chinese tourists in my entire time there. The only other people I saw were some tea farmers, usually in the distance.
Before I knew it, I had strayed from the tourist path and was stumbling through tea plantations. Narrow trails and shallow steps carved from the rock led from terrace to terrace. I kept thinking, “maybe I should turn back now”, but my curiosity and the presence of trails leading away kept me going. I think I did eventually reach the summit, but it was just another plot of tea plants hidden by a ring of trees. From all the traipsing through the tea plants, I ended up with welts and scratches on my legs, since I was wearing shorts. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a tea cop had popped up and accused me of pilfering tea leaves.
I took an alternate route back down. No, I wasn’t lost (this time), I just wanted to see more of the mountain. Eventually, I found myself walking through a farming village, ending up near one of the roads ringing the reserve. I was happy with the day’s hiking. I think I got to see things that most tourists don’t.
I didn’t think I had it in me to climb another peak that day, so I took a motorbike taxi over to the nearby, picturesque village of Xiamei. The village charges tourists for an admission ticket, which helps them preserve their ancient, charming courtyard buildings. Some of the villagers run souvenir shops, but the rest just seem to ignore the tourists, living out their lives.
The next day, I continued to walk from place to place inside the reserve. These were more of the crowd-pleasers, like Jade Maiden Peak and Nine-Bends Gorge and Heavenly Tour Peak and Folding Screen Peak. There were even some traffic jams in some of the narrower sections. Some of the trails were so steep, that steps carved into the rock zig-zagged their way up rock walls, towards observation platforms. Trails went alongside great overhanging cliffs, through caves where the only light came from tiny gaps between the two giant slabs that had split apart to form the cave.
I stopped off at a tea house for an overpriced bowl of instant noodles. While I rested, I chatted with a middle-schooler who wanted to practice her English. Then, it was on to the next area, a succession of steep climbs up and down peaks near the river. It was good exercise, and the expansive views were stunning.
Back on the ground, I kept my cheap streak alive by declining to pay for a trip down Nine-Bends Gorge on a bamboo raft. I hiked along back trails that didn’t seem to see much tourist use and eventually found myself on the river, walking along the exposed riverbed in search of the burial caves carved high in the cliffs near bend #4. Finally satisfied, I called it a day. But I still had to walk back to my guesthouse!
That night, I went in search of wontons, but I wound up with regular dumplings. The next morning, before the train to Hángzhōu, I found them: my perfect xiao (small) wontons. I watched them getting made to order. They were so good that I immediately ordered a second bowl! The next time I visit Wǔyíshān, this will be the only thing I eat, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Hángzhōu
July 19, 2009 – July 27, 2009
I had waited too long to purchase my train ticket to Hángzhōu. The only spots left for the afternoon were soft sleeper berths. This turned out to be a good thing, as I made a friend on the way (while we were accidentally trapped inside the cabin when our compartment’s door handle fell off). I was meeting my friend Oliver’s mother, who was going to be in town for the July 22 solar eclipse. For convenience, I had booked a room at the same hotel (west of the city’s famous man-made West Lake), but I had arrived one day early.
On the first day, I walked around tourist-friendly West Lake (the western part seemed like a mix of new cement and asphalt with greenery), walking along the long Su Causeway, exploring a bit of Gushan Island, and eating succulent beggar’s chicken and West Lake water shield soup at upscale (touristy) Louwailou restaurant. There were a lot more “obvious” tourists than I had yet seen in China.
The next day, Elaine, her local friend Duan, and I went hunting for the eclipse. Afterward, under Duan’s guidance, we visited a Longjing tea park (Longjing being a famous tea produced in the area) and tea village, stopped by General Yue Fei’s mausoleum, and dined at Zuibailou restaurant (where Elaine indulged in some dubious wine).
On the last day before Elaine headed off with Duan, we went to Lingyin mountain park and explored the different attractions, including busy Lingyin temple and a more sedate temple sprawling up the side of a hill, where we heard monks chanting, and stopped off for a relaxing tea ceremony. I also hiked part-way up Feilai peak, spotting caves and Buddhist carvings along the way. Afterwards, Elaine and I climbed up Liuhe pagoda, by the river. We later had dinner near Qinghefeng shopping/food street, east of West Lake.
On my own again, I moved to a cheaper east side hotel and wandered around the streets, ending up at the lake again. Being based in town was more convenient for my style of traveling. I hiked up the local mountain to Baochu pagoda, for wide vistas of West Lake and the rest of town to the north of the peak. I had a pleasant time descending via a different route that wound through a quiet forest.
My remaining days in Hángzhōu were fairly quiet, spent visiting local eateries like Zhi Wei Guan (a bustling cafeteria with dim sum and other treats, recommended by my new friend Youjia), wandering around the lake and adjacent parks. I also took a bus to Hupao (Tiger Running Spring), watching local visitors hiking through with empty jugs to fill at the springs. I also climbed many steps up a local peak for pleasant (albeit smoggy) views. On my final morning in town, I had dim sum with Youjia, then took an express train to Shanghai.
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