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The North Temple Pagoda of suzhou

Suzhou, China


Covering about 40 mu (= 0.0667 hectares), the North Temple Pagoda was originally the Tongxuan Temple during the reign of Chiwu of the Eastern Wu in the Three States built by Sun Quan, the Emperor of Wu, for his wet nurse. It was granted as the “Epoch-making Temple” in the Tang Dynasty and began to be called the “ Reciprocation Temple ” at the end of the Five Dynasties. So far it has a history of more than 1,700 years.

The Reciprocation Temple Pagoda, or the North Temple Pagoda, is a provincial preservation unit of historical and cultural relics and is popularly praised as the “ Number One Pagoda in South of the Yangtse River ” . Standing far apart facing the Tiger Hill Pagoda, the North Temple Pagoda is also a famous old pagoda and an important symbol of Suzhou .

The North Temple Pagoda has a long history. It was originally an eleven-storeyed pagoda built by Zhanghui, a monk in the Liang Dynasty. Then it was destroyed by the flames of war and the base of the North Temple Pagoda today was built by Dayuan, a monk in the Southern Song Dynasty.

The North Temple Pagoda is a brick and wooden Buddhist pagoda of the style of building and has nine storeys with eight sides each. With the height of 76 meters, it is the highest of the pagodas in Suzhou . It is famous for double eaves and flying corners and is a building in the same type as the Liuhe Pagoda in Hangzhou . The base of the pagoda covers 1.3 mu (= 0.0667 hectares), whose eaves are extraordinarily long. Its body consists of the outer corridors, the inner corridors and the square rooms in the center. Visitors can walk up along the wooden stairs in the internal corridors and by leaning on the railings look down at the panorama of the city as well as look at hills, waters, and rural scenery of Suzhou in the distance.



permalink written by  beijing2008 on July 22, 2008 from Suzhou, China
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged China, Temple, Trip and Suzhou

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Nine-village Valley

Chengdu, China


Jiuzhaigou is a narrow strip of lowland, four hundred kilometers long, in the Minshan Mountain Range in Nanping County, northeast Sichuan. It got its name because there are nine Tibetan villages in the valley. As it is a remote place with unusually charming scenery and few inhabitants, it is often called the "wonderland on Earth." The valley, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, is covered with luxuriant primitive forests and dotted by more than a hundred lakes and ponds of various sizes. At the bottom of the clear blue lakes, stones and waterweeds twinkle in the sun, producing a rainbow of colors. As the valley is of a terraced topography, waterfalls are created between lakes on different levels, the biggest drop being over twenty meters. The roaring sound of the falls echoes through the valley.

The valley is home to a great variety of plants and rare animals, such as the giant panda, lesser panda, Golden monkey, and antelope.

To develop tourism here, China plans to build a hotel with 50 beds, a restaurant, and other facilities. The valley will be divided into five scenic areas along a 54-kilometer route with five tourist service centers. The highway will be widened, and an airport will be built.


permalink written by  beijing2008 on August 12, 2008 from Chengdu, China
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged China, Chengdu, Sichuan and Jiuzhaigou

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Xuanwu lake,nanjing

Nanjing, China


Situated at the foot of Mt. Zhongshan in Nanjing, Xuanwu Lake is a beautiful scenic spot protected by China. It is also one of the three most famous lakes in Nanjing. Surrounding it are Circumvallation, Mt. Jiuhua and Jiming Temple.

The history of Xuanwu Lake can be traced back to the Pre-Qin period (21century BC-221 BC). The name of the lake has changed several times during the long history. The lake gained the name Xuanwu because a black dragon was said to be in the lake.

There are five isles in the lake.: Huan Isle, Ying Isle, Liang Isle, Cui Isle and Ling Isle. When you are on the Huan Isle, you can see that the leaves of willows wave gently with the wind and feel the mild wind from the lake that blows tenderly on your face. The Ying Isle is famous for its cherry blossoms. When the cherry blossoms bloom in the early Spring, the isle seems to be an ocean of flowers. Liang Isle is the one that was developed earlier than the other four. Annually, the grand traditional exhibition of chrysanthemums is held there. On the Cui Isle, there are dark green pines, emerald green cypresses, tender willows, and light green bamboos. To the east of Ling Isle, you can see the beautiful clouds drifting across Zhong Mountain.

Each island has wonderful scenery: Nuona Tower on Huan Isle is full of special serene ambience. Wumiao Zha on Ling Isle has long history and of a reasonable design. Other places like the Lotus Garden on Ying Isle and the Hushen Miao on Liang Isle are also worth visiting.



permalink written by  beijing2008 on August 18, 2008 from Nanjing, China
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged China, Nanjing and XuanwuLake

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Xian Travel Guide

Xi'an, China


Xian, the eternal city, records the great changes of the Chinese nation just like a living history book. Called Chang'an in ancient times, Xian is one of the birthplaces of the ancient civilization in the Yellow River Basin area of the country. During Xian's 3,100 year development, 13 dynasties such as Western Zhou (11th century BC - 771 BC), Qin (221 BC - 206 BC), Western Han (206 BC - 24 AD) and Tang (618 - 907) placed their capitals here. So far, Xian enjoys equal fame with Athens, Cairo, and Rome as one of the four major ancient civilization capitals.

Xian is the capital of Shaanxi province, located in the southern part of the Guanzhong Plain. With the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Weihe River to the north, it is in a favorable geographical location surrounded by water and hills. It has a semi-moist monsoon climate and there is a clear distinction between the four seasons. Except the colder winter, any season is relatively suitable for traveling.

The cultural and historical significance of Xian, as well as the abundant relics and sites, help Shaanxi enjoy the laudatory title of 'Natural History Museum'. The Museum of Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses is praised as 'the eighth major miracle of the world', Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is listed on the World Heritage List, and the City Wall of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) is the largest and most intact Ming Dynasty castle in the world. In the city, there is the 3,000 years old Banpo Village Remains from the Neolithic Age (approximately from 8000 BC to 5000 BC), and the Forest of Stone Steles that holds 3,000 stone steles of different periods from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Around Xian, the Famen Temple enjoys the reputation of being the 'forefather of pagodas and temples in Central Shaanxi,' because it holds the finger bones of Sakyamuni -- the founder of Buddhism. The natural landscape around Xian is also marvelous Mt.Huashan one of the five best-known mountains in China, is famous for its breath-taking cliffs and its unique characteristics.

Traditional downtown Xian refers to the area encircled by the city wall, this has now been expanded to encompass the area within the second ring road (Er' huan Lu). The Bell Tower is the geographical center of Xian and the four main streets are respectively Dong Dajie, Xi Dajie, Nan Dajie and Bei Dajie which are also the main commercial streets. Xiao Zhai, the busiest commercial area is in the southern part of the city and is popular with both youths and students since many universities are located here. Shuyuan Men and the still under construction Luoma Shi are must-visit pedestrian streets in the city. Xian is also famous for its quantity of colleges throughout China. The old campuses of many colleges and universities are massed in the southern suburb of Xian, but most have established new campuses in far southern suburb - Chang'an District due to the lack of space within the city.

As tourist development grows in Xian, the hotel industry flourishes more and more. It is very easy to find a hotel in Xian, ranging from 5 star hotels to youth hostels. Of course, it will be any traveler's first choice to stay in the city center due to the superior geographical location and the convenient transportation.

Praised as 'the capital of table delicacies', Xian has been rich in the delicious Shaanxi snack, delicate Guangdong Cuisine, various kinds of fashionable foreign delicacies, and popular Sichuan Cuisine such as the hot pot. Among all the delicacies, the most famous and popular one is the Muslim Snack Street.

Xian is the most important city in northwest China, and so there are a lot of shopping outlets for locals and tourists alike. There are many big shopping centers, department stores and supermarkets in and around Xian city - the biggest and most comprehensive being Kai Yuan Shopping Mall and Century Ginwa Shopping Mall.

The night life in Xian has a unique glamour. Traditional ways include enjoying the night scenery around the Bell Tower, taking part in a Tang Dynasty Dinner Show, strolling on the ancient Big Wild Goose Pagoda Square and watching the music fountain performance. More modern and fashionable ways include singing in the KTV, hanging out in a bar, or dancing in a Disco. All in all, any experience in this ancient city will bring you fun and possibly a little surprise!



permalink written by  beijing2008 on August 20, 2008 from Xi'an, China
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged China, Xian and Tour

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Yangzhou Travel Guide

Yangzhou, China


Yangzhou, on the other bank of Yangtze River, emerged during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) when Fu Chai,king of the Wu State, built his defence system, Eventually it grew into a large, population city. Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty ( 581-618) visited prostitutes here; emperors Huizong and Gaozong of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) built their temporary palaces here, and Qing Emperor Qianlong visited six times.

The city itself is a museum of Chinese culture and a beautiful Chinese garden. Small and quite as it is, you have an easy access to all latest modern convenience here, too, while enjoying traditional heritage. Through all the ages, scholars and poets have lavishly praised Yangzhou in prose and poetry, pouring their love and yearning for this city in the most beautiful language. This is the only city in China that receives such an honour and it deserves, too.

The city was founded by the 4th century BC, with its oldest known name being Kuang-ling. Its first location was east of the present site. In 590 AD, Kuang-ling began to be called Yangzhou, which was the traditional name of the entire southeastern part of China. Beginning in the 7th century, Yangzhou was the chief commercial city of the Yangtze area, due to its importance as a canal port, seaport, and administrative center.

For westerners, an interesting footnote to Yangzhou's history is that Marco Polo served there under the Mongol emperor Kubilai Khan, in the period around 1282-1287.

Population: 0.48 million.

Area: 148 square kilometers (57.1 square Miles)

City Flower: Qing (snow-white and jade-slate-shaped) Flower

City Tree: Yang Willow Tree



permalink written by  beijing2008 on August 28, 2008 from Yangzhou, China
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged China and Yangzhou

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The CBD center of Shenzhen

Shenzhen, China


Our TV building is on CBD center of Shenzhen,here also is city center.I made some pictures about here by my new wide lens . You can see how different they are.:)


permalink written by  summer on September 6, 2008 from Shenzhen, China
from the travel blog: My CanonG7 Lens
tagged China, ShenZhen, CanonG7 and CBD

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stay here for a long time

Guangzhou, China


this time i am stay here for long time already. my friend. do u know this place . a city of guangdong province in china. a smaller city . named Zhongshan city. went to many good place .

permalink written by  williamsky on October 2, 2008 from Guangzhou, China
from the travel blog: zhongshan
tagged China

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tour to Shenshen

Shenzhen, China


test my first blog of china.

permalink written by  coolcoolciel on October 29, 2008 from Shenzhen, China
from the travel blog: Trip to china
tagged China, ShenZhen, TourToShznezhen and TourToChina

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Arrived in China!

Guangzhou, China


Well we got our Chinese visas yesterday evening and got the bus from Hong Kong to Guangzhou today. We even did it the brave, cheap, confusing way by getting on the bus at the last minute, at the more Chinese end of town where all the destinations were only in Chinese characters... but only had to pay HK$80 instead HK$190, which we'd have had to pay if we'd booked the more touristy bus in advance.

So far our experience of Guangzhou has been excellent, especially after a few people in Hong Kong warned us what a dangerous place it was. The bus stopped at a bus station outside the town, but our ticket said the stop was Guangdong Guest House, which we thought we had established was in Guangzhou when we bought the ticket at the bus, so we did not get off there. While we were parked and other people we getting off, a woman standing by the bus luggage compartment started to wave at me on the bus, and point to the compartment, shaking her head and waving no to someone. Obviously someone was trying to take my bag off and she recognised it as mine and warned me. By the time I was getting off the bus some other nice people had got involved and rescued the bags. That was nice.

Then there followed a good half hour of anxiety as we worried whether we should have got off there after all, but what little communication we were able to manage seemed to suggest that we were still ok for our stop, but I was imagining that we'd be dropped somewhere well beyond Guangzhou with no way of getting back, since the ticket did not say where the Guest House actually is.

The next stop was Guangdong Guest House where the driver seemed glad that these idiots were finally getting off his bus in the right place. Although it is called a guest house it is in fact a very large and posh looking hotel. Our mission was to get a chinese sim card, contact Pietro, our first couchsurfing host, and somehow work out were we were and how to get to him. We do not have a China guidebook, and oversight we should have corrected in Hong Kong, where all the hostels were selling the guides you can also borrow; this did not occur to me until we were on the bus.

On the grounds of the Guest House, just where the bus had stopped there was a small travel agent, so we tried there for a map. Bingo! A person who can speak a bit of English. We managed to get a map, and rough instructions for getting the metro to the area where Pietro lives. The guy in the travel agency was really helpful, and I was already starting to like Guangzhou people and think that this stuff about it being dangerous was nonsense. So we set off towards the metro, looking for 7/11s on the way, where Pietro had said we should be able to get a sim.

A couple of streets along we spotted one down a side street and headed in. It did not seem like the sort of place where people would speak English so I got out my Cantonese phrase book (almost useless without being able to hear what the different tones should sound like) and practiced. Luckily the tones involved were high-rising, and high -- the two it gives examples where similar sounds are produced in English. I think we communicated. I think she said "no we don't have any sim cards".

So we headed across the street to get some food at a little takeaway / sit-in restaurant. We hadn't yet eaten that day because we'd been in such a hurry to check out then get to the bus, but it was already about 5pm! It wasn't obvious how the eating place worked, where you order, what was on the menu, or anything! So I walked up to a woman sitting at a desk, but it could have been just where you pay when you leave. She sensed my cluelessness and very deliberately ignored me. After a minute of hovering around I gave up and sat down. Amazingly a young guy came up to our table and said "do you need some help?"

He put our order in for us (it was the woman at the desk he gave it to) and then sat and ate with us, speaking about what we were doing and what on earth we are doing in this town where no tourists come, but particularly this area, where they never see tourists. I told him our plan, and he helped us get a sim card, helped us get the metro, gave us his number and said if you ever need a translator just call me and I'll speak to them. What a nice guy!

By this time I'd been in touch with Pietro again, who said we should find our way to the Starbucks near the metro stop as it was halfway to his place; he would be there a bit later as he was giving a cooking lesson at the moment. We found our way there and just sat down for a couple of hours, glad of the rest after a slightly frantic day. Eventually Pietro turned up and took us to his apartment. What a lovely place! It's huge, especially after the little box we were staying in, in Hong Kong. He also seems a very nice guy, very relaxed, and who seems to really enjoy hosting people. On the first shot the couchsurfing has certainly worked out well. More of that to come I think.

Anyway, must go an do something (I'm actually writing this the next day, and we've not yet had our dimsum for breakfast). If anyone wants to call or text, my phone number in China is +8613026893295.

permalink written by  The Happy Couple on January 21, 2009 from Guangzhou, China
from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon
tagged China, CouchSurfing and Mobile

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Mijn sabbatical is begonnen

Hong Kong, Hong Kong


Drie weken geleden had ik besloten a.s.a.p. naar China te gaan en zo lang te bijven als ik maar zin heb. En nu sta ik in Hong Kong!

Het plan om Richard in Hong Kong op te zoeken en daar een lange vakantie van te maken waarvan ik een deel met Richard op pad ga had ik al langer. Toen ik drie weken geleden dit plan ging uitwerken bleek dat het het best was als ik zo snel mogelijk al naar China gng. En toen datzelfde weekend iemand mijn woning voor 3 maanden wilde huren, werd het plan om minimaal 3 maanden te gaan backpacken. Tsja, en nu is het plan dus om er een sabbatical van te maken en pas terug te komen wanneer ik zin heb :-). Tijdens mijn vorige sabbatical had ik het na ongeveer 6 maanden wel gezien. Ik kom er vanzelf achter hoe lang het deze keer gaat zijn...

Het was de afgelopen dagen wel ff flink stressen. Er ging van alles fout terwijl ik nog maar weinig tijd had. Door overbelasting van de Rabobank systemen (en een architectuur / ontwerp fout daarin, kan ik niet nalaten om te vermelden als ICT-er zijnde), zijn mijn credit card en InterHelp aanvraag nooit in het centrale Rabobank systeem terecht gekomen. Iedere dag heb ik de Rabobank gebeld en kreeg ik te horen dat ik ze vandaag of morgen in de bus zou krijgen. Totdat ik hoogst persoonlijk naar de Rabobank ben gegaan, toen keken ze echt wat de status was: nooit in het centrale systeem terecht gekomen...
Ze konden dit niet meer recht zetten voordat ik vertrok. Gelukkig kunnen ze als noodoplossing mijn creditcard en rabocard nog naar Richard sturen.
Het verhaal van wat er allemaal mis ging is nog veel langer, maar dat zal ik je verder besparen. Wel wil ik iedereen bedanken die me de afgelopen dagen geholpen heeft om alles op tijd af te krijgen. Met name:
- Walter, voor het fixen van mijn laptop
- Pier, voor het meehelpen sjouwen van de spullen die weg moesten vanwegen de onderhuur
- Yuca, omdat ik bij haar de dingen die niet in mijn auto pastte mocht opslaan, wat me een extra keer naar Raamsdonksveer rijden bespaarde.
- Stef, Lidia en mijn ouders voor de hele waslijst aan dingen die ze voor me gedaan hebben.

Hong Kong
Dan nu ff over Hong Kong:


Ze zijn hier niet ingesteld op lange mensen. De deuren van de metro zijn te laag en mijn bed is te kort.

Er zitten hier tig bedrijven in een gebouw. Dat heb je in Nederland natuurlijk ook, maar hier is het anders. Er zitten hier zoveel bedrijven in een gebouw dat ze bij de straatkant niet eens vermelden wat er in zit. ...je moet gewoon weten dat het er zit en waar in zo'n inmens groot gebouw het zit.

Bij mijn noodle soup (met super lange noodles) kreeg ik alleen stokjes en een lepel. De eerste wutong die ik uit mijn soep wilde vissen glipte direct tussen mijn stokjes vandaan. Bij poging twee heb ik mijn stokje in de wutong gestoken, misschien niet volgens de regels van het met stokjes eten, maar het werkt wel (same, same als vork, but different ;-)). Bij de volgende wutong lukte het me om hem tussen de stokjes vast te pakken. Dus ik heb nu weer alle vertrouwen in mijn met stokjes eet kunsten ;-).

Verder heb ik nog wat grappige dingen gezien:

In mijn hotel hebben ze "caution wet floor" permanent op de muur geschilderd. De schoonmaakster was het wellicht beu om steeds dat gevaren bordje neer te zetten na het dwijlen en weer weg te halen als de vloer weer droog was ;-). ...alleen heeft ze er daarbij niet aan gedacht dat een altijd aanwezige tekst op de muur een stuk minder waarschuwend effect heeft dan zo'n geel bordtje op de vloer alleen wanneer die echt nat is...

Funny Chinese to English translation:


In mijn hotelkamer hangt een zeep dispenser met daarop de tekst "body cleanser" i.p.v. "soap" ;-).


permalink written by  Ward Bergmans on December 8, 2008 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong
from the travel blog: Sabbatical in China en omstreken
tagged China and HongKong

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