We have explored Xiling Snow-Capped Mountain near Chengdu on Sunday. Thick snow-capped, being white and crystal, it was a fantasy world!
Xiling Snow-Capped Mountain is less than 2 hrs drive from Chengdu International Airport. With a recently completed highway, getting there is a smooth drive with plenty of scenic spot along the way. From the base of the mountain to the top is a 30min cable car ride followed by a 15min shuttle bus to the resort. There are 3 beginner slopes (approx 400m) served by a quad chair and an intermediate and advance slope (approx 1km) served by a 2paxs cable car (will only fit 1pax with gears!).
Although Xiling is low in latitude but it makes up with a 2000m elevation. Xiling does get moderate amount of natural snow and it has extensive modern snow-making facilities which allows them to have an average of 3 months (mid Dec to early Mar) ski season. Average snow base is about 1 meter. Great for beginners but not recommended for the advance. Plently of other activities such as hourse riding, quads, paintball, human in inflated ball thingy, etc.
Decent ski equipment but bring your own boots if you have any (boots are generally old and worn out). Snowboards are not available so bring your own board if you are riding. Wall ride and bunny jumps can be found near the snow maker.
There are a selection of 3 hotels of 3 stars standard which is a 5 min shuttle bus ride from the lift. Very affordable meals can be had at small outdoor food stalls or in the Hotel. Plenty of highly lethal ultra spicy Sze Chuan cuisine to keep you warm! (See more of our articles at skiventure.com.sg)
More tours around Chengdu…
The Yinhe Dynasty Hotel has a wonderful location in downtown Chengdu, very close to the city’s main square. It was clearly built as a showpiece (probably in the early to mid 1990s?), and is a bit tired, but is still in pretty good shape. Our room was also a bit tired, but was pretty clean. The shower was nice, and the linens were pretty decent. The service was very good - we had breakfast included in our room rate, and when we checked out early in the morning to catch a flight, they gave us a very generous boxed breakfast to take along.
One thing does bear mentioning though - the beds are extremely hard. Most hotel beds in China are very firm, of course, but these were even harder than the train berths we slept in while in China. Have you ever sat or leaned on a department store’s linens display, and had a moment’s disconnect before you realized that the linens were draped over a display platform instead of a bed? Same idea. I actually burst out laughing when I sat on my bed. That said, my husband (who likes firm mattresses) was able to sleep well, and after using both of the room’s extra blankets as mattress padding, I slept decently.
More informations of Yinhe Dynasty Hotel, Chengdu…
Touring around Chengdu…
Pingyao is a pretty little walled town, with plenty of narrow streets complete with wooden-fronted houses. It’s quite touristy: lots of shops selling “antiques” and the usual Chinese souvenirs. There are some nice things to be had as well; I picked up a few extra presents for family back home.
More informations of Pingyao…
We went to the night market in Pingyao, where we had some interesting things to eat. We’d been very disappointed by the night market in Beijing; it seemed completely geared-up for the tourists, and not at all authentic. The one in Pingyao seemed a lot more real, and we bought a few things to eat: some lovely barbecued courgettes, a chicken-neck on a stick (we didn’t realise what it was until we bit into it!) and a bowl of noodles which came with lashings of hot chilli and assorted offal (again, we didn’t look closely enough when we ordered it). All very cheap though.
We spent an afternoon sitting in a bar drinking beer - one of the few times during our year that we consumed a lot of beer in one go. We found that, particularly in Asia, it really pushes up the cost of travelling; you can easily double the cost of a day, including accommodation and food, if you just have a couple of beers.
Tours to Pingyao…
You get what you pay for!! Would not recommend. We didn’t expect luxury and we certainly didn’t get it. We laughed then nearly cried when we saw what was going to be our room for 4 nights. Decorated in pink balloons and love hearts above the bed, I ended up sleeping in my sleeping bag, with earplugs.
Lots of noise at night inside and outside of the hotel. Best thing about it was the hot shower. But was really disappointed with the travel representative at the hotel who took our booking and money for the evening coach trip to see the Impression Sanjie Liu evening show in Yangshuo, however at the last minute we received a phone call telling us that we would have to make our own way.
More details of Impression Sanjie Liu evening show in Yangshuo…
No coach was being provided. They said sorry but sadly it didn’t make up for the disappointing last night in Guilin. An excellent restaurant to try is ‘The Art of Chinese Dining’ just 3 minutes walk left at the hotel.
More informations of Hotel Grand 0773, Guilin…
On Chinese New Year’s Eve, I did the Beijing - Xian trip by taking Z19 express train, the Z19 leaves Beijing West train station at 20:28, and arrives the next day in Xi’an at 07:58. Back to Beijing, the Z20 departs Xi’an at 19:23, and arrives in Beijing the next day at 06:53. A soft sleeper berth cost me about RMB420. This was very comfortable. You can go cheaper and get a hard sleeper, but be prepared for noise.
It was a fantastic trip and I would encourage anyone to do it. You do need to be a little thick skinned when traveling through China and I’d highly recommend to plan it out well. It makes things so much easier.
Train ticket bookings
Book your trip to Xian directly at the Beijing station, or on the Internet or through a travel agent. You can’t book train tickets until about 20 days before you want to travel (though they keep on changing this. It may be only 10 days before your departure date). Also, you can’t book return tickets. You need to buy the Beijing-Xi’an tickets in Beijing, and the Xi’an-Beijing tickets in Xi’an. Something to do with the strange ticketing system in China.
I would suggest getting into contact with the people at your accommodation and asking them if they can get you tickets. DON’T use any of those international ticketing agencies. You will be overcharged. If you are booking tickets from Beijing to Xian through an agency, some agencies will accept your reservation only after a deposit has been confirmed.
Book a ticket of Train Z19 Beijing to Xian…
Boarding the train in Beijing
Know that Beijing’s train station can be somewhat confusing.
There are two major stations in Beijing, Beijing Main (metro Bejingzhan) and Beijing West (also called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro Junshibowuguan). Trans-Siberian trains to Moscow & Ulan Bator use Beijing Main, as do trains to Shanghai. The direct train to Hong Kong and trains to Xian, Guangzhou & Tibet all use Beijing’s newer West station. Both Beijing stations are large and busy, and some people find them confusing. So arrive in plenty of time for your train!
When you reach the station, you must first go through airport-style security controls into the departure area. For soft sleeper travel, you must then find the appropriate waiting lounge for your train. There are a number of different waiting lounges, and the electronic message boards show which is the right one for each specific train. Tickets are checked on entering the lounge, so you can be sure you are in the right place. Inside the lounge, the electronic message boards show the trains departing from that lounge, for the next 24 hours.
Trains are usually allocated between lounges so there is ½ hour or more between each departure from that lounge. Most trains are shown as ‘on time’, but the most immediate departures are shown as ‘waiting’. Once a train is ready for boarding (normally about 30 minutes before departure) it is shown as ‘check in’, meaning you can proceed through ticket control to the platform. About 5 minutes before departure the barrier is closed and the train is shown as ‘check out’.
More detail informations of Train Z19 Beijing to Xian…
Taxi service in Xian
The Taxi service at Xian Railway Staion is not good. Watch out for fraudulent taxi drivers who try to get more money out of passengers by taking the long route to their destination or by taking them on a needless trip around town. Western travelers are almost a novelty. Prepare to be the object of a lot of attention!
Trips within Xian are usually in the range of 6 Rembini, which is less than $1. Trips outside Xian can get up to 20 Rembini ($3).
4 days round trip train tour Beijing/Xian/Beijing by Z19/Z20…
We woke up a few minutes before the sun on Feb.7, our first morning in the Kaifeng countryside in the province of Henan. The thermometer read 36deg F . . . in our bedroom. We made a mad dash from our mountain of blankets, grabbed for whatever layers we weren’t already wearing, and stepped out into a crisp silence, unlike anything we have experienced in China thus far. There were no car-horns, there was no construction work, absent were the calls of street vendors. The constant city buzz, the constant buzz of people, had been left in the last big city. The silence was vast.
Things began to take shape in the twilight and soon the village began to stir. We had decided to start our Spring Festival celebration with an early-morning tai ji quan (tai chi) lesson from the guy who made it all possible, our friend George. George and Stephanie studied performance art in Kerala, India during the summer of 2006 and managed to stay in touch during George’s continued travels throughout Southeast Asia. He recently finished a year-long teaching contract in Henan and generously invited us to spend the festival with the family of one of his friends/students, Kevin.
As our tai ji quan lesson continued, the rest of our spring festival family joined us in one of three large sand yards included in Kevin’s family’s property. In total there were us, George, Ita (a wonderful woman and friend of George), Kevin’s mother, father, 3 brothers, sister-in-law and his almost-too-adorable nephew. His father took particular interest in the unfolding lesson, and we casually inquired if he did tai ji quan, or knew any gong fu (Kung Fu).
His response? A rapid sequence of kicks, jabs, stabs, and punches complete with a roundhouse and a leg sweep. Yeah he knew some gong fu. It turns out he learned gong fu while serving in the Chinese army in Inner Mongolia (this was the perfect introduction to the man who also spent many years as a traveling magician). He proceeded to show us a barrage of simple yet astoundingly affective self-defense moves featuring arm manipulation, most of which unfortunately used Cody as his sparring partner, where Cody played the role of “bad guy”. After a few wrist twists and elbow hyper-extensions, Kevin’s dad told Cody to try and grab him from behind.
The self defense move for combatting this hold was not as technical, and with one swing of his arm, Kevin’s dad performed the move most of us would think of if a “bad guy” grabbed us from behind. With one swing of his arm, he landed a swift and precise blow to the groin. The results? Cody definitely released him and chuckled about “leaving himself open for that one” as he got up from his knees a couple minutes later.
Then came the food. Lots and lots of food. Breakfast was a harmonious blend of warm mantou (doughy steamed buns) a saucy dish of chicken and vegetables, and a glorious sweet-potato and rice porridge. Lunch and dinner dishes ranged from cauliflower and spicy diced pork, sugar-coated fried peanuts (from the family’s fields), amazing unidentified vegetable dishes, and huge, artfully presented whole fried fish, to soups, porridges and hodge-podge stews. All served with that wonderful mantou, perfect for dipping (though apparently uncouth) in lingering sauces and broths.
We then prepared for one of the most important nights in Spring Festival, Chinese New Year’s Eve. When Stephanie asked her students what they planned to do on New Year’s Eve she was surprised to find that all of them said “watch TV” with their family. On the eve of the Lunar New Year in China everybody (read: several hundred million people) gathers around their televisions and watches the CCTV (government news channel)
New Years Eve gala which includes traditional performances, and comedy routines, not to mention the latest up-and-coming pop stars. We were happy to participate in our host’s tradition of watching the gala until dawn, though it felt a little strange to sit in silence staring at the tube after the festive atmosphere and togetherness of the day.
Until then, the fireworks had been minimal. Every once and a while we’d hear a boom or a string of fire-crackers, but nothing too notable. Then midnight came. We all left the TV and scuttled into the pitch-black yard. There was movement on the roof and the rest of the family had their eyes turned toward the sky，waiting in anticipation. Finally, we heard the tell-tale pssssssiiit of a lit fuse which erupted into a series of beautiful flowers above Kevin’s house. The flood gates were opened and a song of booms, cracks，and bangs rose from the surrounding countryside. We all watched in delight as the ground shook and the sky shone. Kevin’s family eventually went back in the house to watch the rest of the gala, but the fireworks did not stop and they lulled us to sleep that night around 2am.
But we didn’t sleep for long. We awoke with a start at 6:30am to Kevin’s gong-fu-kickin’ magic-trick-slinglin’ father lighting off fireworks outside our bedroom. It was time for breakfast. Kevin informed us that if a family was among the first in the neighborhood to have their traditional jiaozi (dumplings) boiled and ready to eat that morning, it meant they would be responsible and hard-working for the rest of the year. We listened as surrounding houses lit long strands of firecrackers to show the rest of the village they were early risers, and had their jiaozi ready. The backyard erupted with our very own fire-cracker barrage and we sat down to yet another scrumptious, stomach-splitting meal of jiaozi and mantou.
For the next two days we relaxed, chatted, explored the expansive countryside, and played in the yard. The Dirtbags (hackey sacks) we brought were a huge success and their presence resulted in a family-wide tournament of a cross between monkey-in-the-middle and dodge ball. We also taught Kevin how to juggle. Kevin was the only one in his family who spoke fluent English, so we did most of our communicating with Chinese and hand-gestures. Our Chinese really improved even after just a few days, and we were definitely inspired to hit the books, in hopes that next time we visit, we can tell them a little more fluently just how thankful we are.
The warmth of the family and the village wasn’t stopped by the language barrier. Kevin’s family pretty much adopted us. His mom and Stephanie hit it off immediately despite their language limitations and his mom patiently taught Stephanie new words in Chinese such as xi gua (watermelon) and more importantly mama (mother, pronounced with a long first ‘a’) which she insisted Stephanie call her. They were both taken with each other’s hands, Kevin’s mom with Stephanie’s because Stephanie’s are perpetually cold, and Stephanie with mama’s because mama’s are perpetually warm. They were really a match made in heaven and spent most of the New Year’s Eve gala holding hands. Mama and the rest of the family told us over and over that we have to come back in the summer when the xi gua are bigger than our heads, and everybody is guaranteed to eat themselves sick. We think we just might.
After a sad goodbye, it was back to Kaifeng where we spent the remainder of our holiday. We revisited the incredible night market (with more than 100 food stalls!) and attended a huge Spring Festival Celebration with amazing performances including lion dances.
We also booked our return train tickets to Chengdu. Absence really must make the heart grow fonder, because some how we forgot about the hell that was our first ‘29hr’ (actually 49hrs) hard seat train, and booked another 24hr hard seat trip from Kaifeng to Chengdu. This time, the train actually only took 24hrs, and the seats were softer and a little roomier. The train was once again packed, with every space taken by a body, aisles included, and getting to the bathroom was an obstacle course, but once we were seated, we settled in and prepared for an uneventful ride.
Now that we were seasoned train pros, we came prepared. Knowing that train food is expensive and frankly bad, we had enough snacks to keep our bellies full and happy, and we made sure we ate a big dinner in Kaifeng before boarding. We boarded at 8:40pm and at 12:30am, only four hours into the ride, Cody was regretting our Kaifeng meal. Not because it was too big, or it left him with a bad taste in his mouth, but because there was no denying it, he was experiencing his first bout of food poisoning in China. There couldn’t have been a worse time or place. We were packed in like sardines and the only place one could toss one’s cookies was directly in front of us into plastic bags we had brought our snacks in. This is what had to be done, and we held on to those brimming bags until we could get to the end of the car to throw them away. It was miserable.
The best part was that through all of this, the people seated in our area, (some not more than a foot away) slept through the entire thing! This made the whole ordeal a little easier. There’s nothing worse than onlookers when you’re ruffling your tummy feathers.
More articles of train travel in China…
By morning, Cody was feeling better, and after a day of truly beautiful northern Sichuan scenery, we arrived safe and sound in Chengdu. It’s good to be home. Now that we’re at the end of the Spring Festival, the last of the fireworks are being lit, and Chengdu smells more like spring each day. After some time away, we are both feeling inspired and excited about making the most of the next term and taking advantage of what this city, what this experience has to offer. Thanks for reading.
More vedeos and articles for this trip has been posted on travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-247213.html
I picked this hotel as it was the only quality one available due to a big conference in Xiamen. After reading reviews here I was a bit concerned about this being an old hotel. However I was pleasantly surprised. Possibly because I was on an executive floor in a renovated room but it was great.
The breakfast buffet is excellent and the staff very pleasant. I had previously stayed at the Sheraton Hotel Xiamen but found the location of the Harbour View more practical. Close to Zhong Shan (the pedestrian walking street) and walking distance to the ferry to Gulangyu.
More informations of Millennium Harbourview Hotel Xiamen…
This weekend, Michael and I visited Hakka clusters in Yongding and Longyan. We took a 3-hour scenic drive to Tianluokeng hakka cluster, located in Shangban Village, Shuyang Town.
Climbing up to the the top of the mountain, a good panoramic view of the surroundings! The castle, composed primarily of four round houses plus one rectangular earthen house, named as 4 dishes and 1 soup. Tianluokeng hakka cluster is one of the most magnificent and well- preserved hakka houses in the area.
We had a traditional Hakka lunch at a Hakka house, roaming in Tianluokeng hakka cluster to see their daily lives.
After lunch, we drove half hour to Xiaban Village,visited Yuchanglou(leaning structure hakka house),then passed Taxia village(one of the beautiful village build along a stream), visited Zhang’s clan ancestral hall, which was listed among the key culture relics protected under national level.
Then we took 20 minutes coach transfer to Gaotou village,visited Chengqilou, the largest grandess circular building composed by 4 cicular buildings.
Tonight, we stayed overnight at the Hukeng town, it was so quiet and peaceful here.
After a sound sleep thant I have missed for years, we were heading to the Nanxi Hakka earthern building cluster, we visited more Hakka clusters - Huanjilou, Zhengfulou, Yanxianglou. In the noon, we arrived the highlight of this trip - the Yongding Hakka Village. So many beautiful earch building here! Zhengchenglou ( a magnificent building combining the Chinese style with the western style), Kuijulou( a palace style building), Fuyulou ( a five-phenix style building), Rushenglou ( a mini-sized circular building).
3hrs driving back to Xiamen, we arrived at about 19h00. It was a fantastic journey to see all these magnificent architectural art work of Chinese.
More informations of Hakka Tulou Houses in Yongding
Tours to Hakka Earth Buildings in Fujian
The Hoi Tak Hotel Urumqi is rated as a 5 star hotel, but it’s not on the same level as those in Beijing or Shanghai. Although I’m used to hard Chinese beds, the beds here were the hardest I’ve found in China. The TV was small (CNN, ESPN and HBO in English), and the room was also on the small side for a 5 star.
I was surprised when we approached the concierge on Sunday and found he didn’t speak English, but he did offer to summon someone to help right away, and we didn’t see him on duty again, so I assume he was just filling in that night.
The breakfast buffet was below average: Western and Chinese, but on the Western side there were no pancakes/french toast; fruit was both fresh and canned; and minimal pastry, not very good. Eggs and omelets were cooked to order. For Chinese, a good selection of congee, also noodles and rice and one choice of dumpling.
We also ate lunch and dinner there one time each: the Sunday brunch (which I think is also the regular lunch) was excellent, the dinner was not very good.
The article has been edited by billybear.
More informations of the Hoi Tak Hotel Urumqi…
Barony Tarim Petroleum Hotel is a very nice hotel in central Kashi (or Kashgar) built for oil executives but also handling a lot of tourists. In a quiet area not far from the old town of Kashgar.
Modern, in good repair with very pleasant staff with good English.
Our room was large, modern, comfortable and clean.
Breakfast was good and copious with a buffet or other dishes cooked to order. We didn’t dine here as we wanted to sample some local restaurants of which there are some very good ones within easy walking distance.
More informations of Barony Tarim Petroleum Hotel, Kashgar…
