Not to put too fine a point on it, though this week, we challenge you to show us what “angular” means to you.
Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street—one of Guangzhou’s popular shopping precincts is full of angles and bright lights. Our hotel was on this stretch, which allowed us to enjoy it regularly.
It’s a swarm! Show us something that overruns your scene, but observe and compose carefully before you click the shutter.
In 2102, we visited Dr Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, Purple Mountain, Nanjing, China. It was an amazing experience. Swarms of people paying their respects to the father of modern China. I had never seen so many people. As I learnt more about this man and early China—I understood why they came. He changed their lives forever.
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Built for the Asian Games in 2010 Canton Tower, Guangzhou is one of the world’s tallest building—4th in 2013 although the order changes quickly. Situated on the banks of the Pearl River—Canton Tower is home to the world’s highest horizontal ferris wheel and is the world’s tallest TV tower. It was spectacular to see from the ground. Unfortunately, due to the heat and time constraints, we were unable to go to the top. We will plan our visit better next time.
We arrived at the cafe in our hotel after an exhausting 22 hours in transit from Sydney, Australia to Zhenzhou, China. She was the first person we met and looked younger than her years. Her Chinese hospitality uniform stole any individuality she had. She was humble and worked hard trying to communicate with us despite her very broken English.
“Hello” she said. Handing us a menu.
“Hi” replied my husband, asking if she had any dark beer. She looked confused and began pointing at pictures understanding the word beer.
“This one?” she asked
“No” replied my husband.
“This one?”
“No.”
“I get help” she said and slowly walked to get her friend. She returned with her friend who appeared eager to help and looked at my husband.
“Do you have dark beer?” he asked.
“Yes, I think this one” she said as she pointed to a German dark beer written in Chinese.
“Yes” he said. Both girls looked at each other and smiled broadly, proud that together they had met the needs of this Australian traveller.
“I get for you” replied our first waitress and she returned with the beer and a free bowl of beer nuts. My husband loved it.
This interaction began the nightly ritual of our stay in Zhenzhou. During the day every time we walked passed the cafe our new friends would smile and wave if they were working and saw us.
Map of the Shaolin Temple Scenic Area
Entry gates to Shaolin Temple Scenic Area
This is the first of a three part series to share all aspects of our visit to this remarkable place—Shaolin Temple, Shaolin Kung Fu and the Pagoda’s and surrounding natural area.The natural beauty of area surrounding the Shaolin Temple is amazing. Known as Scenic Area Shaolin Temple, it literally means “temple in the woods of Shaoshi Montain. It was built in 495 AD to house the Indian monk Batuo.
Today the Shaolin Temple—one of the four holy Buddhist temples of China, is recognised as the birthplace of both Chan Buddhism as well as Chinese Kung Fu. The temple is located near Denfeng City, Hennan Province at the foot of Mount Songshan. In 2010, it was included on UNESCO’S World Cultural and Heritage List.
The Shaolin Temple
The temple itself, to my surprise looks small from the front—although I don’t know what I was expecting. After stepping over the threshold—a brick strip in the doorway blocking evil spirits from entering—I was humbled to be in such a significant ancient building.
Monk guarding one of the entrances with threshold visible
On entry to the temple we experience the Hall of Heavenly Kings and are greeted firstly by two Buddhist warrior attendants.
One of two Buddhist warriors
Two of the Four Heavenly Kings
Inside the hall are the figures of the Four Heavenly Kings whose job is to inspect people’s behaviour, help the troubled and bless the people that visit.
As we move through the hall opens out into a large courtyard which is the centre of prayers, activity and celebrations. There are many pits in the ground that are said to be eroded and left by the monks over the years as they practiced Shaolin Martial Arts.
One of 18 Buddist Arhats in the Shaolin Temple
We walked around the temple and took in the ombience.
1500 year old tree
An example of the ornate roof decorations used throughout the temple
On leaving the Shaolin Temple, we found the renovated original well that is still able to supply clean, sweet water. It was built for the exclusive use of the monks and then later its use extended to the broader community.
Visiting the Shaolin Temple was a special experience. Despite its commercialism today, you can still get away and understand the lifestyle of the monks over centuries in this beautiful part of the world.
How do you plan an overseas holiday? If you are like most people, you will either go on a booked tour or go to the easy to get to tourist travel destinations. No doubt these will give you a great holiday, however they will limit your ability to get a real feel for the country you are visiting and learn to rely on yourself. Over the past few years my husband and I have been to China twice, New Zealand and are currently planning a trip to Canada (in winter) using the Do-It-Yourself holiday method, which takes you on the road less travelled. The secret to out of the way travel is to know how you are going to get from point A to point B before you book your accommodation. We were caught on this on when traveling from Nanjing to Wuhu in China. Our initial plan was to catch the train between these cities, so we booked accommodation next to the train station. Easy. No drama or so we thought. However, because of the time of year we were travelling, we were unable to get a seat on any train, so a plan B needed to be put into action. Fortunately, we were able to book a private car, however as the cost is based on the distance travelled our costs were double what they needed to be. This is because we could have booked accommodation near Nanjing airport, which is actually in the middle between Nanjing and Wuhu.
Source: Google Images
Other tips we have learnt planning our road less travelled holidays include:
Join us on the road less travelled and see how other people and cultures live. What unusual places have you visited?
This weeks DP Challenge is by girl in the hat writer Anna Fonté about creating a list. As I found visiting regional China an amazing experience, my list describes my memories of this special time.
1. Appreciation of road rules and seat belts
Driving in China is scary and it is a wise decision that foreign tourists cannot hire a car and drive. On the freeway between Nanjing and Wuhu, the private car we were in was traveling at 100 kilometres an hour, 4 abreast on a 3 lane highway. Honking is the warning system used to indicate that someone is about to change lanes. Everyone is on a mission to get where they are going and surprisingly, it works. The taxis have no seat belts which took some adjusting too..
2. Bicycles and mopeds
With limited money, bicycles and mopeds are a major source of transportation in regional China. We saw moped that managed to carry a whole family-mum, dad, baby, sibling and the family dog. It was amazing. Bicycles were everywhere and it was also not unusual to see people and cats sleeping on them during the day.
3. Celebrity status
In regional China, ‘white people’ are a rarity and as the Chinese believe that we (white people) bring good luck, we felt like celebrities. Everywhere we went people would ask (usually by pointing to the camera) to have their photo taken with us. Sometimes they would attempt a conversation which we loved.
4. Communication through hand signals
How do you communicate with people who cannot understand the language you speak? In regional China few people speak English. You very quickly become used to hand signals and thinking creatively to get your point across. Oh and when you are talking money, the calculator is a universal language.
5. Facebook
Facebook is blocked in most of China so you are taken back to a time in your life where you are not constantly connected to everyone. It initially is a weird feeling and then you fill your time with other things and adjust into a new rhythm.
6. Food
While you can get western food in regional China it is rare especially in the smaller cities so you are forced to look for other alternatives and try new food. Seeing live animals in the supermarkets to be sold for food was a new experience.
7. History and Culture
The more I learnt about the history and culture, the more inspired I was. In the Shaolin Temple, there is a tree that is 1500 years old. Understanding the growth of China this century through the leadership of Sun Yat-Sen is eye opening. He was a very inspirational leader loved by all.
8. Natural Beauty
China is a very beautiful country when you leave the cities and explore. The scenic spots as they are called require travelling to, usually with a guide but your reward is their beauty.
9. Speech
Understanding how you speak, changes as you communicate with people of other languages. We needed to slow down and pronunciation words clearly so they were understood. Learning that the Chinese often sound loud and at times aggressive just in their normal speaking voice, changes how you respond to situations.
10. Trust yourself
With limited communication everything you take for granted at home is an issue. Catching a taxi. reading maps and purchasing food. These and many more take you out of your comfort zone and allow you to grow as a person as through trusting yourself.
I hope you enjoyed my memories.
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What’s the most surreal experience you’ve ever had?
Up until the early 1970’s, Gouliang village, high in the Taihang mountains, Henan Province in central China had a big problem. They were isolated from the outside world except by climbing down a ‘sky ladder’, which were steep narrow stairs carved into the side of the mountain joining the top of the volcanic cliffs with the valley floor below. There was no road. Anything coming in or going out of the village needed to be carried via the stairs.
Guoliang Village cut off from the world before the tunnel.
In 1972,the village elders became more and more frustrated with the government as they continued to reject their requests to build a road down the mountain. As a result, the village elders decided that the policy of if you want something done do it yourself was the only way to solve this problem. So the villagers sold everything they could to buy hand tools and selected 13 of their strongest men, who began the arduous task of hand cutting a tunnel through the rock. Below is the entrance to the tunnel and as you step into it, you become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that the villagers had undertaken and are inspired by the gift the tunnel has given the world.
Interior view of hand cut tunnel entrance
Building the Guoliang Tunnel took 5 ½ years patience and determination. It is 1.2 kilometres in length, 5 metres high and 4 metres wide. It has been described as the 2nd most scariest road in the world and cost several villagers their lives. Forty years later the legacy of this tunnel—built as a life line to a small village—has become an international tourist attraction. Guoliang village is now recognised as China’s number 1 movie and television set, which make the villagers a lot of money. According to James Packer the next ten years will see the Chinese film industry become bigger than Hollywood. So as you can see the legacy of the tunnel is bigger than the villagers could have ever dreamed possible and has given them a lot of power. Now if their requests are not met by the government—they simply shut down access to the tunnel until they get their way as happened in 2011.
Comparison view. Note size of car compared to tunnel
Base view of tunnel from the Guoliang village.
This remote part of China is difficult to get to. While it can be done on public transport, we had a guide take us and the journey took all day. It was however an amazing experience and one I would recommend to anyone travelling to central China. The Guoliang Tunnel is an inspiring example of how something planned for one purpose can open doors that were never believed to be possible. What doors do you need to open that seem too difficult—by taking steps in the right direction you never know where it will lead?