I took a bus to the city of Qingdao, over 4 hours away on the coast. From 1898 to 1914, Germany built and controlled Qingdao, so it is fairly different from other cities in China. From a friend’s recommendation, I was able to stay in a unique place. The first thing I notice is a …
Author Archives: Lon
Day 25 – Mt. Tai, Shandong Province
On the list of five famous mountains in China, Mt. Tai is ranked #1. After finding some food, I visited Dai Temple, the traditional starting point to climbing the mountain. Right away I noticed there was a really long history here. There were stone inscriptions going back to the Qin dynasty, over 2000 years ago. …
Day 24 – Shandong Province, China
I took at 11:45AM train from Beijing to Tai Shan, which is a station at the base of a famous mountain in China in Shandong Province. It is seven hours southeast of Beijing. Upon arrival, of course taxi drivers were trying to get me as a customer. It was dark by now and I didn’t …
Day 16–23 – Beijing
I got my visa to Malaysia. When I arrived at the office, I found out it wasn’t ready at all. They didn’t accept because I didn’t put down a job. So I and to write my old job and company to get the visa and make them happy. After a two hour wait, I finally …
Day 15 – Shanxi Province
I didn’t sleep too comfortably in my cheap room. I left in the morning and gave the Shanxi Museum another chance. At least I knew how to get there easily this time. In front of the sign in front there was a group of maybe 50 all female students. I kind of interrupted their photo …
Day 14 – Shanxi Province
My hostel must be one of the tourist attractions in town since I noticed a lot of people taking photos of the building. The room I stayed in was on the upper floor and gave me a good look at the roof structure. There is a huge wooden beam going through the center of the …
Day 13 – Shanxi Province
Another early morning and bus down the mountain. I could smell the breaks on the bus burning from the full capacity bus of people going downhill. I was heading to the city of Taiyuan first. Almost 5 hours later, I arrived at the East Taiyuan bus station. My book says take a bus to the …
Day 12 – Mt. Wutai, Shanxi Province
I woke up, took a hike up Dailuo Peak for a nice overview of the valley and town, surrounded by the five main peaks. The trees are all turning yellow at the time I visited. Next I visited Xiantong, Yuanzhao, Bodhisattva Peak, and Guangzong Temples. By the way, there was a fairly expensive 168 yuan …
Day 11 – Shanxi Province
One thing I noticed in this province is all treeless hills and mountains. you can tell they have all been cut down centuries ago. But there are some areas where they are really trying to get some trees back. It looks like most trees have been planted in the past few years. I notice Chinese …
Day 10 – Shanxi Province
I was warm enough last night, thankfully. The main attraction in the area is the Yungang Caves, which I took a bus to in the morning. I did start raining lightly, so it could have been more fun. The Yungang Caves were impressive. Carved 1500 years ago and containing about 50000 carvings, big and small, …