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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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May 18, 2006 02:00 PM Shanghai - market in the rain...
Typhoon Chanchu is close to - so far brought us heavy rain... I decided to go to Yuyuan Market just few blocks south from the hostel. Wet, wet, wet... Here we are! I expected one more oriental bazaar. But Yuyuan is like shopping emporium built in Old China style - a lot of building and streets, souvenir and gift shops... Heavy bargaining is necessary: they asked 60 yuan "special price" for T-shirt. I bought it for 20! There is nice garden to visit - but they charge 40 yuan entry fee... Just round the corner I visited City Goods Temple (5 y only). It is interesting because it is not Buddhist place but Tao temple - different goods, different monks. Worth a visit because it is alive - people are coming to pray... Two blocks further on I found the tiny remains of the Old Shanghai - little streets, poor houses surrounded by new apartments blocks - I think they will disappear soon...
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May 16, 2006 02:00 PM The Paris of the Orient...
They charge hefty 20 y per hour for slow internet in the hostel so I escaped to the Shanghai public Library where you pay 4 yuan per hour - fast connection, no crowd - recommended!
Shanghai has many faces. Nice residences from "colonial" period, impressive skyscrapers on the Pudong but also small crowded streets full of stalls, tiny shops and poverty... In the center you will be bothered many times to buy fake ROLLEX watch, to take "the massage" by beautiful ladies and simply by beggars. I took the lift to the second "pearl" of the famous TV tower - the weather is cloudy but is was worth anyway: the view from 260 m - high platform is just great...
Bad news - the typhoon Chanchu is coming to the China coast from the Philippines - it will be rainy tomorrow - I hope I will be able to stroll the streets of the old Shanghai anyway...
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May 15, 2006 02:00 PM By bus to Shanghai...
China is changing rapidly... It was writen in the Lonely Planet that the bus from Huangshan to Shanghai takes 11 hours... They built new expressways and they use new buses now. It took me only 6 hours and 97 yuan to go from Tunxi to Shanghai...
Shanghai - The Peal of Orient... Brand new bus station, long walk to the subway. 4 y for the ticket with magnetic strip... Big city, expensive city - it is worth to book the room at least for the first night in advance! I stay in the Capitain Hostel - very nice located - close to the Bund but quite far from the subway station. They charge 60 y for the bunk beds in dormitory or 360 per huge double with bath... Round the corner there are little local "restaurants" offering inexpensive Chinese dishes like steamed baodzy - I like them and they are safe to eat. In the evening I took unforgettable walk along the bank of the river. The views of iluminated skycrapers are great. The "colonial" architecture of the Bund is also nice and impressive, a lot of people is walking alond the promenade... What a evening! I think that the night view of Shanghai is even more impressive that the day time image...
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May 14, 2006 02:00 PM Huangshan Mountains - most beautiful in China?
Huangshan - Yellow Mountains. They write in the guide books that for Chinese they are the most beautiful... I stayed in the little, dump family hotel close to the station. On the next day I found much better, new hostel half way between rail and bus stations. They charge 100 y per room and offer internet...
I spend whole day in the mountains. First you must g t the bottom of the mountains - there is minibus charging 13 y from Tunxi. They be prepared to pay hefty 200 yuan entry fee. Take yous student card with you for 50% discount! Weather was sunny so I enjoyed beautiful panoramic views. It is possible to see in one full day the most interesting places - if you are fit. I took cableway on eastern route to get up, then passed Bright Summit and came close to the Lotus Flower Peak. The access to the summit of Lotus is closed now, but you can climb nearest Capital Heaven Peak. Mountains are steep and rocky - there is a lot of interesting rock formations so I think that the opinion about Huangshan is not exagerated. I went down through the western route - all by stone steps - it was lovely, but very tiring day!
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May 13, 2006 02:00 PM China: three buses and one train...
Sailing through famous Three Gorges of Yangtze I saw in many places on the shore markers showing expected level on the water after they will finish Great Dam - 175m level. Now it is 139 m. So the true is that three Gorges will not dissapear! The river will be wider, some places looking like a small lake. The landscapes maybe will not be as impressive as today but the tourism will still exist here...
Disembarking at 6 am the ship at Yichang I was wandering if it will be possible to move in one day to the Huangshan Mountains. The approach from the west is complicated - no direct conections... The bus to Wuhan (private one cost me 70 yuan, Then in Wuhan I had 30 min to jump on the next one - to Jiujijang (80 y) and the I switched fast to next one to Jingdezhen (50y) - what a names! In Jingdezhen I took a taxi (they are inexpensive if metered) to the railway station - they announced that at 19.26 there will be a train to Huangshan. Great! It was ordinary train where I travelled in the smoke and rubbish with the hord of local people. But at 11 pm I reached Tunxi - the closest town to Huangshan Mountains!
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May 12, 2006 02:00 PM To the Great Dam of Three Gorges
We are sailing from Wushan early in the morning entering Wu Gorge - 44 km long and (people say) most impressive of Three Gorges. Bad luck! It is cloudy again when we pass between high, green mountains. Sometimes small waterfalls are also visible. The views are great, the tops of the mountains are in the clouds but again - the pictures will be poor. Weather, weather... Finally the ship reached little port Qu Yuan where local dances and singing were offered as optional tour.
Then we entered Third Gorge: Xiling - it is much wider and not as impressive as the brothers... Maybe the reason is that the waters of Yangtze are already higer then before...
In the late afternoon we arrived to the Great Dam and passed through the lock - can you imagine the 5-th stage lock?
We started from the level of 139 m and after passing through 4 locks we landed on 67 m level - 72 m down. I passed such high locks for the first time in my life!
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May 11, 2006 02:00 PM The first Gorge of Yangtze
They supply unlimited and free boliled water on the ship - so you should not cae about your morning tea of coffee - just take sufficient amount of bags! In the morning we enteed the first of famous gorges of Yangtze River - the Qutang - 8 km long. All aboard! Green mountains 500-600 m high are towering the river which sometimes is only 50-60 m wide... Great landscapes, but cloudy - bad luck - the pictures are dark...
At 1 pm we reached port Wushan - small boats are waiting there to take you to the Little Three Gorges. This is optional side trip - it costs like 300 yuan but it is definitely worth to inwest this money. Little Gorges are even more narrow and as picturesque as Qutang. Some people say they even prefere Little Gorges... Dragon Gate Gorge, Misty Gorge and Emerald Gorge are very impessive. At the end of the route there is stopover and all passengers go ashore to take 200 m path to the waterfall coming down from the rock. There is also small temple where local people pray... All tour takes 5 hours - take some food with you - the snack on the small boat is rather expensive! Great experience!
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May 10, 2006 02:00 PM Sailing Yangtze River...
Our ship has poetic name "Yangtze River Tourism No. 5" . Few people from the crew speak English but I can manage all problem anyway. First day of sailing took us to the Ghost Town. There is old monastery with impressive pagoda to see and very comercial, poor disneyland-style Chinese Ghost Town...
But afternoon was fantastic: I bought optional bus tour (80 yuan) from the port to the Green Dragon Waterfall - Qinglong. You know that I am great fan of the falls... We drove there through the rice fields country.
They say it is the biggest waterfall in Asia. Wow! 64 m high and 115 m wide. Not much water - sorry - but the water forms there like a courtain and you can take the walk behind it! Just wonderful! It remember only one such a place it was Sapo waterfall close to Canaima in Venezuela
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May 09, 2006 02:00 PM To the Yangtze River...
Yes, I want to see famous gorgez of Yangtze river before they dissapear in 2009... The best way is to take boat trip through the gorges from Chongqing to Yichang. Cruises on this route are popular so it is better to book in advance - I made it via Dragon Town Youth Hostel in Chengdu. They know that bacpackers are not rich so they offer the cruise on the tourist boat for local people, not for the luxury liners dedicated to the foreigners. Just make sure that you will pass through all 3 gorges in the daytime. Prices for 4 nights/3 days sail starts from 400 y in 6-bed bunk cabin, 600 in the 4-bed and 1000 for comfortable double with private shower. You can buy extra excursions from the ports.
I took a bus to Chongking - it takes 6 to 7 hours and went to the port. It was the first time face to face with the third river in the world. I saw Yangtze in the late afternoon - it is almost as huge as Amazon! We are sailing in the evening!
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May 08, 2006 02:00 PM Big Buddha in Leshan...
It is not far from Emeishan Mountains to Leshan - just 42 km. Leshan is famous of the Great Buddha statue cut of in the cliff overlooking the river in 8th century... I took a boat to see it... The boat 20-min round trip journey cost 50 hefty yuan. Sorry, no cheap ferry mentioned in the Lonely Planet book.
The sitting Buddha is 71 m high. Da Fo... Impressive! But it is second highest in the world: Years ago I saw two statues of Buddha in Bamian - Afganistan. One of them was even higher! You can also take bus no. 13 to cross the river and to climb the cliff to be closer to the Lord. But first you must pay again: 70 yuar entry fee unless you have a student card. China is still cheap to travel but do not expect to pay 10 or 20 yuan for entries to the tourist places as it was years ago... They learned how to make tourist business!
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