Thursday, December 30, 2004
Taiwan
After 2 months in the "red" People's Republic of China, we took the opportunity to visit some of Claudia's friends in Taiwan, whom she met while studying in England, to have a look at the "other" China. We enjoyed a total of 11 days on the island.
Taipei
We stayed most of the time at Mickey's in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan and home of the highest building in the world, the 101 Tower. The recently inaugurated tower can be seen from most places in town.
On the agenda: great food, a new year's party, relaxing at hot springs, sending excess bagage weight home (14 kilos of books, CDs, DVDs, trinkets), and sightseeing.
Despite what its inhabitants seem to think, Taipei is far from being boring. For one, its palace museum has the biggest collection of chinese antiques in the world. The precious items where salvaged from japanese invasion, then shipped to Taiwan by the Kuomintang when their defeat on the mainland became ineluctable. Most objects are stored under the mountain behind the museum, which could present a totally different exhibit everyday for 11 years without showing the same item twice. And it takes more than a day to see everything in the museum...
Here, we show two of the museum's most famous exhibits, the jade pork meat and cabbage, which brilliantly demonstrates one of the chinese's main preoccupation throughout the centuries:
For different reasons, we also enjoyed the pompous Chiang Kai Check memorial, especially the changing of the guard's martial choregraphy featuring the shiniest helmets we've ever seen. Perfectly synchronised, each movement emphasised... a worthy challenger to Mao Zedong's mausoleum in Beijing.
Beside this, Taipei (and Taiwan in general) has some beautiful and lively temples, contrasting with the sterile hastily rebuilt concrete temples of mainland China, and an impressive number of exhuberant night markets.
Guansi, Puli and around
We went to Guansi, south of Taipei near the west coast, to visit Yen. We stayed for the weekend at her family's house. Yen and her brother Paul organised a memorable culinary tour of the region. We started at one of their aunt's excellent restaurant. Then, we went on sampling more Hakka specialities at various locations (tomato plantation, markets, teahouses...).
Beneath, a picture of us preparing Lai Chai, the Hakka tea. Green tea, sesame seeds, herbs and peanuts are ground together in a bowl, then hot water is added. The succulent mixture is consumed with beans and puffed rice.
On Sunday, we drove to Puli, in the centre of Taiwan, for lunch at Mickey's uncle and to visit her cheerful Grandmother, a lady with tiny feet born in China in the last years of the Qing dynasty. After picking up two big bags of starfruit from the tree in their garden, we moved to the paper factory.
Paper, like ink and brushes, play an important role in chinese culture in connection with calligraphy. The paper of Puli is renowned and the factory has a fun section to make your own sheet!
Puli also boasts an unusual building which is the biggest monastery of Taiwan.
Taipei
We stayed most of the time at Mickey's in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan and home of the highest building in the world, the 101 Tower. The recently inaugurated tower can be seen from most places in town.
On the agenda: great food, a new year's party, relaxing at hot springs, sending excess bagage weight home (14 kilos of books, CDs, DVDs, trinkets), and sightseeing.
Despite what its inhabitants seem to think, Taipei is far from being boring. For one, its palace museum has the biggest collection of chinese antiques in the world. The precious items where salvaged from japanese invasion, then shipped to Taiwan by the Kuomintang when their defeat on the mainland became ineluctable. Most objects are stored under the mountain behind the museum, which could present a totally different exhibit everyday for 11 years without showing the same item twice. And it takes more than a day to see everything in the museum...
Here, we show two of the museum's most famous exhibits, the jade pork meat and cabbage, which brilliantly demonstrates one of the chinese's main preoccupation throughout the centuries:
For different reasons, we also enjoyed the pompous Chiang Kai Check memorial, especially the changing of the guard's martial choregraphy featuring the shiniest helmets we've ever seen. Perfectly synchronised, each movement emphasised... a worthy challenger to Mao Zedong's mausoleum in Beijing.
Beside this, Taipei (and Taiwan in general) has some beautiful and lively temples, contrasting with the sterile hastily rebuilt concrete temples of mainland China, and an impressive number of exhuberant night markets.
Guansi, Puli and around
We went to Guansi, south of Taipei near the west coast, to visit Yen. We stayed for the weekend at her family's house. Yen and her brother Paul organised a memorable culinary tour of the region. We started at one of their aunt's excellent restaurant. Then, we went on sampling more Hakka specialities at various locations (tomato plantation, markets, teahouses...).
Beneath, a picture of us preparing Lai Chai, the Hakka tea. Green tea, sesame seeds, herbs and peanuts are ground together in a bowl, then hot water is added. The succulent mixture is consumed with beans and puffed rice.
On Sunday, we drove to Puli, in the centre of Taiwan, for lunch at Mickey's uncle and to visit her cheerful Grandmother, a lady with tiny feet born in China in the last years of the Qing dynasty. After picking up two big bags of starfruit from the tree in their garden, we moved to the paper factory.
Paper, like ink and brushes, play an important role in chinese culture in connection with calligraphy. The paper of Puli is renowned and the factory has a fun section to make your own sheet!
Puli also boasts an unusual building which is the biggest monastery of Taiwan.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a big city on a relatively small surface. From Macau, just a 90 minute hydrofoil ride across the Pearl river delta.
Hong Kong city is divided in two. One part is on a narrow strip of land on Hong Kong island, the other, referred to as Kowloon, is on the opposite side of the strait on the mainland. Both parts are very well linked by boat and by underground.
We stayed in the latter part, in a small, clean and friendly guesthouse in the Chungking Mansions, an enormous ugly grey building which is a village of its own. The bottom floor is a colourful market packed with small shops and the top floors are crammed with cheap guesthouses, dodgy travel agents and indian, pakistani and african canteens. The place is an intereting ethnic mix: a stronghold for Indians, who run little restaurants and businesses, and a base for West African traders who come to Hong Kong to buy cheap wares. The Chinese mostly rent rooms... The Mansions are so busy that there is always a queue waiting for the lifts.
Not too much changed since the restitution of Hong Kong to P.R.China by the British in 1997. Business goes on as usual. The Christmas decorations in the shopping malls stay through the end of the year and don't decrease in popularity as backgrounds for happy consumers' photos.
Downtown, with the glass and iron skyscapers, is on Hong Kong island. It is the historical, administrative and business centre.
Walking from mall to mall on the footbridges above the street was fun for an afternoon or so...
Just behind downtown, Victoria peak is a popular day trip to get impressive views of the city. We went up, taking the worlds longest escalator to the mid-levels, than continued by foot.
The Edward Youde aviary in Hong Kong Park, where you can walk in a recreated rainforest among rare birds, was particularly interesting. Else, we have not much more to say about Hong Kong. It was quite like we expected it to be.
For a change, we took a bus to the New Territories, a big piece of land behind Kowloon that was leased to the British for 99 years in 1898. Something totally different from Hong-Kong: quite hilly, rural, with some small towns and a couple of hundred kilometres of walking trails. We stopped in Kam Tim to see the Hakka walled quarter, then as the weather was grey and the place unspectacular, we went back.
Hong Kong city is divided in two. One part is on a narrow strip of land on Hong Kong island, the other, referred to as Kowloon, is on the opposite side of the strait on the mainland. Both parts are very well linked by boat and by underground.
We stayed in the latter part, in a small, clean and friendly guesthouse in the Chungking Mansions, an enormous ugly grey building which is a village of its own. The bottom floor is a colourful market packed with small shops and the top floors are crammed with cheap guesthouses, dodgy travel agents and indian, pakistani and african canteens. The place is an intereting ethnic mix: a stronghold for Indians, who run little restaurants and businesses, and a base for West African traders who come to Hong Kong to buy cheap wares. The Chinese mostly rent rooms... The Mansions are so busy that there is always a queue waiting for the lifts.
Not too much changed since the restitution of Hong Kong to P.R.China by the British in 1997. Business goes on as usual. The Christmas decorations in the shopping malls stay through the end of the year and don't decrease in popularity as backgrounds for happy consumers' photos.
Downtown, with the glass and iron skyscapers, is on Hong Kong island. It is the historical, administrative and business centre.
Walking from mall to mall on the footbridges above the street was fun for an afternoon or so...
Just behind downtown, Victoria peak is a popular day trip to get impressive views of the city. We went up, taking the worlds longest escalator to the mid-levels, than continued by foot.
The Edward Youde aviary in Hong Kong Park, where you can walk in a recreated rainforest among rare birds, was particularly interesting. Else, we have not much more to say about Hong Kong. It was quite like we expected it to be.
For a change, we took a bus to the New Territories, a big piece of land behind Kowloon that was leased to the British for 99 years in 1898. Something totally different from Hong-Kong: quite hilly, rural, with some small towns and a couple of hundred kilometres of walking trails. We stopped in Kam Tim to see the Hakka walled quarter, then as the weather was grey and the place unspectacular, we went back.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Macau
Macau was the last European colony in Asia before it was handed back to P.R China by Portugal in 1999. Like Hong Kong, the former colony has now the status of SAR (Special Administrative Region).
The first impression we got of the city was one of a miniature Hong Kong. Macau is only 26 square kilometers, and the main avenues downtown haven't got more than two lane. People are not in a rush, so the place is very relaxed.
Macau is mostly known for its casinos. But it is far from looking like Las Vegas. Outside the casinos, gambling is hardly noticeable...
Though we rarely heard someone speak portugese on the streets, the colonial heritage is omnipresent. Walking the hilly narrow streets, we almost felt like in Lisbon. All street names and most signs are still bilingual.
The ex-rulers seemed to be more concerned building churches than businesses. So it was a good place to celebrate Christmas eve without the commercial overkill which often predominates in mercantile societies. There was a religious open air concert in the centre and midnight mass in the churches (in chinese!).
Portugal also left its touch on the small cafes and the culinary habits of the Macanese. Local dishes are a mix of chinese, indian, european and african cuisine, like the "east african chicken" (which also has spices from Goa), "balichao pork" (a european version of cantonese spare ribs) and roasted marinated pidgeon. All go very well with portugese red wine!
The first impression we got of the city was one of a miniature Hong Kong. Macau is only 26 square kilometers, and the main avenues downtown haven't got more than two lane. People are not in a rush, so the place is very relaxed.
Macau is mostly known for its casinos. But it is far from looking like Las Vegas. Outside the casinos, gambling is hardly noticeable...
Though we rarely heard someone speak portugese on the streets, the colonial heritage is omnipresent. Walking the hilly narrow streets, we almost felt like in Lisbon. All street names and most signs are still bilingual.
The ex-rulers seemed to be more concerned building churches than businesses. So it was a good place to celebrate Christmas eve without the commercial overkill which often predominates in mercantile societies. There was a religious open air concert in the centre and midnight mass in the churches (in chinese!).
Portugal also left its touch on the small cafes and the culinary habits of the Macanese. Local dishes are a mix of chinese, indian, european and african cuisine, like the "east african chicken" (which also has spices from Goa), "balichao pork" (a european version of cantonese spare ribs) and roasted marinated pidgeon. All go very well with portugese red wine!
Monday, December 20, 2004
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (a.k.a Canton), is a lively city on the South China Sea. For a long time, the city was an important trade port, so it was turned towards the outside world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was a stronghold of the European colonial powers and the stage of the infamous opium wars.
Nowadays, Guangzhou is still famous for its cooking. As it's also very close to the border to Hong Kong and Macau, we decided to use the 3 days remaining on our visas for a gastronomic holiday there. We started the day in the morning, with a breakfast of dim sums, and ended it in the late evening with some seafood and other cantonese specialities.
The ingredients of cantonese cooking have to be absolutely fresh, thus the fish tanks and bird cages in the restaurants!
Between meals, we enjoyed the nice laid back atmosphere of the hutongs...
...and sat down in the park to eat snacks and listen to the cacophony of waltzing couples, sword dancers and enthusiastic singers.
Nowadays, Guangzhou is still famous for its cooking. As it's also very close to the border to Hong Kong and Macau, we decided to use the 3 days remaining on our visas for a gastronomic holiday there. We started the day in the morning, with a breakfast of dim sums, and ended it in the late evening with some seafood and other cantonese specialities.
The ingredients of cantonese cooking have to be absolutely fresh, thus the fish tanks and bird cages in the restaurants!
Between meals, we enjoyed the nice laid back atmosphere of the hutongs...
...and sat down in the park to eat snacks and listen to the cacophony of waltzing couples, sword dancers and enthusiastic singers.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Yangshuo
Some say the area around Yangshuo is the most beautiful place of China. The town on the Li river is surrounded by a forest of weirdly contorted karst peaks which seem taken out of an ink painting.
Yangshuo is nested 70km south of Guilin, in the south-eastern Guangxi province. To avoid a 30 hours train journey from Kunming, we took a domestic Air China flight (the first of our journey!) to Guilin and then a minibus to Yangshuo.
The countryside was just a few minutes away from our friendly little hotel. Despite the weather (mostly grey and sometimes rainy), we had a very nice stay there. The quiet walk along the Li river, with occasional crossings on small bamboo rafts, is probably the best way to appreciate the landscape.
Apparently undisturbed by the loud tour boats from Guilin, some fishermen and their cormorants still do their job the old way. A rope is tied around the bird's neck, so it cannot swallow the fish it catches. Every 7th catch, the fisher has to loosen the knot in order to feed the cormorant. If not, we were told it refuses to work...
Renting a bike is also a good and easy solution for sightseeing. The paths at the foot of the mountains are quite flat.
In the evening, Yangshuo has a street full of souvenir shops and backpacker style pubs providing the usual entertainment (pizza, english permier league football and Carlsberg). But beside it, the atmosphere is much less artificial. We found excellent (and crowded) restaurants serving the tasty local speciality: river fish cooked in beer. On the whole, considering the beauty of its surroundings, the place is not yet too much of a tourist trap, but it might soon become one...
Yangshuo is nested 70km south of Guilin, in the south-eastern Guangxi province. To avoid a 30 hours train journey from Kunming, we took a domestic Air China flight (the first of our journey!) to Guilin and then a minibus to Yangshuo.
The countryside was just a few minutes away from our friendly little hotel. Despite the weather (mostly grey and sometimes rainy), we had a very nice stay there. The quiet walk along the Li river, with occasional crossings on small bamboo rafts, is probably the best way to appreciate the landscape.
Apparently undisturbed by the loud tour boats from Guilin, some fishermen and their cormorants still do their job the old way. A rope is tied around the bird's neck, so it cannot swallow the fish it catches. Every 7th catch, the fisher has to loosen the knot in order to feed the cormorant. If not, we were told it refuses to work...
Renting a bike is also a good and easy solution for sightseeing. The paths at the foot of the mountains are quite flat.
In the evening, Yangshuo has a street full of souvenir shops and backpacker style pubs providing the usual entertainment (pizza, english permier league football and Carlsberg). But beside it, the atmosphere is much less artificial. We found excellent (and crowded) restaurants serving the tasty local speciality: river fish cooked in beer. On the whole, considering the beauty of its surroundings, the place is not yet too much of a tourist trap, but it might soon become one...
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Kunming
Kunming is the capital of the Yunnan province. It's also the "sister town" of Zurich, but no-one seems to be aware of it here! Else, it's known for its eternal spring, flowers and cool bar scene. For us, it was a nice place to relax and buy cheap DVDs.
We stayed in the Hump, a guesthouse in the centre with an excellent view from its terrace.
Yunnan is known for wind-dried meats. It also has drinkable red wines and an acceptable goat cheese. With the baguette we found in the Carrefour supermarket, enough to improvise a french picnic mock-up.
To keep fit, we went for a little walk on the western hills behind Kunming. Nothing exceptional, but a nice enough escape from the city.
We stayed in the Hump, a guesthouse in the centre with an excellent view from its terrace.
Yunnan is known for wind-dried meats. It also has drinkable red wines and an acceptable goat cheese. With the baguette we found in the Carrefour supermarket, enough to improvise a french picnic mock-up.
To keep fit, we went for a little walk on the western hills behind Kunming. Nothing exceptional, but a nice enough escape from the city.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Dali and Er Hai Lake
Dali is the centre of the Bai people, which is one of the 56 ethnies of China. The city itself is not as picturesque as Lijiang: it's most famous sight is a group of 3 pagaodas from the 9th century.
The little fishing villages around the lake were much more authentic.
Besides Bai people, many ethnies live in the hills surrounding the lake. The best place to see them is probably at markets. On our day trip around the lake, we stopped at two of them. Definitely a highlight!
...a pig's head on Wase market:
...a street hairdresser:
...going home after shopping:
The little fishing villages around the lake were much more authentic.
Besides Bai people, many ethnies live in the hills surrounding the lake. The best place to see them is probably at markets. On our day trip around the lake, we stopped at two of them. Definitely a highlight!
...a pig's head on Wase market:
...a street hairdresser:
...going home after shopping:
Friday, December 03, 2004
The Naxi Kingdom
The former Naxi kingdom is in the northwest of the Yunnan province. Its people are related to the Tibetans. They have developed a unique hieroglyphic writing, practise a blend of ancient form of buddhism and shamanism (Dongba), and their women are in control of most aspects of the daily life (one of the Naxi sub-groups, the Mosuo, have matriarchal lineage).
Lijiang and around
To explore the region, we based ourselves in Lijiang, the Naxi capital. The UNESCO World Heritage old town is quite picturesque, but we feel it has been spoilt by mass tourism. Nearly every traditional house has either a souvenir stall, a trendy bar/restaurant, or a hotel.
The Dragon Pool park of Lijiang offers one of the most famous sights of China. The concrete temple, pavillon and bridge are perfectly arranged to provide a "perfect" postcard view with the 5500m high Jade Dragon Snow mountain in the background.
The traditional lifestyle of the Naxi is more preserved in the little villages around Lijiang (with the exception of Shuzhu, which is a newly built tourist trap!). We rented bikes to go to the villages.
...Naxi women in Baisha:
Tiger Leaping Gorges
The Tiger Leaping Gorges are 100km north of Lijiang. They are supposed to be the deepest in the world.
We did a beautiful 2 days hike there, and stayed in a very friendly Naxi family guesthouse on the way. The sceneries we crossed looked very alpine, with the
adjonction of palmtrees and cactus!
...path along the steep slope:
Lijiang and around
To explore the region, we based ourselves in Lijiang, the Naxi capital. The UNESCO World Heritage old town is quite picturesque, but we feel it has been spoilt by mass tourism. Nearly every traditional house has either a souvenir stall, a trendy bar/restaurant, or a hotel.
The Dragon Pool park of Lijiang offers one of the most famous sights of China. The concrete temple, pavillon and bridge are perfectly arranged to provide a "perfect" postcard view with the 5500m high Jade Dragon Snow mountain in the background.
The traditional lifestyle of the Naxi is more preserved in the little villages around Lijiang (with the exception of Shuzhu, which is a newly built tourist trap!). We rented bikes to go to the villages.
...Naxi women in Baisha:
Tiger Leaping Gorges
The Tiger Leaping Gorges are 100km north of Lijiang. They are supposed to be the deepest in the world.
We did a beautiful 2 days hike there, and stayed in a very friendly Naxi family guesthouse on the way. The sceneries we crossed looked very alpine, with the
adjonction of palmtrees and cactus!
...path along the steep slope:
