The Wandering Bear

大家好! In November I head back to the Far East to the metropolis in northern China.. Beijing (北京). This city is also the capital of the People's Republic of China. In this trip I will travel in search of beautiful scenic landscapes as as well as the places of historical and cultural interest. Last of all, I have a side quest of searching for the real authentic Peking Roasted Duck. 

When I landed in Beijing Capital Airport, what surprised me was that the air quality was better compared to what I experienced a year ago. Not very sure what was happening but  awesome work China! I figured that I should start off exploring central Beijing before venturing outwards. The first place that I visited was the historical Tiananmen Square and the legendary Forbidden City. Tiananmen was probably well known for the "Tank Man" during the protests in 1989. What struck me was how vast the square was. 

From the square I made my way through the crowd into the Forbidden City. This is also the largest palace in the world and home to 24 emperors for almost 500 years from the Ming Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty, Today, this site is more commonly known as 故宫 (gu gong) meaning former palace. 

 Strolling along the top of the city walls. 

Xi An has a very large Muslim population, where many come from the Hui Clan. In the evening, I visited the Muslim Quarters,回民街, where it is a collective name for a few streets famous for its Muslim cultural atmosphere. The entrance can be found at the Drum Tower. The best time for visiting this area is in the evening when the food stalls are open serving dinner. If you prefer more walking space, I suggest that you arrive here at around 4:30, where there is a smaller crowd.

The entrance to the Great Mosque in Xi An. Constructed in the Tang Dynasty, it is an interesting building as it combines Chinese architecture with Islamic art. It is open to public and I made a mental note to visit it. However, it was closed when I decided to pay it a visit.

You can find many hawker stalls along the streets in the Muslim Quarter. There you will find food influenced both by the Chinese and Middle Eastern culture. Here in Xi An there are a few 'must try' dishes that are bound to blow you away. After walking along the city walls earlier in the afternoon, I was famished. Hence I decided to have a sumptuous dinner in a restaurant (with air-conditioning, I might add). 

I started my dinner with steamed mutton dumplings 小笼包. The meat was well marinated and the soup inside the dumpling was delicious. The next dish was the 羊肉泡馍, which is actually mutton soup but here they added large amounts of flat bread, broken into small pieces. If you wander along the streets, you can actually see people meticulously tearing pieces of pita or flat bread and putting it into their mutton soup. The last dish I tried was the 刀削面, meaning knife cut noodles. The noodles are relatively short and flat as they were shaved off from a slab of dough. The texture of the noodles were different from those of the hand pulled noodles as it was a little bit more chewy. I find the beef soup broth a tad too salty, but I still managed to drink half the bowl. After leaving the restaurant, I have also tried a few other street food such as meat skewers along the way and they were all marvellous.

All in all, it was probably one of the more fulfilling dinner I had during this trip!

Terracotta Army Museum 兵马俑博物馆

The next day, I visited the one of greatest archaeological sites of the world and also one of the greatest discoveries in the 20th century, the Terracotta Army Museum. You can reach here by taking Tourist Bus 5 from the Xi An Railway Station. When I got there, it was already packed with tourists.
The museum consist of 3 vaults which displayed an array of terracotta soldiers and chariots. Vault 1 is the largest vault and it showcased an impressive army of terracotta soldiers. Each of the soldiers are unique on its own, they have their own gestures, facial expressions, hairstyle and clothing. Vault 2 & 3 are smaller vaults displaying similar terracotta soldiers but the soldiers in Vault 3 are mainly high ranking officers and they also displayed a number of bronze chariots. Both vaults  are currently under restoration and excavation.  

Vault 1 of the Terracotta Museum, almost the size of an hangar. 

The heads of these soldiers were stolen by tomb robbers and thieves. 

I was very amazed at the actual size and details of the warriors. Rows after rows of warriors standing with astonishing amount of detail. It goes without saying that visiting this place is a must. You would not have visited Xi An without coming to this place. 

Mount Hua 华山

To end my adventure in China, I decided to conquer Mount Hua, or Huashan in Chinese. One of the five greatest mountains in China, Huashan boast a long history of religious significance and the term 华山论剑 was popularized by Chinese novelist Jin Yong (金庸) where in his novel, Huashan is the place where top martial art pugilists will hold their fights. To get here, I took a high speed train to Huashan Station and then boarded a shuttle bus to the foot of Huashan. 

Huashan is very different from the previous two mountains that I have climbed. It has five peaks and one can follow the trail and explore all five peaks. The highest peak is the southern peak where it stands at 2154.9m above sea level. The trail is rocky and has near perpendicular cliffs, steep slopes and 90 degrees angled stairs. Huashan was also termed 'most dangerous and terrifying hikes' in a few magazines and news articles.  

I started from the north peak, then to the middle peak, west peak, south peak and finally the east peak. This route is quite exhaustive unlike Mt Emei as you have to ascend and descend from peak to peak so I suggest to bring more water and snacks. 

Huashan north peak

Beautiful scenery of the mountains all around me. 

For my final night in Xi An, I checked myself into a capsule hotel just for the experience. As it was my first time, I was impressed by the friendly staff and comfortable capsule. Believe it or not, the capsule itself was quite spacious. The capsule is also equipped with a television (mine wasn't working though), mirror and desk. They also provide earphones and wifi. There are blinds so that you can have some privacy. 

I was also pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness of the area.... until I stepped into the toilet. The pungent smell is almost unbearable. Besides that, it was a mildly enjoyable stay.  

As the pass is made of two cliffs on both sides of the mountain, the route through the whole Jianmen Pass park requires one to climb up one side of the mountain, descend and then climb up the other side of the cliff. Of course, in China, there is always a shortcut. Between the two cliffs is a zipline that allows you to go across the other side of the cliff without breaking a sweat, or so I thought. 

As an avid traveller who loves nothing more than a challenge and being someone with two mountains under my belt. I .... took the zipline. 

After carrying on the journey with jelly-like legs, I finally reached the peak of the mountain. I noticed that there were plans to construct a glass viewing platform at the edge of the cliff but it was under construction when I was there. After a few minutes of rest, I began my descent along the Ancient Shu Road. This is a very treacherous rugged path that was carved out of the rock cliff. Not for the faint hearted, there were areas where the steps were very steep with nothing more than a tiny hole carved into the rock face for you to stick your foot in for support. Of course, more than often you will get the chance to stare right down the straight cliff. 

But of course, all of these came with a complementary amazing view of the mountains.