Chengdu, China - an Unbelievable Vibrant City with Lots of Arts and Culture

We heard a lot about Chengdu but never been to this city until now. We were grateful that J. has been here a few times and he knows this city quite well. He booked us a hotel within walking distance to many attractions in this city.

We enjoy walking a lot and this was a bonus for us as we could pretty well walk to a lot of the interesting places we wanted to visit. Staying at the Sichuan Garden Hotel for a few days and enjoying a nice buffet breakfast daily at the dining room allowed me to have a relaxing start each day. We were surprised there were not a lot of hotel guests for breakfast. I guess many people had gone back to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year.

Our first impression of Chengdu was how modern, busy and vibrant this city actually is. For people living in the west, we very often have the impression that China is backward, densely populated and poor. But Chengdu is very different from what the media images we have seen reported on TV in North America.

Chunxi Road, a very famous street in Chengdu, was the first area we visited in that city. It only took us about three minutes to walk there from our hotel. We reached Chunxi Road after climbing a flight of stairs to an overpass enabling us to safely cross to the other side of the street without interrupting the constanly flow of vehicles in a super busy area. Chunxi Road is a busy pedestrain street without any vehicle traffic so that visitors do not need to worry about moving cars and crossing the streets. This popular toursit district received lots of visitors from around China. There were numerous shops selling everything from clothing, shoes, jewellry, sportswear to leather good.

We were amazed at the multitude of teashops and cafes serving excellent pastries and different types of beverages on Chunxi Road.

We loved our few days in Chengdu! RT, Chengdu, China

Travelling on China's Fast Train in a Snow Storm

Travelling in China was relatively easy even around the Lunar New Year time. But the one thing we needed to do was making sure that our tickets were purchased ahead of time. We are foruntate as we have a family member living in China and could do this for us without much difficulty. During this trip to China, we had two places where we must see. The first one was Gulangyu Island in Xiamen and the other one was Chengdu in Sichuan. However, these two places are quite far apart from each other. J. was very considerate when he was buying the train tickets as he wanted to break up the long train ride for us. Therefore, We made a stop in Nancheng for a couple of days after Gulongyu and then took the fast train to Chengdu, our next destination. We love travelling in China by fast train! Every train station we have gone to was modern and spacious with restaurants and shops to meet our needs while the trains themselves were convenient, comfortable and affordable. We pretty well could get to wherever we wanted to go in China. On our way from Nancheng to Chengdu, we ran into a heavy snow storm.

While the train was slowing down a bit, the cars on the highway were crawling at a snail pace, almost stopped. The passengers on the fast train were well behaved, no one complained as there were food and drinks were available for purchase on the train. Though the slow down was no fault of the train company, it provided the passengers each with a can of protein drink free of charge. We appreciated the courtesy gesture. We looked out of the windows and saw white snow blanketing the houses and the sorrounding area. It looked pretty and reminded me of our home in Canada. Though it looked bleak and cold outside, we were warm and comfortable inside the fast train. I would not like being in one of those vehicles going nowhere on the highway while we were chucking along, though a bit slower than usual.

The slow down was about 2-3 hours. After we passed the snow storm area, the train was back to normal speed. After almost twelve hour ride, we finally reached our destination, Chengdu, couldn't wait to explore this ancient historical city with my family for the many days! RT, on our way to CHENGDU, China

Tengwang Pavilion (Pavilion of Prince Teng), a Historical Pavilion Rebuilt over a Score of Times in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

I knew very little about Chinese history or geography, but the name of the city, Nanchang did ring a bell for me. I knew this city was of some kind of significance in modern Chinese history therefore I was eager to learn more about this place.

One of the places we visited was the Tengwang Pavilion, also known as the Pavilion of Prince Teng. It is a building located in the North West of the city of Nanchang, in Jiangxi province, China. The Tengwang Pavilin,together with the Yellow Crane Tower and the Yueyang Tower, are the three renowned towers along the south of Yangtse River.

The Tengwang Pavilion is a great building built in the Tang Dynasty with the architectural style of the Song Dynasty. It has a history of 1,300 years. It covered a huge area of many kms. The Pavilion has been ruined, burned down and rebuilt for twenty eight times since it was first constructed!

We arrived a little after 6:00 p.m. at the Pavilion. Since it was drizzling, we didn't visit all the buildings on the site but only the main pavilion consisting of five floors. Starting from the first floor, we followed the stairs and climbed up all the floors with each floor showing different displays of various themes.

There were displays on arts, beautiful paintings and massive wall murals, musical instruments and cultures of the different dynasties and history of the buildings.

There were displays on royal costumes, weaponry and many others topics.

The display we found most interesting was the one on the records of names of those who were the champions of the annual royal examinations in the past dynasties.

We heard so much about this champion scrolls and finally we got to see them in person, amazing!

Another interesting experience was climbing up to the top floor of the pavilion and having a bird's eye view of the entire pavilion site. It was an awesome scenic view at night with all the ancient buildings all lit up brightly and glowing in the dark.

It was a fantastic sight to behold! Since it was February, the weather was on the cool side and it was windy at the top of the building. I wished we were at the pavilion site during the day and had a longer time to vsit the many other buildings and scenic spots here.

We left shortly after 9p.m. and had dinner at a traditional mom and pop restaurant and loved it! In North America, a few huge francised businesses dominate the restaurant scene. It doesn't matter which city or town we visit, we always see the same big name restaurants or fast food outlets. But in China, there are always an abundance of choices of different food and restaurants from which to choose. Most of these eating places are of family owned and run eateries offering food services at very reasonable prices.

It wa an enjoyable evening visiting the Pavilion of Prince Teng. Glad we got to see this must see attraction in Nanchang, China! RT, Nanchang, China 02 2024 ! ",

Nanchang, China - A Historical City, the City of Heroes where the 1927 Nanchang Uprising Took Place

Though J. did not travel with us for our next leg of our journey in China, he did many things to help us making sure that our travel in China would be as smooth as possible. He booked us a hotel right beside the train station in Nanchang. It was convenient indeed. We got off the train and walked out of the station, voila! We were right in front of the hotel. We had a quick dinner at the mom and pop restaurant and then straight to bed.

Located in the north central part of the Jiangxi Province of China, Nanchang is the capital city of Jiangxi Province. It is known for a significant historical event called the Nanchang Uprising in 1927.

This city was where the People's Liberation Army was born and where the military banner of the Liberation Army was raised. Nanchang was named by the Communist Party government as the City of Heros since 1949.

The next day, it was drizzling. We walked from our hotel to the Bayi Square (August 1 Square). It was not too far away and we were able to ask some passerby for directions of where we should go. We walked by a long wall with stone cravings recording some of the events and sayings of Chines heroes and scholars. Soon after, we were at the Bayi Square which was built in 1977 in memory of the Nanchang Uprising, also known as the Aug 1, 1927 Uprising. The Eight One Square is a huge place with a tall stone mounament standing at the entrance of it. We were awed by the size of the place.

The Bayi Square is the second largest square in China, after Tiananmen Square in Beijing.Since it was drizzing, there were not a lot of visitors. We were able to make out some of the meanings of the stone cravings at the bottom of the mounment. This was where the Chinese Communist Party was born! We were standing and looking at an important chapter of China's history. It had a humbling effect on me.

It was a rainy day and there were only a handful of visitors at the Bayi Square. As the rain continued, we found a mom and pop restaurant in traditional Chinese deco serving local dishes.

It was still drizzling after lunch, so we seeked shelter and visited a couple of shopping malls. They were large and modern comparable to our shopping malls in North America. The food court was spacious with numerous restaurants and eateries offering a myraid of choices of regional and ethnic dishes. Everything smelled and looked delicious. We sat down to rest our feet near a delectable bakery store.

The aroma of the baked goods filled the air. We were surprised to see the varities of choices in the pastries some shops offered and couldn't resisit ordering a couple of the pastries.This was a very different China from what I imagined. We enjoyed a relaxing time at the food court in the mall. RT, Nanchang, China 022024

Xiamen, China - an Unexpected Beautiful City Where Wealthy Chinese Retire

Xiamen, is a beautiul city in southeastern China. We heard of this city before but didn't know much about it. We were pleaseantly surprised after spending a couple of days there. On the first night we were there, we went to a night market full of young people and tourists to the area. There were lots of restaurants offering local and seafood dishes. The second day we took a ferry and visited the island of Gulangyu. Loved the parklike island!

As always, no matter which city we arrive at, we try hard to find a church to attend a worship service on Sunday. On the third day of our stay in Xiamen, we called a taxi and had a tour of the city. We found the streets clean, free of litter and lined with mature trees.The city is not a huge city, not as populated as other big Chinese cities. Being a coastal city, Xiamen offers an abundance of fresh seafood to its residents and visitors at affordable prices. Therefore, the taxi driver informed us that Xiamen is a city where many wealthy Chinese have chosen to retire.

We went to the First Protestant Church of China, a beautiful church modelled after western architectual design with white majestic pillars at the front of the building. A huge blue animal sculpture reading an opened bible sit at the front courtyard welcoming people to the church. It looked so cute! The church was full of people, mainly older adults. People were friendly; but unlike our home church in Toronto, there was no refreshments after the service for social time.

After church, We met up with Tony who was driving across China in his vehicle. He came to pick us up at our hotel and took us to a restaurant for lunch.

It was an interesting mall! As soon as we entered the courtyard, we were greeted by huge teddy bears placed on the steps, on the courtyard and garden. THese teddy bears were so cute! The child in me could not help but hugged them. I had never seen anything like that in a shopping area. How welcoming this was not only to children but adults as well!

So far on this journey in China, we discovered and were amazed by the beauty of some of its cities such as Xiamen, We could hardly wait to explore the other Chinese cities on our itinernary. RT, Xiamwn, China

Gulangyu, a Beautiful Place and a part of History in China's Colonial's Past

The island of Gulangyu is located southwest of Xiamen City in southern part of China. I learned about this island from a travel documnetary and wanted to visit this island while we were visiting China. We took the fast train from Guangzhou to Xiamen, and from there we took a ferry to Gulangyu.

We were greeted by beautiful garden and the fragnant smell of flower blossoms as soon we alighted from the ferry. In order to learn more about the history of this lovely island, we hired an official tour guide who accompanied us for our tour.

Gulangyu is special as it is a pedestrain only island as vehicles are not allowed except for some emergency vehicles. Therefore we did see people transporting household items such as furniture, fruit and vegetables being transported on handcarts.

There are many interesting things to see on this pictureque island, such as beautifully landscaped Chinese gardens, concert hall, museums. a tunnel, a sandy beach crowded with families, lots of open green space with numerous street musicians entertaining visitors to thIS park like place.

Gulangyu is sometimes referred to as “Piano Island”. With only 20,000 people on this tiny island, there are a staggering 5,000 pianos, that’s one piano for every four people! We visited the Piano Museum and enjoyed a free piano performance by a pianist.

One unique thng about Gulangyu is its colonial architecture instead of traditional Chinese buildings on the island and the number of Christian churches. This can be explained by Gulangyu’s history.

As a result of the Treaty of Nanking made after the First Opium War (1839–1842), Gulangyu Island was designated as an international foreign settlement in 1903. This allowed members of the 13 partner countries to settle, build houses, start their own businesses, and control the administration of the island.

"During this time many colonial-style mansions, churches, and hospitals were established throughout the island and are some of the only buildings of their kind throughout China. Along with the unusual style of architecture, newcomers to the island also brought with them their love of Western instruments and many of their competitive sports."

Gulangyu is a marvelous place to visit and we were glad that we got to visit this awesome place in China. We highly recommend it to future travellers visiting China. If you are close enough to be around Gulangyu, don't miss this fantastic place! RT, Gulangyu, China 022024

I Lost My Computer in China, but It Was Found Untouched

Having spent a week in Guangzhou, its was time to move on to other cities. Our next destination was Gulanyu in Xiamen. I was hugely disappointed as J. told us that he would not be with us during this leg of the journey. He needed sometime off and that he would meet up with us later. He purchased the train tickets for us and booked us the hotel and so on. But I was disappointed. He saw us off at the Guangzhou train station . As we were going though the security check with our language, tears started to roll down my cheek as I thought of E. when he was very young and going to Thunder Bay the first time all by himself. We were thinking he would miss us so much that he would have a hard time separating from us. Without any hesitation or even a slight turn of his head to wave good bye to us, he was happily holding the stewardess’s hand and off he went to the plane. This time, it was our son letting go of us and we were the one leaving. How history repeats itself.

Being upset, we didn’t pay attention to retrieving all our luggage after the security check. We only discovered that we were missing our computer bag after we were seated in the highspeed train leaving the city. We called J. right away and asked him to go back to the train station and tried to see if we left it there. Meanwhile, we saw a phone number flashing on the screen on the overhead screen of the train informing passengers that if they needed any assistance or had any emergency, they could call for help. I did immediately and our phone was answered right away. I was pleasantly surprised as there was not any wait for a long time before any real live personnel answering my call. I informed the personnel on the phone as well as the train officer what happened. We could see that they sprang into action , making calls to various departments trying to help us to find our lost bag. So glad we were getting help right away. About 30 minutes later, J. called and informed us that he found our bag sitting exactly where we left it at the security check area. No one took our computer bag with our content in it. Thank God! We were very impressed with thousands of people passing through the Guangzhou train station, our valuable, though lost, was not taken by anyone. I left my computer bag on the Toronto subway a few years ago. I reported it. No action was taken and my bag was never found. What a contrast! After we learned that our computer bag was found, we settled comfortably into our seat of the fast train which took us to our next destination to China! RT, Xiamen, China