Shanghai – the Pearl of the East

After being surrounded for more than a week by wide green landscapes during our time spent in Guilin and Zhangjiajie, we thought that the upcoming trip to Shanghai will bring less joy, as the mountains and trees were about to be replaced by grey buildings and noisy crowded streets. But we happened to be wrong.

Shanghai proved to be a beautiful experience. The streets were busy like in any other big city that we visited before, but more animated by the crowds of tourists, the street food vendors, the shops and the big advertisement billboards that gave the city a much more international feeling than our previous destinations in China. And there was still a balance between the modern and the traditional, while many temples still found their place in the modern neighborhoods and traditional food was served next to western restaurants. This mix feels exciting and the walks in the city are beautiful and inspiring for the travelers on the look for urban adventures.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

Being one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of more than 24 million, Shanghai is a global financial center and transport hub. It is also hosting the world’s busiest container port. Such a big city definitely requires time to be discovered.

We, instead, dedicated only 3 days of our trip to exploring the Pearl of the East. We stayed in a hostel that proved to be different from others, as it occupied the space of one apartment only, whose rooms were converted into dorms and a large living room was used as a common area, where the owners installed also a few tents. We liked the idea of indoor camping and took a tent for ourselves and enjoyed the beautiful cityscape from the large window next to it. Being in the hostel gave us also the chance to meet a few of the other travelers and be able to speak more English than we previously had a chance to.

We met old friends during our stay in Shanghai and we made new ones. We spent a good time with Florian, a traveler from Switzerland, that happened to be not just a nice company but also an inspiration for the rest of our travels through China. And we had a chance to meet with old friends from the time spent on board, as one of the vessels that we used to work on docked in the port during our time there.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

Costa Serena was the first ship that we worked on when we started our adventures at sea. Later the ship was sent to Asia to provide cruise experiences for the Chinese market. It felt good to be on board the ship again, have a cup of good Italian coffee, that we miss so much sometimes, and walk on corridors that once were part of our daily life as people of the sea.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

On the second day in the city, after our visit to the port, we decided to return to the center area and witness the cityscape lightning up in the Pudong New District, while spectacular cloud formations on the sky were giving us signs that we should expect rain to poor soon.

SHANGHAI CHINA

Getting around Shanghai

Despite the fact that Shanghai is a big city (and a “big city” in China is bigger than most big cities in the world), it is easy to move around. We used the application Metroman in order to keep an offline map of the subway always with us and we used convenient ferry transfers over the Huangpu River, which divides the city into two parts: the Pudong and the Puxi (we paid 2 RMB per person for one transfer). That gave us also a short feeling of what a cruise on the river might feel like.

Since we didn’t have time to see all of what the city has to offer, we decided to see a few things only but beautiful ones to remember. We walked mostly on the Bund, the waterfront promenade area facing the skyline of the Pudong (the skyscraper-filled center of recent development), and in downtown Shanghai, called Puxi Area (the historic heart of the city), where the most popular scenic spots are located: Yuyuan Garden, People’s Square, Nanjing Road Pedestrian and Jade Buddhist Temple.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

While leaving Shanghai behind, we were excited about our next stop in the capital of the People’s Republic of China, where we would be introduced to the ancient secrets of the country.

Find out more about our experience in Shanghai by clicking here.

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A visit to Pandora – Zhangjiajie National Park

After another train adventure in China, we finally arrived in Zhangjiajie, a town located in northwestern Hunan Province, home to Wulingyuan Natural Park (Zhangjiajie National Park).

While telling people about our trip to Zhangjiajie, we realized many question marks appearing, but words like “Avatar” and “Floating Mountains of Pandora” helped them understand better what our destination was about. And indeed, I felt the same way when Alex told me about it for the first time.

How to reach Zhangjiajie

The best way to reach the city is by train or plane. The airport has connections to 35 domestic airports, as well as flights to Seoul, Taiwan and Bangkok. By train, Zhangjiajie can be reached via 29 cities. Both the airport and the train station are not far from the city center.

The best time to travel to this region in China is April or October-November. We would not recommend traveling during Chinese holidays or in the hot summer months. Apart from the amazing natural stone formations, there is much more to see, from the longest and highest glass bridge to the longest cable car in the world.

Wulingyuan Natural Park – The core scenic area of ​​Zhangjiajie

Our focus was the National Park of Zhangjiajie (Wulingyuan), which belongs to the list of UNESCO World Heritage since 1992. The most beautiful parts of the park are Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Suoxiyu Viewpoint, Tianzi Mountain Viewpoint and Yangjiajie Viewpoint. But with so much choice, how should you plan the visit there? We faced exactly the same question when we planned our trip to the park.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

 

Here is a possible suggestion

Unfortunately, we have not planned much time in the city because our visa in China only forced us to follow a tight schedule. We stayed a total of 3 nights, one of them in the park itself. The hotel in Zhangjiajie cost us 10 Euro for a private room per night and for the meals we mainly paid less than 2 Euro each. In China, we enjoyed going to local food stalls, as we often could choose what goes into the WOK and, above all, the prices were really cheap.

On the day of our arrival, we did not do much, apart from walking around the area where we stayed. On the second day, we went by bus from the stop next to the central train station to the Zhangjiajie National Park. At the bus station, you only need to go to the tourist buses, which leave at regular intervals (about every 10 – 15 minutes) towards the park, which takes about 50 minutes and costs about 2.60 Euro (20 RMB). It is best if you look up the Chinese name on the internet before you go, so you can ask for the bus, in case you don’t find it easily.

Once in Wulingyuan, you can either catch another bus to one of the other park entrances (which are very good indicated) or walk to Wujiayu Ticket Station. We recommend using the offline map of maps.me, because Google Apps do not work in China.

The tickets are quite expensive, with a cost of 32 Euro (245 RMB) per adult, but valid for 4 days. In the park itself you pay extra for cable cars, lifts and some other attractions. At the information desk is a map with all the prices, which is very helpful to guide you. The ticket is a magnetic card, which is matched with the fingerprint at the entrance and allows access for the next few days.

Free buses in the park

Just right behind the entrance, you will find the purple buses, which are available for free in the park. We took the bus to our first highlight, the Tianzi Mountain Cable Car. The ride by cable car had a cost of 9.50 Euro (72 RMB) per person, which we found a bit expensive, but later the view of the sandstone rocks felt very compensating for the price.

 

From there we took the bus that brought us to Tianzishan Scenic Office, where we started our walk towards the station of the Ten-Mille Gallery Tram Bahn. The beautiful path leads from here mainly downhill and is therefore easy. Once we arrived at the station we preferred to go for the 30 minutes walk instead of using the tram.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

 

We continued by bus to the “Four Streams Crossroad”. Beware, there are two bus stations, do not take the wrong one that leads you towards the exit. We stopped by the river for a moment, then headed for the elevator.

The Bailong Elevator is the largest and fastest outdoor lift in the world. As for the cable car, we paid 9.50 Euro (72 RMB) and shortly after we were catapulted 3 m per second towards the sky. Once at the top, we were rewarded with a spectacular view and so we came closer to our highlight of the day.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

The world of Pandora

Only a short bus ride separated us from the “Floating Avatar Mountains”.  Here we realized that it was a bit more crowded than in the other areas. Still, we were incredibly lucky, there were only a few people all day long and so we did not have to queue at all. It is said that about 30,000 visitors visit the attractions around Zhangjiajie every day, but that wasn’t noticeable.

The Avatar Mountains are especially beautiful and it is not surprising why this place inspired the movie of James Cameron. It is almost impossible to capture in a photo the feeling inspired by these gigantic sandstone rock formations. It was really impressive.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

 

Here we stayed for a while and watched the monkeys, before taking the bus to the hostel… Well, at least that’s what we thought we were doing. When we arrived at the bus stop at 6 pm, we were told that the buses were only going in one direction, which surprised us because in the brochure it was clearly indicated that the buses would run until 7 pm.  Nobody could answer us why buses wouldn’t go also in the other direction. Of course, we could have gone the other way and looked for a place to stay in Wulingyuan, but that would mean to pay again for the elevator in order to leave the park.

Lost in the national park

For a short moment, we did not know what to do, when a nice old lady appeared and asked if we need accommodation. Probably it happens quite often that visitors stayed behind in the park.

The woman gave us a fair price and took us to her house, which was in the middle of the park and everyone there was very friendly. Alex and I got a nice room with super-fast wifi (one of the best we had in China) and something to eat. We enjoyed the silence that took over the park and were very happy that we could cancel our originally booked hostel.

Day two in Pandora

The next morning we took advantage of the good location and left the accommodation already at 8.00 am. We enjoyed the emptiness of the park and returned to the “Floating Avatar Mountains”, which looked different in the morning light.

We took the bus to another area of ​​the park, with the plan to enjoy the view at Yangjiajie Station and from there the path led us to the lower cable car station, from where the bus took us to the exit of the park (Yangjiajie Ticket Station).

After a 15 minute walk, we found the bus that took us back to Zhangjiajie. Despite the shorter distance, the trip took a bit longer than from Wujiayu Ticket Station due to the bad road conditions.

Our conclusion of the park: Not very budget-friendly, but definitely very impressive and worth seeing. We would recommend at least 1 night in the park or nearby.

More pictures of China you will find in our gallery.

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Trains in China – from Guilin to Zhangjiajie

One of our highlights in China was the visit at the National Park in Zhangjiajie. The 264 km2 park is located in the south of China, in the region of Hunan and holds several world records.

But before we arrived in Zhangjiajie, along with the excitement we also had to show a bit of patience, as we left Guilin by train (# D2945) and continued our journey to Liuzhou.

How to book train tickets in China?

As a foreign traveler, there are various ways to purchase tickets:

  • The easiest way: you go to the station and buy your ticket at the ticket office. Tourists can not buy tickets at the vending machine, only at the ticket office by presenting a valid passport.
    Disadvantage: As many people buy their tickets ahead of time, trains or preferred seats/classes can be already booked and who likes to spend several hours on a train standing?
  • The other option is to reserve tickets on the Internet. For this purpose, we used the website: ctrip.com. Also here we had to provide a valid document. Once you have specified your departure station and destination, you get a list of trains from which you can choose.
    Disadvantage: reservation fees are 3 euro per train and the original tickets must be picked up at any train station at the ticket office.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

When booking trains you will come across the following terms:

Hard Seat: These are normal seats and not very comfortable on older trains, especially when many people travel with a lot of luggage. We would only recommend them on short distances or high-speed trains.

Hard Sleeper: Great for long journeys. Hard sleepers are bunk beds, mostly 3 on top of each other and 6 per compartment. “Compartment” is not the right term because the wagons have no doors. On the ticket, you can see which compartment you have and for the exact bed you need to check the online reservation (lower, middle or upper). Also, the crew will offer help if needed.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

Soft Sleeper: (we did not use them in China) Same system as the Hard Sleepers but compartments have doors for a little more privacy and there are only 4 beds per compartment.

All trains have toilets (some trains are equipped also with Western toilets) and hot water. We usually took coffee or tea with us, as well as fruits or pastries before we got on the train. However, there is also the possibility to buy snacks or drinks on the train.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

Are we at the airport?

Riding a train in China is almost like taking a plane. The stations are similar to airports. The controls are not as strict, but tickets and luggage are checked several times. Basically, these checks are all the same. Upon entering the station, tickets and ID are checked. Sometimes there is an extra counter for foreign documents. Then the baggage will be examined. Sometimes the ticket is checked twice before entering the tracks. The ticket must be well kept, as there is another control on arrival at the final station.

 

Information about tracks and entrances to the trains is partially printed on the ticket, otherwise you can see it on the information board.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

From Guilin to Liuzhou

Upon our arrival in Liuzhou, we had to show improvisational skills, since the station from which our connecting train was leaving was situated in another district. Liuzhou is home to more than 3.5 million inhabitants and tourists are rarely seen here, therefore no words with familiar alphabet will be found.

 

Why didn’t we take the train from the same station?

Simple answer: There was none! The station in Liuzhou was being rebuilt so all long-distance trains were going from Liujiiang.
On the internet, we read that we could take buses 16, 27, 59, 68 and 90 to Liuzhou Railway Middle School and then change to bus no.10, which was going to Liujiiang. We have tried this version and have finally arrived at the destination, but it took quite a while to find the way. Nobody could speak English here and our offline translator also let us down.

Since our train left late in the evening, we decided to spend some time in the city center of Liuzhou, and later came across the easier way to get to Liujiiang.

 

The best way from Liuzhou station to Liujiiang with bus 99

If you leave Liuzhou Station, cross the road and wait for Bus 99, which will take you directly to Liujiiang. A ticket costs a few cents and the journey takes about 40 minutes.

Travel tip: In China, we always used the offline maps of Maps.me before we visited a city. (Google Apps are blocked here). We always use the maps to see if we are really going in the right direction.

The train from Liujiiang took us to Zhangjiajie, where we had a wonderful stay.

If you want to see photos of our time in China then click here?

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The Longji Rice Terraces – a land of beautiful nature and long preserved traditions

The second morning in Guilin our daypack was fully loaded for the next day trip that we planned, the Longji Rice Terraces, situated north from Guilin. A local bus brought us to the Hong Kong hotel, from where a direct bus was leaving for the Longji (Dragon’s Back) rice terraces in Longsheng County, some of the biggest and most spectacular in the world.

THE LONGJI RICE TERRACES GUILIN CHINA

The Longji Rice Terraces refers to several village areas, the most popular being the ones around Ping’an Village, where the Zhuang minority people live, and the ones in the Jinkeng area, home to the Red Yao. Their construction started in 1271 under the Yuan Dynasty and was completed under the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). There is no best season to visit the terraces, but more a matter of choice. You can visit in spring when the water is irrigated into the fields, making the terraces look like great chains hanging on the hillsides. Summer offers beautiful waves of green on the mountainside, while autumn, the harvest time, brings more diversity of colors. Winter is cold, but the landscape is still spectacular and can be a better option for those who want to enjoy the terraces in the absence of the crowds of tourists.

The Ping’an Terraced Fields are larger and offer more alternatives to hike to different viewpoints, including a cable car to the Golden Buddha peak, from where visitors can get the best view over the region. We hiked for more than one hour to reach the peak and after climbed down slowly on different paths through small villages. We suggest spending at least 3 hours for discovering the surroundings.

 

The people living here, The Zhuang and the Yao nationalities, are part of a particular community that follows ancient traditions. The Zhuang people form the majority and are well known for their hospitality. They wear unique and colorful costumes and frequently celebrate life with songs and dances during different traditional festivals. Tourists in the area can join their celebration if they want to experience the original Zhuang life and culture and even stay with local families while tasting the local food and drinking Longji tea or the Longji wine.

THE LONGJI RICE TERRACES GUILIN CHINA

 

Four hours later after the arrival at the rice terraces, we took the bus back to Guilin and used the remaining time to explore the city. Guilin itself offers entertainment to tourists with its many colorful lights, the beautiful pagodas and the Elephant Trunk, the city’s most important and most symbolic attraction.

 

After dinner and a cold beer back at the hostel, it was time again to pack our luggage for our long trip to Zhangjiajie.

Click here for more pictures of our time in Guilin.

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