Follow me to a trip to China

[Ponypoor]

the building looks very nice but that's a awful lot of money for a small space in it.

Those pricing very similar to prices in Toronto or Vancouver. Outrageous!

 

[Ponypoor]

May 17th Friday

We went to an outlet mall in Beijing... My purpose of Beijing trip is to spend some time with my friend, and this is where she wanted to go. I could not care less. It is north of Beijing, close to the Great wall.

On the way. This is sort of the business center of Beijing.
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PS: All of China, there are now two kinds of license plates. Blue is regular, and green means EV. The government gives many incentives for purchasing EV. For example, in Beijing, your car cannot be on the road one day per week. This will depend on the last digit of your car. For instance, Fridays, your car cannot be on the road if its license number ends in 4 or 9. However, such a restriction does not apply to EVs.
The government won't admit it, but one major reason China promotes EV is for its own industry. Chinese car manufacture, the gas kind, no matter how hard they try, cannot bridge the technology gap and compete with car manufacture in Europe, US, or Japan. But the technology of making EV is a lot simpler.

The outlet is very similar to the ones I see in the US. This one has lots of fancy brands such as Gucci. My friend is into these (not me), she would spend $2000 on a purse and feel very good because it's discounted. I like to spend about $200 on my bags.
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May 18th Saturday
We first had nice Cantonese teaView attachment 3837902

Then we visited a Japanese bookstore. It seems OK.
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Finally we stopped at one of my favorite malls in Beijing: Parkview Greens. It is invested and built by a business person who loves artwork. You can see sculptures and artwork throughout. Some are permanent display, and some are on rotation.

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Who doesn't want a pet lion?
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I love this one with the "rays" shining on the budhha.
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Yes those rays are great. That’s a really nice mall.

 

[lightm]

May 22nd Wednesday.

Heading to Yulong Mountain (Yu = Jade, Long = dragon. So also called Jade Snow mountain).

Lijiang has an altitude of around 2400 m (7874 ft). Yulong mountain is very close to Lijiang, with the highest peak being 4680 m. There is a cable car that can get you to almost the top. You only need to climb the last 100 meters, which is apparently not easy due to possible lack of oxygen (altitude sickness).

With my parents age, we only took a smaller cable car which took us to the middle of the mountain.

Later, we arrived at this turquoise colored lake by the foot of the mountain. It is called "blue moon valley".

I accidentally took a perfect reflection picture. exactly half and half. no cropping.

Small water fall at the lake.

After the mountain, we arrived at the the old old town. It is about 8km south of the town from the day before. They may look similar on the photos, but this one is older, attracts more tourists, and more tasteful.

 

[lightm]

Lovely, and it looks like it would stay cool in summer.
Is this architecture from a specific period or was it built throughout centuries?
Do people still live in these two sites or is kept as cultural heritage only ?

It does stay very cool in the summer, especially with its high altitude. The town does not need AC.

According to some conversation with the locals and observation, my guess is that the architecture is built throughout and has about 800 years of history. Some locals still live there, but more for business, like they run a restaurant or hotel. Many locals seem to move right outside of the heritage site.

 

[Perris]

would one need to be able to read if not speak Chinese to visit there? It looks really beautiful, but also I don't see any English signs.

 

[TwoCrows]

May 22nd Wednesday.

Heading to Yulong Mountain (Yu = Jade, Long = dragon. So also called Jade Snow mountain).

Lijiang has an altitude of around 2400 m (7874 ft). Yulong mountain is very close to Lijiang, with the highest peak being 4680 m. There is a cable car that can get you to almost the top. You only need to climb the last 100 meters, which is apparently not easy due to possible lack of oxygen (altitude sickness).

With my parents age, we only took a smaller cable car which took us to the middle of the mountain.
View attachment 3845154View attachment 3845156View attachment 3845157View attachment 3845158View attachment 3845159View attachment 3845160

Later, we arrived at this turquoise colored lake by the foot of the mountain. It is called "blue moon valley".
View attachment 3845162

I accidentally took a perfect reflection picture. exactly half and half. no cropping.
View attachment 3845163

Small water fall at the lake.
View attachment 3845164View attachment 3845165View attachment 3845166

After the mountain, we arrived at the the old old town. It is about 8km south of the town from the day before. They may look similar on the photos, but this one is older, attracts more tourists, and more tasteful.
View attachment 3845168View attachment 3845169View attachment 3845172View attachment 3845175View attachment 3845176View attachment 3845177

Just beautiful!

 

[lightm]

How lovely! Now I want to visit too.

would one need to be able to read if not speak Chinese to visit there? It looks really beautiful, but also I don't see any English signs.

I think one does need to be able to speak/read Chinese to visit there. I saw a big foreigner tourist group in the airport, so I think the best bet is to follow a tour group. There are MANY bars in Lijiang and I ran into foreigners quite a bit.

Before Covid, or 12 years ago, when China was more open (before President Xi), I believe there were more foreigners visiting Lijiang.

Think twice before visiting China because you need to be prepared to completely surrender your privacy. Yes, I visited beautiful places, but it's a little depressing and scary at the same time.

• I do not like to have my picture taken every time I check in a hotel.
• I do not like to be forced to use WeChat (an app similar to WhatsApp, so you are required to use a smart phone) to buy tickets beforehand (this also means that you need to pair your bank card with WeChat).
• I do not like to be forced to use WeChat to read the menu. I see many restaurants in the US ask you to scan to read the menu too, especially during covid. But most restaurants in China don't provide a real menu anymore. Luckily in Lijiang usually there are menus.
• I do not like a cashless society. I do not like to use my phone to pay.
• I do not like that I have to scan my face to take an airplane or train.
• ...

Sorry for the rant.

 

[Perris]

Sorry for the rant.

no apologies necessary. I think I would find that very intrusive too. I'm an analogue human rather than a digital one.

 

[ManueB]

According to some Chinese medicine doctor, only pu'er tea is good for your health. Other tea is either bad or just whatever

I get this out of my closet when I had too much to drink or eat the night before. It makes me feel better, but it's definitely an acquired taste .

Before Covid, or 12 years ago, when China was more open (before President Xi), I believe there were more foreigners visiting Lijiang.

Do you think it is because of politics ? Or developing more national tourism ?

Also, I guess if you travel to China for the first time as a foreigner, it is so big and so diverse, and there are so many beautiful and interesting places, that you would have to pick three or four locations to see, unless you could stay there for several months !

In France there used to be tours visiting chinese cultural minorities sites, I'm not sure if they still exist.

 

[Perris]

It makes me feel better, but it's definitely an acquired taste

is that mysterious Black Pu...Erh Beengcha... known by any another name? More importantly, how does it work!?