China Travel

Ever since I first began to travel about 10 years ago, China has long been on my list of places to visit. With my past trips being focused on miserably cold destinations or the most dangerous countries, my trip to China was a nice break. I found the country easy to backpack, the population extremely friendly, and I quickly realized that I'd almost forgotten what it was like to travel in a normal and safe country. Nearly the same size of America, China is one of the world's most culturally diverse countries and with all its past kingdoms and dynasties it also has some of the most and best preserved ancient history. On this trip, I visited the capital of Beijing and the historic city of Xi'an.

China Links
	One of China's most famous and respected leaders is Mao Zedong who ruled for over a quarter of a century from 1949 to 1976. Although he is seen with some controversy in the west, he is still regarded by all as one of the most influential people in the 20th century, and to the Chinese he basically is the sole person who reformed China from a weak nation to one of the world powers. Essentially, Mao Zedong created modern day China. The two photos above show the entrance to Tiananmen square on the left, and a close up photo of Mao Zedong on the right.

Above is the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall on the left, and on the right is the Monument to the People's Heroes which are both inside Tiananmen Square. These buildings were built in the 20th century, while the Tiananmen gate dates back to the 15th century. In was this square that I met two girls who later ended up scamming me. As I mentioned earlier I felt relaxed in a non dangerous country and let my guard down. I was approached by two girls in their early 20s claiming to want to hang out to learn English and that they were visting from another city themselves. They looked innocent and were dressed respectably, but I still immediately figured it was a scam. I didn't expect them to beat me up, so I assumed maybe they trying to lure me to an alley or another place where some people might try to rob me. I ended up hanging out with them for nearly two hours and began to wonder if maybe I was wrong about then when they brought me to a simple tea shop. When it was time for the bill I was shocked to see it was nearly $100! They said we should all split it three ways and the two girls put up their share and instead of arguing I accepted defeat and paid mine. I've always known to always check prices before committing to drinks, a taxi ride etc, but like I said I had completely let my guard down. The funny thing was the two girls didn't realize that I knew I had been scammed and they repeatedly apologized for taking me to such an expensive place. They also hung out with me for the rest of the day and at the end of the night offered me their umbrella since it was raining. I suppose even though they were scam artists they still had a guilty conscious and felt bad about the situation.

China's government has been known for its strict policies regarding human rights and censorship. From my understanding, things have changed drastically in the past decades, but still a lot of websites, knowledge, and information is still blocked to general citizens. If I was around in the 70s or 80s as a traveler I wouldn't have taken the photos above of the guard and the police car on the right. The building in the background is the national museum.

Patriotism was very high in Tiananmen square, above is a little boy with a Chinese flag, and on the right a food stand selling drinks snacks and Chinese flags as well. Of course the patriotism isn't limited to Beijing, throughout China I saw people proudly displaying Chinese flags.

These surrounding photos are of a small park right outside Tiananmen Square. The parks were well taken care of and peaceful to walk through, giving me a break from some of the over crowded traffic jammed streets. The only exception to the peace in the park was when I heard some yelling and saw a kid sprinting through the park who dropped a bag on the way. Apparently he had tried to steal from someone but was eventually caught. I'm not sure what his punishment will be, but I imagine it would probably be worse than a western country. I'm not sure if the guy below was also possibly breaking laws, but apparently he had just gone fishing right here in the city park.


A short walk from Tiananmen Square is the famous Forbidden City. This 600 year old palace is made up of almost 1,000 buildings, and nearly 9,000 rooms. After its completion in the early 15th century, it served as the seat of the both the Chinese government and various emperors for the next 500 hundred years. The final ruler of the Forbidden City was Emperor Aisin-Gioro Puyi, who's story marked a sad end to the Forbidden City's traditions that had spanned several centuries. As the new Republic of China's government grew ever more powerful, Puyi completely lost rule as Emperor of the Forbidden City in 1914. Eventually he was given a small roll in the new government, but even this only lasted until 1924 when he was overthrown in a coup. Only a year after the coup, the Forbidden city became a museum.

I was aware of the Forbidden City's vast size, but when I first entered and saw the open courtyards at first I was a bit disappointed. This was of course stupid of me to make such an impression after only a few minutes in the palace. Once I began to wander through the side alleys and different rooms, and nearly got lost a few times I realized how amazing this place was, and what an achievement it was to build this city nearly 600 years ago and have it last for half a millennium. Above are examples of past uniforms and the inside of one of the thousands of rooms.

These four surrounding pictures are all from the Forbidden City as well. Above shows some of the architecture and sculptures they created, a dragon statue on the left, and some small dragons on the corner of a roof. There are several courtyards and places to rest inside the Forbidden City, below is a large ivy covered tree on the left, and a bunch of older Chinese tourists that looked like they had their share of walking for the day. With so much history, if I put all my photos up of the Forbidden City, it would likely take up my whole China page!


Like the loss of the Forbidden City from internal changes and influences, eventually China began to be influenced by the western powers. As early as the mid 1600s, a small church was built in Beijing, but was destroyed several times by earthquakes. Eventually a larger cathedral replaced the small church and was completed in 1904. Since this church as been rebuilt so many times, many consider it to be China's first church. The building is named St. Joseph's Cathedral, other times called Wangfujing Cathedral after the district it's in.

The Wangfujing district is Beijing's most famous shopping and entertainment district. In two other dynasties, this same district was a commercial hub and a place where upper class citizens lived. Above are two of the main buildings in the district, below is a street performer on the left and one of the streets lined with shops and restaurants down below. I never did come out here past midnight but I imagine there is always something going on in the Wangfujing district and you'd never be bored.


Also part of Wangfujing is a food market called snack street. There is lots of exotic cuisine to choose form here and several things you won't find in the western world. The bugs are the most obvious 'snack' you won't see in the western world along with the scorpions. The scorpions on the right were all still alive and squirming about on their sticks, once you purchase one it's dipped into hot grease for a few moments and then it's all yours to enjoy. Despite my travels I've never been too adventurous when it comes to trying strange foods like deep fried bugs. Some people might love this stuff, but to me parts of this area would have been more appriopiately named fear factor street rather than snack street.

Easily China's most famous national treasure is its Great Wall. Considered one of mankind's greatest acheivements, the Great Wall was built throughout several centuries beginning as early as the 5th century. In modern times, it's estimated that the Great Wall still covers nearly 4,000 miles. The two photos above show the great wall north of Beijing. On the right side of the wall in both photos was formerly Mongolia.

The great wall itself is pretty diverse, some parts were built centuries apart and are only a few feet wide while other parts are massive with several meter wide walls and huge towers. What impressed me most was the difficult and very steep terrain that the wall was built over. With the wall finished, it's quite a work out to hike several miles of it, and I can't imagine what the builders hauling stones had to go through back when they were cutting down trees laying the first bricks.
It would take tremendous effort from the Chinese government to completely restore the entire length of the Great Wall. Since restoration is nearly impossible many parts of the wall have been left to the elements. Over the centuries many parts of the wall became overrun with vegetation and wildlife, such as the gigantic disgusting spider on the right. This spider was so big I didn't even need a macro lens to photograph him, I'm still unsure of his species though but would like to find out.
	As one of the oldest cities in the country, Xi'an is also one of the four ancient capitals of China. Xi'an has grown to be a modern city with a population close to one million, but is still small by Chinese standards. On the left in the background is an icon of Xi'an, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was built in the 7th century and is being guarded by the statue of the famous Chinese monk Xuanzang in the foreground. The fountains above are on the other side of the Pagoda, with many western restaurants and shopping malls lined on either side.

	The ancient city of Xi'an is still subjected to western influence like most nations. On the left is a giant KFC building built in traditional Chinese architecture. The girls on the right were advertising some type of beer outside of a popular night club or bar.

Xi'an was actually my first city to visit in China, and I immediately felt myself taken back by the architecture, history, and the great people here. I never found out what the arch above was the entrance to, but I tried to enter and was turned back by a guard. On the right is a guy transporting quite a big load on his bike in downtown Xi'an. Most places where you'll need to communicate you'll find people who speak English, for example the airport, hotels, and business districts. Otherwise, all the taxi drivers and random people I encountered spoke didn't seem to understand a single word. When I first got to Xi'an, I thought I was smart enough to walk to my hostel, but I got lost on the way. I asked a local girl who spoke English for directions, and she actually walked with me for 20 minutes through the city to get me where I needed to go then continued on her way. Xi'an seemed to be one of the most friendly cities I've traveled to.

While Xi'an has a number of things to see and do, what stands out most about the city is the enormous city walls, actually considered the largest city walls in the world. The first walls began over 2,000 years ago and like most historic palaces and fortifications, it was expanded over time. Currently, the walls total just under 10 miles in length, with the base of the walls nearly 60 feet wide in some areas. There are several different gates for both people and cars to enter the inner city of Xi'an. The photo above shows a dragon sitting in front of the south gate, with people doing some kind of dance in front of the south gate as well. Dead center of the city is Xi'an's Bell Tower which was built in 1384. The only way to enter the Bell Tower in modern times is to go through one of the underground walkways that are used to cross the busy streets and enter the tower from below.
A good outdoor & indoor museum to visit in Xi'an is the Stele Forest. There are some 3,000 steles here and is the largest collection in the country. The surrounding photos are all from the Stele Forest, with several examples and artwork on the lower right.


These two photos are actually of the Muslim quarters in Xi'an. Somewhere here is China's first mosque, and though I swear I made several attempts to find it somehow I missed it. I suppose that's what I get for leaving my map in my room! As you can see though, the Muslim quarters doesn't look very different from the rest of Xi'an on first glance, but by walking around you'll see several Chinese wearing head scarfs.

Before I came to China I was in some need of shopping, but I figured what better place to do it than the source! Above is one of many clothing markets in Xi'an. I actually did buy some clothes as well as replaced my day pack and my main traveling pack for a pretty reasonable price. I found the shirt on the right interesting, a famous drawing of Che Guevara replaced with President Obama. I asked a local what the Chinese meant below and was told it stays for, "For the comfort of the people".

I've been through plenty of meat markets in other countries, but I gotta say by the time I passed through the gauntlet of skulls, bones, slabs of meat on the floor and flies I nearly became a vegetarian. I suppose if the meat had been cooked it wouldn't have been so bad, but the different smells of various types of raw flesh and the grotesque scenes like the cart of spinal cords above didn't appeal to me very much.

If you prefer to shop or eat in a normal restaurant and not in the markets, Xi'an has plenty of modern stores and shopping malls. I passed by the mall on the left, and was told it was the nicest the city has to offer. On the right is a busy Nokia store packed mostly with young people.

About 40 kilometers outside of Xi'an is the Terracotta museum. This is one of China's biggest attractions, and when you see all the people that come to visit and the effort that was put into this place, you almost feel like you're more in an amusement park than a museum.

The Terracotta army was discovered not so long ago in 1974 by local farmers. The large pits you see on the left were actually covering thousands of life size stone soldiers. The long phalanx of warriors you see on the right are just some that have been uncovered so far. It's estimated that there are about 8,000 more soldiers, not to mention stone chariots and horses, most which still remain buried.

These warriors are estimated to be around 2,000 years old, and were created for the First Emperor of Qin. The motives of creating an entire stone army were similar to the Egyptians, they believed their leader would later need these in afterlife. Below is an example of stone armor on the left, and a full chariot along with a driver and four horses on the lower right.


One of the most scenic areas I have ever visited is the Huashuan National Park located a few hours away from the city of Xi'an. Tall mountains with small trees and shrubs sprouting from the cliffs and occasional waterfalls earned this place a high priority of places to visit in China. Above is one of the first peaks I encountered, and on the right is one of the waterfalls cascading into a small pool below.
There are two options to reach the higher elevations of Mt. Hua, one is the cable car which is probably used by 99 percent of all visitors to the park. The second is the soldiers trail, which naturally I chose since I figured I could use a good work out and I hoped I'd have time to stop and reflect on some amazing views. The soldiers trail is essentially the steepest set of stairs that I have ever been on, and will take several hours to ascend at a moderate pace. When I first began on the soldier's trail, there were some people ahead of me but within 20 minutes I either passed them or they had decided to turn around and head back down. Some of these stairs are so steep that a ladder would be a more accurate description. At one point, I came around a corner and I was pretty confident I had reached the top, only to the view on the upper right. The cable cars continued their ascent nearly out of view and I found that at best I was probably only halfway!

Eventually I did reach the cable station, and after all my efforts I found myself at what most people would consider to be the true entrance of the park. There were plenty of steep stairs from here on out, but fortunately they were nothing like what I had already done and there were plenty of flat sections. This high up, I came across dozens of prayer sites like on the upper left. Banners tied to railings with locks. I was also surprised to see the pair of cats this high up on the mountain. I imagine they must be pets to one of the vendors selling items along the trails.
The weather today wasn't in my favor, and most of the mountain was covered in mist with an overcast sky above. The photo on the left shows the upper areas of the mountain, and was taken from the Blue Dragon Ridge. There are several restaurants, souvenir shops, and even a hotel in the immediate area. The photo on the right shows some of the sheer cliffs that dramatically drop off over a thousand feet. Unfortunately, because of the weather, it was difficult for me to tell whether distant objects were mist covered peaks or simply large clouds.

Once beyond the cable cars, there is no way to move around other than your own two feet. This means all the supplies higher up on the mountain must be carried by people, like the guy on the left with the huge traditional basket tied to his back. On the descent, I did opt to take the cable car down, and even though I don't have a few of heights I found it pretty intimidating to stare straight down the mountain.

North of Xi'an is the Zhouzhi wildlife rehabilitation center, where local animals are taken in. Above on the left is the golden takin a popular animal in China but it is not endangered. On the right is a sleeping red panda bear, which looks like a cross between a bear and a squirrel.

Two small primates in the refuge are the monkey on the left and the sloth on the right. The monkey on the left looks deep in thought, but actually right after I took the picture some Chinese tourists approached it and the monkey started screaming and violently thrashing out.
The main goal of this wildlife rehabilitation center is to support Panda bears. Even if you include zoos in foreign countries, the total panda bear population in the world is only 1,600, making them one of the most rare and endangered animals in the world. The panda bears here are all wild animals that were rescued because they were either found to be injured or some type of disease where they would likely die if not helped. There are over a dozen pandas here in the reserve, and that low number is enough to actually make this place the second largest Panda bear refugee in the world.

My last photos of China might not be pleasant for all, but these are some interesting bugs I came across. Since the larger animals before were part of a wildlife rehab center I can't really consider them natural wildlife shots, so these nasties are all I have to work with. I would definitely love to explore the mountains and do an overnight trip in a bamboo forest or somewhere in the tropical areas of China. The centipede on the left resembled a house centipede which I have seen in the states before, the shell on the right is all thats left of some type of cicada like bug.
	When I first saw these huge colorful spiders I thought they were the same species that I saw in Japan, but after comparing my own pictures I see they are definitely not the same but looked likely to be related.

	And two last photos show a caterpillar on the left, and a huge species of a fly on the right that I've never seen before. Since I've visited a relatively small area of China compared to the entire country, I have a much left to explore here. When I return, I plan to fly into Shanghai on the next trip and from there explore parts of the south. If I ever go to Nepal to try to climb Mt. Everest, then I could try to cross into Tibet from Nepal after the expedition.

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