Busy Saturday. I delivered meals for the homeless and then ran 10k back to my apartment before leaving on a weekend trip within the province near Qingyuan.
We arrived at the site for Drifting. It flows on an underground river through 5 mountains and villages. The caves are impressive and it was a lot of fun. I tried to take some videos with my go pro.
We then headed to an ancient village. Yao Minority is one of the oldest ethnic groups in China dating back 1000 years in the Song Dynasty. It is the best preserved ancient village in China. The village is built in the mountains and many steps go up and down and around.
The village is so peaceful and remote.
They are rebuilding many homes that have burned or fallen to ruin. The government has helped them preserve their way of life and to attract visitors by updating rooms for people to stay.
Water runs through the village from the mountains.
Villagers still live in small dwellings that hold just a bed.
A village official near the temple.
Temple.
Sticky rice wine is the local alcohol drink. It was pretty tasty.
Watching dinner being cooked was amazing. High heat cooking over a wok was quick and the smoky flavor and smells was wonderful.
Sunrise.
Breakfast.
Homemade tofu and soy milk with a hand turned mill and a large vat to squeeze the milk out.
Morning walk after breakfast.
Ancient sarcophagus ruinsYao king house which is the high ranking officials home.
We then headed to Jinzi Mountain.
The peak is 1417 meters above sea level, Jinzi Mountain is the 8th highest peak in the province and had a set of stairs that have an 80 degree incline. It is relatively remote and having less tourists made it a great time hiking.
We saw this beauty near the ladder stairs. Do you see the snake? At the top is this Buddha. Legend has that gold and silver were hidden here by the Empress dowager and saying the right phrase opens it. One person left oreos in his left hand as a tithe. The beginning of the love ladders. It was a pretty steep climb. This is the love ladder section showing how steep the climb actually is. Zoomed in on the steepest sections .
It was a great and tiring weekend. I am always excited about spending time in a village and being in nature and less crowded places!
At night we visited the south part of the wall where much of the Nanjing Massacre events took place. We looked forward to seeing the other ancient city the next day. But disruptions…
Lotus seed. I had been eating them with the green skin which made it bitter. The seed itself is delicious especially without the skin. Egg tofu, a Japanese dishPickled fish, broccoli, and salted duck. The south gate of the Nanjing city wall. A performance about the history of the building of the wall and events through history. Traditional Ming dynasty costumes. From the top of the last section of gate. See the design in the image below. This was the first time this design had been used for fortifying the city gate. The top of this gate is massive with ramps for moving equipment up onto the wall.
We knew a typhoon was making landfall near Guangzhou. Jack’s flight to Guangzhou was cancelled by the time we awoke the next day but no indication that our train from Nanjing to Luoyang had a similar fate. We had seen in the news there was flooding in that province but was not sure if it was involved.
We also read the news that 9 covid cases had been identified in workers at the Nanjing Airport putting it at medium risk. We flew in there two days earlier. This will mean a virus test (as it is required if you were there after July 7). Our health code will most likely turn yellow as soon as we arrive to Guangzhou.
We headed to the train station thinking it was all okay but all trains and flights were cancelled going to Guangzhou and anywhere in Henan province. We booked a ticket to Shanghai by train as going east to that city gave us more options to travel out. We also booked a flight to Guangzhou but it was for late at night and was delayed as well. We did manage to find a nice hotel at the airport that charged 150 Rmb ($25) to stay there 4 hours. We stayed a total of 8.
I was bummed that we could not go to luoyang but if we would have been there we would not be able to get out of the flood zone. They received the same amount of rainfall they get in one year in just under a week of rain. It is terrible.
The one thing we did not want to do was to stay in Nanjing any longer. At the time of our flight, the number of cases became 17. A long day to get home.
The history of Nanjing was already somewhat covered in the last post (Nanjing). To set the stage for the Massacre by the Japanese:
The last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty held no power but was used as a puppet regime by the Japanese at the time of the Mukden incident. He signed resolutions dictated by the Japanese that created poverty conditions after the Massacre.
On September 18, 1931, an explosion destroyed a section of railway track near the city of Mukden. The Japanese, who owned the railway, blamed Chinese nationalists for the incident and used the opportunity to retaliate and invade Manchuria. However, others speculated that the bomb may have been planted by mid-level officers in the Japanese Army to provide a pretext for the subsequent military action. Within a few short months, the Japanese Army had overrun the region, having encountered next to no resistance from an untrained Chinese Army, and it went about consolidating its control on the resource-rich area. The Japanese declared the area to be the new autonomous state of Manchukuo, though the new nation was in fact under the control of the local Japanese Army.
By 1937, growing tensions with Japan were at a boiling point. Shanghai was captured and the Imperial Japanese Army invaded further inland and captured Nanjing in what is now known as the Nanjing Massacre (historically called the Nanking Massacre). The Nanjing government was evacuated to Chongqing and only left about 10% of the army to defend. Approximately 300,000 Nanking residents were killed, and large areas of the city were burned to the ground. This fact later would help the communist party to take control after the war and the capital was moved back to Beijing.
The Massacre is something we never learned about as a part of WWII. The Chinese army had surrendered at Nanjing and Japanese violated every article of War, capturing all those they believed to be soldiers and not only killing them but women and children as well. They created comfort hotels where women were raped repeatedly by Japanese soldiers. They also decapitated people and buried many alive. Two captains in the army made a bet as to who could bring more decapitated heads daily. It was quite brutal.
The museum was very solemn and powerful just like the holocaust museums I have visited. Many of the videos and the pictures were taken by expats who did not flee when the Japanese invaded. They had to hide the video evidence and smuggle video and photos out to be published by western media. Here is one such silent footage: https://youtu.be/xHPPwWfBxhM
The beginning of the museum had the pictures and names of all the survivors of the Massacre.
After some initial information about the start of the invasion and bombing there is a reconstructed bombed out house you walk through that was very powerful imaging.
Comparison of Japanese and Chinese forces. Though small in population, Japan had an extensive military complex.
The dark line is the city wall and the arrows were the movement of the Japanese to take control of all the city gates at once.
Leaders of the army ordered all that were captured to be disposed of.
The museum is built upon the mass grave that was dug to bury many who were massacred.
Decapitated heads were displayed jokingly.
Many who were captured were buried alive.
A monk being shot in the back of the head. Many who were not army were still shot because they could not provide whatever the Japanese soldiers demanded.
Japanese soldiers lining up at the comfort hotel where Chinese women were held and raped. Women were taken no matter age or condition.
These are the expats that stayed in Nanjing and used their businesses and universities to provide refuge to women and children. Many had to go to great lengths to keep them safe. They also snuggled evidence out to western media.
Refugees. Minnie Vautrin, an American who shielded refugees at the University.
This is the result of the war crimes tribunal that sentenced some officers to death for inhumane tactics.
I love the quote in this image. It is shown also in the image below. This is not just for this Massacre but for the holocaust and all the present day atrocities.
Iris Chang was an American writer who learned about the Massacre from her parents and also while in China researching her first book. She did in depth research and spoke to many people including survivors, the expats who were there, and even the Japanese.
Her delving deep into this history and speaking to survivors and family, confronting Japanese ambassadors who still do not apologize or make reparations led to her death by suicide at age 36.
Nanjing is one of China’s most important cities, and is known as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (the other three being Beijing, Xi’an and Luoyang) . Because of its location on the Yangtze River, Nanjing served as the capital of 10 Chinese dynasties and regimes totalling 1,800 years, including the Ming dynasty and the Republic of China.
It was politically and economically prominent in dynasties prior but between the 6th and 15th centuries, it served as the capital of the Southern Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties. During the Ming dynasty, Nanjing became the capital of the entire empire of China.
After, the capital was moved to Beijing. By the way, Bei means north and Nan means south. So Beijing is north capitol and Nanjing means south capitol.
The 20th century was a tumultuous time for Nanjing. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, known as the Father of Modern China, established the national seat of government in Nanjing, and China enjoyed wealth and cultural advancement. That was the end of the Qing Dynasty. Actually Sun Yat-sen led the nationalist party to over throw the other warlords in China to establish the new government. When Sun Yat-sen dies, Chiang Kai Shek took over the party.
Confucius temple and street food
After flight delays it was late when we arrived. We headed to the Confucius temple where there was street food. Some times it is the best way to see what local people eat.
Entrance to the food street. Crab soup pocket. . First you suck the soup pot of the pocket then you eat the dough and crab. Glutinous Rice with spicy seasoning. Glutinous Rice with slightly sweet black rice filling inside. Sweet here is not actually sweet as we know it in the US. Glutinous Rice with mango. It is like a sticky thick jelly ball that is actually sweet. Lots of people. Not my favorite place to go but it was nice to try food and people watch. Entrance to Confucius temple. Museum of the Chinese imperial examinations. This gave nobility to wise people by merit instead of by birth but were very difficult exams. . Lucky statue of a lion with goat legs. There were many rickshaws in this area.
The next morning we went to the city wall of Nanjing. It is the largest city wall in China and the world. Some sections are no longer intact and many gates had to be altered for modern roadways.
It is different than the Xian city wall we visited last summer. That wall is all intact and smoother on the top which showed for bicycle riding around the entire perimeter.
Xuanwu gate of the inner city wall. Inside this city wall would also be a wall to protect those in power. There is also an outer city wall. Jack and I. This park and lake is outside the city wall where we are. There is so another city wall beyond. This shot multiple arrows at one time. Jiefang gate. Many gates had ramps for horses and moving supplies. These bricks came from surrounding provinces around Nanjing as supplies for building were not local there. Names of donators are carved on them. Each resident was asked to donate for protection of the city.
From there we took the metro to the Nanjing Massacre museum.
I enjoyed looking at all of the signs on buildings. They are in Mongolian which is a bit similar to Arabic and also have mandarin as well. The building designs are pretty distinct and different from the rest of China.
I have seen these milk candy (they are not sweet and some of them are a bit chalky) in Guangzhou but they are everywhere here. They also have Mongolian milk tea powder made of camel milk, etc. It is actually quite tasty.
We rented a car to get around. We could only do that because Jack is Chinese. It was the easiest way to move from the volcano cluster, to the grassland, and then the desert. They are not close together but the longest trip was 4.5 hours. My friends were worried that there would not be anything for me to eat as there is a lot of meat eating there but there were quite a few tasty vegetable dishes. We made a joke that I grazed on the grassland! I did try the lamb which was amazing.
I have seen so many snacks here in China but going on road trips and stopping at rest stops has some different foods. This is a pig foot.
I’m always interested in critters I see when in nature. This bug was pretty cool.
I’m obsessed with the lions that are on each side of doorways. These are different obviously as it is more Mongolian than Han Chinese.
It was interesting to see the different housing in inner Mongolia. This is a very old dwelling we saw.
Each house has a wall around their yard. They keep their livestock there after they let them graze during the day. This is not similar to villages in the south of China.
The gardens here are just as beautiful as they are in the rest of China. These lotus flowers are beautiful.
Taken on a run the last day in Hohhot.
We stayed in a couple 5 star hotels in hohhot. It was interesting to note that in the south there will be English movies that play in english with Chinese subtitles but up here in the North they dub the voices in Chinese and there is no English subtitles.
We definitely drew attention to us as not many foreigners are up here nor visit. We were asked often to have our pictures taken with Chinese. Many were on vacation from places there are not foreigners. Running through Hohhot also drew many looks.
We still saw some people turn away or put on masks when we approached. We saw that behavior more in the south however. Otherwise, there was actually less mask wearing up in inner Mongolia (and also Chongqing) than other places. There is fake news going around that since scientists believe covid was around longer but not as deadly, that it was manufactured somewhere else and brought to China (read: the USA). That is something many Chinese find ridiculous as well, but human beings are the same everywhere.
At the volcano cluster a Chinese person asked Jack where I was from. After he replied, she asked if the pandemic was over. Of course not. But many don’t realize that some expats have been here the whole time so it is natural for them to think we just arrived on vacation.
It is frustrating when we check into a hotel that we have to show our passport, visa, AND stamp of arrival to China. Since there is a 2 to 4 week quarantine period if you are able to get back in the country, I’m not sure why that matters anymore. Some have said it is for tracking but they can always track our movements through passport records and online booking. This is definitely a sign of the times. The grassland and desert places didn’t even ask for our passport to check in. They were pretty chill and it was great to feel normal.
I am fortunate despite all of the headaches to be able to see parts of China many don’t go to. I saw much last summer and plan to see the rest this year as no telling how long I can stay here as it is difficult to leave and no guarantee you can come back.
I loved inner Mongolia for all the nature and the food but now excited to see the last two ancient capitols: Nanjing and Luoyang.
This temple in Hohhot is part of the Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhism Temple, and the Gelug Sect (Huang Jiao). It was founded in the early 15th century by the leader of the Tumut tribe of the Ming Dynasty (Alatan Khan) in the 7th year of Ming Wanli’s reign. They follow Gru, the law of goodness, emphasizing strict adherence to the commandments. The the monks wear yellow caps. The six great Buddhist temples of Gelugpa are only to be seen in Tibet. Because the temple is dedicated to a silver Buddha, it is also known as the “Silver Buddha Temple.”
Dazhao Temple is the earliest built Huangjia Temple in Hohhot. It is very large with temples and halls including Shanmen, Tianwang Hall, Bodhi Temple, Jiujian Building, Jingtang, Buddhist Temple, etc.
Walking on the way back to the hotel we saw what we thought was a temple and it was. It was a Muslim temple. We were stopped quickly on the entrance as women have to have their legs and shoulders covered. I still got a few pictures.
We drove from the grassland in inner Mongolia to the desert. It was the longest drive and at this point we are getting pretty tired of being on the road but everything is so far away.
Container rooms and yurt from drone photo. Drone image of me on a 2 km run through desert.
This area is part of the greening of China initiative. See the paragraph at the end of this post.
We stayed in a container room. It was not our best accommodation but it was nice to walk right out on to the desert when I wanted without driving there. In the early morning I went out to get a sunrise shot but many clouds were in the horizon.
We set out to walk around when it was so quite warm.
Sand sledding.
Sunset pictures were taken from a viewing platform a half hour drive away and overlooking a very expensive 5 star accommodation.
There is a large solar panel farm on the desert. They are also greening the desert areas that have been overgrazed for centuries. From Time article:
Kubuqi, for one, boasts China’s largest single-stage solar farm, boasting 650,000 fixed and sun-tracking panels, which together channel 1,000 megawatts of electricity into the national grid — about half the power-generating capacity of the Hoover Dam. A team of 47 households are employed to maintain the panels. “Everyday each household can clean more than 3,000 panels using high pressure water jets,” says chief engineer Tian Junting. “And the run-off water feeds the crops that grow underneath.”
Solar panel farm from the road.On our morning walk we saw a set up fur a desert themed wedding.
This is the nearest grassland to Hohhot and the earliest grassland to have been developed for tourists in Inner Mongolia. It is 1,000 square kilometers (400 square miles) and at an altitude of 1,700 meters (5,600 feet).
This plateau grassland has a chain of hills around it. In the Mongolian language, Xilamuren means “yellow water”. Unfortunately, tourism and changing weather patterns is changing the grasslands. There are other grasslands but they are farther away.
This was a memorable part of our trip. We enjoyed a traditional welcome ceremony where we were handed a blue scarf and given a cup of baiju.
We stayed in another yurt, though we know it is not traditional.
This is a traditional yurt.
We drank kumiss which is a fermented drink made from animal milk. This one was from camel milk. It was very delicious and smooth.
In Mongolia, there are the Three Games of Men: “Horse Racing”, “Wrestling” and “Archery”. We saw a show that gave the history of Mongolian people and demonstrated these three games. Mongolians are known for their horse riding capabilities and ability to shift sides and other tricks. They told the story of tribes and eventually being unified into one Mongol group.
The horses even played dead on command. This rider went off one side and went under the horse to go back up the other side. These are actual Mongolian ethnic people.
Aobao (敖包)
The aobao is the Mongolian stone piles or heaps for worship. Local people always sacrifice food goods and alcohol to the gods at the Aobao to pray for good weather, harvest and fortune.
At night we celebrated at a feast. We wore Mongolian dress and were served some really great food while being entertained.
The main dish was roast lamb. They had three lambs brought out and carved to be served. The winner of the wrestling competition.
We went horse riding to a herdsmen’s home through the grassland.
After a plan for Tibet fell through due to covid, I went to one of my other options of inner Mongolia.
The cat immediately sat on the area of inner Mongolia to distract me from going.
In Inner Mongolia, the names of several cities end with the word hot. In ancient times, hot referred to settlements of the nomadic peoples. With the process of urbanization, hot has come to mean city now. Hoh in Mongolian means blue.
We flew into Hohhot and rented a car after staying the night at the shangri-la. The hotel was beautiful. I went for a run in the nearby park.
Women exercising in the park. Mongolian milk tea which was pretty delicious.
We drove to the Ulanhada volcano cluster and stayed at a nearby yurt. We are in the grasslandswhich aredotted with herds of sheep and horses, and looked forward to living like a nomad with an overnight stay in a Mongolian yurt.
Container huts on the grasslands behind the yurts. Inside the yurt. That macrame hanging reminds me of the 70’s.
Volcano crater #3 is the one with stairs to go up. You can go into the crater. We walked the 0.6 km along the top of the rim and down one side you can see where companies came in to take the volcanic rock for building projects. Along that side people dressed in space man costumes to pretend they are from Mars.
#5 volcano crater had much loose rock and steep sides. It was a climb and a scramble getting down. There is a beautiful view all around.
We could see the #4 crater from the top. It has been dug up for building material and in not as good a condition.
Back at the yurt we dressed in Mongolian dress.
Dinner was amazing. Fresh greens from their garden, Mongolian pancake, yak cheese and tofu.
The first night we went on a river cruise along the Yangtze River which is one of the top 3 longest in the world. The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country
The second night we walked down to the river.
We weren’t sure what this building is but it is striking and when looking at the skyline it looks like a ship passing between buildings. You can see the red triangle on the right side that looks like a ship moving left.
Hongya cave is at the junction of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers and is a 10 story, underground shopping complex that contains a lot of memorabilia and raw jade rocks. Always wanting to avoid crowds we did not go there but instead walked across the bridge to take a picture of the cave from across the river. The facade looks much like what buildings in past would look like and beautiful when lit up.
Stairs go down to the river and the rails are lighted here. You can see it in the left and right in the picture. This is just to the right of the cave.
Chongqing has been beautiful with amazing food. There are a lot of people here. 33 million to be exact. It is a city the size of an actual province. That is a lot of people and this is peak tourist time as well. Much like Hong Kong with an amazing metro system (just like other cities in China actually). The city design is impressive and so clean. What I liked is its people do not smoke as much here as in the southern part of China.
As nice as these days were, I am looking forward to Inner Mongolia and the grasslands, desert, and an old volcano. And less people….
