Tianjin – Day 14 and 15

Tianjin is Hebei’s former capital and is known as the Shenghai of the North. It’s a very interesting modern city, which will take us 2 days to explore.

Day 1 – Boat tour along the Hei River

The Hei River runs through Tianjin, and I think that to start with a river cruise and seeing the city’s skyline is a great way of getting a feel of the city.

I’ve been checking around and from what I found, Hai River ferry tours start out from Tianjin Railway Station, the entire tour takes around 1 hour.

There are 3 wharfs where visitors can opt to purchase tickets and board the tour ferries, the Tianjin Railway wharf, Wenhua Street wharf and Dabei Temple wharf, everyday from 09:00 -21:00, and they start out on the hour every hour.

Visitors are able to see the different attractions lining the riverbank and can opt to go out on the docks to look and shop at the various specialty and souvenir shops. Visitors need not pay extra for return trips, they can catch return ferries just by showing the driver their ticket stubs.

After the boat ride, returning to Tianjin Railway Station (Point A), we’ll walk on Haihe East Rd and cross The Ligonglou Bridge. We’ll turn left on Jiefang Bei St and walk until we reach the Astor Hotel (Point B).

Jiefang Bei St has many of Tianjin’s colonial structures from the French and British era.

After reaching the Astor Hotel, take a right on to Tai’an Rd until you reach the big Nanjing Ave then, take another right, take a left on Yingkou Rd and an immediate right on Xining Rd towards the Xi Kai Cathedral (Point C).

The Xi Kai Cathedral is based on the Notre-Dame church in Marseille and it is open on Sundays.

Continue on Xining Rd and turn right on Guiyang Rd, left on Nanjing and right again into Shenyang Rd. Here you should start walking towards the Antique Market (Point D).

The Antique Market, open on the weekends, is supposed to be the perfect place to find all sorts of collectables.

From the market take a right on Shandong Rd to No. 77 where you’ll find The Goubuli Dumpling Restaurant.

Tianjin is known for their city’s dumplings, and I read that this is the place to get the best, so take your late lunch of the day here.

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Day 2 – Ancient Culture Street

Start your day by arranging train tickets back to Beijing for today or the next. The high speed train takes 30 min.

If you have time, take it easy today and check out the Ancient Culture Street.

In the north part of town, the Ancient Culture Street is a recreation of an old Chinese Street. At the end of it lies the Tianhou Temple for the Goddess of the sea, it’s suppose to have beautiful tiled walls.

If you still have some time before returning to Beijing, take the rest of the day and do some shopping, there should be quite a few malls in this commercial city.

Shijiazhuang – Day 11-13

Shijiazhuang is the capital of the Hebei region, but most of the places we would like to see here are outside the city.

Day 1 – Dafo Si in Zhengding

After settling in Shijiazhuang, take a taxi in the morning and go to Dafo Si, should be a 10 min drive to Zhengding.

This is the Great Buddha Temple, this should be a marvelous site of a big bronze statue of Guanyin. Also the city of Zhengding is supposed to be very charming. If there’s time, walk around and soak up the atmosphere before getting back to Shijiazhuang.

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Day 2 – Zhaozhou Bridge

30 min outside the city, next to the town of Zhaoxian.

This is supposed to be a brilliant piece of engineering.

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Day 3 – The Hanging Palace of Cangyan

This should be amazing, again, it is 30 min outside the city.

This place is in the Cangyan Mountains, suspended on a bridge over the void. Should be really great.

When getting back in town, you should check your options and buy a plane ticket to your next destination, Tianjin, your last stop on your way back to Beijing.

Ji’nan and Qufu – Day 6-10

We arrive at Ji’nan, south of the Yellow River and spend a day here before moving on.

Day 1 – Thousand Buddha Mountain

In the morning head to Thousand Buddha Mountain, which seems the most interesting attraction in the area.

You can choose climbing the steps or taking the cable car. Here you can walk around, take pics with the statues and view the city from above.

When getting back in town, we’ll arrange transportation to our next destination, Qufu. _________________________________________________________________________

Day 2 – Getting to Qufu

In order to continue our trip we need to buy a train ticket to Yanzhou, near Qufu. From there we’ll buy a bus ticket to Qufu.

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Day 3 – Qufu

Qufu is best known for being the birthplace of Confucius, the famous philosopher. We’ll spend here 2 days.

On our first day we’ll visit the Confucius Temple. Again this is a large complex, take the time to walk around and get to know Confucius’s Philosophy, which basically can be summed up by the phrase, "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself".

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Day 4 – Zoucheng and The Mencius Temple

For a more authentic experience we’ll take a trip outside the city to Zouchend and visit The Mencius Temple.  Mencius is another important philosopher, known for talking a lot about human nature, and saying "He who exerts his mind to the utmost, knows his nature", I’m not really sure what that means, but it sounds smart to me.

Should be a 30 min drive by Taxi.

This temple seems to be very quiet and peaceful as it is less popular than the other.

Spend the day walking around the complex. When getting back to Qufu, grab a lunch and make arrangements to get back to Ji’nan the next day.

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Day 5 – Back in Ji’nan

After arriving in Ji’nan, try to find a plane ticket to our next destination, Shijiazhuang in the Hebei region.

In the meantime, if there’s time, you should know that Ji’nan is also famous for it’s natural springs, so you should go and see the Black Tiger Spring.

Luoyang and The Longmen Caves - Day 4 and 5

Our next destination would be the farthest away from Beijing, and slowly we’ll return our root closer and closer back to our original destination, Beijing.

Luoyang is a city in the Henan province and is 15 min away from our main attraction in the region, The Longmen Caves.

We’ll spend here 2 full days.

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Day 1 - Longmen Caves

After settling in our hotel, start your first morning with a trip to the Longmen Caves, you can take a taxi, about 15 min from the city or maybe you can find a guided trip that will take you there.

I heard that there might be also guided toors when you get there but I’m not sure, also there are entrance fees.

This place will take a few hours to see, so you shouldn’t make extra plans for this day.

This place is kind of a Chinese Petra (you’ll understand if you’ve ever been to Jordan), where everything is carved in stone.

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Where to Eat in Luoyang ?

After getting back from the caves I found 2 recommended restaurants in the city, you can pick one today and the other, the next day, oddly they’re both on the same street:

Zhenbutong Fandian - No. 359 Zhongzhou Donglu

The most famous restaurant in Luoyang. Known for the traditional "Water Banquet". Has a total of 24 dishes with an overview of regional specialties (pancake with egg ravioli, Baozi) at unbeatable prices, stairs lead past pictures of the celebrities who have eaten there. Try the soup swallows' nests (Mudan Yancai), delicious, for 20 yuan.

Mudan Ting – No. 15 Zhongzhou Xilu

Located on the 2^nd floor of the three-star Louyang Peony Hotel. Have English menus and 20 courses of various soups.

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Day 2 – White Horse Temple (Baima Si)

This is China’s oldest Buddhist monastery, located 10 min east of town.

Take a taxi over there and walk around the complex.

When you’re back in town go eat at one of the restaurants recommended above, and check where you can buy a plane ticket to your next destination, Ji’nan, the capital of the Shandong region, our first stop on our way to Qufu.

Beijing - Day 1, 2 and 3

Depending on your time of arrival to Beijing, after you figured the way to your hotel/guest house and settled in, you should start your trip. If you arrived in the evening don’t start sightseeing, it’s better not to go asleep to early so you’ll adapt to your new environment and try exploring your surroundings, where can you eat, buy stuff, catch a cab/bus and change some money.  I always bother the reception agents in my hotel with these questions, they usually speak English, have to be nice to you and give you a free map.

Day 1 – The Forbidden City

Start point:   08:30 – arrive at Mao’s Mausoleum at Tian’an Men Square - see his casket raised from its refrigerated chamber.  It says everywhere to come early to beat the crowds. But it doesn’t say when (So try to ask at your hotel). This sounds kind of morbid but interesting.

B point:        Head north on Tian’an Men Square towards Chang’an Jie street, cross it and head to the building in front of you with Mao’s portrait on it – Tian’an Men. Climb and see views from the gallery.

C point:        Head again strait north towards the highlight of the day – The Forbidden City. From what I checked there’s entrance fees and guided tours. If that’s true I’d recommend checking out the guided tour only if it’s done by a live person and not some headphones.  Spend your day getting lost in this compound and taking lots of pics.

Lunch point:  You’ll probably eat a very late lunch or early dinner this day. From what I read there’s an excellent food court in the basement of the Oriental plaza mall. This sounds like a great way to end the first day, by eating and getting some shopping done at the same time.

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Day 2 – The Summer Palace

For our second day we’ll take a break from the center of the city and visit it’s green landscapes.

Beijing has more than a few parks, the one that seems really gorjess, is the Summer Palace. Best way to get there, I think, is by taxi, to the East Palace Gate (which is supposed to be the main entrance).

ETA by Taxi from center – 30 min (Point B).

This is a huge compound and will take you a few hours to explore, try to get here early, again 08:30 should be a smart choice.

Here’s from what I read, the best way to see and enjoy this park:

Start point: East palace gate -> walk along the Long corridor -> get to Longevity hill -> descend and continue towards the Marble boat -> cruise by boat to South lake island -> off the boat, cross the Seventeen arch bridge -> exit the park from same gate.

By the time you get back you probably worked up quite an appetite. I suggest exiting the park, catching a cab and going to Fragrant Hills Park (Xiang Shan). Why not see another amazing park that’s just 20 min away (Point C).

Before entering the east gate of the park, there should be a Sculpting in Time Café nearby, this is a famous café franchise in Beijing, it’s suppose to be really good. Get your lunch here and then enter the park, spend the rest of your day here until you had enough or it closes. Note that the park has admission fees witch not include fees to use the cable car.

Start point: Enter the east gate -> and go right to the Bright temple (Zhao Temple) -> near it you continue to the Glazed pagoda (Liuli) -> go north pass the bridge that runs through the Spectacles lakes -> get on the Cable car to the top of the hill -> walk down until arriving at the Fragrant hills hotel -> exit again through the east gate.

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Day 3 – Temple of Heaven

Yesterday we had quite a tiring day, as we basically tracked trough “Green Beijing”. So today we’ll try to take it easy.

We’ll start the morning (again early to avoid the crowds, say 08:30) walking around the Temple of Heaven. Best to enter the park through the East Gate (Point A).

This is supposed to be quite a big complex, but this time we’ll mainly focus on the main temple which is the Hall of Prayer. This place is from the Ming dynasty and known by being the place that the emperor would make sacrifices and pray at, also this is one of the most famous Chinese temples.

In the evening, around sunset go to Wanfujing street (Point B), to see and eat at the Night Market.

In-between, after leaving the temple and before going to the market take the day to explore the option of buying your first plane ticket out of Beijing (for the day after if possible). Try to find a flight to Louyang for your next destination.

China - Overview

Every other day I change my mind about what will be my next destination, at this point in time China is my new obsession (I can never explain why).

When it comes to China, after studding the subject, you’ll realize that it’s more of a continent than a country, so you need to treat it as such.

You really need to focus your attention on a region or a specific place you’d wanna start from.

Some people wanna just do the basics, hop to Beijing then to Hong Kong and then decide what fancy them more in the region and go from there. Of course it all depends on your budget, your interests and the time you have at your disposal.

I like to look at a map before I go anywhere, and check what would be the best way to… well… “attack” a destination.

Here’s a map of China:



Here’s the thing, Beijing and Hong Kong are very far apart, I rarely like to spread around too much, I like to concentrate on one region at a time.

From looking at a map of China ,there’s no way (unless you have like a few months at your disposal) to see everything.

I rather take it apart, and try to squeeze in as much as I can, one region at a time.

I’m gonna start with Beijing and the following regions: Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shandong & Henan.


As you can see from the map, these are the regions surrounding Beijing and they’ll be the easiest and the fastest to visit on a trip starting in Beijing.

My plan is to fly internationally, in and out of Beijing. So my trip will start and end in the same place.

So let's start the day planning :)

Introduction

For years now I've been obsessed with travel, I've loved everything about it (maybe that's the Sagittarius in me, who knows...).

I was always a great navigator even though I'm a girl and could find any place anywhere in the world by just using a map (I'm meen without GPS). So maps became my friends, and used to have quite a lot of them in my car.

I hated asking for directions to a new location "just give me the address" became my motto and that was followed by "...you'll see, I'll get there, don't worry". I used to love seeing people's faces when I got there in a flash.

My love for navigating only increased when I discovered my obsession with travel.

My parents are to blame for this when they decided to take me with them for my 12th birthday on my first trip abroad. They were using a different kind of map, "travel guides".

Guess what... I was in love!

How can you explain an obsession, well mine is only by seeing my library of travel books, mostly of places I haven't been to yet and still dying to go to.

Through the years I joined my parents every year on their annual trip till I was 18, that's when I first experienced this on my own, when me and a friend from high school planed our first trip to after high school.

Planning vacations by locations and maps became my thing and now I'm the one planning my parents’ trips.

The reason I'm starting a blog now is mainly selfish, I need a paperless forum to plan trips and keep feeding my obsession, and secondly people always ask for my help in this matter so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone :)

I hope I'll be able to do this, we'll see how it goes, basically what I'm gonna do is try to show different travel locations in the world and how I "attack" them, this is the time to say that I take no responsibility for any place I mention and any root or decision. 

This is how I'd plan a trip before I've been there, using maps and travel books. So take that in mind. Also I have no idea if anyone else is doing something similar on the web but it's worth a try... :)