Tag: history

Ramblings

China: Part 2

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Read Part 1 here.

Luoyang. From Xian, we went on a day trip to Luoyang, one of China’s ancient capitals. The main attraction is the Longmen Grottoes, 龍門石窟, a set of Buddhist statues carved into the cliffs, many of which were completed during the Tang Dynasty. The site was about a 1.5 hour train ride from Xian.

Longmen Grottoes are absolutely worth a day trip. Each of the small caves you see in the photo below contains intricately carved Buddha statues…so incredible! A light dusting of snow that day blanketed the mountains, making the place even more beautiful.

The main attraction at Longmen Grottoes is the Fengxian Temple, featuring a 57′ tall Buddha surrounded by smaller guardians and disciples on both sides. I remember climbing the long staircase with my head down, completely unprepared for the moment I looked up and found myself face to face with this amazing sight. The boys of course, were more amused by the snow. 😏

Our day trip to Luoyang was perfect, other than the fact our train back to Xian was delayed by over 2 hours because of the snow. 😣

Huangshan. Even though I’m mostly a city girl, I like to incorporate some nature experiences on our trips. I originally wanted to go to Zhangjiajie National Park, but was afraid winter wouldn’t be a good time to go and it’s a bit out of the way. So, we decided to go to Huangshan National Park, though that wasn’t exactly easy to get to either. The high speed rail took 7 hours to get from Xian to Huangshan!

We stayed at Tangkou, a town at the base of Huangshan, for 2 nights. Friday morning, we took a shuttle bus from the town which took us to the cable car up the mountain. This was our first glimpse of what awaited us at Huangshan. Swarms of people ran around the steel barricades, racing to catch the buses – it honestly felt like Disneyland! We stood there stunned for a moment…then did what everyone else was doing and joined the flow. Do as the Romans do, right?

Huangshan is often known as the most beautiful mountain in China, and had inspired many of the famous ancient landscape paintings. We didn’t see the famous “sea of clouds” grazing the tops of the mountains as it was a clear day, but they were still extremely beautiful. The trails were all paved and fairly easy so hiking in Huangshan is suitable for anyone of decent fitness.

But oh, the crowds. If the chaos at the bus station was already overwhelming, stepping inside the park was like being swept into a human river. Baba and I had experienced Yosemite at its busiest, but even that felt tame compared to this. We were bumping into people at every viewpoint and on every trail. There were lines of people waiting to get up to a viewpoint or to take a picture. It was hard to get a picture without someone in the way, and I was disappointed I couldn’t take as many photos as I’d hoped. The constant jostling really took away from the quiet, peaceful experience of being in nature.

Shanghai. We were honestly happy to leave Huangshan and head to Shanghai. We took the high speed rail for 2.5 hours, and stayed in Shanghai for 4 nights.

In terms of attractions and famous landmarks, Shanghai doesn’t compare to other cities in China. However, I also liked Shanghai the most. I loved its stylish, modern vibes, great food, and controlled chaos. Shanghai is a mega city with 30 million residents but it never felt like it. We hit up all the tourist spots: the Bund, Yu Garden, and Nanjing Road.

We also visited Shanghai’s newly opened Legoland, since our last attempt in Japan was a failure. 😅 It’s currently the biggest Legoland in the world, but it felt manageable and none of the lines were ever too long (though we also went on a rainy weekday). I’m glad we brought the kids to Legoland at least once, because I think C might outgrow it in about a year. The park seems most appropriate for younger kids.

My friends from business school live in Shanghai, so we took this opportunity to meet up! Traveling to a foreign place is so much more fun when you have local friends taking you around. I originally wanted to do a day trip to Suzhou, but my friends offered to drive us to Wuzhen, a small water town about 1.5 hours outside of Shanghai.

Wuzhen was a lovely little town. It’s like the Venice of the east, with waterfront houses and stone bridges built over quiet canals. We all took a ride in one of the old wooden boats. My friends also brought along their 2 year old daughter, whom my boys absolutely adored. 💓 Wuzhen, though well developed for tourism, still felt wonderfully quiet and unhurried. I’m so grateful our friends introduced us to this hidden gem! It’s the kind of place we probably wouldn’t have discovered on our own.

This pretty much wraps up our 3 week trip in China. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing trip – we were challenged, overwhelmed but also amazed. Would we return? Absolutely! For all its imperfections, China has too many iconic destinations, too much good food, and far too much depth of culture for us not to keep exploring.

Tips for visiting China:

  • China has their own set of apps for everyday activities. It’s recommended to download and set up these apps before entering China.
    • WeChat: Probably the most important app to download. It’s used for payment, messaging, and has a built-in Didi app, which is used for ride hailing.
    • Alipay: Another payment app. It’s good to have both WeChat and Alipay in case one doesn’t work (which happened to us more than once). You can link your credit card in both WeChat and Alipay.
    • Didi: A ride hailing app like Uber, but if you already have WeChat, there’s no need to download the separate Didi app.
    • Amap: Similar to Google maps, but not as accurate. We got lost many times using this app. Baidu is another navigation app, but it’s entirely in Chinese.
    • Dianping: Chinese people use this app to find and book restaurants. I downloaded it, but found it confusing to use. Instead, we mainly looked on social media for restaurant recommendations.
  • The language barrier is real. Almost no English is spoken in China. Even staff at the hotels we stayed at did not speak English, nor did the staff at popular tourist attractions. Luckily, since we’ve been living in Taiwan for awhile, we could get by with our mediocre Chinese. But I can see it being really frustrating for other travelers. So if your Chinese is not up to par, use a translator app!
  • Bring your passports with you everywhere. Not only does it serve as your ID, your passport is also your ticket to many attractions. For instance, when you book tickets for Forbidden City, it’ll link your ticket to your passport number. When you enter the site, they’ll only need to scan your passport. There are no separate tickets.
  • Some tickets (such as Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace) were difficult to book as they require downloading a “mini-app” in WeChat, then inputting a Chinese phone number, which we didn’t have. I ended up booking some tickets through Klook or GetYourGuide and paid a little extra to have someone else book for us.
  • Bring your own toilet paper when going out! Squat toilets are still the norm. You’ll find some Western toilets in modern shopping areas and hotels, but majority of toilets are squat style. Thankfully, most of them are clean, but toilet paper is usually not provided.
  • Be prepared for crowds and chaos. I used to think Taipei, a city with 2.5 million people, was huge. But crowds take on a whole new meaning in China. 😆 You will likely get nudged, pushed or someone may cut you in line. I would get annoyed, but later understood that it’s nothing personal – it’s just part of having to live with 1.4 billion other people.

Ramblings

China: Part 1

hongsabroad1 Comment

China. Where do I even begin? It’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit with the boys (especially given our proximity to it), but it’s a strange dichotomy. On one hand, the sights, landscapes and history are amazing. There’s no place in the world quite like it. But on the other, the culture, crowds and massiveness of the country can be shocking.

Beijing. Our first stop was Beijing, where we stayed for 6 nights. We knew it was going to be cold in January, but you can’t get a sense of how cold until you feel it. And boy, it was brutal. Temperatures were in high 20s to low 30s, plus wind chill. Coming from Taiwan, we didn’t have a lot of cold-weather clothing so we tried to layer up, but I still felt freezing all the time. It’s no fun putting on 10 layers every time we had to go out either.

We visited all the major sites in the Beijing area: Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and of course the Great Wall. I won’t go into too many details of each place or else this post will never end, but here are some highlights.

Summer Palace: A summer garden retreat built for Empress Cixi and the royal family, it is unsurprisingly vast and beautiful. But it was so, so cold and windy we didn’t spend too much time here.

Temple of Heaven: The circular architecture of the temple is stunning. It’s massive, so it’s even more impressive in person. The main temple was very crowded, which as I realized, would be a recurring theme throughout our time in China. 😬

Tiananmen Square: We had watched an intriguing documentary about Tiananmen Square before coming to China, and to be honest, if it weren’t for giving the boys a glimpse into its history, we would have skipped it. For one thing, the security to enter was intense. Our passports were checked three times, and we had to wait in a security line (in the cold!) for 45 minutes. Word of advice: if you visit Tiananmen Square, do NOT bring bags, backpacks or anything! There was virtually no line for visitors without bags.

Another reason why we would’ve skipped Tiananmen Square had it not been for the boys? It’s literally just a square. 😅There was nothing interesting to see there, other than knowing the history. Also, the air quality that day was so horrendously bad we couldn’t wait to leave.

Forbidden City: Visiting the Forbidden City is a must though, and luckily it’s across from Tiananmen Square. (When I say across, I mean we still had to walk 30-40 minutes because Beijing is just humungous.) I’ve watched a lot of Chinese historical dramas that take place here, so I’m always fascinated by the Forbidden City’s legacy and mystery.

The palace was another site that felt incredibly crowded. While walking around felt fine, any relatively famous sites such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony 太和殿 or Hall of Mental Cultivation 養心殿 would be packed. To take a photo, you’d either have to wait for a spot to open up and try to squeeze in, or hold your camera above your head and hope for the best.

Great Wall. This was probably the highlight of our Beijing visit, if not our entire China trip. The last time Baba and I visited the Great Wall, we felt rushed and the wall was jam-packed with tourists. This time, we hired a private driver to take us to Jinshanling 金山嶺, a more remote part of the wall about 2.5 hours outside of Beijing.

It was so, so worth it. We hiked about 8 miles, and had the wall mostly to ourselves! We also explored an original section of the wall, which was very cool to see as the majority of the wall that is open to tourists have been restored. Every chance I got, I would remind myself to stop and admire the magnificence of this man-made wonder. And every time, I was wowed.

Other notable experiences: We also visited Universal Studios in Beijing, which opened in 2021. We decided to go only because the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was there, and O in particular is a big fan of HP. It’s a nice park – not too big but still had many fun attractions. The highlight was Baba winning a dead hang contest at Kung Fu Panda Land, and our prize was a ginormous monkey that we had to lug around China. 😆

Another unique experience was biking on a frozen lake! Every winter, Houhai 後海 lake freezes over and people can bike or sled across it. We discovered new levels of faith while biking on this ice 😅.

When in Beijing, you have to eat Peking duck. We went to probably the most famous Peking duck restaurant called Siji Minfu 四季民福. I normally don’t eat a lot of duck, but this place was just heavenly. Thin, crispy skin wrapped over tender, juicy meat – it’s no wonder this place is so popular! Luckily, our hotel was literally right next to the restaurant and the concierge could help us get a queue number while we did other things. Otherwise, the wait could be 2-3 hours long!

Because it was so cold, we often ate a lot of hot pot (not complaining, because I’m hot pot’s #1 fan). Beijing’s famous for their chimney copper pot filled with mild broth. Always hit the spot on a cold day.

Last but not least, we fell in love with Beijing style yogurt! There were many shops selling these, but the most popular variation is 奶皮子酸奶, or milk skin yogurt. It’s creamy, rich and smooth with just the right amount of sweetness. We often ate these for breakfast.

While Beijing is a must-visit on any China itinerary, admittedly it is not one of my favorite cities. It is too vast and sprawling, which made it feel impersonal. I also don’t know if it was because of the frigid weather, but Beijing looked bleak in a lot of areas, possibly due to the large number of grey brick walls surrounding old houses.

Xian. After Beijing, we took a high speed train to Xian and stayed there for 4 nights. I am incredibly impressed with China’s rail network. Within a decade, the country built an extensive rail system to support 1.4 billion people. The trains are clean, on time and fast too. We traveled about 683 miles from Beijing to Xian in 4.5 hours! (For reference, that’s almost the same distance between SF to LA.) Catering to massive numbers of travelers, the train stations were unsurprisingly crowded and chaotic. Some even looked like airports!

We came to Xian to see none other than the Terracotta Army. We booked a half day tour and while it was convenient, we probably could’ve visited on our own. A lot of the information the guide told us we already learned from watching a documentary and, the tour arrived at the museum around 10am, which is when all the other tours arrive. Needless to say, it was super crowded. Still, the history, art and scale of this place is mind-blowing. I still cannot comprehend how this was all made by hand over 2,000 years ago.

We also tried a VR experience that offered a glimpse of what Qin Shi Huang’s tomb might look like. His burial chamber has never been excavated, so everything we saw was just based on historical documents. It’s unlikely we’ll see the tomb opened in our lifetime, but if the army guarding him is any indication, I can only imagine how extraordinary his final resting place must be.

What surprised us most about Xian was the food! We had never heard about Xian food outside of China before, but it is DELICIOUS. From left to right:

  • 肉夾饃, or Chinese hamburger – It doesn’t look like much but the meat was so flavorful and juicy stuffed inside a crispy flatbread.
  • Biang biang noodles – The noodles were wide and soft, mixed in with a symphony of flavors – salty, spicy, and sour. We loved it so much we ate this dish twice and will be dreaming about it forever.
  • 涼皮, or cold noodles – This was so good! A cold noodle dish that’s spicy and vinegary.
  • Skewered meats – Super popular in Xian, these are influenced by the city’s large Muslim population. The meats are often grilled with cumin, chili and Sichuan peppercorn.

We really enjoyed Xian. Our hotel was right inside the Muslim Quarter, so delicious food and lively streets were literally steps away. That same energy seemed to ripple through the entire city – everywhere we went, the streets were filled with fascinating sights and tempting foods. ☺️

Ok this post has gotten long enough! I’ll end it here and save Luoyang, Huangshan, and Shanghai for part 2.

Ramblings

Tainan: A Trip of Gluttony

hongsabroad1 Comment

(Long overdue post! We went to Tainan back in October 2023 but just now decided to blog about it. 😅)

Tainan is Taiwan’s old capital, and one of Taiwanese people’s favorite vacation spots due to its delicious traditional food and historic architecture. We decided to travel there during Taiwan’s Double Ten Holiday 雙十節, when the boys had a 4 day weekend.

We took Taiwan’s high-speed rail which was super convenient, clean and efficient. After booking our tickets online, we printed them at 7-11. On the day of departure, we took the MRT to Taipei Main Station, which is connected to the high-speed rail. Within 2 hours, we arrived in Tainan!

We stayed in the West Central District of Tainan in a quaint Airbnb located on top of a café. We literally had to walk through the café, go up the stairs to the attic to get to our Airbnb! It was an unusual place to stay but the location was great. A lot of people warned us that we’d need to rent a car to get around, but we never felt the need to because our Airbnb was so central.

Tainan is famous for traditional Taiwanese food, so let’s first talk about the food! As soon as we arrived in Tainan, we hit up several restaurants.

(From left to right, top to bottom)
Danzai Noodles 擔仔麵: This is a popular snack in Tainan that’s made with wheat noodles in shrimp broth, garlic and topped with marinated pork. The portion is tiny, so it’s more a snack than a meal. It was delicious and we gobbled both portions up!

Fish Soup and Fried Pork Over Rice: After eating 擔仔麵, we came across this simple restaurant owned by a sweet old lady. We ordered a fish soup and fried pork over rice. Both were so simple, yet packed with flavor. It was so good that we ordered a second plate of the fried pork over rice!

Grass Jelly with Taro and Sweet Potato Balls: Baba and the boys love this dessert. Personally, I’m not a big fan of the glutinous texture and mild taste but it’s very popular across Taiwan.

Peanut Shaved Ice 花生刨冰: We noticed a shop selling different kinds of 刨冰, but their most famous was peanut! We grabbed a cup and it was the perfect not-too-sweet and refreshing dessert on a hot night.

The next morning, we had a traditional Tainan breakfast of milkfish congee and braised pork rice 滷肉飯. I’m a huge congee lover, and was really looking forward to eating my favorite comfort food here. But the milkfish was thick and dry, and the rice was not as creamy as I’d like. I still prefer Cantonese style congee.

Later on, we took a long walk to get in line at Wen Zhang 文章牛肉湯, a famous restaurant known for a Tainan staple: beef soup 牛肉湯! We waited in line for 30-40 minutes in the heat, but it was worth it. The soup is very simple – literally beef broth with thin slices of beef – but it’s amazingly flavorful, clean, and comforting, like something your mom or grandma made. Apparently many people in Tainan have this soup for breakfast!

Eel noodles is also a common dish you’ll find in Tainan. We went to a popular hole-in-the-wall restaurant called A Jiang 阿江鱔魚意麵 to try this dish.

They basically have two options: one that’s dry-fried and one with sauce. We ordered both. Visually, these are not the prettiest looking dishes. 😂 But the smoky flavor and wok-hay were amazing. The eel was firm – even a bit crunchy – and marinated well. Personally, I preferred the dry-fried version.

Then, we hopped next door to get another bowl of beef noodle soup and ginger scallion fried beef. The beef soup was not as good as the one we had at Wen Zhang 文章, but it was still good! The ginger scallion beef was delicious – the beef was so tender and flavorful. People in Tainan really know how to cook beef!

The next morning, we had another typical breakfast item in Tainan – sticky rice dumplings 粽子! I thought this was pretty heavy to have for breakfast, but since breakfast is the most important meal for Tainan people, maybe they want something hearty?

We had lunch reservations at A Sha Restaurant 阿霞飯店, which is one of the most famous restaurants in Tainan serving traditional Taiwanese dishes. This is a restaurant that requires reservations and we were lucky we could snag one before we went back to Taipei.

The lunch at A Sha was our priciest meal (about $100 USD), but honestly, it was a little underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong – everything was decent but at that price, I was expecting something more memorable, especially since food is so cheap in Tainan.

Aside from food, Tainan is also famous for its historic buildings and architecture. Here are some places we visited:

Confucius Temple: You could pay extra to go inside other buildings at the temple, but we only walked around the public areas which was more than enough for us to explore!

Anping Old Street: The oldest street in Taiwan, filled with alleys of food stalls and shops. It was fun navigating through the alleyways spotting interesting things to try.

Anping Tree House: Probably my favorite site in Tainan. This was an old Japanese salt warehouse but after 100 years of transformation, the place is now covered in banyan roots. We loved the mystique of the tree house, and it reminded us of Angkor Wat in Cambodia!

Temples: There are beautiful temples big and small sprinkled across Tainan. It was fun to get a glimpse of old Tainan on every street we turned into.

Tainan makes a great weekend trip! It has a more chill, more laid-back vibe than Taipei, with friendly locals, interesting history, and delicious, cheap food.