10 Active Days in China

Just get off the couch and experience Cultural brilliance, natural beauty, and panda paradise!

China is a country in East Asia and is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.428 billion in 2017. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the 2nd largest country in the world by area. It is governed by the Communist Party of China and Xi Jinping, its President of the Peoples Republic of China.

Good info to know before you go:

Should you rent a car?

We did not rent a car. All the road signs are in Mandarin, and almost no one speaks english. Unless you speak Mandarin I would not suggest renting a car here.

Do you need a guide?

It depends. Again, literally, no one speaks english. It is VERY hard to navigate when all the signage is in Mandarin and you cannot ask for directions. My advice, get a guide. At least for day trips. We hired a travel service for the entire trip to make it easier for day to day navigation. I wish we would have hired a food-guide too! More explanation later...

10 MUST-DO adventures in China

As I mentioned, we hired a guide service, which was pre-arranged and planned based upon our suggestions for things we wanted to do and see.

Keep in mind, there are hoards and hoards of people here. The tourists are the least of your concerns because the country is so over crowded! Suck it up, buttercup and just accept the madness for a bit. At least that is what I had to tell my Pepper. And myself! Patience is a virtue....

Day 1:

We flew in to Beijing for no other reason than it was locationally desirable to a section of the Great Wall that we wanted to explore. The first thing you notice is the air. Instead of bright sunshine there is a dull grey haze that hangs over the city, blocking the view of the mountainous horizon. Air pollution is a major problem in China, and the government is trying to address the issue. Cars can only drive on certain assigned days of the week. For example, one may be assigned a permit to drive only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Additionally, the President is trying to enact sales of electric vehicle reach 12% per auto manufacturer by 2020. Clearly this is a major issue in a country of this size, particularly when this " fog" hangs over the city as a constant reminder.

Anyway, our first day we arrived mid afternoon and walked around the city. It is as clean as can be, super busy, and overwrought with mass-consumerism. People, bikes, and automobiles crowd the streets. Everything is bright and big and overdone. Which makes it kind of interesting- like an asian Las Vegas, of sorts.

We walked to an outdoor market called Wangfujing Snack Street to see what all the hype was about. This outdoor market sits in the Dongcheng District, near the busiest shopping street in the city. Aside from wandering around with 5000 of your closest friends, you experience sensory overload. There are foods stalls selling everything from deep-fried scorpions, meat kabobs, candied fruit and potato on a stick. (This was one of the cheaper food options available).

This market, in the city center, is only about a 15 minute walk from Tiananmen Square, which we tackled the following morning.

Day 2:

Be prepared for a long line to enter the square, unless you buy tickets to enter in advance. Our Guide escorted us to the front of the line with our pre-purchased pass and we we made our way through this historically significant site.

The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstrations calling for democracy, free speech and a free press in China. They were halted in a bloody crackdown, known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, by the Chinese government on June 4 and 5, 1989.

Afterward we made our way to the Forbidden City, once again skirting the lines of Chinese tourists by following our guide. The Forbidden City is a palace complex that served as the home of Emperors for ceremonial and political purposes for the Chinese government for almost 500 years. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 by UNESCO as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties"

It is a vast complex of palaces, shrines and gardens that will overwhelm even the most educated historian. It is challenging to take in 178 acres of tourist madness! We navigated the bustling complex and made our way to a more peaceful part of town, the Hutongs of Beijing.

In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighborhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. We rode a rickshaw through the oldest hutong in Beijing, the Shichahai and Bell Drum Towers area, stopped to tour one of the homes, then headed to a local bar along the waterway.

Day 3:

This was one of the highlights of our trip! We drove about 1.5 hours to Jinshanling Great Wall, which is one of the most beautiful and much lesser crowded Great Wall in Beijing.

Located at the junction of Luanping County of Hebei Province and Miyun County of Beijing City, Jinshanling Great Wall, one of the representative and well-preserved sections of Great Wall of China, initially constructed in 1368.

The Jinshanling Great Wall is at 700 meters above the sea-level, winding around 10.5 km rising along gentle slopes in a mountainous area of China. It should take 4-5 hours to hike. It is moderately difficult with hilly terrain with stairs. But, get this....there are almost NO tourists! The parking lot was completely empty, tour bus free, and quiet. We saw only 5-10 other people on the Wall. It was so peaceful!

Day 4:

Our hiking adventure continued in the Wulingyuan Area on the Zhangjajie Mountain. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. Located at the northwest of Hunan Province in Central China, the Zhangjiajie is famous for the 3 parks best known for towering pseudo-karst pinnacles of sandstone. The mountains here have gradually eroded to form a spectacular landscape of craggy peaks and huge rock columns rising out of the luxuriant subtropical forest. There are waterfalls, limestone caves (including Asia’s largest chamber)fresh clear streams, and rivers for rafting! This "miniature fairyland". is the inspiration for the scenes in the movie Avatar.

My Pepper and I immediately noticed a difference in the hiking here vs. hiking on the Great Wall, or really anywhere else in the world we have hiked!

First of all, the mountain appears as if it is a ride at Disneyland. There is an elaborate park entrance taking tickets. Tour buses and people are literally EVERYWHERE. This may not sound particularly strange, but, then we noticed that almost everyone, kids, older people, and especially millenial girls, were DRESSED UP! I mean, full makeup, tulle skirts and HIGH HEELS! For hiking! I am not kidding. These girls hobbled up and down well manicured stairs in 3" heels to the viewing points without even skipping a beat! Which brings up another huge difference in the environment we were "hiking" in.

The National Park was like...Disneyland. The paved walkways were well- manicured, with man-made faux wood handrails. Lighting was particularly placed. Signage and cameras were everywhere. Viewing points were strategic. In other words, the mountains were manicured to accommodate mass movement of people at the expense of the natural habitat from where it came. While the Chinese government did a beautiful job in making a pre-fab, touristy hiking experience to manage large numbers of visitors- it destroyed the raw, natural beauty of the land.

Another interesting attraction here is the Bailong elevator, the worlds tallest outdoor lift. It is 1070 feet tall of steel and glass on the side of a quartz sandstone cliff. The ascent to the top takes a mere1 minute and 32 seconds. Two bus routes stop here once inside the park for about $10 one way.

Amidst the click-clack of the high heels and the loud-speaker microphone of the Chinese tour guides, Kevin and I did manage to find some peace for a brief moment on a seldom travelled lookout point. We stopped for a snack here until the serenity was spoiled by the flash if a camera from a Chinese tourist.

You could really "hike"all day here. But be prepared for some aggravation with all the tourists.
Day 5:

Mt. Tianmen Area and Baofeng Lake.

Baofeng Lake is a serene lake surrounded by mountains about 12.5 miles southeast of Zhangjajie National Park. It is super relaxing compared to the massive amount of tourists you have to deal with at the park. Check out the 30 minute boat ride on the Baofeng Lake.(Pictured below) As the boat whisks past the mountains, notice the sound of the sweet folk songs from the Tujia people. Its pretty magical!

In the afternoon, we drove to the center of Zhangjiajie in China’s Hunan province, to the Tianmen Mountain Cableway. A 30 minute cable car ride climbs almost 24,500 feet to the top of Tianmen Mountain. At the end..the “Gateway to Heaven.”

At about 5,000 feet above sea level, Tianmen Cave is the highest naturally formed arch in the world — which has given the landmark its famous moniker. The views are incredible!

Once you get up to the top, you walk around perfectly manicured, man-made walkways that hug the side of the mountain. They are pretty narrow and very crowded! We had to follow the Cliff Hanging Walkway to check out the glass walkway portion that I read about. I was expecting the glass to extend around the whole mountain...but I was so wrong and SO disappointed! The glass portion is only about 20-30 feet long, and it is all scratched up. I guess you have to check the box and see it, but it is underwhelming. There are two other glass walkways, but we did not bother with them.

Make sure you walk down the 999 steps (that were used as the backdrop in a Range Rover commercial) to the never-ending 7 sets of escalators to make it to the parking lot for the crazy ride back down. (Nine is a lucky number in Chinese numerology, representing good fortune and eternity.)

As I mentioned earlier, this mountain is also like a pre-fab Disneyland. Do not expect a raw, natural environment. These tourist attractions are meant to easily move thousands of tourists every day. It is not really meant for the appreciation of nature. At least that is not what we got out of it.

We ended our trip here by taking a pretty scary bus ride down China's mist famous highway, Tongtian. With 99 curves, it is considered to be one of China’s most dangerous roads. The best view of it is from the Tianmen Shan Cable Car.

For those visiting Tianmen Cave, buses make the winding, somewhat nauseating drive on this road. It is not for the faint of heart, but thrilling nonetheless! My Pepper and I had to avert our gave from the side of the bus, and hold on for dear life a few times, but it was a thrill!

A few notes:

Watch the weather forecast. It is NOT worth it to visit on a rainy, cloudy day. It is all about the views!

The Cable car is open 8am to 5 pm. I would get their early to avoid standing in a queue with 500 of your closest Chinese friends.

This is a whole day experience, so plan your time well! Suggested itinerary:

Ride the cable car to Tianmen Mountain

Walk the manicured trails and and glass skywalk

Take the escalators from Tianmen Cave

From Tianmen Cave, take the bus down the 99 curves of Tongtian Highway

Walk down the 999 steps! Its not that far....

Incidentally, this is once again NOT real hiking. Feel free to wear your converse gym shoes and leave your light hikers at the hotel. You will AGAIN notice how dressed up the Chinese tourists are. It is so strange! Apparently, this is considered a "night out" for them! (I am not kidding when I say that. Our tour guide confirmed it!)

Day 6:

We flew to the Shaanxi Province to its capital, Xi'an. With a population of 12 million, Xi'an is one of the largest city in Northwest China. It has a cool, old city wall where you can rent a bike and ride on the top of it! Unfortunately, we did not have enough time here in the city to really explore it. It would have been great to arrive here earlier and catch a little Chinese big city culture here. But, we were really here so we could head over to the Terra cotta Warriors the next day.
Day 7:

We drove about an hour to get to the famous Terracotta Warriors. This is the most significant archeological excavation of the 20th century and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Terra cotta Army is no doubt a must-see if you are in the Shaanxi Province. They are considered an 8th Wonder of the World!

This impressive collection is life-sized terra cotta sculptures of warriors and horses in battle formations, reproducing the mega imperial guard troops of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210BC), the first emperor of the first unified dynasty of Imperial China.

I have no explanation why it was not very crowded on the day we went, but it was actually a tolerable, manageable experience! And let me tell you, when you can actually SEE these impressive antiquities it makes for a much more enjoyable day! Again, just get there EARLY to get the best experience. You can sleep when your dead. Set the alarm, just get out of BED and get there!
Hours:

March 16th - November 15th: 8:30-17:00;

November 16th - March 15th: 8:30-16:30.

Fees: 120Y

Day 8:

We went to Mt. Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System. Honestly, I could have skipped this day and headed straight to Day 9....

Day 9:

This was the highlight of the trip for me! We volunteered in Dujiangyan Panda Base. The base is located in Shiqiao (Stone Bridge) Village of Qingchengshan Town. The Dujiangyan Panda Base is huge- about 126 acres of a natural panda environment with vast bamboo forest coverage and lovely scenic surroundings. The Dujiangyan base includes a panda hospital, a medical lab, 10 sets of monitoring enclosures, and 30 sets of livable enclosures. It was such a fun day with these goofy creatures! We fed them, cleaned their enclosures, and observed their behaviors. It was such a crazy cool experience!