A Trip up North 2025: Gunung Jerai & Sungai Petani

Posted on March 9, 2025 by janstu

My friends Paul and Fahmi asked me if I would like to join them on a short 3D2N trip to Kedah. I was happy to accept the invitation and suggested that on our way back to KL, they could drop me at Taiping, my adopted home town.

After staying there three nights, I could take the train to Ipoh, where I would meet Aric and our UK friend Rodney and stay one night. All together a 7D6N trip. Here is a report about the first part.

We stopped for lunch at an Assam Laksa stall near Kuala Kangsar. We had the laksa covered with telor sarang (a nest egg). Quite nice, the stall is popular.

Our destination for the day was the BujongValley, an archeological site on the slopes of Gunung Jerai. Here is the museum, access is free of charge.

Long before the Sultanate of Melaka there existed in Kedah a flourishing Hindu-Buddhist civilization. Remains of Hindu temples (candi) can be found on the slopes of Gunung Jerai. The museum contains artefacts, found during excavations.

The park has ruins of several candi, some of them were found elsewhere and have been reconstructed here. They are older than Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Borobudur in Java, but of course less impressive as only ruins remain. Nevertheless, the site has the potential of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

For me it was not the first time that I visited Bujang Valley. Ten years ago, on another Trip up North, I was also there. Not much has changed, the signboards have faded, only QR codes have been added. That there has been a civilisation before the Malay one cane is a sensitive topic. Read here more about recent developments.

We continued to the Gunung Jerai resort, where Paul and Gahmi had booked two chalets. A long day, we arrived around 5 pm, the resort was in the clouds, we had to look around for our chalets 😉 .

We were just in time for a High Tea promotion, surprisingly cheap at RM 48 (for three!).

Later the sky cleared a bit, from my balcony I had a nice view of the paddy fields in Kedah. The island is Bunting Island, uninhabited, connected to the mainland by the Bunting Island Bridge , constructed between 2002 and 2005 at a cost of RM 120 million and never used.

The High Tea was so substantial that we skipped dinner, had a drink and snacks on our balcony. Paul and Fam got hungry later and used room service to order a light supper.

The next morning we had breakfast (included in the quite expensive room rate of RM 320) and walked around a bit. Beautiful weather, blue sky.

Since my last visit in 2015 (see the link above) , the resort had been enlarged with a plethora of activities. You had to pay extra for them, many made sense, a few were a bit ridiculous like the Jerai Sky View, where you had to pay RM 10 to stand on a glass-bottom platform where you could look down a few meters to the slope under the platform 😉 .

The gardens are well kept and the chalets are comfortable. Paul and Fahmi are standing in front of our chalet, containing 4 separate units.

We drove down the winding road to the plain. Here is Guning Jerai with the famous pady fields of Kedah. Would have been even more beautiful when the paddy would have been fresh green.

Gunung Jerai has many waterfalls, but most of them are seasonal. We had a look at the Sri Perigi falls, almost completely without water.

We met a friendly caretaker who told us that we were just one month too early. That the waterflow can be much more impressive, shows the damaged bridge railing.

Our route followed the coast, with several attractive fishing villages.

In one of them we visited the market. Fahmi bought dried) fish for his family.

Looking for a nice place for lunch, we ran out of luck. A floating “mee udang” restaurant opened at 3 pm only, we continued to a hilltop restaurant, that opened ta 2pm, we decided to wait, it was very hot, we were the only visitors, very slow service. But the food was ok. Probably a place to visit in the evening and watch the sunset.

Around 4pm we arrived in Sungai Petani, where we checked in. After a rest I walked around there is not really much to see. The clocktower was built in 1936 to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V. Teh HSBC bank earby is older, built in 1922 in Mughal style. A very attractive buidling.

And of course there is mural art. Huge paintings, just using the walls as a canvas. Not really my favourite.

Later we went out for dinner and were more lucky, we found a suitable restaurant. Set Talam translates as a tray set, the restaurant specialises in it. Nice seafood.

The next morning, Fahmi had found another nice place for breakfast. Outide Sngai Petani, in very rural surroundings. A popular breakfast place.

Nice breakfast with Lempeng (kind of pancakes) and my favourite Roti Goyang.

Back to town where I took another photo pf the HSBC bank. The ony outstanding heritage building in the town.

More pictures of the mural art. Not bad, but also nothing impressive.

After our exploration of the town, it was already time to go back. My friends dropped me off at Taiping; see the next report.

It was a nice trip, but a bit too much driving for such a short stay.

A new waterfall

Posted on February 17, 2025 by janstu

My last “new waterfall” was two years ago, in 2023. In my blog post CNY 2023 Waterfall Trip, I explain why I no longer explore (new) waterfalls. This year I didn’t join the traditional CNY waterfall trip. Here is a photo where a few of my waterfall gang visit the Katoh Upper Fall. Would have been too much for me 😉 .

Joshua Tee, who is now the active webmaster of Waterfalls of Malaysia, suggested to organise a trip to an “easy” waterfall, only a 15 minute hike, an easy trail and a pristine fall. That sounded attractive, although I wondered how a waterfall with easy access could still be pristine. I joined.

One day before Chap Goh Meh, Joshua picked me up from home and we drove to Tanjung Malim where we had breakfast and met the rest of the group. Many of them I had met before. First photo, from left to right Joshua and his partner Eve, Pooi Yee, and my “waterfall godson” Nick. In the other picture JT Ong, Sam, Iwen and Kendrick.

After breakfast, we continued to Behrang Station, where it became clear how a waterfall with easy access can still be pristine: to reach the trail head you have to follow plantation roads where a 4WD is needed. So all nine of us moved into Joshua’s Ford Ranger. Here we have arrived at the trailhead.

And indeed, from here it there was an easy trail to the fall, about 600 meter. To cross a small stream, I preferred to walk through the water and get my feet wet 😉 .

Here is the Gersay waterfall, my waterfall sifu Khong would call it a baby fall. A nice wading pool, and attractive surroundings.

Joshua had suggested that we all bring some snacks and drinks, he had brought two foldable picnic tables !

My contribution was a bottle of wine, here Ong is tasting it.

It was a nice leisure trip, of course many photos were taken. The last photo shows Joshua and me, the present webmaster of WoM and the former one 😉 .

An official group photo.

We didn’t stay long, as the plan was to have lunch in Tanjung Malim. Here Eve and Ong are bringing back the tables.

A few more pictures of our walk back to the car.

In Tanjung Malim we went to restaurant Fu Man.

Nice food, I wanted to be the host and pay the bill, but the others didn’t allow me. Malaysian hospitality at its best.

Here is the location of the Gersay fall on Google Earth. Tanjung Malim bottom right, Behrang Station top left. The plantation road in red, the short walk in green.

I didn’t expect to visit new waterfalls anymore, this was a pleasant surprise.

CNY 2025

Posted on February 14, 2025 by janstu

It is a yearly tradition, the celebration of the Chinese New Year in Parit Baru, Aric’s hometown. Often I wrote a blog post about it: CNY 2024, CNY 2022, CNY 2020, CNY 2017, CNY 2016, to name a few.

This time we arrived one day before CNY, so Aric had time to decorate the family house. Here he is considering what to do.

Many weeks ago he had bought decorative material. In the past many of his relatives already arrived for the traditional Reunion Dinner, so he had helpers, but fewer people are following this tradition nowadays.

Here is the result.

Three families lived in the big kampung house, there were still many cousins, nephews, and nieces around, so two sessions of the traditional steamboat dinner were needed.

The common living room was also decorated and the next morning there was a praying session for the ancestors.

IIn the Chinese tradition, it is the start of the year of the Snake, one of the twelve Zodiac signs. More accurately it is the year of the Wood Snake , click here for an informative YouTube video.

Although there is nothing bad about any of the Zodiac signs, many people are instinctively afraid of snakes, probably because of our evolutionary past. That may be a reason that many CNY decorations and cards don’t show an image of a snake. Here are the two CNY cards we created, the left one by Aric and the right one by me 😉 .

For dinner we went out to the Parit Baru fishing village on the banks of the Bernam River.

Many family members of Aric had not yet arrived. From left to right Aric’s older brother, the two kids of Aei Ling, Aei Ling and me. Picture taken by Aric. Nice local, fresh food.

The second day of CNY more people arrived. Here I have lunch with Aric’s nephews and nieces. From left to right, Teng Wei, Zhen Ee, Zhi Le, Zhi Ee, Zhi Ying, Chun Yee and me. Chinese names! Two are still missing

Part of the CNY tradition is receiving/giving ang pow. Red envelopes with money inside. Adults give it to younger ones (it is actually a bit more complicated). I give it and I also receive some. “Uncle” Aric gives it to his nieces and nephews in a special way, as a kind of game. Just a few photos without further comments

Another steamboat dinner.

During the first dayss of CNY almost all shops are closed , but on day 3 many reopen, and are very crowded. Ong, Aric’s brother-in-law took me to a popular shop in Parit Baru, for roti canai. It was so crowded that we shared a table with two friendly locals. They offered me a cigarette and told Ong about a “chips” factory nearby, inviting us to visit it.

So we went there (Ong riding a motorbike and me on the buddy seat)

Interesting experience. They make cassava (tapioca) chips, mixing them with spices, then frying them and finally packaging them for wholesale. I gave a helping hand, haha.

Back in the kampong, an ice cream seller arrived and I could not resist the temptation to have an ice cream with bread! Quite popular in Malaysia 😉

A group photo is always a part of the day 3 activities. Can you spot me in the crowd? One Kwai Loh and ~ 50 Chinese.

Another tradition, Yee Sang this time the salad dishes were prepared by family members. Vegetarian, one even showing a snake 😉

I took a short video of the tossing.

Of course there were the usual deafening firecrackers

And nice fireworks

It was a nice evening, there was food and lots of beer.

The younger family members performed a dance.

For me it was sometimes a bit too much, so I found a quiet corner, where I could play a game and read a book.

On day 4 we returned home, but in the morning Ong went for a a walk with two kids to the nearby Datok Kong shrine and asked me to join. Nice countryside, palm oil plantations and fruit trees (the fruits protected by old clothes) .

As there was another prayer session, we stayed until dinner, in the same restaurant where we had gone on day 1. Here is Aric, relaxing and chatting with his favourite nephew.

It was a big dinner.

From top left, counterclockwise: Catfish, Sotong, Golden Pomfret, Prawns, Mini-octopus, Crab.

Nice evening view. THen it was time to go home. A 5D4N visit, I needed a few days to recover 😉 .

A New Passport

Posted on February 7, 2025 by janstu

My Dutch passport expires in July this year, but it includes an MM2H visa which expires already in March.. So I decided to apply early for a new one. Dutch passports used to be valid for 5 years only, but nowadays they are valid for 10 years. Usually, you return your old passport, when you get the new one, but in my case, they contained MM2H visa, so I kept them after they had been made invalid.

The procedure is simple: you must download and fill out a form and then make an appointment with the Dutch embassy. I went there on 16 December.

You have to submit a recent passport photo. There are strict guidelines and that made me worry a bit. Glasses are allowed, but your eyes must be fully visible. Mouth closed, expression neutral, head not tilted, etc. I did my best and this is the result ;-). When I presented the form and photo to the friendly embassy staff, they were accepted without any problem.

Faster than expected I got an email from the embassy that I could come to collect my new passport. I decided to go by public transport and asked our UK friend Rodney, to join, so we could have a look at the CNY decorations in KLCC.

We walked from the LRT KLCC station through the park to the Naza Tower, where the consular section of the Dutch embassy is located. The weather was beautiful and the Twin Towers impressive. The Naza Tower is a modern skyscraper. Launched in 2012, it has an interesting helical shape.

It took only a few minutes to receive my new passport. Before walking back, we decided to have coffee and cake in the lobby of the Naza Tower.

Nice street art around the Naza Tower.

And of course CNY decorations. Like in Machap,visited a few weeks ago, many colorful flowers, but all artificial.

Opposite the Naza Tower a spectacular new building is under construction. The provisional name is Lot M. In the (far?) future a 700-meter tall skyscraper may rise on top of this building.

We walked back through the park. With the very blue sky, the KL skyline was breathtaking. It was a hot day, the wading pool in the park was popular for children and adults.

Kuala Lumpur can be proud of a beautiful park in the center of the city.

In front of the shopping mall, a huge CNY decoration has been constructed. Here Rodney took a picture of me, taking a picture 😉 .

Probably I took this picture. Inside the shopping mall another huge decoration.

This year is the year of the Snake, but where are the snakes? Last year, the year of the Dragon, there were dragons everywhere. Not a single snake here! Probably because many people have a phobia ffor snakes!

The walk through the park had made us thirsty, so we went to my favourite Kinokuniya cafe for a refreshing drink. Then we started looking for a suitable lunch place. I was thinking about the Asian Food Court. On our way, I noticed that there were long queues for all the restaurants.

I expected that it would be difficult to find an empty table in the food court. Then we found one restaurant with many free tables. So, for the first time in my life, I had lunch in a TGI FRIDAYS! We ordered the so-called Hangover Burger, a substantial meal.

Then we went back back home, where we arrived just before a downpour started.

Melaka & Machap

Posted on January 26, 2025 by janstu

As familiar as Melaka is to me, so unknown is Machap. Aric suggested a mini-trip to both places with our UK friend Rodney, staying overnight in Melaka. He had booked rooms in the Puri Hotel, where we arrived late afternoon on Friday, 17 January. The hotel is located in Heeren Street, now unfortunately renamed after a Malaysian politician. . In Dutch colonial times, the Heerenstraat was the most important street, where the rich people lived. Opposite the hotel the impressive Chee ancestral mansion (not open to the public).

The Puri Hotel is a nice Peranakan house, much extended and more expensive than when we stayed there the first time, more than 10 years ago.

After a short rest, we went out for dinner to the Kapitol Satay Chelup restaurant, no longer in the town center, we took a Grab car. Still has nice food, but not many customers, I hope they can survive.

We took another Grab back to Jonker Street. The famous Jonker Walk is not so interesting anymore, but of course you have to visit it when you are in Melaka.

The (food) stalls are quite mediocre, but Jonker Street was almost as important in Dutch times as Heeren Street, so there are nice facades and clan houses to admire.

We passed a small square with a very strange statue of a bodybuilder. Actually, it is a memorial statue for Dr Gan Boon Leong, a Malaysian politician, and native of Melaka, instrumental in the creation of the Jonker Walk, but in his younger years also a bodybuilding Mr Universe!

We stopped at Koong Woh Tong for a refreshing Herbal Jelly. One of my favourite desserts, not sure if Rodney really liked it.

Arriving at the main square, also called the Dutch Square, we admired the many trishaws decorated with colorful LED lights and loud music.

We walked for a short distance along the Melaka river. Left a view from the bridge, right many of the bars on the left bank.

Before going back to our hotel we had a few drinks in the Geographer, a landmark bar in Jonker Street.

The next morning, we had a pleasant breakfast in the hotel garden and admired the interior.

We checked out and walked around the town. Here are two photos of the Eng Choon Association in Heeren Street.

More buildings, some beautifully restored, others still waiting for an upgrade.

We entered Goldsmith Street, now often called Harmony Street because along the street many houses of worship are located. Here is a view of the street, In the foreground a Chinese temple, further on a mosque. The Indian temple, a bit further down the street , is not visible.

The Cheng Hoon Teng Temple is the oldest functioning Chinese temple in Malaysia, founded in 1645 during the Dutch era.The main prayer hall is dedicated to Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy.

The Kampung Kling Mosque was originally built in 1748 by Indian Muslim traders. The Sri Poyatha Moorthi Temple was built in 1781 and is dedicated to Ganesha. It is one of the oldest functioning Hindu temples in Maritime Southeast Asia. Pity that it seems to be closed all the time.

We didn’t see many murals in Melaka, which makes me happy, but of course, we spent only a little time in the town. The first mural is nice but nothing special. The second one is bizarre. It depicts the Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, famous but no connection at all with Malaysia. Why her? Because she has been appointed Melaka’s tourism ambassador. Apparently, to attract more mainland Chinese tourists. Melaka boleh haha.

You don’t see Buddhist monks often in Malaysia. On the facade of the shop there is a mural of an orang utan, a bit faded as murals should be. And the other pic shows Rodney and me in front of the Dutch windmill.

Melaka is a “museum” town with artifacts from the past everywhere.

We had Chendol near the river. And then climbed up the St Paul’s hill for a view. The straits of Melaka far away.

The Church of Saint Paul with the statue of St Francis Xavier. The hill has an extended cemetery with Dutch and British graves.

The remains of the church contain many tombstones.

We climbed down the hill to the Porta de Santiago, one of the few remains of the A Famosa fortress, built by the Portuguese in 1512. The other pic shows Rodney and a dinosaur.

We were planning to have lunch in the famous Kedai Kopi Chung Wah near the bridge, but it was closed. So we went to another one. Also nice Hainanese Chicken Rice.

It was already getting a bit late in the afternoon when we arrived in Machap. Here is a Google Earth map of the region. There are two villages, about 6 km apart, Machap Baru and Machap Umboo. Machap Baru is a “New Village” created during the Malayan Emergency as part of the Briggs plan. I am very interested in these new villages, but it was not our target this time. We went to Machap Umboo, an even newer village but in a different way! In the 1970s the Durian Tunggal reservoir was created, one of the main water supplies for Melaka, and the original Machap had to be relocated. I guess that its original location was near the Old Mosque of Machap, not far from Machap Baru.

The villagers of Machap Umboo decorate their village during the Chinese New Year and are so successful that it generates publicity and attracts visitors. Leaflets with the various attractions are freely available. In the other picture I am taking a phoyo of Aric admiring a persimmon tree.

It’s a fake tree, as are all the flowers and trees used as decoration. Very colorful,

This year will be the year of the Snake, so you can see (fake) snakes all over the place.

The villagers have used as much as possible recycled items for the decorations. Empty cans, old tires etc .

Maybe the Dutch square in Melaka has inspired them to create this attraction. And yes, the tulips are also artificial. The drizzle had become rain, time to go home.

At the entrance of the village a Snake Kung Fu master invited us to a fight.

In spite of the rain we decided to have a look at the Old Mosque. In 2019 Aric and I had made a Trip down South, and one target was this mosque. But it was closed and now it was closed again. It was raining so heavily that I didn’t even take a picture. Here is a drone picture, taken by Aric during our 2019 visit. Looks interesting, we have to come back another time.

It was a nice, short trip. Want to see more pictures of Melaka? Have a look at my report Revisiting Melaka, August 2023.

Winter Solstice 2024

Posted on December 21, 2024 by janstu

Celebrating Dongzhi (the Winter Solstice) is a Chinese tradition that goes back to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). The Winter Solstice falls on 21 or 22 December, this year on Saturday 21 December. We went to Parit Baru, Aric’s hometown, to celebrate.

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is a time for families to meet and eat together. One activity that occurs during these get-togethers is the making and eating of tangyuan, balls of glutinous rice, that symbolize reunion. When we arrived in Parit Baru, a large number of these rice balls had already been prepared in various colors.

We went out for dinner to a local seafood restaurant.

Prayers for the ancestors are part of the celebration. An offering table is prepared with all kinds of food and drinks. Parents, grandparents, the table was set for nine ancestors.

Hell Money (joss paper) has to be folded into a roll, so it will burn easier.

Praying for the ancestors.

Here Aric and his brother are making the pyre.

And lighting it.

Aric makes sure that everything burns.

The rice balls are served warm in syrup. The bigger ones are filled.

Before going back home we had our tangyuan.

Zhang Jia Jie: Tian Men Mountain

Posted on December 1, 2024 by janstu

Recently Aric and I made a trip to China. I wrote a general report about our trip, China trip, Novenber 2024 , followed by detailed reports Zhang Jia Jie National Forest Park , Zhang Jia Jie, the Grand Canyon, Fu Rong Ancient Town and Feng Huang Ancient Town . This will be the final report about our trip. Actually the Tian Men mountain was the main reason that Aric chose Zhang Jia JIe as a destination. But there was much more to see, so we kept the Gate to Heaven for the last day. Here is a photo taken from the Internet. The Tian character means sky or heaven, and the Men character means door or gate.

After breakfast and a morning walk in the old town of Feng Huang, we took the train back to Zhang Jia Jie. A bit more than one hour, just time enough to have lunch. Of course a bit expensive, but good quality.

This time Aric had not booked a hotel with a spectacular view, but with another advantage. It was in walking distance from the cable car station to the mountain. Here is the hotel, or to be more precise, a few floors , because the building houses several hotels. The other pic shows a map of the Tian Men mountain. There are basically two ways to do the Tian Men hike, clockwise or anticlockwise. Our plan was to hike counterclockwise, starting with the cable car we could see from our hotel. Our room was comfortable.

View from our hotel room. The building in the center is the station where the cable car starts and also the main ticket office. Although off-season, there was an amazing number of tour buses parked next to the station. At the horizon the Tian Men mountains.

Aric had planned a surprise for the evening, a visit to the 72 Qilou, often named 72 Strange Buildings. And strange it was, a kind of monumental folly. I could not find much reliable information about it. It has a Guinness world record for being the highest stilted building in the world, but the building is not stilted, only has many overhanging balconies. It must be a modern construction, although some web pages suggest that it is old.

It has become very popular with local tourists, especially in the evening when the lights are on. There are shows and many eateries. We had snack food there. The central hole in the building refers of course to the Tian Men gate.

Back in the hotel, Aric tried to buy tickets online for the following day, but could not. So we decided to wake up very early to be sure that tickets (they use time slots) would be available. It worked. There was a light drizzle, we bought rain coats, just in case . Then we went nack to bed, because we had bought tickets for the 10-11 am time slot. The weather looked a bit gloomy, we could not see the mountains from our hotel room.

We had simple breakfast in one of the several eateries on the ground floor of our hotel.

The cable car is with 7455 m the world’s longest passenger cable car in a high mountain. A trip takes 28 minutes anc ascends 1279m m.

Soon we were in the clouds, no views of the town and the mountains. The first day that we were not lucky with the weather.

Arrival at the upper station where our hike started. Above us blue sky, but we were most of the time in t he clouds.

The hike is spectacular. Cliff trails have been built with solid railings. Not scary, because most of the time we had no view. Also quite flat, not much up and down. Notice that often we could see blue sky above us.

One of the highlights of the hike is the glass walkway. We had to wear shoe covers. Because of the clouds it was not so scary, although sometimes we could look down.

This is the glass cliff walk (Internet photo probably taken by a drone). Building these cliff walks must have been very difficult.

After returning the shoe covers, we continued our walk.

Not always a cliff walk. Here a location with many wishing ribbons.

Then cliffs again. We kept taking pictures, and it was often possible to take photos without other people in it. An advantage of traveling off-season.

There was also a suspension bridge.

And a place with hundreds of love locks.

Halfway on the plateau there is a restaurant, where we had lunch. Aric used the toilet to warm his hands!

Next we visited the huge complex of the Tian Men Mountain Temple Dating back to AD 870 (Tang dynasty) it was destroyed during the Chinese Civil War and rebuilt in 1949.

It is a Buddhist temple with guardians, many halls and statues. Interesting but we were only halfway on our hike, so we did not stay very long.

The second half of our hike was similar to the first half. There was another glass cliff walk, but we skipped it.

We were still on the plateau, how to go down? The answer was : by escalator! Since 2015 there are two mountain escalators. The first one contains 7 segments and brought us down to the Tian Men gate. The second one, 5 segments, brings you down to the Tian Men square.

After this escalator you have to walk down to reach the bottom of the gate

We did it! Standing at the Gate of Heaven.

Here I am looking down the infamous 999 steps between the gate and the Tian Men square. No way that I was going down here. Hardly anybody did. Fortunately there was the second elevator.

Here we are at the square. Aric with his thumb down, because we could not see the gate. I with my thumb up, because there was coffee.

It was almost 5 pm and our plan was to stay until the evening, hoping that the lights would be switched on after dark. We sat down and walked around. Sometimes the gate was a bit visible for a short while. And there were nice tress with autumn leaves.

Many people were doing the same.

At exactly 6 pm, the lights came on. First simple white lights, but soon a light show started.

We are very happy with this picture. For a while the gate was visible. so scenic.

Around 7 pm we left the square, still had to walk some distance to another cable car which brough us down, followed by a bus back to where we started. Mission accomplished, we hiked more than 10 km, more than 15000 steps. But only 11 flights climbed. I was very happy that I could mange it

We rewarded ourselves with a sumptuous dinner. Cauliflower with Pork, Dry meat and Sausage fried and Fried Prawns.

Next morning we had breakfast with local noodles and checked out.

At the airport we noticed a local KFC. We had to try it of course.

Ready to board. End of a fantastic holiday trip.

Feng Huang Ancient Town

Posted on November 27, 2024 by janstu

The next destination on our China Trip 2024 was Feng Huang, one of the most famous old towns in China. Feng Huang means Phoenix. After breakfast in Fu Rong we took a taxi to the station and boarded the train to Phoenix, where we arrived 43 minutes later. Nice countryside with padi fields.

We took a taxi to the entrance gate of the old town, where a lady from the hotel staff was waiting for us. She brought us to the hotel, only a short walk away.

Another room with a view! On the 7th floor, no lift, the lady asked me if climbing the stairs was no problem for me ;-). I managed 😉 .

The lady gave advice how to spend our time, there is a lot to see and we had only one day. We went out for food, instead of going to a restaurant, we bought snack food. Delicious prawn crackers and later very nice corn cakes

We followed the road along the river, admiring the houses on stilts that are chacteristic for the Tuija architecture. The Tuija are a recognised minority in China, living in this region. More information about them can be found here.

A pleasant walk, beautiful weather

A statue of a running man (not a phoenix) and a decorative water wheel.

We walked until the water wheel and took pictures of two bridges. There are many more across the river. The first picture, looking backwards, shows the bridge we passed on arrival. The other picture shows two bridges we were planning to visit later, after sunset. Notice in front of the bridges there are two stepping-stones crossings!

Nore pictures, walking back to pur hotel. No wonder that Phoemix is a very popular tourist destination in China. The many cruising boats let visitors explore the town in an easy way.

We wanted to be back in our hotel not too late, so we could look at the scenery when it got darker, hoping that the lights would come on. Our room had the luxury of a private balcony.

Another bridge.Zoom photo from our balcony.

The sun sets early and it gets dark fast. Two photos one at 5:57 pm, the othet one at 6:27 pm. At 6 pm the lights came on, so beautiful.

Around 7 pm we went out again for another walk

Also here in Phoenix there were many people who rented a traditional costume. The package often included a photographer who instructed the ladies hwo to pose elegantly 😉 .

Again we had snack food as dinner. The restaurant fare (pork and more pork) got boring. These are potato cakes, so tasty that we took two.

The bridge we had photogtaphed earlier was now brightly lit. On a platform in the river a lady was dancing and singing.

The second bridge, for motorised traffic gave us a nice vier of river and town.

We walked back, using one of the stepping-stone crossings.

Delicious pork sausages for me and smelly taufu for Aric.

The next morning we had time enough to visit the old town at the other side of the bridge. It was still quiet except when a tour group was passing.

Looking for a breakfast place, Aric found a beef noodle stall. Nice after so much pork.

Here are some photos of the old town.

We visited the Thean Hou temple. An impressive complex. Many phoenix sumbols

The Queen of Heaven and Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Taoism and Buddhism.

We continued until we reached the main signboard of the town,

Many nice houses.

Embroidery and needle work are a speciality of the region.

Walking back to our hotel.

Crossing the bridge from the other side.

Checking out with a last look of the view we had.

After checking out and leaving the hotel we came across this wedding procession. Not real, a show for tourists, but quite interesting,

Fu Rong Ancient Town

Posted on November 23, 2024 by janstu

The third day of our China Trip we took a train to Fu Rong. But first we had breakfast in our hotel. A nice hotel, friendly staff, but the breakfast was a bit simple. After two times noodles, we had a few equally simple plain pau with a glass of soy milk and an egg.

A taxi took us to the Zhang Jia Jie railway station. A big, modern station, with a McDonald’s, where we had coffee and snacks to supplement the meager hotel breakfast.

There was a large number of massage chairs and we had time enough to try one out. The massage was strong, sometimes almost painful.

The high-speed train (300 km/h) took us in 23 minutes to Fu Rong, a distance of 80 km. You have to book seats in advance.

From the station we took a taxi to Fu Rong Ancient Town. where we had booked our hotel. You have to pay an entrace fee for this town, even when you stay there. A hotel staff took us from the entrance on a short walk to the hotel and showed us our room. A room with a view! Aric had found the only room in town with a spectacular view of the waterfalls that made the town famous.

Imagine, I took this video from our hotel room window. I was stunned and almost got a bit emotional.

Here is Aric enjoying the room with a well-deserved cup of tea.

But we went out soon, because the weather was nice. The waterfalls are the main attraction of the town, but the town itself is also very attractive. It was founded in 202 BC by the Tujia people. Fu Rong Ancient Town has a charcteristic architecture and it would be easy to spend more time than we had..

The left picture shows our hotel. We walked down to the river. No lunch, just bought some snacks here and there. Still relatively quiet, it became more crowded in the afternoon. Visitors like to stay until it gets dark and the lights are on.

A lower view if the waterfalls. We followed a path behind the waterfalls.

I have marked with a red cross the location of our room (top left corner)

Some locations are very popular, especially for tour groups. These two photos are taken from about the same location. One a bit lower, with many people, the other one higher up.

We continued walking the path quite far, before we returned the same way.

Here is the Tujia Shelter Bridge. The lady is not a local, but a tourist dressed in a traditional Tijia costume! Hundreds of them visit Fu Rong and rent a costume. includint make up etc tp parade in the streets. Nice, but also a bit funny.

We didn’t use the bridge but crossed the shallow stream on stepping stones.

Back in our room we relaxed with a drink. Aric with the local wine, I had my fire water.

Watching the village and the waterfalls while the sun was setting and the lights came on..

Later we went out again for dinner. There are numerous eateries in the ancient town, but the hotel reception had warned us that they were touristy and pricey. Better go to the modern town. So that’s what we did.

We found an acceptable restaurant. With different preparations of pork, tofu and a mixed mushroom dish. Not bad.

After dinner we walked around in the old town. The bridge was brightly lit and crowded with visitors. Many of them dressed in local costumes.

My Chinese Zodiac sign is Monkey and I am reading at the moment the Monky King novel, so when I saw Pigsy, my companion on my Journey to the West, I wanted my picture taken with him. He was willing, but asked for a donation, via a QR code 😉

The next morning we went out for breakfast. The streets were now deserted, but one restaurant was already open, serving nice rice tofu, a speciality of Fu Rong.

Back in our hotel we had a last view of our room and the waterfalls, before checking out and going to our next destination.

Another interesting day.

Zhang Jia Jie, the Grand Canyon

Posted on November 20, 2024 by janstu

Our second day was a bit less strenuous. Still a lot of walking but less up and down. Our target was the famous Zhang Jia Jie Glass Bridge. We had breakfast again in our hotel, same as the day before, simple noodles with some condiments. Cloudy, less cold.

We took a taxi to the entrance, were surprised how quiet it was, bought tickets and took a shuttle bus to the beginning of the bridge.

Here is a scale model of the bridge. The bridge was opened in 2016 as a tourist attraction and at that time it was the longest and tallest glass bottomed bridge in the world, 430 meters long, 6 meters wide, and suspended about 300 meters above the ground.

We had to wear shoe covers to protect the glass.

Here is the bridge.

Before crossing the bridge we first had a cup of coffee.

The bridge was designed to carry up to 800 visitors at a time. But the crowd was so enormous (see the Internet photo) that after two weeks the bridge was closed so the authorities could take measures to control the crowd. Probably it will still be unpleasantly crowded during peak season, but during our visit it was perfect.

The first steps on the glass are scary, but you get used to it fast. It helps that the glass is slightly opaque.

From the center of the bridge you have a spectacular view of the canyon, 300 meter below. After crossing the bridge, you can just walk back to the entrance. Or you can take the elevator down to the canyon. The more adventurous option is to use a zipline (flying fox) to the other side. You can see the ziplines in the picture next to the elevator.

After you get used to the glass bottom, it becomes very enjoyable. The river below is clearly visible.

After crossing the bridge we returned the shoe covers. Then it was time for a snack and a drink.

Then we walked down to the zipline station.

The real daredevils can bungee jump from the bridge. If you look carefully you may notice a cable hanging under the center of the bridge. We did not see any action during our visit.

I was a bit concerned wether they would allow me to use the zipline at my age. But they didn’t even ask me how old I was, just helped me in my seat and fastened the safety belts. I went first, Aric took a picture of me.