Month: December 2018

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a special altar for the Emperor of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to worship the heavens, ask for rain and pray for the harvest. The north of the altar is round and the south is square, meaning ” round heaven and square earth.” It is divided into two parts: the inner altar and the outer altar. The northern part of the inner altar is the “altar praying for grain”. It is the place where the emperor held the grain praying Grand Ceremony in the spring, mainly including the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Emperor Hall. In the south, it is Circular Mound Altar, and it is the place where the emperor worships the heavens on the winter solstice. It mainly includes the Circular Mound Altar, the Imperial Heavenly Vault and god kitchen and the temple and the animal sacrificial pavilion.

When you have a visit in the Temple of Heaven, in addition to visit the delicate buildings of the various halls, the whispering walls, the three-tone stone and other wonderful design also sighs the wisdom of the ancients. The tour is usually starting from the south gate and get out there from the north gate (or the east gate), and then visit the Circular Mound Altar, Imperial Heavenly Vault, Danbi Bridge, the Hall of Prayer and the Emperor’s Palace.

Official number of the Temple of Heaven: 010-67028866; 010-67013036; 010-67012402

Visiting time reference: More than 3 hours

How to go to the Temple of Heaven:

Bus:

South Gate of the Temple of Heaven: take the No. 36, 120, 122 bus.

West Gate of the Temple of Heaven: take the 2, 20, 120 bus.

North Gate of the Temple of Heaven: take the 6, 34, 35, 36, 106, 111 bus.

East Gate of the Temple of Heaven: take the 6, 25, 34, 35, 36, 39, 41, 43, 60, 610, 684, 685, 723, 814 bus.

Subway: Take subway Line 5 to Tiantan Dongmen Station.

Tickets:

Tickets: Adult ticket 15 RMB / discount ticket 7.5 RMB; (During Monday – Sunday from April 1 – October 31)

Tickets: Adult ticket 10 RMB / discount ticket 5 RMB; (During Monday – Sunday from November 1 – March 31 of the following year)

Opening hours

06:00-22:00; stop ticketing time: 20:00 (During Monday – Sunday from April 1st – October 31st)

06:30-22:00; stop ticketing time: 20:00 (During Monday – Sunday from November 1st – March 31st of the following year)

Sera Monastery

Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery and Ganden Monastery are the three major temples in Lhasa. It was the last of the three temples to be built. There is the most famous debate ceremony in Tibetan areas. The debate was held in the northernmost debate hall in the temple. There are so many people watching the debate, and they can take a good position when coming there early.

In the many halls of the Sera Monastery, older murals are preserved. When you take a visit there, it is recommended to take preferably with a flashlight or headlights for easy appreciation. It is also recommended to go to the nearby rocky field when night falls, from which you can take a panoramic view of Lhasa. And the night scene at that time is more attractive.

Official telephone number of the Sera Monastery: 0891-6383639

Visiting time reference: more than 3 hours

How to go to the Sera Monastery:

Take bus No. 6, 16, 24 and get off at Sera Monastery Station.

Ticket:

Ordinary ticket: 50 RMB (Monday – Sunday during January 1st – December 31st)

Opening hours:

09:00-16:00 (Monday – Sunday from January 1st – December 31st)

When you arrive at the temple, both the monks dressed in shackles and the Tibetans in Tibetan costumes reveal their sincerity towards the Buddha. It is like two worlds with us. Most tourists like you coming there for the famous dok ceremony. There are many people who watch the debate. The debate center is full of dense tourists and many foreign tourists.

Dozens of lamas standing there, are divided into one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-one combinations, questioning, rebutting, refuting and then answering, using a variety of gestures, physical movements, or hands waving rosary beads, one-legged independence, even glaring at each other, vigorously claping to make a strong voice. The debate, for the monks is a practice, for tourists is like watching a lively performance.

But you don’t have to care about it even though you don’t understand it. You don’t have to deliberately explore the meaning of chanting. You can be lucky enough to come here and feel what is happening. It is already the fate of the previous Buddha.

Lingering Garden

The Lingering Garden is located at No. 338, Liuyuan Road, Tumen, Suzhou. It is well-known for its exquisite architectural layout and numerous strange stones. It is also known as the Four Famous Gardens of China together with Suzhou Humble Administrator’s Garden, Beijing Summer Palace and Chengde Mountain Resort. The Lingering Garden is a large-scale classical private garden in China. It covers an area of 23,300 square meters and represents the Qing Dynasty style. The garden is famous for its exquisite architectural style. The hall is magnificent and the courtyard is full of changes. Taihu Stone is the most famous with Guanyun Peak. The architectural space is exquisitely processed, and the gardeners use various artistic techniques to form the Garden space system which is featuring the special rhythmic, and it has become an example of the world-famous architectural space art processing. The Lingering Garden is divided into four parts, the east is mainly featuring architecture, the middle is the landscape garden, the west is a large rockery between the earth and stone, and the north is the idyllic scenery.

Visitors to The Lingering Garden is not very few, the fare is 55RMB/person, you can buy on the machine via Alipay directly, but do remember to bring your ID card.

The garden is still relatively large. After entering it, when you meet the rainy weather, you will feel it more charming. In fact, it is very magical. Although the surrounding life is noisy, when you enter The Lingering Garden, you will naturally feel calm, every scene in The Lingering Garden is with a sense of quaintness in the vicissitudes of life.

Through the ivy on the wall, the raining tiles, the bamboo forest and the doors and windows, you can suddenly feel a weak connection with the times, as if you can feel the people living in the yard at that time. Feel the temperament of that era, their aesthetic philosophy of their life.

This is completely different from the feeling of the Forbidden City. You can feel the breath of life in The Lingering Garden, feel the romance at that time, like a layer of crepe, although people are not there, things are still there, they are so quiet, standing here for a hundred years.

West Lake

The West Lake is surrounded by mountains on three sides, covering an area of 6.39 square kilometers, about 2.8 kilometers wide from east to west, 3.2 kilometers long from north to south, and it is nearly 15 kilometers around the lake. The lake is separated by Gushan, Bai Causeway, Su Causeway and Yanggong Causeway. According to the size of the area, there are five water faces, namely, West Lake, Xili Lake, Beili Lake, Small South Lake and Yue Lake. Su Causeway and Bai Causeway cross the lake, The three small islands of Small yingzhou, Mid-Lake Pavilion and Ruan Gong Islet stand in the heart of the outside West Lake. The Leifeng Pagoda in Xizhao Mountain and the Baochu Pagoda in the Gem Mountain are separated by the lake, thus forming the basic pattern of “One Mountain, Two Towers, Three Islands, Three Causeways and Five Lakes”.

West Lake is really beautiful. Her beauty is not only the beauty of scenery, but also the beauty of a hidden story. For the first time to come to West Lake, it is best to choose to go to the point of greatest interest and to go to more places in a limited time. In addition, the use of bicycles is also excellent, saving time and you won’t feel too tired. If you want to be quiet and comfortable for visiting the West Lake, I suggest you come early. It’s really pleasant to come to the West Lake at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning. Almost no one is there during that time. At 9:00, the tour group and the visitors have come.

Just keep in mind that when you are to come to the West Lake, do prepare for some snacks and food in case of feeling hungry. West Lake is really beautiful, it is worth visiting at any time and every season. If it is the first time to have a trip in West Lake, it is best to do a good job about search some travel guide on West Lake in advance. Of course, it is a pleasant surprise also without any preparation ahead.

Badaling Great Wall

When you are to take a trip to the Great Wall, it will be better to choose the best time such as the earlier Autumn if your time is flexible, as when you visit there on October, you will feel it very cold.

Most of the visitors chose to climb the North Great Wall. The lady on the bus will tell you that the North Eighth Building is the highest Building of the Badaling Great. If you take pulley, it will drive you to the Fourth Building of the North, but if you take the cable car, you can go to the Seventh Building of the North. The prices are not cheap, and it is only One way.

In fact, the road to the Great Wall is very easy to go. Many slopes are not steep and have anti-slip designs. You will sigh the wisdom of the people of Greater China. The sky is pure blue, so the view is very good. You can see that the Great Wall has been connected all the time without end. In October, maybe because the temperature is too low, many red leaves are already falling, but it still feels very good.

When you arrive at the Eighth Building of the North Great Wall, you will find that there are really many visitors. The North Eighth Building is the end point for most people to climb the Great Wall. It is also a higher one, and you will feel other mountains around it are very small. Going north to ninth building, and if you still have enough energy, keep going all the way to North Tenth Building, North Eleventh Building, it is simply perfect for your Badaling Great Wall tour. In fact, the scenery in the eleventh building of the North Great Wall is more beautiful and better, and it is not crowed, but the road is not as good as before, the stairs in many places are vertical, so keep in mind to be careful when climbing the 9th to 11th buildings.

Shanghai Disneyland

It is known to all that it is funny to have a trip in Shanghai Disneyland, as it is the dreamland of so many kids, and it is worthy your visit if you are to have a travel to Shanghai. But before it, just check some reviews on the Shanghai Disneyland from other visitors’ experience there before and know about their suggestions.

1, Purchase tickets. There are many channels to purchase the Shanghai Disneyland tickets, including the official website of the Shanghai Disney Resort APP; the official WeChat public number; third-party websites, travel companies; on-site. Disney has always been different in my heart, so the tickets from the third-party websites are not trusted by me. So I bought the ticket from the official APP for a two-day ticket, one person cost 1038 Yuan, and if you buy the tickets from official WeChat public number, the lowest is 50% off, the highest 30% off, which is much cheaper.

2, Fast pass (FP). Before entering the Shanghai Disney, you must download the Shanghai Disney Resort APP in advance and bind it to your fingerprints to check the waiting time and performance time of the projects conveniently. Fingerprints are faster than passwords, which is good for the race against time to grasp the fast pass. The order of operation is, after security check, online purchase of the ID card, then you will obtain the ticket, and you can bound the game group on the APP, then the first time to open the fast pass, the most queued preferred project is leaping the horizon, thundering mountain drifting, creating speed Light wheel. If you grab a piece, you can grab the second one after two hours.

3, Premium customer card. This service is a new Disney project that is divided into Disney Premium Card Sets, Family Pack, Adventure Pack, and single project. And they can be purchased only after the tickets must be obtained. The price varies from day to day. For example, the first day the price of the Disney Premium Card Sets is 825 Yuan, the price of family PACK and adventure pack is 525 Yuan, and the price of single project is 150 Yuan. The next day they may become 660, 420, 120 Yuan. The single card and the free pass enjoy the same service, eliminating the queue for the initial project, but still need to queue when approaching the project nearby.

The Summer Palace

Located in the western suburbs of Beijing, the Summer Palace ranks the top 1 among the Chinese classical gardens. It was listed on the World Heritage List on December 2, 1998.

It is composed of Wanshou Mountain and Kunming Lake. The whole park is surrounded by the peaks of Xishan Mountain. The buildings are integrated with the mountains and lakes, and the scenery is endlessly fluctuating. The whole park is divided into three areas: the political activity area centered on Renshou Temple; the empress living area with Hall of Jade Ripples and Hall of Happiness and Longevity as the main body; and the scenic tourist area composed of Wanshou Mountain and Kunming Lake.

Official telephone number of The Summer Palace: 010-62881144.

Reference for time needed: more than 3 hours.

How to go to The Summer Palace:

Arrived at the west palace gate: Take No. 469 and No.539, get off at The Summer Palace West Station.

Arrived at the north palace gate: Take the subway No. 4 line, get off at D exit of north palace gate, or take 303, 330, 331, 346, 375, 384, 563, 601, 608, 683, 696, 697, 718, special No.5, special No.10 bus and get off at the North Palace Gate Station of the Summer Palace.

Arrive at east palace gate: Take the subway Line 4 and get off at C2 of Xiyuan Station Exit, or take the 209, 330, 331, 332, 346, 394, 601, 608, 626, 683, 690, 696, 718 bus to the Summer Palace Station.

Arrive at the new palace Gate: take the 74, 374, 437, 952 bus and get off at the new palace gate Station of the Summer Palace.

Tickets:

Tickets from April 1st to October 31st during Monday to Sunday: 30 RMB for normal ticket, 60 RMB for garden and garden within garden;

Tickets from November 1st to October 31st during Monday to Sunday: 20 RMB for normal ticket, 50 RMB for garden and garden within garden;

Opening hours:

From April 1st to October 31st during Monday to Sunday: 06:30 a.m.-18:00 p.m.

From November 1st to October 31st during Monday to Sunday: 07:00 a.m.-17:00 p.m.

Tips:

You need to buy tickets for garden with garden: 5 RMB/person for Garden of Harmonious Virtue, 10 RMB/person for Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha, 20 RMB/person for Wenchang center.

The Bund

The Bund is a testimony to the development of the city of Shanghai. The Bund, once the most prosperous financial center in the Asia-Pacific region, represents the essence of the Shanghai culture of that era! The buildings of different styles are a fascinating landscape. Nowadays, Shanghai is developing rapidly, and Lujiazui opposite the Bund has become a new landmark. The two sides of the Pujiang River complement each other and write the shining glory of Shanghai’s new era.

The Bund is one of the best destinations for Chinese city tourism. The Shanghai culture is indeed amazing. The Bund is the window for the Europeans and Americans to understand China. The air is filled with a strong perfume. If you don’t touch people at all levels in Shanghai, you won’t understand why you live in a bird cage? The narrow alley in the summer is the restaurant, the Shanghainese of the bathroom. Why are they so proud, why do they look down on all the outsiders? Featuring the international metropolis, the home base of Fortune 500 companies and foreign banks, the preferred place of the world’s luxury goods store, the China’s best quality education and medical resources distribution center, these elements are enough to explain everything.

Reviews on The Bund

In August 2018, I stayed in Shanghai for about three days. On the first night, I went to the Bund to see the city scenery. There were so many people on the Bund. The streets were crowded with people, and I fully experienced the gongs and drums, and the sounds of the firecrackers, all the people are full of excitement. The Bund is beautiful, and Lujiazui and Oriental Pearl on the opposite are even more beautiful.

Just we said before, there are a lot of people on the Bund in Puxi, but as long as you go a little north, people there will be much less, and it is easy to take up the position. Looking at the view of the Bund is pretty good, and you can pass by Citibank and Peace Hotel, where you can take a photo and keep it as a commemoration. In addition, clothes in Daimaru Department Store are still cheaper, which is a great choice for you if you want to go shopping after visiting the Bund.

The Palace Museum

Being the capital of China, Bejing features so many attractions that are worthy a visit, and among which, The Palace Museum is an amazing place for you if you are interested in Chinese history and would like to explore the charm of the ancient architecture. So many people all over the world visit The Palace Museum every day, and they have different reviews and experience on it. Before visiting the famous Forbidden City, just have some reviews from other visitors to have some understanding on it in advance.

I was very excited before I went there. The Forbidden City really attracts so many people. Going to the Forbidden City also passes through Tiananmen Square, and it is also necessary to pass the security check. Tickets for the Forbidden City need to be bought online. There are no paper tickets now. We also bought tickets for the Treasure Hall and the Watch Museum. You can go into there with your ID card.

Tickets for the Forbidden City are 60 Yuan/person, the Watch Museum is 10 Yuan/person, and the Treasure Hall is 10 Yuan/person. It is a short walk from the hotel to Tiananmen Square and then passing through the Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City. When we finally see the Forbidden City. It is really big, and the palace also is very big. I couldn’t finish visiting it within 1 day. The red wall is also very tall, and it seems that we are very small when under it. The people who lived in the ancient times can only look up at the sky and don’t know what the world is like. The Imperial Garden is smaller than that of we imaged before.

The Forbidden City closed at 17:00 p.m. o’clock on time, and the shop selling the cultural products of the Forbidden City are ready to close before 17:00 p.m. o’clock, and you are not allowed to buy if it is later than 17:00 p.m. o’clock. Fortunately, we bought it at the last minute, and there are many cute and creative souvenirs that worth buying as some products of the Forbidden City with special style cannot be found online. Do remember to buy it in advance if you want to buy souvenirs in the Forbidden City shops.