Taizhou in mandarin means “peaceful prefecture”. This city is situated on the north bank of yangtze river, bordering nantong to the east, yancheng to the north, and yangzhou to the west. taizhou has a population over five million and its land mass is 5,793 square kilometer.

Taizhou city is one of jiangsu thirteen prefecture-level cities which administers two old municipal districts and 4 county-level cities, jingjiang, jiangyan, taixing, and xinghua.
dubbed “china’s medical city”, taizhou has become a national hub in attracting more and more major international and domestic corporations to lcoate their subsidiaries and facilities in the r&d and production of pharmaceutical, biomedical, biochemical and bio-tech related fields. it happens to host the international medical exhibition commencing 13th Dec.

Flight is decorated for coming christmas festive season. getting to taizhou in jiangsu was a bit of a trouble considering that there isn’t a direct international route. there are direct train services from nanjing that cost about 13rmb and journey takes approximately 2 hrs. however the train station is located far from city that requires at least another bus ride costing about 26rmb and 30min to reach the city. train operates about 6 trips per day. taxi services are available as well and it shouldn’t cost much.

i chose to endure the direct 3 hrs cab service from shanghai to taizhou for about 1500rmb including toll charges after a direct 5hr flight in to shanghai pudong airport.

the manmade lake besides the hotel, wind was strong and daytime temperature was 4deg cel. from the horizon you can find there isn’t many tall buildings.

there isn’t really much to see except that this is a pretty clean city, and the birth place of the current president of china, hu jintao 胡锦涛 among the other once famous peking opera artician mei lanfang 梅兰芳.
most local students study in nearby nanjing and yangzhou. both neighbouring provinces are within 2hr by car.

coal powered generating plant. at its peak could burn up to 10,000mt of coal daily!!! we need to look for cleaner and greener energy before it’s too late!

on returning, it was the same route and weather looks gloomy along the way…….the trees lining up both sides along the road had shed its leaves during winter season adding the gloomy scenery of a foggy, hazy and greyish journey. adding to magnitude is the winter chills

crossing the yangtze river by the jiangyin highway bridge, which was opened in 1999.

every city has a story to tell, and i guess taizhou tells it in its very own unique way.

Hongcun (宏村) @ Anhui, China

The architecture and carvings of the approximately 150 residences dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties are said to be among the best of their kinds in China.

Together with xidi, it was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000. hongcun was a location where the film crouching tiger, hidden dragon was shot.

Moon Pool (月沼); there was the epic fighting scene made here from the film crouching tiger, hidden dragon…it’s only route to the outer cities got this village isolated from the various “wars” since the earlier dynasties to the civil wars so much so that its architectural heritages were able to preserve so well…

宏村“牛肠” Hongcun water canal also called as “ox intestines”; every street has a water canal running along it, filling the village with the soothing sound of rushing water. they channel water to every building in the village and is finally directed into a small lake near the entrance to the village….marvellous works! can one imagine the “dirty” water is collected into a small lake next to the entrance to the village?!

宏村 敬修堂 Jing Xiu Hall, Hongcun; a place for some quiet time….the vase “瓶” on the extreme right and the mirror “镜” on the extreme left draw from its sound-alike chinese characters “平静”, which means peaceful…..

rich in its carving, this window screen was carved from a solid slab of stone. it was learnt that a foreigner offered an amount for this stone carving but fortunately it was turned down

rich in wooden carving as well……it can be seen in almost every panel of doors and windows in the buildings……brilliant!!!

well you can guess it that this is the meeting hall whereby the family matters were discussed and resolved….the livings sit around the main hall…….

well visited by the top ranking officials within China itself.

 Ancient well within the city

Door alley in a very rich person's resident.

Water lillies blossom abundantly in the water pond around the village.

Huangshan, China - Yellow Mountain (黄山)

The famous scrolls of chinese black and white paintings of high mountains, rocks, trees and sea of clouds come alive in huangshan mountains in the south anhui province. It is a marvelous mountain area, now on the UNESCO World cultural and natural heritage list. there is an old saying well known throughout the country "no need to see any other mountains after huangshan!"

There are 5 famous mountains in China. There is no other need to view the other mountains in China if one has seen these top 5. However, if one has been to Huangshan, there is no other need to see any other mountain within China! Huangshan or Yellow Mountain as it is renowned as the number one mountain in China and for it to be accorded with this title is not without a reason.

Huangshan has spectacular landscape with its four unique scenes: interesting shaped rocks, waterfalls, unique shaped pine trees growing out of rocks, and its sea of clouds. huangshan has it all, the steepness, the grace, the elegance, and so on.

Cable car runs from the foot of the Yellow Mountain all the way to the mountain top. The ride takes about 20 minutes there or so. It was another 10 minutes way to the lodging area which is as good as a 2-stars hotel in China! Not that spectacular whihc one would expect, but for one that is way up the famous mountain, this is rather acceptable. It comes with all necessary facilities with breakfast.

From the hotel, it takes probably a stone throw for one to view the magnificient and spectacular scenery on top Yellow Mountain. There are various routes that will bring one to an area of specific viewing spot. Each routes take different time and ennergy level as the cemented steps go up and down each routes, with some very tiny routes of about a person's shouldner width without any hand-rails! Not for the faint hearted at some route crossings. However, they are plans to fence up these routes that all young and old will be able to travel and enjoy the beautiful scenery up in Yellow Mountain.

The time taken to cover each specific routes depends on individual as well as the distance. The longest and most challenging route to the very top of the peak takes probably about an hours for an average person. For the seniors, there are the carriage services which charges a rate of about 150 Chinese Yuan to shuffle from one point to another one way.

There is also a massaging service back in every hotel located at the mountain and it's worth the money to get relaxed for the expert hands to sooth your aching muscles or joint pains after a day's hardwork on top of the world at Yellow Mountain!

                                

“五岳归来不看山，黄山归来不看岳”. There are 5 top famous mountains in China. And it says there is no other need to view the other mountain in China if one has seen these top 5. However, if one has been to Huangshan, there is no other need to see any other mountain! It is renowned as the number one mountain in China for a reason.

                                             

return of the transformer @ yellow mountain?

                                      

villa at a distance…..being tranquil!

more pictures to share here…

one of the few hotel available and located up at the mountain

the weather is ever changing and the scenery changes as well, magnificient!

cable car rides available from the foot of the mountain

Beijing, China (北京)

Beijing, also known as Peking, is a metropolis in northern China, and the capital of the People’s Republic of China. Governed as a municipality under direct administration of the central government, Beijing borders Hebei Province to the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and Tianjin Municipality to the southeast. Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.
北京有着三千余年的建城史和八百五十余年的建都史，最初见于记载的名字为“蓟”。民国时期，称北平。新中国成立后，是中华人民共和国的首都，简称“京”，现为中国四个中央直辖市之一，全国第二大城市及政治、交通和文化中心。北京位于华北平原北端，东南局部地区与天津相连，其余为河北省所环绕。它荟萃了元、明、清以来的中华文化，拥有众多名胜古迹和人文景观，是世界上拥有世界文化遗产最多的城市，每年有超过1亿4700万的旅客。

“On Site” Calligraphy

Great Wall of China. A trip to China is never complete without a visit to this great wonder of the world.

Temple of Heaven

   

bird’s eye view on the forbidden city, or once a forbidden city.

   

stone carving of dragon, deemed to be an auspicious creature in the chinese belief

Jiuzhaigou National Park (九寨沟)

Jiuzhaigou National Park (九寨沟); literally “Valley of Nine Villages” is a nature reserve in the north of Sichuan, a province in south western China. It is known for its many multi-level waterfalls and colorful lakes, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. It belongs to the category V (Protected Landscape) in the IUCN system of protected area categorization.
It lies at the southern end of the Minshan mountain range, 330 km north of the provincial capital of Chengdu. It is part of the Jiuzhaigou County (formerly Nanping County) in the Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of northwestern Sichuan province, near the Gansu border.

on the way from airport to the nine villages….weather was extremely cold as the ice capped surroundings were starting to melt away….making the ground very slippery

one of the waterfall site along the way

water is clean and clear to depth, wind is light, ice is melting and temperature is low….till minus 14 after sunset that could spell trouble for any arthritis suffers.

clear blue greenish water renowned of these lakes

majestic waterfall within the park…….speedily melting away

looks like an ice sculpture…..gift of mother nature!!!

a village situated at the foot of a valley alongside the way to chengdu city

local favourite hot and spicy noodle or called "sad" noodle. literally so spicy that it makes a person tears and that's how it gets its name