After spending around 30 hours spent in Tian Shui, we were ready for our train ride from Tian Shui to Xining (西宁), the capital of Qinghai Province (青海). Although I did not spend much time in Tian Shui, I feel like I have entered a more ‘real’ part of China. There were more passengers who were obviously not tourists, but were people on the move. Many of the people were darker and looked tougher, like they really can survive the Northwest, surviving farming on half desert land and its harsh winters. They might’ve been carrying most of their belongings in large rice bags, and they wore cloth shoes and clothes that you don’t see much in Beijing anymore.
The views from the train also seemed real, like what you see in Chinese movies with war scenes, with barren land and sand flying around. The landscape along the ride is truly unique, with short mountains with yellow earth. Most of the ride is along the what I believe to be the Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow River, and the color of the river is certainly yellow.
The ride from Tian Shui to Xining was around 8 hours, and was much more pleasant than my first train ride. The mood of the ride was also very relaxed, unlike the overnight trains where everyone was tired and grouchy. Everyone in the cabin were talking, playing games, sharing snacks, and enjoying the view.
train waiting areatrain station workerYellow River beer
We wandered into the Hu’s Family Mansion (胡氏古民居) after walking around the Pedestrian Street and market area. The family mansion seems to have several names: The Compound of the Hu Family, 南宅子 (South Mansion) and 北宅子 (North Mansion), Tian Shui Cultural Center, all refer to the same place.
My friend Sharon would rave about this mansion nonstop for the next two weeks, mainly because there is no entrance fee. It is pretty ridiculous that even regular temples often have an entrance fee involved. In addition to being free, the mansion is also pretty quiet, and not drowned with tourists like some other attractions.
The mansion was built in the Ming dynasty (明嘉靖年), which would be around the 1500s. The Hu was a prominent family in Tian Shui, with both a father and son holding important government positions. The home belonged to the family throughout the years until it got taken away by the government.
Position of the family
The home was built in a large courtyard style. There is some Northwest characteristics to the home which would make it interesting for those who know more about architecture history.
The delicate decorations of the home
We wandered around the different parts of the mansion, both upstairs and downstairs. You will get to see the beds the family used to sleep on, in addition to their decorations and toys. There are some very well made furniture in some rooms. I was very impressed of the quality of the wood:
A large area which seems to consist of half the home is the kitchen and the food preparation area. There must have been many people to feed in the home, including family members, maids, and more. You will find old cooking tools and the typical chili peppers hanging out to dry.
It is rather interesting to see the old preserved homes and tools, There was even an underground tunnel and room, although I forgot its purpose. Well, why not end with a political slogan painted on the side of the wall.
On our second day in Tianshui, we were to depart in the mid afternoon, giving us plenty of time to explore a sight or two in the morning.
Looking back at my trip, I find that I may have relied too much on some Chinese blog and travel sites like Mafengwo (蚂蜂窝) and Yododo . Actually Mafengwo puts together these great guides for any city you can think of. Plus people post their travel blogs there, which is totally addictive. The problem was that it made me try to plan non-stop in my head; I did not want to miss any attraction, even if it was something that probably did not interest me. I would overthink and try to plan my trip too much, rather than just relax and enjoy whatever may happen.
I didn’t do any research on Tian Shui other than for the Grottoes before coming though. I spent my one night in Tian Shui looking up travel blogs about the city. I skipped the blogs that used too many adjectives, or talked too much about history, because I won’t understand it (My Chinese is not good enough when too many names and dynasties are involved. And if they quote a poem, forget it!) One blog recommended Nanguo Temple (南郭寺), so we decided to go there.
But if I spent some time looking at a map instead of reading people’s blogs, I may have realized that all the other attractions are located in the city center within walking distance to each other, while this temple requires a short taxi or bus ride and is slightly more inconvenient. It actually worked out fine – we spent maybe an hour at the temple, and then had time to visit the downtown area of Tian Shui.
Back to reading too many blogs though. Reading too much makes me feel like I missed certain attractions, like the Fu Xi Temple. But honestly, I have seen so many temples already, at times I wonder if I need to see another temple again, like ever.
Anyway, writing this blog forces me to look through my photos and think of ways to improve my photos. It forces me to learn and reflect on what I’ve seen. So this is what I know about the Nanguo Temple after a brief search:
It is a rare temple that sits in the South and faces North
It is one of the top eight attractions in Tian Shui
Tang dynasty poet Du Fu wrote a poem about the temple in 759AD, which totally adds street cred.
Maybe most importantly, there are two famous old trees at the temple. One tree is estimated to be 2500 years old, and is the 3rd oldest tree in China.I didn’t really read the sign when I was there, so I thought the trees were ‘only’ 1000 years old. But I just found out one of the tree branches is dead (not sure which tree), but in between the dead branch grew a new tree. How impressive! Now I’m so glad we went!
When doing the research, I wonder if we missed a section of the temple. Oh well!
Maybe it was this tree?Is this the tree with the ‘dependent’ tree?
We took a taxi to the temple because if you take a bus, you will have to get off at the bottom of the hill, and then climb up a hill. I remember the fare was not expensive, while the hill is probably at least a 30 minute climb. When you get to the top, the temple does offer a good view of Tian Shui. But the sky was quite smoggy.
My most interesting part of the day was snapping this photo of these sleeping dogs (they look quite like my dog Billy)
And getting to chat with this man below at the temple. He was a worker at the temple and I believe he lived there as well. His job that day (or maybe for the rest of the summer, or maybe his life) was to take out weeds with a screwdriver. Of course that was believable after I saw an old man at a luxury compound in Beijing, cutting the lawn with large scissors.
There were no weeds behind him! He did such a good job!
Actually I did not research much before going to Tian Shui. Now that I’ve been there, and finally looking at a map (3 years after going there), I finally have an understanding on where everything is.
When we took the train to Tian Shui in 2013, the train station is actually located in Maiji district, about 15km East of the city of Tian Shui. There are plenty of stores and hotels around the train station. However, the high speed train was being built and I’m not sure of the location of the new train station.
View from the train station
We spent one night close to the train station. The sun came out in the evening, and it was actually quite pleasant along the river. I am guessing the river is Weihe (渭河), the largest tributary of the Yellow River.
Tian Shui is a small 3rd tier type city in China, and the second largest in Gansu Province, with 3.5 million people. There are actually quite a few attractions in Tianshui in addition to the grottoes. None of the other sites are extra spectacular, but it may make an interesting day for people who want to travel slowly and experience each city. These smaller cities definitely have a much different vibe than Beijing; and the Northwest just feels even tougher, although it is hard to explain.
A sample itinerary of Tian Shui can be as follow:
Half a day at the Maijishan Grottoes. Walking through the grottoes takes around 2-3 hours. For those with the time, the ticket to the grottoes include a visit to a cliff with a temple underneath, and a scenic area.
Part or one full day can be spent in the city of Tian Shui with all the attractions, most of which are walkable to each other:
The Hu’s Family Compound, the mansion of a prominent family that dates back to the 1500s
Fu Xi Temple (伏羲庙), a temple walkable from everything else. The temple was built around the 1480s, and is well known for being the only temple in China with a statue of 伏羲 (known as the ancestor of all of China)
The Tian Shui Museum, located next to the Fu Xi Temple
Nanguo Temple (南郭寺), a temple several km away from the city, that offers a view of Tian Shui.
If I ever return to Tian Shui and decide to slowly travel through the area, I may also consider visiting the following Buddhist attractions that are similar to Maijishan, and were made from the same time period. They are perhaps a 1.5 hour drive West of Tian Shui, and can be visited together in one day:
Wushan Water Curtain Cave Scenic Area (武山水帘洞), which got its name from a cave where the water drips continuously in the winter, and looks like a water curtain. It is known for having the largest outdoor some kind of buddha statue in Asia (露天摩崖浮雕大佛拉梢寺大佛). According to the website, there are also over 100 statues, over 2000 square meter of murals, and one headless dried corpse!?
Gangu Daxiang Mountain (甘谷大像山). There is a really big buddha there.
A walk around Tian Shui
On the second day of our trip, we walked around the Tian Shui city center. Below is from a walk around a market:
Must be a speciality for the area. There were so many choices!
I think this was a crazy guy begging for money. He was singing; everyone was ignoring him, and it was a little weird.
Most of the food offered in Tian Shui seem to be starch based, usually some kind of dough or noodle with spicy sauce. We tried different soup noodles for different meals, which were okay. I love to eat, and usually food is a priority in my travels. But sorry Gansu, not anymore! I would soon realize that there are places where I simply don’t like their food, at all, and Gansu is one of them (even though I didn’t make it to Lanzhou, and I would probably like their noodles). In fact, if I ever have to lose weight quickly, I may consider simply living in Northwest China for a month.
One food that is famous in Tian Shui is called gwa gwa(呱呱?). We went to the Pedestrian Street of Tian Shui, and saw this store that is probably famous for 呱呱. It was early in the morning, but I heard it is quite popular and sometimes sell out:
Eventually we decided to try the gwa gwa at another store later in the day. I believe it is some kind of buckwheat dough with chili oil on it. I didn’t really hate it or like it. Actually, other than the chili oil, I was not sure if it had any taste. The appearance of the food is definitely not going to win any award, but at least I gave it a try.
A not very appealing glob of brown and purplish dough.
The first stop of our Northwest China trip is to visit the Maijishan Grottoes (麦积山石窟) in Tian Shui (天水), Gansu, China.
After our 14 hour train ride, it was a relieve to get off the train, even though we were faced with bad rainy weather. After finding a hotel and washing up, the rain kind of stopped, and we were ready to visit the first site of our visit, Maijishan Grottoes.
Before planning the trip, I have never heard of the Maijishan Grottoes, or Tian Shui. Actually, I barely knew the Gansu province existed. I have only heard of Mogao Cave and Dunhang, which is a place along the Silk Road, and I wanted to go there. Eventually I found out about Qinghai Lake, Gannan, Tianshui, and everything else that are on the way. Considering that Beijing to Dunhuang is around a 35 hour train ride, pretty much a quarter of China was kind of on the way.
You can take bus #34 to go to the Maijishan Grottoes from the Tian Shui train station (the train station is actually NOT in the downtown of Tian Shui, but in the Maiji District). The bus stop is right in front of the train station and stops on the main road. It is an important tourist attraction, so the bus cannot be missed. The bus ride is around an hour.
When you arrive to the Grottoes, you will be at the bottom of the hill. Being China, your bus stop and ticket booth is never close to the actual site. Not only do they charge you to each site, sometimes requiring a ticket for different parts of the site, they also like to build the ticket booth as far and downhill as possible. You can then decide to either walk uphill for 30 minutes or more to get to the attraction, or pay for some mode of transportation to go up to the attraction.
If you pay extra, there is a tourist bus (kind of like trolleys/buses in Disney World) that takes you from the ticket booth to the attraction. Even if you take the bus, you still have to walk up hill for another 15 minutes. There are some stalls selling snacks and trinkets along the way.
A little background about Maijishan Grottoes
Maijishan Grottoes is one of four major Buddhist grottoes in China. The other three being Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Yungang Cave in Datong, and Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang.
The mountain is 142 meters high, and the grottoes were built between 384AD – 417 AD during the late Qin (后秦) period. Addition caves were created throughout the years. More statues and work would be added and restored during the next 15 dynasties.
Maijishan Grottoes was created when Buddhism first spread to China, being one of the earlier caves. Civilians took up Buddhism before the emperors took up the religion, which is one of the reasons why most statues were made from clay, which was a cheaper material for regular people. The red rocks at the mountain are also too soft for making the statues. Currently, there are 221 caves, 7000 sculptures, and over 1000 square meters of murals.
Actually, I only know very basic information about the grottoes from the brochure. But simply looking at the cliffs, wondering how anyone, over a thousand years ago, could carve these piece of art hanging on the side, was amazing in itself.
We didn’t pay for a guide because I figured my Mandarin is not good enough to understand these history and Buddhist terms anyway. I overheard some tour guide explaining how you can compare the change throughout the years, with the Buddhas changing from more an Indian look to a more Chinese look. I did not understand everything, but I did take a bunch of pictures:
Your first view of the grottoes – the East side of the mountainA closer look. The buddha on the right was being repaired.A look from the sideStairs going up to the different caves. It is pretty scary if you are scared of height!
Steep steps. I just need to insert my funny tourist photo of the day. Many Chinese women dress up to go to attractions, knowing there will be lots of photos taken (smart). But they never really choose the most comfortable footwear.West side of the mountain
Among the 221 caves, many are not open to visitors. Some statues are behind screens for protection. And of course, a lot of work needs to be restored, and some are on loan. The most interesting (or photogenic) is this row of bigger statues called the “Seven Buddha Pavilion”:
Look at how angry he still looks, over a thousand years later!
Other caves that you can peek into
A kind of funny photo of the Buddha and Mao all around her
There were some interesting people watching experiences too. There was the security guard who insisted on taking a picture for me (probably just so he could play with my phone). I ended up with a 10 minute long video of me looking very uncomfortable, not looking at the camera at all, with the guard shouting “Don’t look at your phone! Look away!”. That actually would’ve been a smart line to use maybe if he was trying to steal my phone?
We spent around two hours at the grottoes. Our entrance ticket also include entrance to a hike to some mountain. We never really understood what was included or how to get there, so we left, satisfied with what we saw on this first day. Upon research, it seems that the other attraction that is included is called 天水仙人崖, some cliffs with a temple underneath, 15km away from the grottoes. It can be reached by the tourist bus or taxi. Oh well, maybe next time.
A little back story. Other than seeing Sharon’s family, one reason why we went to Xing Tai is to pick up Sharon’s nephew along for the trip.
I met Sharon when I was living in Beijing, where she worked as a nanny. She was young and naive, maybe 22(?), was nice, energetic and loves kids. For someone with her background (from a village close to a 3rd tier city, and very young), she had traveled quite a bit. I believe some of her previous employers took her to Australia, Hong Kong, and other places, so she really wants to bring her nephew along and show him the world.
That sounds great on paper, but I kind of wonder why she thinks any 10 year old would want to go on our trip. My own kids and husband definitely won’t want to go (actually if we were still living in China, I can make my family go. It will just be a more luxurious and relaxing version than what I’m about to experience for the next few days).
First of all, Sharon’s nephew has to hang out with adults. Our plan is to go to Gansu and Qinghai, some of the poorest provinces in China. It would be great for my kids to experience it. But for a kid living in a village, won’t he want to go to a big city, watch a 3D movie and go to an amusement park? Second of all, Sharon does not have the money for plane tickets, so we will be taking the train the entire trip. And that is A LOT of train and bus rides.
14 Hour Overnight Train: Xing Tai to Tian Shui (天水)
Things may be a little different now, but when we took the trip in the summer of 2013, you could buy Chinese train tickets only either 14 or 21 days (I forgot) before the actual trip. Even though Sharon went to book tickets on the first day they became available, all the soft and hard sleepers were already sold out. What we had were hard seat tickets. That sounds bad, but there are worse – some people will buy standing room tickets for the 14 hour ride, and sometimes even for 30+ hour rides.
If I have to go on the same trip now (2016), there are high speed rails serving most of the route if not the entire route. If I were to travel again, I will definitely take the high speed train. However, many of the other passengers I saw may still be taking the regular train:
I will end up taking three 10+ hour hard seat train rides. I think the overnight trains are always more crowded because everyone is thinking they will save one day and sleep on the train. But hardly anyone sleeps well, and everyone is very grouchy by 3am.
Some people are stuck buying standing room tickets because the hard seat and the sleeper tickets are sold out. But most people buy the standing room tickets simply to save money. Currently the hard seat ticket for Xing Tai to Tian Shui is 141.5 quai, or around $23, which is still a lot to some people. Sometimes a group of 3-4 people will share one hard seat ticket with the rest of the group buying standing room tickets. They will just all rotate seats during the trip. Or they will just squeeze two people in one seat. On my next train ride I would meet two students on a 40 hour train ride, going home from university, sharing one seat. I don’t think those people will be paying for the high speed train if they can help it.
During the less crowded trains, the standing room ticket holders will just take whatever empty seat that is available.
The hard seat on these Chinese trains are quite hard. The seats are completely straight up and are not tilted backwards at all.
Here are some photos from my first hard seat train ride
Beginning of the ride. People were still standing, although the air conditioning did not seem to workBeginning of the tripAn hour into my ride. See the man who was standing in the last photo? He is now sitting down. There is a reason why they sell cheap folding chairs outside the train stations.A while later, you see that man who was standing has now decided to sleep on the floor.
As the night wore on, people stopped standing and many started sleeping on the floor. There was no room on the overhead bin for my luggage, so I had to put my bag on the floor. Since people always scare me by telling me people steal things on the train, i wrapped one leg around my bag the whole trip, believing it will be safer.
Not that I could really move my legs. An older man started sitting on my bag, which meant he was sitting on my camera lenses for hours. I couldn’t really tell him to move since there was no room. Plus in that situation, you feel so fortunate simply just having a seat. Eventually he started to sleep on the floor right under my seat, his head right next to my foot, while another lady slept on the floor next to my other foot. And I still wrapped one leg around my bag the whole 14 hours and did not move a bit.
Luckily I decided not to eat too much before the train ride, and didn’t even drink after I got on the train. People who were trying to go to the bathroom took 30 minutes just to walk through a carriage. Later I heard the bathroom actually had a broken door, so people had to spend 1-2 hours just to walk to the farther away bathroom and back.
Despite all that, I actually slept quite a bit. And I will continue to have decent sleep during the rest of my train journeys. I guess I really can fall asleep anywhere.
It would explain a lot that according to this article, Xing Tai (邢台) is the most polluted city in China. The major industry in the area is coal, and I saw many trucks with coal around.
Being summer, the air did not seem too bad since nobody was burning coal for heat. However, the city looked very gray. It was cloudy and raining the whole time I was there, so you can blame the weather. But the pollution was very obvious when we went to visit Sharon’s brother’s modern apartment.
According to them, the apartment was only 6 months old. I was quite excited to visit their new apartment because I really wanted to shower and use the Western style toilet. In their old courtyard home, they have the squat toilet that does not flush (I suppose someone remove their sewer once a week, maybe when they deliver the new water). The toilet also requires you to walk outside through the courtyard, and I was simply too lazy to use it if I could manage. I also really didn’t know where anyone showered, because I washed my face and brushed my teeth right in the middle of the courtyard.
When they parked outside their apartment though, I was confused by the gray, dirty building in front of me. The building was three story tall, and very gray, but was obviously white at one point. Some buildings in China seem to age quickly, but nothing should age this fast in 6 months. From the outside, their building looks at least 10-15 years old, and not newly built like it should.
Not only was their 6-month old apartment gray. Other buildings that haven’t yet been completely built were already turning gray.
The inside of the home was nice and new, and I did get to enjoy my use of the shower and toilet.
A Quick Drive
Given how gray and gloomy the village is, we took a drive maybe 20 minutes outside, which turned out to be quite lovely. I think there was some other interesting place that we could visit, but due to the rain we could not go.
Anyway, we drove around to some hills and creek among farmlands, and Sharon’s family decided to take a hike.
The area is known for producing these red rocks. I believe there are villages with homes and roads built from these rocks. Unfortunately I did not get to visit.
The area was pretty, but I remember being a little annoyed at this short two hour excursion. I was kind of sick of walking in the rain, and in order to walk across the creek, I knew my only pair of non-croc shoes would smell and stay wet for the next few days. Looking back (and it will be more obvious in future posts), I really should’ve eased up a little.
Signs along the hill
We also saw many sunflower fields. Driving along the road, we saw some beekeepers. We will see many more beekeepers during the rest of the trip. They are like herders in a way, following the flowers all year round depending on the season.
Home for the bee keepers. They even have solar panels and satellite dish
After our hike and drive, we ate a meal at a local farm, where they raised their own fish, chicken, everything. It was quite popular, being located in the middle of nowhere. Tonight will be our first big train ride to start our trip.
To start my summer China Silk Road/ Gannan/ whatever is on the way journey, I began by taking the high speed train from Beijing to the hometown of my travel companion, Sharon, early in the morning. Xing Tai (邢台) is a place (city? town? It is not big by China’s standard, but it does have a population of 7 million) in Hebei province, and around a 1-2 hour away from Beijng via high speed train.
Like many other Chinese high speed train stations, and buildings in general that try to impress, the Xing Tai train station is large but impractical. The entire exterior of the train station, extending all the way out to the bus stop, is tiled with marble or something similar. It was raining heavily when we arrived. Due to tiles none of the water drains, and the marble is slippery especially when you have to run to your bus.
Luckily without falling, Sharon and I got on the bus for her village, around 1 hour away.
Sharon’s Village
I suppose Sharon’s family live in a typical Chinese village. It is close enough to Xing Tai and Bejing that it is not too rural, and is probably considered middle class, if such category exists.
They live in a typical courtyard style home, with three building structures surrounding the courtyard. When we arrived, we are greeted by her parents, one or two siblings, and a bunch of kids. After resting and lunch, we took a walk around the village.
Road to happy homes
I don’t want to brag, but I probably have better handwriting than this!
The village is a meandering of pathways that leads to other homes and small farm plots. I took pictures of a few abandoned buildings, but most of her neighbors’ homes seemed to be in good repair. I’m not sure if any of her neighbors still farm for a living, but most keep their own plot for their own vegetables and raising their chickens.
A short 10 minute drive from Sharon’s home is the downtown area of her village. That’s where the bus stop is, and various typical Chinese stores and ads:
We actually spent an hour or two there because Sharon’s brother owns a cell phone store. Chinese people really like to hang out at each other’s stores. I didn’t mind because I always found small towns quite fascinating. Maybe one day in the future I can visit different villages in China to get a better understanding of how people are living. But for now, my only observations of Sharon’s village are:
Sharon’s home has electricity and several TVs, but no running water. They get a huge container of water delivered to their house once a week.
Despite the lack of running water, Sharon’s family is definitely not considered poor in China. They eat quite well. They have a car and a store. In fact, they have a new modern apartment just five minutes from the downtown area, which has running water, air conditioning, nice bathrooms, satelite TV, washer, etc. They just haven’t bothered to move there. They took me there to shower, and I was probably the first person to shower there because they didn’t even have towels around. I don’t even think they figured out how to use the washer yet, but instead still handwash their clothes.
With the one child policy, all her siblings seem to have 2 or 3 kids? Maybe they only care in the city? I have no idea if they are considered a city or a village hukou
Having lived in Beijing for a few years, Sharon does lament the small mindedness of people from her village. I suppose Xing Tai is the city center of the area, where I saw several shopping malls while on the bus, but Sharon’s family may only go there twice a year. She ran into girls from her high school who are already married with kids. All her siblings’ marriages seemed to be arranged, and the couples looked quite happy about it. It is not arranged marriage in a bad way – they probably just did not meet anyone in high school. And once they turned 20 their parents just took care of all the dating needs and found them someone.
For now, this sums up my first day of my trip. Probably in future posts, I will sprinkle in little rants I have about Sharon (and maybe my other travel companions). I remember sleeping really early, probably tired from waking up early and standing on the crowded bus while pretty wet from the rain.
Stumbling on FIRE 