Ein Workout der anderen Art-Qingchengshan!
Nun neigt sich auch der Herbst in China seinem Ende und es wird kĂŒhler.
Aus diesem Grund mussten wir einfach noch die Gelegenheit ergreifen einen der bedeutendsten Orte des Taoismus hier in Sichuan zu besuchen. Der Berg Qingcheng war unser Ziel.
Unsere Reise begann um kurz nach 9Uhr. Von der Xipu Station in Chengdu haben wir fĂŒr 10kuai pro Fahrt, 45 Minuten den Komfort des chinesischen Reisens genieĂen dĂŒrfen bevor wir in Qingcheng vom Zug auf einen Bus wechselten. Nachdem wir ein kleines Dorf hinter uns gelassen hatten, erstreckte sich nach wenigen Minuten bereits der Eingang mit einem kleinen Wanderpfad den es fĂŒr die kommenden 4 Stunden zu beschreiten galt.
ZugegebenermaĂen: Der Anfang war noch recht einfach, auch fĂŒr die weniger Wander-geĂŒbten.
Unser Weg fĂŒhrte uns jedoch schon bald Bergauf. Manche der Stufen waren steiler, manche kĂŒrzer als Andere, weswegen man durchaus auf seine nĂ€chsten Schritte achten musste. Die Landschaft die sich uns auf dem Weg bot war nicht nur wunderschön sondern auch sehr idyllisch. Entlang mehrerer WasserfĂ€lle und BĂ€che, an FelswĂ€nden vorbei, ĂŒber BrĂŒcken, Stege und ab und an sogar unter riesigen, heruntergefallenen Felsen hindurch. Qingchengshan bot uns wirklich eine abwechslungsreiche Landschaft.
  
Nach ca. 2 Stunden hatte ein GroĂteil der sich bis dahin aufgespaltenen Gruppe einen der Knotenpunkte des Berges erreicht. Von hier aus stand es einem jeden frei ob er entweder den Weg zu FuĂ, oder mit der Seilbahn fortfĂŒhren wollte. Ein GroĂteil der Gruppe entschied sich tatsĂ€chlich fĂŒr die erste Option, was nichts anderes bedeutete als 2 weitere Stunden Treppen zu steigen. Der andere Teil der Gruppe bevorzugte die komfortablere aber auch kostenintensivere Variante: die Seilbahn.
Am oberen Ende der Seilbahn angekommen ging es dann fĂŒr beide Gruppen auf zur letzten Etappe. 457 Stufen sollten noch erklommen werden bis der âTempel der weiĂen Wolkenâ in 1260 Metern Höhe erreicht war. In Anbetracht der schwindenden KrĂ€fte musste hierfĂŒr zwar nochmal sĂ€mtliche Motivation gebĂŒndelt werden, der Ausblick und das GefĂŒhl es dann doch endlich geschafft zu haben war es aber mehr als wert!
Der perfekte Ort um sich auszuruhen, neue KrĂ€fte zu sammeln und die Aussicht zu genieĂen.
Nun stand uns aber der Abstieg bevor, welcher zwar in weniger Zeit zu bewĂ€ltigen war aber hinsichtlich der bereits mĂŒden und beanspruchten Bein-, Waden-und GesĂ€Ămuskeln nur in geringem MaĂe weniger anstrengender war als der Aufstieg.
In jedem Fall ein Workout der anderen Art! Das perfekte Ausflugsziel fĂŒr jeden der seine Beine und seinen Po in wunderschöner Natur trainieren möchte!
Despite living in Qingdao for 3 months now, I hadn’t actually made it to Laoshan during that time. I’d climbed Fushan, since it is conveniently located 15 minutes from my house, however Laoshan was always a failed trip- somebody was sick, the weather was bad, we would wait until there were more interns… well all the excuses finished when Kristin visited from the Zhuhai office.
We decided late on Friday that we’d like to climb Laoshan that Sunday in an effort to tick one more thing off Kristin’s list of things to do in Qingdao. We didn’t plan the trip particularly well, as usually the interns plan a route, a meeting point and organise a guide, but despite the freezing weather we were up and on the 104 bus to Laoshan at 10 am. We had no idea where to get off the bus, or how long we should be on the bus for, but we settled in for the hour long journey with our wasabi flavoured dried peas and a rather off-putting piece of corn on the cob.
We arrived at the visitor center and got our bus tickets, where we then boarded a bus where we felt slightly out of place in our trainers and hoodies, as everyone else seemed to be dressed for a day at work in suits and high heels. We found three people at the back of the bus similarly kitted out to us (complete with hiking boots and backpacks) and so reassured that we were on the right bus after all, we allowed ourselves to be excited again- especially as the weather had decided to change to sunny and warm despite being the middle of December.
20 minutes later we were at Laoshan, and were met with an amazing sea view surrounded by huge mountains… beside a KFC. Not what we were expecting! But when the KFC is surrounded by trees, a temple, the ocean and a mountain range that stretches farther than the eye can see, you soon forget it is even there. Â We didn’t have a planned route, so we aimlessly made our way past trees branded with QR codes and took in the scenery, which suited us just fine. There was no pressure to follow a route or stick to a plan, so we were free to explore the mountains as we wished and we took our time climbing the steps we decided to follow.
We made our way to a flat, empty expanse of space with only a lone cyclist and his camera for company. While the view was amazing, we didn’t want to stay there all day, so after some poor attempts to translate a sign, we realised we had come the completely wrong direction and made our way back the way we came. We followed more stairs cut into the mountain, which led us to this breathtaking view…
We decided to walk up the mountain loosely in the direction of the cable car, and after witnessing some unique snacks for sale and attempting to explore a river, we found the tea fields. We met one man very eager to tell us all about the tea fields, and understandably so because they were beautiful! I realised how high up we must have been at this point, as the tea on Laoshan is only grown after a certain altitude to stop the plans being damaged by insects. We also stumbled across a dog guarding a temple. We went into the temple and stayed there for a while before heading back down the mountain. The next scenic site we saw was a bridge filled with love locks, and a huge waterfall, which was simply beautiful.
We continued with our aimless wandering past the huge lake and waterfall, and eventually ended up in the car park we needed to get the bus home from. I had  been told our last bus home was at 4 pm, and since we didn’t want to pay for an hour long taxi ride back to Qingdao we decided to rush back to make the last bus.
Despite our poor planning and “see how it goes” attitude, we got to explore a lot of Laoshan. There is simply too much to see in one, two or three trips, but we saw beautiful views, amazing structures and the unique touches the modern world has added to this ancient mountain.
If you want to explore Laoshan for yourself, apply now!
Goodbye China
No way, Iâve been in Qingdao for three months already⊠Time flies as we say. Three months completely disconnected from western countries, entirely immerged in the Chinese culture. Now after three months I will leave China with my head full of memories and amazing experiences!
Since the day I arrived, I was looking forward to go to Laoshan, the famous mountain near Qingdao. Sadly, in January, February and March, the weather was still too cold to consider climbing that mountain, and I was feeling desperate to never be able to climb that mountain. And finally, as the end of my stay drew closer and I resigned to not climbing it, I took part in a Laoshan trip organized by InternChina. After an early wake up at 5 am to get to the bus – Laoshan here we are! Even though the weather wasnât that sunny, I think it was the perfect week end to go to Laoshan (and not because it was my last week end in Qingdao). The temperature was warm enough to take off our sweaters to climb the stairs!
  
 
We went through unofficial trails, in the wild part of the mountain. Thankfully we had a Chinese guide who seemed to know exactly where we were and where we went, he was amazing! And once he even took me by the hand and helped me to climb the stairs (not that I couldnât have done it myself but it was far easier this way). Mid-April is cherry blossom time! A lot of flowers everywhere which gave me the feeling that spring was finally here. After a lot of stairs, I can say that I managed to reach the top of the mountain (or at least the top of the peak our guide led us to), and I am so glad that I was able to do it!
  
When I wrote my first blog, I still couldnât believe I was in China, and now I canât believe I am about to leave it. Three months, itâs short, but I used all the time I had to discover most of the places that have to be seen in Qingdao and to meet a lot of incredible people. I am so grateful towards all those people who made my stay in Qingdao unforgettable. Thank you especially to the InternChina team in Qingdao, for giving me this great opportunity. And of course, many thanks to my host family who has been so nice with me!
Read more blogs here!
It has been some time since our last official InternChina trip. After a busy September and a relaxed October (because of the Chinese national holidays) we came back on track with a small trip to Shaoguan.
The weather was surprisingly friendly towards us. Actually in Shaoguan city it was warmer than Zhuhai itself. Or this could be due to the excitement of finally continuing to explore China and its beautiful nature.
It may have seemed hard in the beginning to wake up at Saturday early in the morning (around 6) but that was soon forgotten. Surprisingly no one complained at all about the early morning! Maybe they couldnât wait for the hot springs. So after a 4, 5 hours long bus ride we were finally in Shaoguan.
First on our list was to have a lunch together and then move in to the hotel. Everything was arranged and we were moving on schedule! Then we were off to the hot springs:
We spent more than 3 hours inside of the hot springs. The water was really pleasant and relaxing. Some of the mini-pools were actually infused with various Chinese herbs or milk which made them feel exotic. Honestly my skin needed this treatment. It felt a little strange since it was the beginning of December. While our European countries were fighting massive floods and snow, we were actually walking around in our swim suits. Definitely a different experience.
After we finished with the hot springs everyone was really starving so we didnât wait for long. After returning to the hotel at around 8 in the night we gathered as soon as we could and went for a restaurant. Food was really deliciousâŠas it is everywhere in China. After a couple of âdinnerâ drinks we were ready to go and explore the small city of Shaoguan! The locals were following us around the city as usual but they were really friendly and managed to help us out to find a proper bar where we could âexperienceâ more of the culture in the city!
I would say the night was a success! After a great game of Chinese dice, stage singing and many beers at around 1.30 we were all in our beds tired but happy.
The next day was all about mountain climbing. We arrived with the bus near the entrance of the mountain road. There were plenty of other enthusiasts going up to the top of the mountain. Waterfalls, huge rocks and small sidewalks paved the way to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately we couldnât reach the top because we didnât have the enough time. After climbing for 2 hours we reached barely the middle so we had to go back!
At the beginning of the afternoon we had to go. No one really understood how much leg pain we will have the next few days but everyone was happy for the trip we made. It was the perfect combination of relaxation, fun and sport.
We would like to thank Paul, Maddy, Henry, Sunny, Manish, Enrico, Fraser, Ralf, Kate, Chris, Jessie, all our Chinese friends that we made and myself for the great trip that we had. Canât wait for the next one!
No matter which area you live in China, there will always be fantastic places to explore nearby. This month, I visited Laoshan ć¶ć±±, a beautiful mountain range around one hour from Qingdao, with a group of friends from InternChina. We organised a minibus to take us straight from the main city centre to the outskirts of the mountain area. With a very eager bus driver, we bought our tickets and took the coach up to the mountains followed by a cable car. There were hundreds of Chinese tourists as well as a few western ones; Laoshan is rated highly as one of the best scenic areas in Shandong province.
Already incredibly high up, there was a set of stairs to the highest viewing point. Getting up to the top was the hardest part of the day. If you are not active/ fit (like me) this is quite a task; I almost gave up at one point but the morale and support from my friends pushed me all the way up to the peak. But itâs like anything in life; you have to put the work in to reap the rewards. After an hour of several breaks and my mini heart attacks, we had made itâŠ
What a sight! Mount Lao is the highest coastal mountain in China and the second tallest mountain in Shandong, with the highest peak (Jufeng) reaching 1,132.7 meters. It also has an ancient history, as it is known as one of the birthplaces of Taoism. It is the place where the Complete Perfection School of Taoism was developed. On reflection you can see why this area has such a rich background with its breathtaking views and serenity.
We were blessed with beautiful weather and the views were spectacular, it really made you realise how big the world is. There was also an amazing wooden bridge overlooking the mountain and all the flowers at the top were in bloom.
Fortunately, the peak doubled up as the best picnic location you could ask for, but we were careful not to drop any crisps as they would be scattered around 100 meters below. And, after all that climbing â I was extremely careful with my Chinese style Pringles. Walking down the thousands of stairs was at least four times as quick. We got the coach back at around 4pm and we all felt exhausted but happy. My friends and I then had a delicious Chinese meal for dinner and went to bed â a perfect day. Itâs great to do an internship with Intern China as these types of activities and events are always organised. If you want to take a trip away to from the city, or want to learn a new skill there is always something for everyone. I recommend anyone who comes to Qingdao or the other cities to go and visit something similar to Mount Lao and enjoy the breathtaking views.
Want to explore China and take in some of these incredible experiences? Apply now for an InternChina programme!
Hey guys,
Itâs Jenny again.
A trip is planned for the weekend.  Some people asked me what can be expected from the excursion site of Xinfeng (æ°äž°ćż) county. Xinfeng county is under the administration of Shaoguan city. First of all I looked up on Google maps how long it would take us to get there. From the InternChina office direct to Xinfeng itâs less than four hours. As we only travel by a coach, that’s how long it would take.
I did some research on the geography of Xinfeng, so that we’ll be well prepared when we get there: Â Xinfeng county has an area of about 2.016 kmÂČ. Shaoguan – to which Xinfeng belongs – is a city in the north of Guangdong province (of which Zhuhai is also part of). Shaoguan is bordering by two other provinces (Hunan to the Northwest and Jiangxi to the Northeast).
Once we arrive in Xinfeng we will have the chance to try many of different dishes, such as the particularly famous tofu, basil ducks, chicken rice and river fish.
âAfter dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile!â  We will continue our journey after a good lunch and with full stomachs. One hour later we expect to arrive at the Sakura Valley, where we expect to be able to appreciate the beauty of falling Sakura blossoms.
As we will be mostly in the countryside, we can have a relaxing evening in Xinfeng while watching the night scene or enjoying hot springs in the jungle mountains.
After a hopefully long and restful night we will have a good, filling breakfast, to arm us for the next hours. We want to hike from the hotel to the foot of the mountain.
We will see a beautiful mountain formation in the so called Tiaojishan Nature Reserve. The highest peak is 1438.8 meters. I’m sure those rock formations will leave us breathless for a few seconds! Once we reached the viewpoint, we will walk to the camp. On the way there we will pass the ‘red earth zone’ along  the stream.
After going through the jungles and stone zones, we will reach the second highest peak of the Cloud Bun Mountain.
During the whole hiking tour we will be able to listen to different kinds of birds, smell the fragrance of the flowers and enjoy the fresh air.
To sum up, I expect this to be a very relaxing trip for everyone – a chance to unwind, feel at one with nature, and to recharge ourselves!
By the way, for those of you who will join us and who already learnt some Chinese, there will be several Chinese people with which you can chat about culture, tips and tricks.
Looking forward to the weekend and I will let you all know, if my expectations have been fulfilled.
Also want to have the chance to see such beautiful scenery and take part in our adventures? Combine your travels with an internship in Qingdao, Zhuhai or Chengdu!
It was one of my last weekends here in China and my host-family planned to go to Emei Shan â Unesco world heritage since 1996 – to show me the beautiful view on top of the mountain.The journey began on Saturday morning at 6 oÂŽclock. We took the bus to get to the city right next to the mountain. Quite early but mei you shijian (no time) because we only had one day to climb up.
Three hours later we arrived at our hotel room which I shared with my Chinese family. Kind of an adventure I thought, but fun neverthelessâŠ
While having a walk we got to a beautiful forest area with hidden temples. One of them – quite interesting and something have never seen before – was run only by female Buddhists.
It took me a while to adjust to the walking speed of my family because my host-mum loved taking photos â of everything and everybody all the time!
InternChina – My host-family and ISo at the end of the day we were exhausted, but still had enough time and energy for delicious Chinese BBQ. It only cost us 16 RMB for about 30 various sticks. One of the things which makes me love China. Well fed and satisfied we fell asleep early as we had to get up again at 6 am the next morning to conquer Emei Mountain.
Because my family isnÂŽt that sporty we decided to take the comfy way: Bus and cable car up to the top! It took us 3 hours anywayâŠ
But even during those few steps we had to take, we saw some cheeky monkeys taking food from tourists, beautiful valleys and a lot of other Chinese people who all tried to catch a photo with me⊠No worries, I got used to that!
chinese monkeyFinally we arrived at the golden summit and got to see the bluest sky – including a sea of clouds – you can only imagine, leaving the Chinese pollution and fog right behind us!
It was so cold that we only could take pictures with gloves on to catch every moment of that perfect scenery. For example, the golden Buddha surrounded by dozen of monks praying for healthiness, money and a long life.
Golden BuddahWe walked around and took pictures as not to forget a single corner of that beautiful area. And of course we had around 20 kg of snacks, soups, noodles and sweets to kill for lunch – which we enjoyed under the sun we hadn’t seen back in Chengdu for the last few days.
View from Emei MountainBut unfortunately we only had two hours up on the mountain before taking the same way back home!
The next time I definitely would conquer that mountain by climbingâŠ
Bye Bye Emei!
Feeling up to the challenge? Come join us for an internship in Chengdu and Apply Now!
Inner Mongolia Trip: 30th of September to the 6th of October
——————————
More information on travelling to Inner Mongolia :
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/searchResult?q=inner+mongolia&facet=origin%3Athorntree_thread
Where to find friends to go with you on an Epic Adventure : https://www.internchina.com/zh/contact/apply
——————————
Hello everyone,
My name is Philippe Touzin and I am the Marketing and Graduate Recruitment Manager for InternChina. I am based in the city of Zhuhai and this is the second part to my blog on travelling to Big Sky Country: Inner Mongolia (China).
Part I:Â https://internchina.com/inner-mongolia-trip-30th-of-september-to-the-6th-of-october-part-i/
Gallery of the Inner Mongolia Trip
2/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province – Grass Plains
8:00am: Breakfast and then we went for a Hike in the grass plains, walked up some hills, saw some Lama Buddhism stone prayer âtemplesâ and flags , herd of horses, sheep and endless plains- we took some photo shoots and then went back to our farm for lunch. The afternoon was Mongolian Bow and Arrow training/shooting session, followed by horse riding.
Â
The horse riding was not part of the tour, and cost 150.-rmb per hour, so we went out for 3hours and rode around with our guides. We all came back feeling like Mongolian Men with sore asses, and the best part was when John Pitts fell of his horse- I didnât get to see the fall, but Max’s description and the thought of it got us all laughing for about 2hours! (John Pitts: Product design/production manager for a design and manufacturing firm that supplies the top MNEâs in the world with highest quality electronic goods/ accessories)
Â
We had a rest and then dinner again (stew of potatoes, mutton, mutton ribs,âŠ) which was cooked by the wife of the farmer- followed by copious amounts of Horse milk alcohol (sour horse milk + extra baijiu!) and beer, and more card games in the yurt.
Baijiu: Chinese alcohol, usualy over 60%!
Â
On our way back from the farm to our yurt, I met the Grandfather/owner (Mongolian name: Nasan Oqir- 70 years old ) of the lands who invited me for some beers together. He was very cool and explained that his father had built this house and his livestock consisted of:
-300 sheep
-60 horses- which he herds riding his motorbike from sunrise to sunset, every day.
-30Â chicken
-2 dogs
-1 cat
-2 rabbits
-and 2500 sqkm of land!!
He wakes up every day before sunrise, rides his motorbike to the neighboring farm (15km) where his best friend lives,… drink some horse milk alcohol together, have breakfast and then gets to work- He offered me a job working for him and honestly it was very tempting!!!
Â
Dulung came to save me before he took out more Baijiu and I returned with him (quite drunk already) to keep partying with my friends. At some point in the night-when we finished all our alcohol, we went out in the plains with all our blankets (temperature: 10 degree Celsius) and lay down to star gaze- Amazing!!
Dulung was quite drunk and passed out, so we ended up having to carry him back to the Yurt, by creating a human King Chair which ended in  a few falls and lots of giggles.
3/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province – Grass Plains
9:00am: breakfast (we had the same staple Mongolian food every morning- Rice with mutton soup + warm horse milk- and some sort of bread)
Spending the morning going for some more walks and then thanking and saying goodbye to the family for having hosted us. When we had first arrived we brought with us a bottle of Famous Old Grouse whiskey, as it is customary to bring a gift when staying with the family- and this was a good present apparently đ
Our car had changed for the last leg of the journey to a normal car, which was fine but meant we were 4 big boys at the back-OUCH- we departed and of we were! But 1hour later we were stopped by the policeâŠthey were not too amused to see 4 people sitting at the back and after we talked with the officers, giving our foreign charm, they agreed to take Dulung to the next village so he could catch a bus and no other problems. The police also decided it was a good time to have a photography session with us- so quite alot of posing and Victory signs later we were off again!! But we forgot to take pics with them also! đ
We had some emotional goodbyeâs with Dulung, our guide. He is our age and our time together was more 5 buddies travelling, laughing and getting drunk together- we still keep in contact using our weixin, and have invited to stay with us in Zhuhai where we would guide him to the local Island!! (next blog? :D)
Weixin / WeChat: is a Chinese app (similar to whatsapp) which everyone uses here in China. You should download it if youâre coming to China!
We arrived in Hohhot at 8pm, tired and exhausted, no showers for 5 days, bodies filled with sands everywhere, un-kept beards and full of amazing adventure memories. Inner Mongolia/become mongolian men/adventure time= Success!
We checked in to the same hotel : Wanli Hotel and had the longest showers in the world. On our way to the rooms we found the room service lady/ her trolley and raided it for extra shampoo and shower gels as we were super dirty! :p
We had a early dinner and then me and Joe went back to the room to sleep-NACKERED-âŠJohn and Max went to a bar called: Seattle Bar- Do Not Go there– they had 3 drinks and donât remember coming home- we are pretty sure their drinks got spiked with drugs as we are all heavy drinkers.
4/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province – Grass Plains
10am wake-up. John had a lie-in but Joe, Max and myself went walking from our hotel to the Great Mosque of Hohhot (where john met up with us). Hohhot was on the old Silk Road and there is a big cultural mix, including a thriving Muslim community. The walk was long but got a good feeling of the city- not much going on- but the Mosque was beautiful and the surrounding area very interesting with street markets and pet markets: they had all kinds of animals and MASSIVE snakes.
Had some good lunch= Big grilled Naan breads with lamb bbq, followed by going to visit Lama Buddhism temples, pagodaâs, old street market and yesâŠwe got more fireworks for our last night in Hohhot!!! The guys were super nice, we were the first foreigners to have gone in their shop so they gave us all the fireworks for free!! We proposed to take pictures so they could print it out and use it as advertisement!
Last Dinner and night life
For our last dinner we had a Meat Fest-6kg of meat between 4 guys- 1 huge lamb leg and a full rack of ribs- It was the BEST Lamb meat we had ever had and we washed it all down with local beer- we ended up having some locals join our able, one of them being the 2nd best Inner Mongolian champion wrestler and a bunch of girls of one who nearly vomited on Max. :p
After this we headed to a Mongolian bar which had live music and local Mongolians drinking- it was fun and good until- the Mongolians got too drunk, one got angry wiped out a mini sword and smacked one of them hard on the head (with the scabbard still on thankfully), then he ran out , came back and slashed another guy on the arm with the scabbard off and then ran out again, this time chased by other guys carrying, not chairs, but tablesâit was shocking but slightly comedic at the same time. I then approached then with Joe and offered to give first aid as IC employees in all offices are first aid trained. They both needed stitches but theyâll be ok.
After that we finished our drinks and decided to go clubbing, found a âBox Clubâ which, I swear, smelled like horses! Club are the same everywhere else in the world and we ended  up drinking / making mates with another Mongolian and coming home at 4am.
5/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province â back to GuangZhou
12:00 get up and check out. We had been eating Mongolian food all week and were hungover so we went to McDonaldâs to set ourselves right. We then kept going with some more tourism by going to tourist shops and buying some small gifts (combs, bracelets,âŠ) for our friends and family back home!
3:00pm return to Guangzhou Airport. On arrival in Guangzhou you can easily take a express bus to the Center of Zhuhai, Gongbei station (last stop). For more info please contact: info@internchina.com
I hope to go back and go into real Mongolia (the country), although the travel and experiences we had felt very authentic and Mongolian. I highly recommend learning some Chinese and speaking some basic Chinese as this way you get to skip all the mass tour groups and discover the Real Inner Mongolia (or chat with Andal guesthouse đ )
Thank you for reading, and please do not hesitate to stop by Zhuhai InternChina office for some tea and stories.
USTRAAAYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
(cheeerrs)
Philippe
More information on travelling to Inner Mongolia :
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/searchResult?q=inner+mongolia&facet=origin%3Athorntree_thread
Where to find friends to go with you on an Epic Adventure : https://www.internchina.com/zh/contact/apply
With May Fourth Square, Marina City, Qingdaoâs Old Town, Ba Da Guan district and the shopping streets Part one of places to show your friends during their visit in Qingdao was all about Qingdaoâs Culture and nice places where you can spend all your money on beautiful things. But Qingdao has a lot more to offer. With its location surrounded by the sea and mountains you and your friends should definitely escape the city for some days to discover the nice area around Qingdao.
Fushan
fushan mountainQingdao is located right on the base of Fushan. A mountain range with an area of 7.5 square kilometres. The main and highest peak is in Qingdao with a height of 384 meters. There are no roads but instead natural trails, meadows and pine trees that guarantee a nice hiking tour to the top. Once you made your way up you will be rewarded with a great view over the city of Qingdao, the sea and the beautiful costal area. Best time to go is definitely in the evening to watch the sunset on top of the city. There is even a little shack shop run by a friendly elderly couple selling snickers and beer⊠amazing.
 Laoshan
laoshan mountainBigger, further away and with lots of culture to offer, you should take a whole day to experience Laoshan. It is the highest costal mountain in China with the peak reaching 1132 meters. But Laoshan has more to offer than just a long hiking tour with a marvellous natural scenery of seas and waterfalls. It is said to be one of the birth places of Taoism and thus a mountain of high significance for the Chinese culture. With lots of Taoist temples and nunneries Mount Laoshan offers more cultural experiences than one could possibly place on one day.
Qingdaoâs beaches
qingdao beach sunsetAfter hiking up two mountains it might be nice to grant your visitors a little rest. Best way to relax in Qingdao is definitely a day at the beach. Since Qingdao has 6 bathing beaches the decision which one to show is not that easy. One of my favourite beaches is Shilaoren beach. It is the biggest beach and outside of the city center. The second one that should not be missed is bathing beach number 2 next to the Ba Da Guan District.
Best way to discover both, spend the day at Shi Lao Ren beach and watch the sunset near bathing beach No 1.
Coffee Street
qingdao coffee streetIn case that is a little too much nature for your friends, take them out for a drink to Minjiang Er Lu â Coffee Street.
With comfy kitsch coffee places next to Italian restaurants and wine bars the coffee street will be the perfect place for your friends to relax after hiking up two hills and discovering Qingdaoâs seaside.
Would you like to explore Qingdao as good as Sandra did? Then apply now for an internship in this beautiful city!
Inner Mongolia Trip: 30th of September to the 6th of October: Part I
Hello everyone,
My name is Philippe Touzin and I am the Marketing and Graduate Recruitment Manager for InternChina. I am based in the city of Zhuhai and this is my blog on travelling to Big Sky Country: Inner Mongolia (China).
For Chinaâs National Day holiday I decided with three friends to brave the masses and travel in China. (1st of October till the 7th of October https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Week_(China) ). This holiday is during one of the infamous Golden Weeks in China. Why infamous? Please have a look at this InternChina blog entry for more info (also tips on other hot potato destinations during Golden Week): https://www.internchina.com/zh/about/blog/2012/10/philippines-during-golden-week/?lang=zh&Itemid=244
Our decision making process on choosing our destination was quite messy and my German colleagues at InternChina (extremely organized and efficient) would have had at least 579’236.5 heart attacks ( đ ) by the end of the trip due to the non-organised / laisser-faire attitude we kept during the trip- which turned out to be Amazing and Perfect for a Adventure holiday!!
We all have very busy jobs, and trips tend to fall down the Priority list, so 2 months before the trip we were going to Japan, 1 month before the trip to Indonesia, next day to Philippines, next day to Malaysia/Borneo, next day to NepalâŠ.2 weeks before the holidays and we decide to go for China due to China being AWESOME and finding out one of our friends couldnât leave China for Visa reasons (oops).
What does this mean? There are hundreds of destinations outside and in China! All with return flights (national and S.E.A flights) costing approximately 2000.-RMB / 240.-Euro/ 330.-USD / 205.-PoundsSterling (high season prices, for low season prices knock off 500.-RMB)!!
For booking cheap flights (using a foreign card in China) please check:
https://www.airasia.com/ot/en/home.page
Next step; where to go in China?- its Golden Week- its busy as hell at every half-popular tourist sites and travelling during the 1st and 7th will be impossible (there a lot of people in china= tourists central).
This is when we decided on Inner Mongolia, where we could find Deserts and Grass plains (green deserts) and hopefully avoid the battalion of Chinese and foreigner tourists. We booked our flights and a hotel for our first night Hohhot (capital of inner Mongolia), and we all decided to meet up a week before so as to plan some moreâŠ.-Germanheartattack#125âŠneedless to say that did not happened.
29/09
/2013- Zhuhai, Guangdong Province
Our flight was very departing very early on the 30th (7:30 am) from GuangZhou airport, so on the 29th we took the Speed train from Zhuhai newly opened fancy train station (just next to the Macau Border) central to Guangzhou South station. This train takes only 1h15 min, and the 2nd class ticket costs 70.-RMB, with first class costing 90.-RMB. You can also buy San Miguel Beer for 6.-RMB! It was a good train ride.
29/09/2013-Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
We had booked a night in a hotel âŠGermanheartattack#-1âŠThe location was 100% based on being close to a Turkish restaurant we wanted to try out, called the Sultan- the food was amazing and our first kebabs in a long time with the hummous, tzatiki, salads, flat breads and all grilled meats! Highly recommend it! We were so full from all the food that we went for a stroll to help us go to sleepâŠ
Sultan (4 people : 5 starters + 4 mains + mint tea= approx. 160.-rmb per person) https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298555-d1006324-Reviews-Sultan-Guangzhou_Guangdong.html
30/09/2013-Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
I had organized t for a wake-up call at 4 am and a Taxi for 4:30am. It took about 45 min to drive to the Guangzhou BaiYun airport (148.-RMB/4pers= 37.-rmb) and after checking in we were on our way to the capital of Inner Mongolia: Hohhot (ćŒć攩çčćž and in Mongolian script see the wiki link)âpronounced: HoHeHaoTe—or as we pronounced it âHohhotisSoHot-
30/09/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohhot
The flight took 2h30min, and at the airport we caught a taxi for the 20min ride to the city center. Be aware Taxi drivers will try and scam you (even with the meter on!), a taxi ride to the city center should be maximum 30.-RMB. Our hotel was very nice and the staff was friendly. They even brought to your room a free yoghurt and brioche every day at 5-6pm for your snack!! đ
Hotel: Wanli International Hotel: Price 282 rmb per night for twin room, so 141.-rmb per person per night: https://english.ctrip.com/hotels/hohhot-hotel-detail-129103/wanli-international-hotel/
We then went for lunch and had a great Meat Fest with Mongolian style dumplings, whilst we discussed our next steps.
We had a general idea as to what we wanted to do in Inner Mongolia: Deserts, Grassplains, horse riding, archery and drinking horse milk alcohol. We also knew that we didnât want to travel with any other foreigners or Chinese, only Mongolians, so we were lucky enough to discover an International Hostel, run by Inner Mongolians, which organized tours! After some intense negotiations we were able to secure a 5 day trip:
-mongolian guide (Mongolian name: Dulung- we became best buds)
-4*4 jeep + driver
-no other tourists
-all transport/food/accommodation (yurts) costs
– visiting Desert for 2 days 1 night/ visiting grass plains for 3 days 2 nights
-camel riding and desert dune surfing = 2115.-RMB per person! đ
Hostel: Anda Guest House: https://www.andaguesthouse.com/index_eng.htm
andaguesthouse@hotmail.com
Hostel Manager, Ms Guan : +86 4716918039 / +86 15947519807
We left the hostel with having organized to meet the following morning at 8am. We had also asked them to write down the name of local Mongolian dishes, so went to a recommended restaurant, ordered them and tried it all! It was good!! Except for the sausagesâŠor testiclesâŠwe are still unsure as to what we ate :s
30/09/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province- Gobi Desert
8:00 am departure from Hohhot in our Jeep and awesome driver. We first headed for the Desert, part of the Gobi Desert, taking the away going West from Hohhot and following a lone mini-mountain range.
After 5hours of driving we had lunch in a small town and this is where we met up with Dulung, our Legendary Mongolian Guide. We also took the opportunity to buy over 150 fireworks and 5 cases of beer in one of the small towns. Usually its illegal to buy fireworks, but Chinaâs national day was the on the following day (1st of October) so all the locals were already going a bit crazy with blowing stuff up, and certainly a few that we bought were a bit dangerous, but theyâre more fun đ
We drove for another 2 hours and then had to change jeeps as we had to drive into the Desert and through the Dunes- AWESOME-
We stayed in Yurts (Ger in mongolian), in an Oasis (bushes and 2 trees) in the middle of the sand dunes, with no other humans (or much living creatures) for many km around us- it was exactly what we were looking for- Our Adventure had begun.
Animals living in this habitat: foxes, rabbits, lots of bugs, birds, wolves,âŠsheep and their herdersâŠin a desert??!
Altitude: 600m over sea level
What followed was a afternoon, of running around sand dunes, wrestling, racing, picture taking, dune surfing on sledges (sitting and standing), jumping of sand dunes and seeing how far we could role and in the process swallow 1 or 2kg of sand.
We learned that 2 small bottles of water each â and 34 degrees celcius- means we shouldnât have done all this running, and pushing each other of sand dunes, as we soon found ourselves very thirsty! But we didnât want to return to the camp yet ( 48 bottles of water, 60 bottles of beer, dinner and fireworks-) as we were having such a good time, so we kept going!
The most tiring activity was when Joseph Fry (internchina graduate intern-now Head representative of a sourcing company in Zhuhai) and I decided to write out INTERNCHINA in the sand dunes. Pick a massive Dune, decide how big the letters were to be and get to it â Dehydrated and 1 hour later we were finally done and Voila!:
That same evening was Dulungâs birthday! So we celebrated Chinaâs and Dolongs birthday together by having a meal in our Yurt, then lighting a bonfire (I lit it with my fire-starter!! :D), and drinking 5 crates of beer and setting off all the fireworks!! It was amazing and the stars were beautiful with such dry air and barely any light pollution!
Night temperature approx: 10 degrees Celcius
Day temperature approx: 30 degrees Celcius
Cheers in Mongolian/ Inner Mongolia dialect: USTRAYA!!!!! (deep manly voice)
1/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province-Gobi Desert and travel to Grass Plains
6am: woke up, hungover and as dehydrated as I have ever been and went for a walk to see the sunrise- it was amazing- no camera and only my memories đ . In the horizon I could see on top of the dunes 7 camels walking, probably tourists checking the sunrise out, but it was a beautiful sight. Went back to tent and passed out.
8am: Dolong had found fireworks that we forgot to light- so you can guess what our alarm clock was- all around the Yurt!! So we were up and about by 8:03 đ
Had breakfast, cleaned up so as to not spoil the nature, and then discovered 8 camels that had been brought for us, we were only 6 with the Camel guy, so 1 extra camels for our stuff, and 1 along for the fun of it. We rode back to where we had left our jeep, met a cool little grandpa farmer who showed us the wolves he had caught!! Over 5 wolves and a cub, this is their ancestral land, and so they come through quite often, however with the tourism industry increase (big tourist Yurt camps on the edge of Desert) they have to catch the wolves./ I didnât ask what they do with the wolves, but knowing china: The fur for clothing/ rug, meat for food, bones for traditional medicine. Some may see this as harsh, but at least they donât kill them and leave them, not one part of the animal goes to waste.
We now drove for 8 hours to arrive to the grass plains, out of desert, followed mountain range, up the mountains to 1680m altitude, and their the Plateau of endless grass plains opened in front of us. It was an amazing sight. There was sleepy little town at the start of the plains, so we stopped by to buy more water and beer, 4 tall Laowaiâs/ foreigners entered the only shop for miles- and quite a few eyes of the locals popped out- you should have seen their faces when we spoke Chinese!
As we had asked not to be with any other tourists and there are lots of big Tourist camps, they had found a Mongolian family who could host us, but they had never been there themselves, so it took us sometimes to find the place!- The funniest part was asking for directions, Imagine this scenery:
And then asking a passing car or herder, and he says: well keep on going straight, then you see the hill turn right, keep on going straight then you will see 3 trees, turn left and continue for a couple of km and their in that area- there are No landmarks making it very hard to give precise directions!
9pm- arrived at our destination, had great warming hearty Mongolian food, followed by drinking games and more beer.
Dulung taught us a game which I can teach you if you want if you come to China- 2-3-5-Joker-7 and that Maxime Dupuis (also an ex intern through IC and now come back for full time employment in Zhuhai with his internship company)- doesnât like it when you tickle his feet when drunk and calls himself Mark (?!? :D)-
Something I havenât mentioned yet is that every night we slept in yurts, on the dirt (or sand in desert), and 5 guys all spooning each otherâand for some reason they all tried to cozy up to me, so every night IÂŽd wake up squished between two guys, sometimes hugging me, sometimes stealing my blankets- letÂŽs just say that I definitely know I am heterosexual after all the touching I went through during the trip đ (even Dulung got involved!) hahaha
Tourist camps: Tourist central with stone made yurts with private bathroom, mass meals and events for everyone, endless pictures and babies running around -HELL NO-
Thank you for reading part I, part II is coming up next week with stories on grass plains and horse milk alcohol. Please do not hesitate to stop by Zhuhai InternChina office for some tea and stories.
USTRAAAYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! (cheeerrs)
Philippe Touzin
More information on travelling to Inner Mongolia : https://www.lonelyplanet.com/searchResult?q=inner+mongolia&facet=origin%3Athorntree_thread Where to find friends to go with you on an Epic Adventure : https://www.internchina.com/zh/contact/apply
Travelling in and around China can be so easy: Just ask our InternChina-team for advise! If you have to leave China after 90 days for your visa for example, you can just go to Taiwan for the weekend. It is cheap and easy to get around there! Apply now for your internship in China and become part of the InternChina community!
- 1
- 2