Chengdu Mix Hostel

It's been a month past since the earthquake occurred in Wenchuan, some 100 km away from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. We fortunately experienced almost no damage in city, but those small counties in mountains were not that lucky, the mag8.0 is the strongest earthquake the new China ever came across which cause huge casualty.

The life in Chengdu city has come back to normal after a short panic, and this is the first time the people living in Chengdu experienced the earthquake, many of them when earthquake wave was passing Chengdu didn't believe that was earthquake, some thought it was a heavy truck passing by, or a new construction project carried on closeby. My friend's wife was going to bank to withdraw some money, when she just arrived in bank, suddenly she saw people running out, her first re-action was "BANK ROBBERY"!

My friends in Beijing who are running hostel told me that many travelers skipped Chengdu to other places which far away from earthquake epi-center, but here I would like to clarify that Chengdu, is as safe as usual, and the most of tourist places in Sichuan remain complete.

Except of going to the places such like Jiuzhaigou and Songpan, rest of tourists spots such like Panda Breeding Center, Leshan Giant Buddha, Mt.emei shan as well as Bamboo sea park are still open to the tourists. Why going up to the north of Sichuan is difficult is because the road was blocked by the landslide caused by earthquake, but people are now working on clearing up the road as soon as possible, so soon tourists can use this road to get to north of Sichuan again.

However, it doesn't mean that you can not go to Jiuzhaigou or Songpan as you still can choose to fly there which relatively more expensive than taking the bus.

First of all I should say thank you for all of you who pay concern to the Sichuan Wenchuan Earthquake disaster and Mix Hostel. Mix guests, staff, hostel, Chengdu city is still SAFE AND SOUND! Chengdu city has come back to normal after a short-time chaos caused by the aftershocks from Wenchuan area.

After earthquake occurred, hundreds of thousands of volunteers from Chengdu and national wide with more than 100,000 Liberation Army and international rescue workers (so far they are Japan, Russia and Korea) have gone into the earthquake-hit area, race against time, wish them discover and rescue as many as possible the earthquake victims. God Bless Them!

Following are some of the photos from the relief efforts in Mix Hostel.

As one of the greatest discovery in 20th century of China, "Jin Sha" has welcomed its one year anniversary since it's opened to public in 2007.

Actually I've already written something about this museum in the previous blogs, and by far, the only museum in Chengdu that I would like to recommend. The admission is 80 RMB, it's a bit over-budget for some travelers, but really, if you like museum, this place should not to miss.

With more than thousands of visitors have admired in "Jin Sha Relic Museum" for its mysterious history and background, now, "Jin Sha" is ready to declare as a natural heritage from UNESCO.

I wish "Jin Sha" successfully grab a seat in UNESCO's Natural Heritage list, and welcome more and more people come to witness this pride of Ancient Chengdu.

I had actually checked the weather forecast 4 days before, yesterday was a perfect day for going out. With Mix's foreign guests climbing team and Mix's staff climbing team, we set off to Luodai Hakka Town in the morning.

Luodai Hakka town is one of the Hakka people's inhabited area in China, and according to the Hakka people's saying, Hakka culture and the language preserved perfectly in Luodai here instead of south China.

Actually Hakka is not a national ethnic minority, they are Han Chinese Gypsy whom retreated back to isolated Sichuan basin when China widely had wars lunched by those warlords back to hundreds of years ago. They came to the "Land of abundance" and settled down, and stayed gather around with the people from the same hometown. Thus on the old street of Luodai there are four assemblyhalls which are respectively "North Sichuanese's Assemblyhall", "Cantonese Assemblyhall", "Hunanese and Guangxinese's Assemblyhall"  and "Jiangxinese's Assemblyhall".

Where we are going to climb is a wall built on the mountain some about 10km away from Luodai Hakka Ancient Town. When bus reached to the start point of the wall, the air became more fresh. Local government built this wall aimed to provide a fast way for Buddhist pilgrim to get to the top of the mountain, the end of the all, where a 2000-year old "Golden Dragon Temple" can be found. Though this temple is a small scale one, but it never effects the passion of the Buddhist pilgrims spent plenty of time to climb through a dirt path before the wall was completed.

Why I call it "Great" Wall, because it looks exactly like the "Great Wall" built in north China, only the scale is comparatively smaller. In March, the Peachblossom  , Pear tree flowers as well as rape flowers are thoroughly blooming around this area, so here is also a famous area for local Chengdu people come to go for a walk in Spring.

Wall stretches 1.6km from the foot of the mountain to the top, for Mix's Foreign Guests Team, this wall can be done in roughly 40 minutes, but for Mix's Staff Climbing Team, specially for our cooks, whom spent days in front of gas stove, this wall is definitely a challenge. But no matter what, all of us eventually reached to the top, and cooks even preyed for a good year in front of the Buddha statue in Golden Dragon Temple.

We walked down the mountain through the old dirt path passed by a dense forest which is nice. And we had a lunch in a "Nong Jia Le" and served 12 dishes and 1 soup. It was a big lunch.

It is said the vegetarian has very much good temper, but sometimes may not! After one of our guests got bite by PANDA, lately a Dutch traveler got bite by HORSE!!!

It sounds really ridiculous but it did happened. In Chengdu's Panda Breeding Center, there is a very popular program that visitors can take a photo with Mr/Miss Panda. Most of visitors are very cheerful, cos this is gonna be an absolutely show-off picture back home to their friends, in another hand, Breeding Center is happy also cause it is a quick way to increase the daily income (Maybe part of the money runs into the protection of this nearly distinct animal). Maybe at that moment the losing-temper Panda was just as a Dutch lady said he/she might suddenly fell the identity-criss? "I'm a Panda?", "I'm not a Panda", "I'm a vegetarian?", "I'm not a vegetarian?" YES! I'M NOT A VEGETARIAN!!!

Definitely the horse in Songpan has same problem, or maybe back to thousands of years ago, the Horse is actually a meat eater. Anyway, it warns us that even the most lovely animal could be the danger.

Travel safe!
Mix

Honestly, I don't like Hotpot at all though I'm a local and brought up in Chengdu for more than 30 years. Usually apart from "HOT", there is nothing left in terms of the taste, no matter what kind of food you dropped into the wot. Also, it's hardly to find a Hotpot restaurant (Not Chuan Chuan Xiang which can be widely found at streetside across the town) that is not closed inside a room, the smell of the Hotpot will be on your cloths for weeks, and only can be removed by washing, which is not that pleasant thing. Chengdu people, however, mostly, put it in their favorite food list, specially the girls from Chengdu whom love the spicy things most.

But, yesterday I found a FISH HOTPOT restaurant not far from the "Carrefour Supermarket"  near hostel, I have to say, this time, this HOTPOT thing finally differs from others.

The spicy soup in wot is quite mild in terms of the spicy standard, and for Chengdu locals, that is not spicy at all. The great part of this restaurant is that they have seats no only inside the building, but also have it in the garden outside which makes it a perfect place to have a Hotpot (Open air, quite chilling, and atmospheric).

The main course is fish, so you need to order fish first, it's based on catty (equals to 500 grams). You will be asked to the fish-vat to choose one, then they will weight it before start the process of brewing a fish. ( will the spices, brewed beans and something that i cannot tell)

We had a 3 catties fish which is quite big, with some snacks this dinner made us very full, they offer fresh orange juice as well, it's fresh, but a little bit watering. Fish meat was so tender, you even don't need to carefully chew it before swallowing. The sauce dish is the highlight of Fish Hotpot, with the red chilly pepper, salty kohlrabi, dry soybean, parsley and other stuffs as well as the soup from the Hotpot, It's very delicious (Pretty rich flavor left on your tongue).

This hotpot is located in "GOLDEN HAWAII 金色夏威夷" commercial block at the end tip of the first floor, the restaurant name is " Tuo Jiang Yu Fu 沱江鱼府".

Tip:
1. There are different kinds of fish ready in the vat for eaters to choose, I recommend the “Qian Yu 黔鱼”which comes with less fish bones inside, easier for those who see eating fish a challenge.
2. Usually the fish will be done in Hotpot in 10 minutes, but some might require longer time, ask waitress for details.

t's gonna be another peak time for buying  a train ticket again as it's time for those who came back for festival to go back to work. So, the long queue can be seen again, waiting in train station for a ticket for many hours is not extraordinary. And moreover, if you want to buy the train ticket to Beijing and Shanghai, you have to jump on a bus to "International Exhibition Hall" in "Shawan" and buy ticket there. It makes things more complicated! What a mess-up thanks to the large number of population in China...

My suggestion is, to fly. Or leave after Spring Festival, i mean not exact the day of the end of spring festival as it would impact for couple of weeks...

How many Spring Festival Events are carried on in Chengdu in Spring Festival?
1. Fire Dragon Dance in Huang Long Xi.
2. Temple Fairs in Wenshu Monastery's neighborhood near hostel and in Wuhou Temple in southwest of downtown.
3. Flowers exhibition in People's park near Mao Statue.
4. Lantern Fair in "Ta Zi Shan Park" in east of Chengdu.
5. Hakka Culture Festival in "Luo Dai"- Take bus 33 near hostel to "Wu Gui Qiao Bus Station", change a bus to "Luodai" which takes less than 1 hour and you can come back in same day.

For detailed schedule, find it from hostel's NOTICE BOARD.

Enjoy your stay during the Spring Festival!
Happy New Year!

I went to Huang Long Xi last year just for "Fire Dragon Dance".

Actually I knew this dance long time ago, but i never saw it in real until last year. It usually starts at 20:00 in the evening, begins with lion dance, Sichuan opera, a bit acrobatic shows, they keep "Fire Dragon Dance" in the end as a highlight on this show.

It was impressive dance, dragon dancers held the sticks which supports the long dragon, and they waved the dragon up and down in crowds of people. And the audiences all bought the fireworks and all of them just fired to dragon dancers, and dragon dances shuttled back and forth in crowds, and seems they didn't care about the burning on their skin at all! The dance lasted for about half hour, finally they used a special way to end up the show.

How to get here:
The best way is to hire a small van to taxi if you want to come back in same day as there is no public transport available for tourists after dark. But, there are many hotels in Huang Long Xi old town, for a standard room the usual cost is about 120 RMB.

The budget way:
Take bus from "Xin Nan Men Bus Station", buy ticket to "Huang Long Xi". It's only about roughly 30 Km south of Chengdu. Then come back to Chengdu the next day.

For this year, the show starts from 7th of Feb to11th of Feb, every evening.

P.S: If you can rent a bike in Huang Long Xi, it's quite enjoyable to cycle in countryside.

This is already the third year that we celebrate the spring festival in hostel with guests from all over the world. It's always fun to have dumpling party in hostel as all the travelers really enjoy it. But in Spring Festival, we have a little bit more has to offer-FIREWORKS!

Spring Festival Dumpling Party started at 18:30, they all came down, and hostel staff moved the table and put them together a big table for making dumpling, while others came back from town for dumpling party.

As always, mix's residents used many wired ways to show their dumpling making skill, though not every dumpling looks like a typical dumpling, but in general, this time, they did great job, no dumpling like "Pyrimid", "Tofu cube" or "smiling face".

We bought some duck and chicken dishes with Chinese traditional "Baijiu", after "Dumpling Ceremony", we all handed up the cups filled in with "Baijiu" and bottom it up to cheer the "Chinese Spring Festival Eve".

Since to set fireworks within 2-ring road became forbidden, i had to drive out of 2-ring road to look for fireworks. We bought many near the "Sichuan Normal University" and after having dumpling, we all went to riverside to set fireworks while Chinese backpacker girls were watching Spring Festival Show in hostel and definitely they quite enjoyed it.

It's kind of dangerous to set firework in improper way but British guys seemed not scared at all, they set the crackers by holding in hand, and when it was exploded on their hand they were just excited, I said to myself fortunately the fireworks i bought were not those powerful kinds, otherwise... Anyway, we enjoyed a night of dumpling and fireworks together in this traditional festival.

They are: USA, GERMANY, SINGAPORE, THAILAND, KOREA, PAKISTAN and FRANCE. And Philippine, Spain and South Africa is likely to set up their consulate in Chengdu soon...

The direct flight from Chengdu to Osaka (Japan) is going to lunch in the end of March according to Chengdu local Tv News.

If you still have extra time and want to see Chengdu in all different angles, you may check out "Nong Jia Le", a name probably you can only hear in Chengdu-commonly regarded as a city for leisure-though I don't think pretty much so.

"Nong Jia Le" can be literally translated as "Farmhouse" and "Happy" where local Chengdunese happily spend time on weekend with their family by playing province-wide game "Ma Jiang", drinking tea, enjoying healthy food grown up from relatively unpolluted countryside, locals like to forget city for a while in a place not far away from city.

The biggest "Nong Jia Le" area that I'm going to tell you is located at outskirt of Chengdu some about 10 km east of downtown, most of people drive there but "no-cars" can also catch bus at "Jiu Yan Qiao九眼桥", sure, Taxi is another option.

This large "Nong Jia Le" area used to be farming land occupying more than 620 acre, but by selling the crop can be very difficult for people living in rural area to increase their income, so about 4 years ago when local government tried to boast the tourism economy, here became an experimental field. Farmers stopped farming, instead, they converted their houses into guesthouses, restaurants, tea houses as well as the flower planting base-the demand of flowers in market is getting higher, and It's certainly more profitable than selling crops.

Go there when weather is good, see hundreds of people playing majiang together under the shadow of trees or a farmhouse's courtyard, take a walk on ridge of field, specially in spring time, when flowers is booming.

It's also perfect to ride there by bike.

P.s: This large "Nong Jia Le" area is consisted by two "Nong Jia Le", one is called: "Xing Fu Mei Lin 幸福梅林" and another one "San Sheng Hua Xiang 三圣花乡". You can find buses head there at "Jiu Yan Qiao 九眼桥".

Just shortly stopped for couple of days, the cold air from north again coming back and attacking most of north and middle area of China. I opened the window this morning and found heavily snowing rarely occurring, and according to weather forecasting, snowing is gonna be last for at least 3 days.

The roads connect to Gansu and Shaanxi, from Chongqing to Guizhou have temporarily closed due to the frozen dangerous road, just in case you guys are going to travel by bus in those area, check out the latest weather condition before you go. But of course, it doesn't effect train, and by now, the safest way to travel around.

According to the radio morning report, most of highways have re-opened again, but from Chongqing to Guizhou is still suspended.

It's perfect time to see snow now in near by mountains now!

In previous posts, I suggested those who want to get to Cambodia to fly from Chengdu to Siem Reap, I tried on November but was told that flight had been suspended, and hopefully to be started again after spring of 2008. So, now travelers have to jump to Kunming to catch the plane to southeast Asia. However, if you insist to fly, you can still ask travel agency to arrange air ticket to Siem Reap, but need to transit in Kunming. And that's what I did.

In China's old sayings, "A Snow Year, A Rich Year", specially in Chengdu, a place hardly to have snowing, this year in early 2008, we had 3 days snowing continuously though not as heavily as in north.

Chengdu has long been a winter resort for locals and people from southwest China as the mountains surrounding Chengdu are pretty high, and every year, around this time, there must be some mountainous area snowing and some places quite heavily.

West and north Sichuan Plateau are not to be mentioned as some area have already been block by snow storm particularly  where the altitude over 3000 meters high. Meanwhile, some low altitude mountains close to Chengdu comfortably offer tourists a place to enjoy the winter activities or just simply enjoy the "white world". The best places are following (might be most crowded during this time):

1. Qing Cheng Mountain. A famous Taoist mountain west of Chengdu, 40 minutes ride, the closest place that Chengdu locals can see the snow.

2. Mt. Emei. about 2.5 hours ride south of Chengdu, there is a skiing ground opened to tourists during the winter. Also, a famous Buddhist mountain to climb.

3. Snow Mountain Xiling. Less than 2 hours ride, west of Chengdu, has long been the famous winter resort for Chinese. At the foot of mountain, there are many hotels built on the hotspring site, so enjoy a whole day long winter activities on the top of mountain, then back to hotel, relaxing in hotspring pool in evening that's pretty enjoyable. (Could be extremely crowded during this time).

Most of travelers head to Ulaanbaatar via Beijing, but you can also do it through Hohhot.

I got my Visa to Mongolia from Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia, northwest of Datong, Shanxi Province. It took roughly a week (Price was 650RMB, but it may be different depends on how fast you want to get it)through a travel agency (Mobile phone number: 13366278902). Travel agency bought me a train ticket to Zam Uud, the border town of Mongolia where i should upgrade my train ticket to Ulaanbaatar city.

Train arrived in Erlanhot next morning, the border town of China where the train bogies required to change in order to adopt the railway of Mongolia side. It takes about 6 hours. Meanwhile, we left train station, and checked in a hotel near train station, had a shower and breakfast. Train attendant suggested us to come back on train about 3 O'clock in the afternoon, so we took a taxi to a market where we can change the money (0479-7561638 phone number of the money exchanger in that market). It was 1 RMB for 147 Tugrik, I changed 3000 RMB, very quickly I became a rich man lol. Then I walked around the market, it is a big market, I met several groups of Mongolian people are bargaining in this market while some others are having business negotiation.

After check-out at hotel, we slowly walked back to train station, custom gate was still closed, so we had to wait for a while. After the custom checking, we came back on train, but for some reason the train didn't move until 6 O'clock around the evening. Finally the train moved, Mongolian custom staff started to check our Visa and bags on train, I saw a train attendant tried to hide some fruits boxes under the aisle, there are some spaces, i assume they didn't want custom staff saw that for some reason. Train stopped again in Zam Uud after 10 minutes, another turn of waiting. Train attendant found me to ask for ticket-upgrade, I forgot how much in tugrik i paid but not too much. Afterwards attendant gave us a cup with couple of bags of tea, we didn't use it at all but we were asked to pay for that (about 10 RMB/per person). Some people walked out for food, some just took a walk. I don't suggest you to walk far from train as one of my friend later got robbed by a group of Mongolian young guys outside the platform.

Another overnight train. Train arrived in Ulaanbaatar train station next morning about 12:00, platform is full of people, watch out the thieves around, and there are some cases that single female travelers got robbed. Many cars parking outside the platform, which is an unique thing in Mongolia that any car you see in the street could be taxi, because most of them do not have TAXI sign on the top of the car. The best way to get rid of the hassle in train station is to book the room ahead and most of guesthouses in Ulaanbaatar provides free pickup service.

Tips:
1. Prepare fruits and food for this long journey
2. Don't drink too much water when you come back on train in Erlanhot, cause you'll get locked on train for many hours without toilets available on train.
3. Robbery could happen in Zam Uud stop, don't leave far away from the train.
4. Book room ahead and ask for free pickup cause it's not quite safe near train station.

Thai Consulate, American Consulate, Korean Consulate and German Consulate.

After Chengdu lunched the direct flight to Siem Reap, now travelers can find direct flight from Chengdu to Manila, the capital of Philippines from next month. Since more and more direct flights lunched in Chengdu, traveling to Asia and Europe became easier day by day.

In China, thousands of bears live a life of torture on bear farms. The bears are “farmed” in order to extract their bile. Bears are confined in cages which vary in size from agonisingly tiny "crush" cages to slightly larger steel crates, all of which cause terrible physical and mental suffering. In addition to their captivity torment, the bears are subjected to painful & cruel methods of bile extraction that involve crude surgery to implant a steel catheter into the abdomen or the creation of a permanent hole in the abdomen known as the "free-dripping" technique.

Many bears die as a result of the unsanitary surgery and those that survive spend the rest of their lives suffering in extreme pain and depravation.

The Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus Selenarctos) is most impacted by the demand for bile acid - ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). This species of bear is more commonly known as the Moon Bear due to the beautiful yellow crescent on its’ chest. They are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Appendix I, the most critical category of endangerment. These bears are both trapped in the wild & bred in captivity for exploitation on the farms.

Bear bile is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, leading Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors now agree that it can and should be replaced by herbal and synthetic alternatives that are cheaper, more effective and readily available. So in addition to the inhumanity, the initial rationale on which this industry was built is no longer valid.

China Bear Rescue Centre

The China Bear Rescue Centre came in to being following the signing of an unprecedented agreement with the Chinese authorities in July 2000 to free 500 farmed Moon Bears. The sanctuary was established north of Chengdu. The China Bear Rescue Centre is an inspiring and exciting facility that gives the bears everything they were denied on the farms: health, freedom & happiness. These happy & healthy bears have tasty food, the pleasure of roaming in lush natural foliage or swimming in cool water and the freedom of choosing whether to wander off alone, or to be "on view" to admirers.

Upon arrival these pitiful, caged newcomers are given a medical by the Centre’s Veterinary Team now recognized as world experts in this field. All the bears required extensive surgery for their injuries, to remove the steel catheters and to fix their abdominal wounds. Surgery for each bear lasts between 4-12hours.

The sanctuary, features the pioneering design and development work of an internationally acclaimed animal architect. This is the first dedicated bear sanctuary in the world. It is an adventurous creation that combines a safe, but natural, home-from-home for the bears in Rehab Centres and bamboo forest, - but which also allows inspirational "up-close" visitor access in specially created "zones", where the general public can see a bear’s life!

Catering to their special needs is a professional team of on-site managers and workers, plus experts (including volunteers) who are experienced and qualified in working with bears and who ensure that each day is filled with interesting enrichment activities to keep them stimulated throughout the day.

Helping these bears - helps people as well. In addition to the Centre imparting “inspiration for humanity” on its visitors they also currently employ over 50 people on site, ranging from bear workers, security and maintenance staff, and gardeners. Cooks are employed to feed 185 bears and staff who give them their every day care. Local farmers have a ready market for their produce and several small shops have appeared around the perimeter of the Rescue Centre.

The Rescue Centre is scheduled to open to the public in mid-2005.

Why Support this Charitable Cause?

In addition to the obvious benefits for the Moon Bears, this project and the foundation are deserving of support and relevant to those living in Sichuan, reasons include:

*Well run charity with a high percentage of donation being spent on their programs

*Achieving positive outcomes with a win-win-win approach

*Geographically relevant

*Participation encouraged

*Enlisting volunteers to assist

*Defined project expansion upon reaching funding targets

*Clear goal to stop bear farming by the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Animals Asia’s approach for this project is worthy of mention.

To achieve the outcome of cessation of bear farming in China, they initially signed an agreement with the China Central Government to issue no more bear farming licenses enforceable across all provinces. They then set about encouraging bear farms to find alternate activities and help convince them by purchasing their bear farming licenses. They built a centre to help these newly freed bears. To change attitudes they enlisted the support of leading Chinese doctors and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Associations across the world to reject bear bile as a source of UDCA.





They operate campaigns in schools & universities in China to educate people about the cruelty and complete in-necessity of this industry. The local community is involved through employment & commerce.

They have created momentum for this outstanding cause by delivering win-win-win solutions, not problems.

Animals Asia Foundation

The Animals Asia Foundation, managed by professionals, resident in Asia, is committed to forging constructive solutions to the seemingly insurmountable problems which the animals face in today's changing environment.

Animals Asia Foundation is a Hong Kong-based government-registered animal welfare charity founded by Jill Robinson MBE in 1998. It also has charitable status in the UK, USA and Germany with donations being tax-deductible in these countries. It is a registered non-profit organization in Australia and has additional offices in New Zealand and China.

Upon reaching the fund raising target the American Chamber of Commerce and the British Chamber of Commerce collectively adopt one Moon Bear. Naming rights for the adopted bear can go to the winner of a “Special Raffle” for those that purchase benefit/field trip tickets.

For mor information, please visit the
Animals Asia Foundation web site here