闯关东

    

The A to Z of Dongbei 东北 Tour in China

14 -24 June 2013   

 

 

Harbin -> Dunhua -> Changbaishan -> Jilin -> Changchun -> Shenyang -> Panjin -> Dandong - > Dalian

哈尔滨 - > 东北虎林园 - > 长白山 - > 长春周边

-> 盘锦红海滩 - > 鸭绿江- > 辽宁省丹

->东市 -> 大连

 

A

ANZ Travel Visa Signature Card

Happily applied for the ANZ Travel Visa Signature Credit Card on 29 Apr 2013 with knowledge that there’s Annual Fee Waiver for one year. The main attraction was the  free access to over 600 airport lounges around world including SATS premier club lounge at Changi Airport.  Other perks include certain privileges the card members enjoy such as complimentary airport limousine departure transfers.

B

Beijing Airport - The biggest yet to be is at Terminal 3. It is newly constructed just for the 2008 Olympics Games.

To retrieve luggage for international to domestic flights and vice versa—use a fast speed LRT-like train and travel a few stops.

From terminal one to terminal three – it is indeed a huge airport.

Bai Shifu - The tour coach driver – short, stalky, sulky face – born 1973 – must have bad experience with tourists. He has a penchant for fast driving, but he can control well and drive slowly on certain roads, and he knows the exact location of all the speed cameras.

Definitely he likes to drive – but not safely – quite harrowing experience – but nonetheless he is skillful and try his best to arrive from point to point quickly albeit long journey of five hours.

Bugbear – the long arduously long coach and bus journey is the main bugbear of the tour.

 

 

 

 

C

Changbaishan长白山, 东北

This is the main attraction and highlight for this trip to China. Not to say disappointing but sadly not as awe-inspiring nor that impressive as depicted in the video documentary.

Perhaps we didn’t explore other parts often national park, and only took the north route into the ChangbaiShan region. Actually it is a whole mountain range, with hot springs and geysers and plenty of volcanic activities.

Changchun

A major city with close to 6-7 million inhabitants but again sadly we only stayed for 1 night.  One night is not enough to familiarize ourselves with the city let alone exploring the city.

Changchun (Chinese: 长春) is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and county-level cities. The name, which means "Long Spring", originated from the Jurchen language. The six urban districts of Changchun's city proper have a total population of 3,341,700 in 2010 which correspond to the built up area.

Known as China's Automobile City, Changchun is an important industrial base with a particular focus on the automotive sector.[4]

Cosmopolitan-Commercialization-Consumerism

 

 

 

 

D

Dalian大连  - Sad to say we only got a day and a half in Dalian and we visited the Tiger Beach Park which covers 15700 square meters. Accordingly to official stats, it is the largest granite sculpture in China with "the running tigers sculpture"- the largest animal sculpture in the world. Six vivid sculpture tigers make the irregular square the most outstanding among dozens of squares in Dalian – which we don’t have the time to visit.

Actually we also dropped by Xinghai Park area.  There’s a beach albeit a small one that comprises of an 800-meter-long beach and a huge park area, an amusement park – (mini-fair) and a huge Ocean World.

Dandong丹东 – Surprisingly a modern city – in my mind, I was thinking it was a run-down village of sort. Surprises of all surprises!  I was awe-struck when we drove into the city of丹东.  I have always assume it was a rustic old town since it is out of the way from major cities and it’s so near the North Korean peninsula!  How wrong I was!

Dunhua敦化 – a small city – probably a third – tier one – however, nice, slower pace of life and with basic amenities such as schools and hospitals are available

Dunhua is a county-level city of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in southeastern Jilin province, People's Republic of China. It has more than 480,000 inhabitants (as of 2002) and was the capital of Balhae between 742−756, known at the time as "Junggyeong". During the Qing Dynasty it was called Áodōng (敖东) in Chinese and Odoli in Manchu.

 

E

Enjoyable trip overall – except for the long distance travelled. On hindsight we can either take internal shuttle or the fast rail train but then again they are out of the way as we need to explore Panjing and Changbaishan

 

F

Fortunate

We are indeed fortunate as we escaped the terrible haze that engulfed Singapore and Malaysia. Particularly during the 22- 23 June period when the PSI index rise above 400 points for Singapore and reached 700 for Malacca in Malaysia

 

G

Gurney Drive

A relatively new name in the restaurant scene in Singapore but according to Thomas Kok, there are many outlets in Singapore including North point.

We managed to catch a glimpse of Gurney Drive when we visited the newly open mall JEM on 24 June evening right after dinner.

Long queues were forming at the famous brand name restaurant from Penang. Mind you it was a Monday night at 8pm.

 

H

Harbin 哈尔滨

The very first day when we step off the plane we landed at Harbin airport – similar to one in Cairo.

The sun shone fiercely when we exited the airport bright after 11.30am at Harbin.

For a moment I thought we are back to Singapore.

Then Zhao Xiaonan 赵晓楠, the local tour guide told us during summer time, the sun rise at 3am in the morning!

HARBIN Beer 哈尔滨啤酒

It is the Number 1 beer in The Northeast provinces.  Alcohol content more than 3.6% - closed to 4%.

 

I

IPhone is a pain in the neck.  Took hours to sync to iTunes yet cannot get the pictures that Mui took out into the computer

 

J

Journey

There is a long road Journey – from Harbin to Dunhua 敦化 – close to 5 hours which all of us loathe.

But the worse is yet to come. From Dunhua 敦化 to Changbaishan – it took us nearly 6 hours. We set off 7.30am and reached top of Changbaishan nearly 3pm.

The last long road trip is from Shenyang to Dandong – another 5 hours.

Hence the tour guide Xiao Nan 赵晓楠quipped “half day journey half day tour”.

Jilin

This is the only instance where the province and the second largest city carry the same name in China.

 

K

Koreans

The infamous South Koreans’ aunties – the worse lot of the lot of travelers we have met. We can call them ajumma (아줌아)

They walk fast, cut into your paths and elbow their way into a buffet meal. They wore brightly lit clothes, flashy, opulent in a way, yet ungraciously so.

Worse still, one of them was caught putting eggs smuggled into her bags during breakfast in the hotel. The hotel staff, a gutsy young lady, really told them off.

All this are due to the ills of prosperity, not unlike Singapore (quip).

Many of them made this trip to东北, all because of one reason – to catch a glimpse of the scared mountain长白山.

 

L

Lexington Hotel at Shenyang

Super 6 stars – best of the best hotels we have stayed so far.

The rooms are big and spacious – they are deluxe rooms big enough for four persons in a room!

They have excellent facilities and service as it is a business hotel located right in the middle of financial district.

From our room at the 18^th floor we can even see a KOH BROTHERS building stated from Singapore

The restaurant is right at the top 28^th floor and hence we have breakfast with excellent view!

The only bugbear is: night time after 11pm, all the eateries and restaurants are closed.

In the vicinity it is a dead town as it is a financial district – there are no restaurants nearby. Hence paid RMB15 just for a cup of instant noodles (supermarket price is 5.50 RMB) as all the restaurants in the hotel are closed after 11pm

 

M

Mohe – Mui’s next destination as she is super curious about Aurora Borealis in this border town of Russia.

M1

On the 7^th day of the trip we tried calling Mum at home Singapore on Dad insistence.

Dial 67782283 does not work.  Tried calling 065-67782283 also does not work

The smart roam supposed to be activated

Finally after consulting the hotel staff at Shenyang – they advised calling with a prefix 00-

0065- 67782283

It works!

Magic

Clyde showing off his ‘magical’ card tricks on the bus to the rest of the tour members

The long arduous journey from city to city is simply too tiresome. From Harbin to Dunhua easily 470 km thereabouts

From Shenyang to Dalian another 300 km

This is interaction and fraternization

 

N

North Korea

The mystical and secretive North Korea is on everyone's radar.  We even dreamt about crossing the border for a visit.  However no such luck.

In fact, Dandong is very popular with the South Koreans. They like to visit Dandong so as to make day trips to visit their friends and relatives in North Korea.  It is almost like home-coming, nostalgic sort of feeling I supposed.

No wonder the city of Dandong is always full of tourists both from internal and external.

 

O

Opulence

This is hardly the way to describe the Gu Gong of Shenyang. It is a far cry from the majestic Forbidden Temple in Beijing.  In fact is it supposed to be a replica palace of the real McCoy before the Qing invaded the central China.

 

P

Peter

Our very jovial and genteel gentlemenly tour member whom worked 26 years with SIA and opt for early retire in 2012!  Best of life!

 

PANJIN – Red Beach

It is about 3.5 hours’ drive from Shenyang. Early morning we set off at 8am and stopped three quarters way for Seafood lunch. We managed to reach Panjing around late 2.30pm.

This is the second big natural attraction for this trip. Not exactly breath-taking but enough to blow away the mind. The area encompassing the whole red beach tourist area is mind-blowing…miles and miles of road and stretches of field – at least a hundred times bigger than our Sungei Buloh Bird Sanctuary.

The vastness of the swampy marsh terrain is indeed works of nature nothing man-made. The acidity and alkalinity of the swampy soil and perhaps the works of the crabs make the plants turn bright red from the months of May till September.

The Red Beach is located in the Liaohe River Delta, about 30 kilometres southwest of Panjin City in China. The beach gets its name from its appearance, which is caused by a type of sea weed that flourishes in the saline-alkali soil. The weed that started growing during April or May remains green during the summer. In autumn, this weed turns flaming red, and the beach looks as if it was covered by an infinite red carpet that creates a rare red sea landscape. Most of the Red Beach is a nature reserve and closed to the public. Only a small, remote, section is open for tourists

Pigeons

Clyde loved playing with pigeons at Dalian. Being a coastal city, Dalian has a beach and plenty of fun.  There is a site near the Tiger Bay Park, the largest square in Asia called the Xing Hai Square. Watersports, fun-fair, amusement park, and attract plenty of tourists local and overseas to visit and sight-see.

 

 

Q

Que Sera Sera

What will be, will be…

 

R

Reversal

In my mind, Harbin is always a cold place. A freezing city, even in the heat of summertime. However, the moment I stepped out of Harbin Airport, I got a shock. It was around 11.20am. It was almost as hot as Singapore. I think it was close to 30 degrees judging from the sunrays and the surrounding heat as we lugged our luggage towards the tour bus.

In contrast, my impression of Dalian is that it is always a sunny and windy place. Being a coastal city, it would be heated up by the warm currents especially during summertime. To our surprise, we were there on the last leg of our journey and it rained throughout the 2 days we were there. Drizzling, cloudy, hazy, almost as though we were hibernating in Harbin!

What a reversal of role!

It shows that we see on documentary and videos might not depict the actual situation or does not truly depict the range of weather conditions a city undergoes.

 

S

Snow and Frost – none in sight especially mid-June – in any of the cities we visited in Dongbei.  This region is especially well-known for its harsh and bitter winter.  Hence I am very surprised that its summer is relatively hot – blazing sun and cloudless days – perhaps only seen during May to August period.

Sunlight

It is fabulously strong and vibrant during summertime in Dongbei.

The sun comes out at around 3am each day and sun sets at around 7.30pm.

In contrast during summer in Europe, the sun rises around 5am and sets after 9pm

Spitting

A common sight everywhere.

On the streets, along the pathways, witnessed so even in big cities such as Shenyang and Dalian.

Snow Beer

SNOW (XUE HUA) is the number 2 beer in this region of China. Immensely popular and widely welcome…comes with a slight bitter taste. Alcohol content around 3.5%, slighter milder than that of Harbin beer

 

 

T

Toilets

One of the main concerns for travelers, especially women travelers.

Dirty toilets, uncovered ones, squatting ones, these are the bane for Mum and other woman tourists.

Anyway, toilets in China are a far cry from these in Singapore.

Most of the toilets are squatting type especially in Dongbei. I am quite surprised. I think other parts of China especially the South, in Guangzhou or Shenzhen the toilets are relatively well designed

The toilets in Dongbei are very old and not well maintenance. This is especially so in Male toilets in the restaurants – everyone hide their smoking!

 
Tigers - 东北虎

Also known as the Siberian Tigers - the largest of all tigers! 

 

U

Ungraciousness - the people of Dongbei still a far cry from the modern civilization in Europe and other parts of advanced countries

The countryside highway hardly any toilet facilities – one of the worse in China

Everyone smokes in the toilet – reek of heavy cigarettes smell after visiting the toilet – the male toilets are the worse – especially in restaurants

The people are not courteous- but some kind hearted soul in the cities in Dalian and Shenyang

Dalian food court – someone offered advice to top up the food court card. That’s a pretty nice gesture towards strangers (us) in the mad rush for food.  That shows that people in Dalian is progressive.  It is more civilized.

 

V

Vicissitudes

One can see the vicissitudes of life as one explores the city. The Dandong city is full of life and people trying to live in a modernize, developed city as compared to these in North Korea.  Cities such Shenyang, Changchun and Dalian are closer to Singapore standards and boosts of shopping centers and towering condominiums

W

Whampoa

In memory of the gang of six -all neighbors and good friends from Whampoa

The entire friendly 6-person group – all pickle ball kakis – Qigong friends – really nice to live to retirement – including Peter, and three ladies in their late sixties and seventies.

X

XiaoNan

Or NanNan as she preferred – our true blue Dongbei tour guide from Harbin – born 1980

Xing Hai Square – the largest square in Asia. Xinghai Square, or Xinghai Plaza (Chinese: 星海广场; Pinyin: Xīnghăi Guăngchăng), is a city square in Dalian, China. It is located to the north of Xinghai Bay. Its total area is 1.1 million m².[1] Its name literally means "the Sea of Stars".

Xinghai Square was built in 1994. Its center looks like a star, with one White Marble Cloud Huabiao (华表, 19.97 meters high), and 9 giant dings.

For 10 days in late-July early-August, Xinghai Square holds the annual International Beer Festival.

Located in Xinghai Business District of Dalian, Xinghai Square with the total area of 45,000 square meters is the biggest municipal square in Asia.

 It is almost three times larger than Tiananmen Square.

Built in 1994 the square is full of symbolic meanings. Its name literally means “the Sea of Stars”, and so the square centre looks like a star with two White Marble Cloud Pillars, and 999 red marble bricks paved on the ground, surrounded by nine big ancient Chinese vessels. Between the vessels are five huge lanterns in the shape of the navigation light.

The inner circle is 199.9 m in diameter to represent Dalian’s 100th anniversary in 1999 this event is also commemorated in centennial sculpture which looks like the open book of history with the pages to be written by citizens of Dalian.

The general idea of the square represents the “New Spirit of Dalian”. The square was built to honor Hong Kong’s return to China in the year 1997, and in the middle features the tall white marble column 19.97 meters high as the year of Hong Kong’s return.

Eight carved dragons at the base of the column imply that Chinese are descendants of the dragon.

Y

Youth

You can feel the exuberance in the shopping malls.  The young are a powerful force across all cities. All the brands in China cities are available

Vibrant and cosmopolitan-looking advertisement shouts across the billboards.

Starbucks, Li Ning, Costa, Canon, Samsung, all major brands are available in Chinese cities.

Nonetheless they also have a huge and growing grey population.

 

Z

Zhao XiaoNan 赵晓楠

Our Tour Guide.  赵晓楠 is her full name. She is born in the 1980s

Married with a 10-year-old son and her husband is a translator specializing in Russian language.   She speaks Cantonese like a local as well. This is pretty amazing as the poeple in the Northeast Region of China do not speak Southern dialects such as Cantonese. Amazing!