Dr. Mark Nan Tu

The old buildings in Datong

Datong street scene

The carvings in Yungang Grotto

Shanxi in Chinese means on the west side of the mountain. It got its name because it is located in the west of the Taihang Mountain. Shanxi is on the west of Beijing and on the east of the Yellow river. Through out its history, Shanxi is known for its savvy merchants who started the first private bank in China and thus accumulated huge amount of wealth. These?wealth is shown today in those impressive residence which are hot tourist spots.

Shanxi is also known in China for its coal mines which in recent years have made many coal mine owner very rich. It is common to see luxury cars on the Shanxi streets where the average income for an office worker is no more than 200USD/month. Because of this large income gap, Shanxi is a place for impressive KTV rooms and seafood restaurant. I have personally been to a 100 room KTV building with more than 300

After leaving YouGuShengTan Park, I headed back to Beijing. YouGuShengTan is located on the north of HuaiRou country along the National Road 111.

As I negotiated the shape turns on the mountain, I noticed the new construction of the National Road 111. The entire section is elevated from the ground and in certain places the tunnels are built through the mountains. It surely looks like a massive undertaking. But if Chinese is capable of building the

Located in the WangJing science park, WeiZhongTian Restaurant is a newly addition to the eat out place in the largest residential area in Asia (WangJing).

The restaurant serves mostly Guangdong and Jiangxi food. The restaurant is very popular during lunch time when most of the clients are the office employees from Motorola and Nokia. Their office is just one block away. At night, the science park is almost empty. Because of these limitations, the evening diners in the restaurant are those with private vehicles, thus middle and upper class clients.

The restaurant is clean and the service is very fast and courteous in the evenings.

Panjiayuan.com is NOT for English readers who are the main customer for Panjiayuan market

Any arty things of value are sold under one roof

Point your favorite browser to Novica.com, you will find thousands of home decoration items including rugs, furniture, masks, mirrors, vases, sculptures from talented artists around the world. To the American consumers, this website offers click and buy options for those who can buy these items to lighten up their home without the hassle of traveling aboard. In essence, Novica.com is an online bazaar who also handles the international shipping and custom clearance.

As an experienced international travel knows, these items are mostly sold in bazaars in places like Indian, Pakistan, Bali, and in Beijing. PanJiaYuan is such a place.

PanJiaYuan was a fruit and vegetable market though out the 90s. By the late 1990s, the weekend antique market started to take off. The antique dealers who source the items from all over china came here to display their items and negotiate the best possible price. There were stories about the lucky few who brought genuine Tang dynasty vase for pennies. But most of the buyer pays for the artistic value of the items rather than the historical significance. The market grew into a popular arts and craft exchange in the beginning of this century. Almost any items of value can be found here. From reproduction of the Ming furniture to Tibetan Thangka painting, from cigarette box of the 1930s to the Mao

Located in the HuaiRou district, YouGuShengTan is by the side of the National highway of 111 some 70km from downtown Beijing. YouGuShengTan is a valley with dense forest. There is a creek that follows the valley. One can walk a few kilometers in by following the trail in the valley to reach a near 100 meter water fall. YouGu in Chinese means a quite and secret valley. ShengTan means the divine pond.

I visited YouGuShengTan in December 2006. Because of the cold winter, there were no visitors in the park. The water in the creek was frozen leaving the ice sheet reflecting the glow of the sunshine. Winter is not a pleasant season to hit the national forest as the tree leaves were dropped.

I went to visit the YouGuShengTan today. I took the JingCheng express way to reach HuaiRou. There were very few cars on the road. After exiting the JingCheng express road, I took the National highway 111. Before long, I was on the entrance to YouGuShengTan.

The entrance fee is a steep 30RMB. I believe that this is a privately operated scenic spot as the entrance fee is higher compared with those charged by the nationally designated parks. Since I arrived at about 4pm in the afternoon, there were fewer visitors. The trail in the bottom of the valley was well maintained and clean. The forest was dense which reminded me of that forest in the Guangdong province (southern China). The water in the creek was low. But the reservoir at the end of the valley was filled with water.

The trail was a very easy walk. The only difficult part was the 100 meter climb to the top of the water fall. There was a reservoir which held all the water there. Because of this, there was no water exit and no water fall. The water was tranquil. The shadow of the mountain, blue sky and the white cloud reflected in the water. A very peaceful and relaxing picture.

I felt that this valley is best suitable for the lovers for the following reasons:
1: The trail is easy and well maintained.
2: It is less visited
3: The forest is dense and the deep valley gives visitor a somewhat secret sense.
4: There are many rest areas along the trail, perfect place to sit and talk.

I returned back from the reservoir as it was getting dark. According to the map, there were at least a few kilometers more to walk. The tail was supposed to reach the peak of a mountain. I could only imagine the view from the top. I took out the GPS and it showed: 116:41:08 E 40:31:35N and 581 meters above sea level. Time: 2008 May 31st 17:17:35pm

On the way back to Beijing, I stopped at the HeFangKou Guan which was a guarding station of the Great wall. From the viewing platform, I could see the ruins of the Wall winding through treacherous mountain, disappearing into the distance.

I saw many fruit stand along the newly build road in HuaiRou. I stopped the car and planned to buy some watermelon. I found out that the price is actually higher than the supermarket just across the street from my apartment. The complain of a customer over the weight of her melon put an end to my buying impulse.