China pictures up -- including LOTS of pandas
Nov 3rd, 2007, 01:22 PM
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China pictures up -- including LOTS of pandas
I have slaved away over our China pictures, and finally have them up at www.pbase.com/cwillis/china. You'll see a lot of the usual stuff (Temple of Heaven, Terra Cotta Warriors), plus some less-seen things (Jinshanling Great Wall with NO people on it, Yangling Mausoleum near Xi'an), and then there are loads of panda pictures (including me and my wife holding red pandas and giant panda cubs) from Chengdu and Wolong Panda Centers in the Sichuan Province.
Hope you enjoy them!
Chris
www.pbase.com/cwillis
Hope you enjoy them!
Chris
www.pbase.com/cwillis
Nov 3rd, 2007, 08:46 PM
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Thanks, the pandas were the primary reason we spent time in China in the first place, as Mongolia was the focus of this trip.
Rkkwan -- the 70-200/2.8 is one of the handiest, most versatile lenses out there, and it delivers the goods in such a wide variety of situations. We bought ours just before this trip and I am so glad we did!
Chris
Rkkwan -- the 70-200/2.8 is one of the handiest, most versatile lenses out there, and it delivers the goods in such a wide variety of situations. We bought ours just before this trip and I am so glad we did!
Chris
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Nov 4th, 2007, 08:45 AM
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Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the comments. We had really good luck, especially at Wolong, with great weather, cooperative pandas, and not too many people in our way. I knew the panda pictures would be a hit, everybody loves pandas!
Chris
Chris
Nov 26th, 2007, 02:24 AM
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Wow! Your panda pictures have convinced me to add one more place to my China trip. If I only went to one, would you most recommend the panda center in Chengu or Wolong? How did you get to the center? Is there a bus or did you go by taxi, or did you need a guide? Also is there a charge to hold the pandas, and if so, was it the same at both places?
Dec 2nd, 2007, 05:46 AM
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Fantastic photos!!!!! I've only looked at your Beijing and Jinshanling galleries so far, but they're really excellent.
p.s. Would be interested in hearing more about the Jinshanling camping. Good light, no people, yours are the images I only dreamt of taking!
p.s. Would be interested in hearing more about the Jinshanling camping. Good light, no people, yours are the images I only dreamt of taking!
Dec 2nd, 2007, 08:38 AM
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By responding, and moving this to the top, hopefully Chris will see this too and can answer you.
<b>Bechan, </b>
I spent a week in 2006 volunteering at Wolong. I had a car transport arranged for me that picked me up at the airport in Chengdu. If you are prone to nausea, take some Bonine or something. There are buses as well. Once at Wolong, the guide from the car helped get me settled and then left. She and the driver were back after a week.
At Wolong the charge to play for 5 minutes with the little pandas was about $125. But if they are not feeling well, you cannot do it. That is for the protection of the pandas. It is a bit less to just hold the panda for a picture.
Here is the whole report that includes a one-day visit to the Chengdu Panda Center, plus a link to some photos.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34836559
<b>Nutella,</b>
I love that stuff—the hazelnut spread.
As I mentioned, this bump may get the attention of Chris, who can relate their experiences as well. I talked with Chris in planning the trip he and his wife took. They combined parts trips I did in 2005 and 2006 into one big adventure.
Chris is an excellent photographer. To give you hope that your photos can turn out well, even if you do not have the same photography skills, here is a link to some Jinshanling photos taken with an old Nikon Coolpix P&S, 5.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom. The first 20 or so are of Jinshanling.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-14izls
I went in late June 2005. The experience was everything I could have hoped for. Eighteen years earlier I had visited a different part of the wall on a China trip and was disappointed. I always hoped to better my first experience. I did and you can too.
Here is an excerpt from the Fodors report I did that included The Great Wall Sleepover.
<i>“By afternoon we were ready for our overnight adventure on The Great Wall, which started with a 3-hour drive out of Beijing and included one minor fender bender en route. Upon arrival at Jin Shan Ling (or Jinshanling), as that section of the Wall is known, Cindy and the driver bid us farewell to stay overnight in the village. We started our ascent to our overnight watchtower on The Wall with the wife of the husband-and-wife-team who oversaw the sleep-on-The-Wall operation. She led us up recently made steps for about 20 minutes until we reached a point where we could enter The Wall. The next 20 minute’s climb to our watchtower destination was far more interesting because we were actually walking ON the ancient Wall.
Eventually we reached our watchtower accommodations and met the husband of the husband-and-wife caretakers of The Wall. He offered us a variety of snacks and beverages. For the remainder of the late afternoon and early evening we became acquainted with The Wall, hiking from tower to tower and enjoying the view. After watching the sunset, a delicious dinner was delivered (true Chinese takeout!) and we dined on plastic furniture atop the tower. A table with a view!
A mat and sleeping bag were provided for each of us and we could sleep most anywhere in a couple of watchtowers, which were covered and protected from rain. (No rain for us fortunately.) Two of us opted for the second story of one of the watchtowers, which was open to the stars. For the remainder of the trip I was reminded of that wonderful experience under the stars by numerous itchy bug bites. The next morning I got up at 4:15 am to hike on The Wall before the heat and humidity became overwhelming. Doing tai chi on The Great Wall at sunrise seemed fitting. There were miles of uninterrupted wall that could be viewed and hiked in solitude. Some of it was crumbling, but much was in excellent condition. I was quite comfortable hiking alone because even with my poor sense of direction, I knew I couldn’t get lost on a wall that goes only forward and backward. A breakfast of ramen noodles was delivered bout 7:00 am.
Other than the 3 other people that joined me overnight on The Wall, and the caretaker and his wife, we never saw another person.
There are no toilet or water facilities, but bottled water and other beverages are free of charge. There are sections where you can descend the wall and reach the ground when nature calls. Flashlights are provided.
My travel agent summed it up when he described the overnight at Jin Shan Ling as a “World Class!” Indeed it was!
We departed The Wall in the morning and drove back to Beijing to spend the rest of the day at the Forbidden City. By night I was exhausted and needed a good night’s sleep to be ready for Mongolia!”</i>
I also have a CNN article on this part of The Wall. The link to the article no longer works. For copyright reasons, I don’t want to post the whole thing here, but if you email me, I’ll send the transcript of the article.
<b>Bechan, </b>
I spent a week in 2006 volunteering at Wolong. I had a car transport arranged for me that picked me up at the airport in Chengdu. If you are prone to nausea, take some Bonine or something. There are buses as well. Once at Wolong, the guide from the car helped get me settled and then left. She and the driver were back after a week.
At Wolong the charge to play for 5 minutes with the little pandas was about $125. But if they are not feeling well, you cannot do it. That is for the protection of the pandas. It is a bit less to just hold the panda for a picture.
Here is the whole report that includes a one-day visit to the Chengdu Panda Center, plus a link to some photos.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34836559
<b>Nutella,</b>
I love that stuff—the hazelnut spread.
As I mentioned, this bump may get the attention of Chris, who can relate their experiences as well. I talked with Chris in planning the trip he and his wife took. They combined parts trips I did in 2005 and 2006 into one big adventure.
Chris is an excellent photographer. To give you hope that your photos can turn out well, even if you do not have the same photography skills, here is a link to some Jinshanling photos taken with an old Nikon Coolpix P&S, 5.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom. The first 20 or so are of Jinshanling.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-14izls
I went in late June 2005. The experience was everything I could have hoped for. Eighteen years earlier I had visited a different part of the wall on a China trip and was disappointed. I always hoped to better my first experience. I did and you can too.
Here is an excerpt from the Fodors report I did that included The Great Wall Sleepover.
<i>“By afternoon we were ready for our overnight adventure on The Great Wall, which started with a 3-hour drive out of Beijing and included one minor fender bender en route. Upon arrival at Jin Shan Ling (or Jinshanling), as that section of the Wall is known, Cindy and the driver bid us farewell to stay overnight in the village. We started our ascent to our overnight watchtower on The Wall with the wife of the husband-and-wife-team who oversaw the sleep-on-The-Wall operation. She led us up recently made steps for about 20 minutes until we reached a point where we could enter The Wall. The next 20 minute’s climb to our watchtower destination was far more interesting because we were actually walking ON the ancient Wall.
Eventually we reached our watchtower accommodations and met the husband of the husband-and-wife caretakers of The Wall. He offered us a variety of snacks and beverages. For the remainder of the late afternoon and early evening we became acquainted with The Wall, hiking from tower to tower and enjoying the view. After watching the sunset, a delicious dinner was delivered (true Chinese takeout!) and we dined on plastic furniture atop the tower. A table with a view!
A mat and sleeping bag were provided for each of us and we could sleep most anywhere in a couple of watchtowers, which were covered and protected from rain. (No rain for us fortunately.) Two of us opted for the second story of one of the watchtowers, which was open to the stars. For the remainder of the trip I was reminded of that wonderful experience under the stars by numerous itchy bug bites. The next morning I got up at 4:15 am to hike on The Wall before the heat and humidity became overwhelming. Doing tai chi on The Great Wall at sunrise seemed fitting. There were miles of uninterrupted wall that could be viewed and hiked in solitude. Some of it was crumbling, but much was in excellent condition. I was quite comfortable hiking alone because even with my poor sense of direction, I knew I couldn’t get lost on a wall that goes only forward and backward. A breakfast of ramen noodles was delivered bout 7:00 am.
Other than the 3 other people that joined me overnight on The Wall, and the caretaker and his wife, we never saw another person.
There are no toilet or water facilities, but bottled water and other beverages are free of charge. There are sections where you can descend the wall and reach the ground when nature calls. Flashlights are provided.
My travel agent summed it up when he described the overnight at Jin Shan Ling as a “World Class!” Indeed it was!
We departed The Wall in the morning and drove back to Beijing to spend the rest of the day at the Forbidden City. By night I was exhausted and needed a good night’s sleep to be ready for Mongolia!”</i>
I also have a CNN article on this part of The Wall. The link to the article no longer works. For copyright reasons, I don’t want to post the whole thing here, but if you email me, I’ll send the transcript of the article.
