I don't mean I was surprised like I fell over or anything. I just mean it seems a bit greedy to take two New Years. Most countries only get one.
Chlidonias Goes To Asia, part seven: 2024-2025
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
Thanks for taking the time to type out these reports @Chlidonias and I have a few questions for you.
1- How does this 7th Asian trip compare to the previous ones in terms of enjoyment factor? You've had a few issues with technology, transportation and cold weather, but overall has the trip still been a lot of fun or has it been more arduous than your other treks? Or is it too soon to make that choice?
2- I noticed that your previous 6 trips were all between 2009 and 2019 and you wrote that because of Covid there was an understandable break for 5 years. Do you feel older (and wiser?) on this new adventure or are you still feeling quite youthful?
3- I cannot recall if you've made long trips to other continents, but instead of exploring Asia would you consider Europe, North America, South America or Africa for a future expedition? Which of those continents would be your first choice if you did decide to head somewhere else?
1- How does this 7th Asian trip compare to the previous ones in terms of enjoyment factor? You've had a few issues with technology, transportation and cold weather, but overall has the trip still been a lot of fun or has it been more arduous than your other treks? Or is it too soon to make that choice?
2- I noticed that your previous 6 trips were all between 2009 and 2019 and you wrote that because of Covid there was an understandable break for 5 years. Do you feel older (and wiser?) on this new adventure or are you still feeling quite youthful?
3- I cannot recall if you've made long trips to other continents, but instead of exploring Asia would you consider Europe, North America, South America or Africa for a future expedition? Which of those continents would be your first choice if you did decide to head somewhere else?
This trip has been a breeze so far (losing my bank-card notwithstanding). I was worried about the technology prior, but it has all been easy. Other than police check-points in Yunnan the transportation side of things hasn't had any issues, until an overly-complicated bus ride out of Chengdu. Really only Sichuan has brought up some logistical annoyances. The cold weather isn't an issue - I like cold weather. I just hope it gets cold enough to actually use all the stuff I brought with me.Thanks for taking the time to type out these reports @Chlidonias and I have a few questions for you.
1- How does this 7th Asian trip compare to the previous ones in terms of enjoyment factor? You've had a few issues with technology, transportation and cold weather, but overall has the trip still been a lot of fun or has it been more arduous than your other treks? Or is it too soon to make that choice?
I mean, my legs are grey, my ears are nulled, my eyes are old and bent. But no, I never feel older or wiser.
I've been to the UK via Frankfurt for a short stay, but otherwise outside of Asia I have only been to Australia and the Pacific. The post-covid trip was going to be the Americas (Canada down to Argentina) but during the planning stages it kind of just changed back into an Asian trip.
Xi’an
There are trains from Jiangyou to Xi’an throughout the day so I didn’t bother booking a ticket beforehand. I did book somewhere to stay, though, the Green Leaf Apartment which is 88 Yuan per night and is close to Xi’an’s North Railway Station. I was only going to Xi’an to try and see the Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys at Foping, so the North Railway Station should be the only intersect point I need.
The hotel in Jiangyou got a car to the station for me, so I didn’t have to pay for it which was nice. This is only the second train I have caught in China on this trip. At security they didn’t care about my water bottle (which they did at the train station in Kunming) but they did about my Swiss Army Knife for which they needed to measure the blade to make sure it wasn’t deadly. The knife was at the bottom of my pack so I had to pull almost everything out to get it. I’m going to try and keep that near the top from now on.
I bought a ticket on the next train, at 10.08am, for 202 Yuan (about NZ$50), scheduled to reach Xi’an at 1.33pm.
Xi’an is huge! As the train approached, initially to Xianxi Station in the south, the city was just grey. I don’t mean grey as in drab or being made of concrete, I mean grey. Between the high-rise buildings was a blanket of pollution. It did not look inviting! However the part of the city where I am staying is not like that, which is a relief.
The North Railway Station (Xianbei) is the largest train station in northwest China. Twenty minutes after getting off the train I was only just finding my way out of it. There were Azure-winged Magpies in the trees outside - unbelievably, my first bird of the year at 2pm on the 2nd day!
My hotel wasn’t far from the station but I just got a taxi. Just as well because I wouldn’t have found it myself I don’t think. The driver stopped at the entrance to what I took to be Mega-City One’s Peach Trees. The hotel was in there he told me. I see these tight groups of brown skinny high-rise apartment towers all over China, and this was one of those. They always look so incongruous because they are not surrounded by other tall buildings. They are like clustered termite mounds on a flat savannah.
Luckily there was a lady standing outside of the complex on the street, intercepting people to see if they wanted a hotel. When I showed her my existing booking, her friend rang up “my” owner and she came out to fetch me. The hotel (I keep writing “hotel” but “apartment” is better, as in the place’s name) was on the fourth floor of one of the buildings and is really very nice. It is small but significantly bigger and roughly 1000% nicer than the little room I had in Chengdu.
As I said earlier, the only reason I was coming to Xi’an was for the Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys at Foping, so I hadn’t found out anything else about the city. On the train I was looking at the map on my phone and saw several extra points of interest. I don’t know if I will visit any but there is the Qinling Wildlife Park, Qinling Four Treasures Scientific Park, Qujiang Polar Ocean Park, and Fantasy Aquarium (one review site said there are three aquariums in Xi’an but I can’t find what the third one is), as well as the Shaanxi Nature Museum which looks good, and “near” where I am is the Chanba National Wetland Park.
I’ve booked three nights here, which would allow me one day for Foping and a second if things didn’t work out properly (or, better, if they did work out and I could also go birding there). Depending on how things go or don’t go, I may or may not add some extra nights and visit some of these other places. The train station has a metro station associated with it, so getting around should be fine (although not all those places can be reached by metro).
I can’t find any very-recent information on either Foping or the snub-nosed monkeys. In 2013 all the panda reserves (at least the famous ones) had recently been closed to foreigners, as had all the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey viewing areas. Chinese people could still go in and out freely but it was “too dangerous” for foreigners. I don’t think the panda reserves re-opened to foreigners before covid, but the monkey viewing areas definitely had. Now, I have no idea. The information I have patched together is that I can get a train from Xi’an to Foping, which takes just under an hour, and then there should hopefully be a bus from the station to “Panda Valley” where the monkeys are fed - at worst, a taxi. These are habituated wild animals which come to be fed at specific locations. It’s not ideal, I’d much rather see them in the forest, but they are still wild. Hopefully the reserve itself will also be accessible to me and I can go wandering to look for birds. This is one of those “turn up and see” things.
I have the train ticket for Foping already, leaving at 7.05am tomorrow morning. There are trains constantly through the day until late at night so getting back will also be easy enough. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
There are trains from Jiangyou to Xi’an throughout the day so I didn’t bother booking a ticket beforehand. I did book somewhere to stay, though, the Green Leaf Apartment which is 88 Yuan per night and is close to Xi’an’s North Railway Station. I was only going to Xi’an to try and see the Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys at Foping, so the North Railway Station should be the only intersect point I need.
The hotel in Jiangyou got a car to the station for me, so I didn’t have to pay for it which was nice. This is only the second train I have caught in China on this trip. At security they didn’t care about my water bottle (which they did at the train station in Kunming) but they did about my Swiss Army Knife for which they needed to measure the blade to make sure it wasn’t deadly. The knife was at the bottom of my pack so I had to pull almost everything out to get it. I’m going to try and keep that near the top from now on.
I bought a ticket on the next train, at 10.08am, for 202 Yuan (about NZ$50), scheduled to reach Xi’an at 1.33pm.
Xi’an is huge! As the train approached, initially to Xianxi Station in the south, the city was just grey. I don’t mean grey as in drab or being made of concrete, I mean grey. Between the high-rise buildings was a blanket of pollution. It did not look inviting! However the part of the city where I am staying is not like that, which is a relief.
The North Railway Station (Xianbei) is the largest train station in northwest China. Twenty minutes after getting off the train I was only just finding my way out of it. There were Azure-winged Magpies in the trees outside - unbelievably, my first bird of the year at 2pm on the 2nd day!
My hotel wasn’t far from the station but I just got a taxi. Just as well because I wouldn’t have found it myself I don’t think. The driver stopped at the entrance to what I took to be Mega-City One’s Peach Trees. The hotel was in there he told me. I see these tight groups of brown skinny high-rise apartment towers all over China, and this was one of those. They always look so incongruous because they are not surrounded by other tall buildings. They are like clustered termite mounds on a flat savannah.
Luckily there was a lady standing outside of the complex on the street, intercepting people to see if they wanted a hotel. When I showed her my existing booking, her friend rang up “my” owner and she came out to fetch me. The hotel (I keep writing “hotel” but “apartment” is better, as in the place’s name) was on the fourth floor of one of the buildings and is really very nice. It is small but significantly bigger and roughly 1000% nicer than the little room I had in Chengdu.
As I said earlier, the only reason I was coming to Xi’an was for the Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys at Foping, so I hadn’t found out anything else about the city. On the train I was looking at the map on my phone and saw several extra points of interest. I don’t know if I will visit any but there is the Qinling Wildlife Park, Qinling Four Treasures Scientific Park, Qujiang Polar Ocean Park, and Fantasy Aquarium (one review site said there are three aquariums in Xi’an but I can’t find what the third one is), as well as the Shaanxi Nature Museum which looks good, and “near” where I am is the Chanba National Wetland Park.
I’ve booked three nights here, which would allow me one day for Foping and a second if things didn’t work out properly (or, better, if they did work out and I could also go birding there). Depending on how things go or don’t go, I may or may not add some extra nights and visit some of these other places. The train station has a metro station associated with it, so getting around should be fine (although not all those places can be reached by metro).
I can’t find any very-recent information on either Foping or the snub-nosed monkeys. In 2013 all the panda reserves (at least the famous ones) had recently been closed to foreigners, as had all the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey viewing areas. Chinese people could still go in and out freely but it was “too dangerous” for foreigners. I don’t think the panda reserves re-opened to foreigners before covid, but the monkey viewing areas definitely had. Now, I have no idea. The information I have patched together is that I can get a train from Xi’an to Foping, which takes just under an hour, and then there should hopefully be a bus from the station to “Panda Valley” where the monkeys are fed - at worst, a taxi. These are habituated wild animals which come to be fed at specific locations. It’s not ideal, I’d much rather see them in the forest, but they are still wild. Hopefully the reserve itself will also be accessible to me and I can go wandering to look for birds. This is one of those “turn up and see” things.
I have the train ticket for Foping already, leaving at 7.05am tomorrow morning. There are trains constantly through the day until late at night so getting back will also be easy enough. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
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Doesn't Dunedin have you too- I seem to remember it did?
Okay maybe there are two others. Maybe Dunedin, and I guess that one @TeaLovingDave posted from where-ever in the world that was from.
Xi'an is indeed a monstruous city. It is home to over thirteen million people, being among the world's 100 most populous municipalities.
Been having a good read through both this and your older travel directories. I don't know why I didn't pick they up earlier!
Foping
The trip out to Foping looked so promising at the start. I feel like the rest of my run through China is just going to be a series of “things looked promising to start with...”
I caught my train in Xi’an at 7.05am, and at 7.55am was in Foping. That’s about 200km in less than an hour. I had barely got out of the station when I saw one of those 19-seater brown mini-buses departing from outside. The ticket-seller lady took a look at me, then at the van, I quickly typed out “Panda Valley” on my translator app, and she yelled out for the bus to stop. I don’t know how many buses a day there are, but I think it’s only two or three so I was dead lucky there.
The bus cost 10 Yuan and the ride took about half an hour. I was feeling extremely hopeful that today was going to turn out excellently.
The actual Foping Reserve itself is still closed I think. The place where the habituated Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys were being fed, and where there is one or more captive pandas (I didn’t go look at them, so not sure on numbers) is called Panda Valley. That was all I knew of the situation.
Everyone on the bus was staff of Panda Valley, so everyone got off at the same place. I had a look at a big map-board beside the road entrance but, as usual, I couldn’t make head nor tail of it without context, and I couldn’t see any Golden Monkeys on it. I went over to the information centre where the tickets were sold, but it was locked. A lady came over (looking somewhat perplexed why I was here) and via her phone asked if I needed any help. I mean, she was one of the people on the bus so I’m not sure why she wondered why I was here.
“I came here to see the Golden Monkeys,” I typed into my translator.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied.
I showed her photos of the monkeys from Google.
“There are no monkeys here, only pandas. You must have seen something elsewhere and be confused.”
Now I was confused. This definitely seemed like it should be the right place, the travel method matched, and it was definitely called Panda Valley. There were even horrible Kung Fu Panda statues everywhere. Well, I was here now, might as well make the best of it. Between the road entrance and the info centre was a rocky stream, and on this side (the opposite side to the road) was a boardwalk heading upstream. I asked how far the walk went and was told 2.5km, and entry was 35 Yuan. I asked if I could walk up the road and she said I could do either but it is the same ticket. It turned out the boardwalk joined with the road a-ways upstream.
We went inside the info centre so I could buy the ticket, and I asked if they had a paper map. Looking at this I saw a photo of Golden Monkeys at the top of one of the roads after the main road forked. The title beside the photo had been scribbled out. I pointed to the photo. “That area hasn’t been developed yet,” was the reply. So I was at the right place! They were just pretending there were no monkeys here.
I still couldn’t work out where I currently was on the map, and both the ladies at the counter pointed to different places when I asked. I honestly didn’t know whether the road the monkey photo was on, was up the road going upstream or somewhere else along the main road we came in on. I figured I’d work it out as I walked upstream and saw some signs or something.
It was extremely cold up here and the stream had some parts iced over, and where-ever there was a waterfall there would be curtains of ice hanging over the rocks. I saw a Little Forktail skating about trying to pick up insects. All along the stream were Little Forktails and Brown Dippers. The latter were interesting to watch - they are like thrushes but jump into the water and swim about at the surface like half-submerged ducks, and every so often dive to the bottom to grab an insect.
It wasn’t long before I found a map-board with a red star marking “you are here”. That was a lot more helpful! The road on the other side of the stream forked up ahead, with the right fork going off to the panda area, and the left fork going up past the Panda Forest Hotel and then right up near the end was the Golden Monkey area. Except the Golden Monkey area had been scratched right off the map. I even came across an information board about the important mammals of the reserve - Giant Panda, Serow, Goral, Takin, Wild Boar, Leopard, and … something which had its picture completely scratched out. What was that? Oh, yeah, a Golden Monkey. Even its name had been scratched out from the text. They were really going out of their way to erase all mention of Golden Monkeys here!
I reached the Panda Forest Hotel, where the road signs pointing further up the road had been removed - well, the signs were still physically attached to the posts, they had just been scratched out. I had seen very few birds at this point (Little and White-crowned Forktails, Brown Dippers, and a mixed flock of passerines which I never got looks at other than “some kind of scimitar-babbler”, “some kind of fulvetta”, etc). Outside the hotel the trees had a lot of birds flitting about though: Green-backed and Black-bibbed Tits, Grey-headed Pigmy Woodpeckers, and a Eurasian Nuthatch (the local race sinensis has bright chestnut underparts).
I was fully expecting to come up to some kind of guard-post and be turned back but there was no-one around. Past the hotel everything along the road was deserted. I reached the monkey feeding area which looked like it hadn’t been used in years. There were monkey statues, signage, even lockers for putting your bags in. But it was long abandoned.
There was a boardwalk continuing on for a bit, which I followed, and that turned into a trail through bamboo, following the stream still. I kept checking the hills around me just in case there were some monkeys in the trees, but it seems pretty unlikely. They would have only been coming to this area specifically to be fed.
There was another bird-wave up here, with Sooty Tits being the main species. Eurasian Treecreeper and Pekin Robins were also in there, and a Pere David’s Rock Squirrel scooting along the ground after them.
When I’d arrived I had checked what times the buses went back to Foping and been told 12.30. Was there only one bus, I had asked, and been told yes because in the off-season there are no tourists so if I didn’t get that bus I would have to call a taxi. There would have to be a bus back in the evening because the staff would need to return to Foping, but she insisted that 12.30 was the only bus. I didn’t want to pay for a taxi, and there didn’t seem any likelihood of seeing the monkeys here now, so I was going to try and get back to the entrance for that bus.
I got distracted on the way back by a large flock of laughing thrushes flying from tree to tree, but always behind them. I got glimpses to tell me they had bright yellow-buff underparts, white tails, and striking white heads (just white throats as it turned out when I saw them properly), and I had to follow them back up along the trail until they flew across the river and I could get some clear views (but too far for photos other than blurry ones showing the colour and pattern for ID). As the brilliant white throat would suggest, they were White-throated Laughing Thrushes.
I got back down to the entrance at 12.15 without anything new being seen. The bus was parked over by the road. I asked the lady if I just pay the driver and she said yes so I went over. I don’t think the driver liked me much. Nobody there seemed to like me, but the driver particularly didn’t seem to like me. He took me back to the lady and started loudly discussing something with her. Then she told me that I had to wait in the info centre “for a minute” and the driver would let me know when he was leaving.
After a bit she came and told me again to wait “for a minute” because there were two other people coming for the bus. At 1.30pm I was getting pretty fed up and went and asked again what time the bus was actually leaving. The reply was again that I had to wait “for a minute” because two other people were “up the top” and were catching the bus.
I don’t mind waiting for a bus, but it was aggravating just sitting here doing nothing when I could have been still looking for birds. I had specifically made it back here for the bus at 12.30, and I couldn’t just go back up the road looking for birds while waiting because they wouldn’t tell me how long it would be, and I knew for a fact that if I did they weren’t going to hold the bus until I got back like they were doing for these two local tourists.
The bus didn’t leave until 2pm - almost two hours I’d been waiting. I was feeling pretty peeved. On the bright side, as the bus came through Foping along the rocky river which flows through town, a Chinese Crested Ibis flew past along the river channel.
So, the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey attempt was a failure. I know of another site for them at Huayang Scenic Area, which is many hours away by bus so I need to check whether there are trains for at least part of the way. I also have no idea if seeing the monkeys there is still possible either. We’ll see how things progress.
The trip out to Foping looked so promising at the start. I feel like the rest of my run through China is just going to be a series of “things looked promising to start with...”
I caught my train in Xi’an at 7.05am, and at 7.55am was in Foping. That’s about 200km in less than an hour. I had barely got out of the station when I saw one of those 19-seater brown mini-buses departing from outside. The ticket-seller lady took a look at me, then at the van, I quickly typed out “Panda Valley” on my translator app, and she yelled out for the bus to stop. I don’t know how many buses a day there are, but I think it’s only two or three so I was dead lucky there.
The bus cost 10 Yuan and the ride took about half an hour. I was feeling extremely hopeful that today was going to turn out excellently.
The actual Foping Reserve itself is still closed I think. The place where the habituated Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys were being fed, and where there is one or more captive pandas (I didn’t go look at them, so not sure on numbers) is called Panda Valley. That was all I knew of the situation.
Everyone on the bus was staff of Panda Valley, so everyone got off at the same place. I had a look at a big map-board beside the road entrance but, as usual, I couldn’t make head nor tail of it without context, and I couldn’t see any Golden Monkeys on it. I went over to the information centre where the tickets were sold, but it was locked. A lady came over (looking somewhat perplexed why I was here) and via her phone asked if I needed any help. I mean, she was one of the people on the bus so I’m not sure why she wondered why I was here.
“I came here to see the Golden Monkeys,” I typed into my translator.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied.
I showed her photos of the monkeys from Google.
“There are no monkeys here, only pandas. You must have seen something elsewhere and be confused.”
Now I was confused. This definitely seemed like it should be the right place, the travel method matched, and it was definitely called Panda Valley. There were even horrible Kung Fu Panda statues everywhere. Well, I was here now, might as well make the best of it. Between the road entrance and the info centre was a rocky stream, and on this side (the opposite side to the road) was a boardwalk heading upstream. I asked how far the walk went and was told 2.5km, and entry was 35 Yuan. I asked if I could walk up the road and she said I could do either but it is the same ticket. It turned out the boardwalk joined with the road a-ways upstream.
We went inside the info centre so I could buy the ticket, and I asked if they had a paper map. Looking at this I saw a photo of Golden Monkeys at the top of one of the roads after the main road forked. The title beside the photo had been scribbled out. I pointed to the photo. “That area hasn’t been developed yet,” was the reply. So I was at the right place! They were just pretending there were no monkeys here.
I still couldn’t work out where I currently was on the map, and both the ladies at the counter pointed to different places when I asked. I honestly didn’t know whether the road the monkey photo was on, was up the road going upstream or somewhere else along the main road we came in on. I figured I’d work it out as I walked upstream and saw some signs or something.
It was extremely cold up here and the stream had some parts iced over, and where-ever there was a waterfall there would be curtains of ice hanging over the rocks. I saw a Little Forktail skating about trying to pick up insects. All along the stream were Little Forktails and Brown Dippers. The latter were interesting to watch - they are like thrushes but jump into the water and swim about at the surface like half-submerged ducks, and every so often dive to the bottom to grab an insect.
It wasn’t long before I found a map-board with a red star marking “you are here”. That was a lot more helpful! The road on the other side of the stream forked up ahead, with the right fork going off to the panda area, and the left fork going up past the Panda Forest Hotel and then right up near the end was the Golden Monkey area. Except the Golden Monkey area had been scratched right off the map. I even came across an information board about the important mammals of the reserve - Giant Panda, Serow, Goral, Takin, Wild Boar, Leopard, and … something which had its picture completely scratched out. What was that? Oh, yeah, a Golden Monkey. Even its name had been scratched out from the text. They were really going out of their way to erase all mention of Golden Monkeys here!
I reached the Panda Forest Hotel, where the road signs pointing further up the road had been removed - well, the signs were still physically attached to the posts, they had just been scratched out. I had seen very few birds at this point (Little and White-crowned Forktails, Brown Dippers, and a mixed flock of passerines which I never got looks at other than “some kind of scimitar-babbler”, “some kind of fulvetta”, etc). Outside the hotel the trees had a lot of birds flitting about though: Green-backed and Black-bibbed Tits, Grey-headed Pigmy Woodpeckers, and a Eurasian Nuthatch (the local race sinensis has bright chestnut underparts).
I was fully expecting to come up to some kind of guard-post and be turned back but there was no-one around. Past the hotel everything along the road was deserted. I reached the monkey feeding area which looked like it hadn’t been used in years. There were monkey statues, signage, even lockers for putting your bags in. But it was long abandoned.
There was a boardwalk continuing on for a bit, which I followed, and that turned into a trail through bamboo, following the stream still. I kept checking the hills around me just in case there were some monkeys in the trees, but it seems pretty unlikely. They would have only been coming to this area specifically to be fed.
There was another bird-wave up here, with Sooty Tits being the main species. Eurasian Treecreeper and Pekin Robins were also in there, and a Pere David’s Rock Squirrel scooting along the ground after them.
When I’d arrived I had checked what times the buses went back to Foping and been told 12.30. Was there only one bus, I had asked, and been told yes because in the off-season there are no tourists so if I didn’t get that bus I would have to call a taxi. There would have to be a bus back in the evening because the staff would need to return to Foping, but she insisted that 12.30 was the only bus. I didn’t want to pay for a taxi, and there didn’t seem any likelihood of seeing the monkeys here now, so I was going to try and get back to the entrance for that bus.
I got distracted on the way back by a large flock of laughing thrushes flying from tree to tree, but always behind them. I got glimpses to tell me they had bright yellow-buff underparts, white tails, and striking white heads (just white throats as it turned out when I saw them properly), and I had to follow them back up along the trail until they flew across the river and I could get some clear views (but too far for photos other than blurry ones showing the colour and pattern for ID). As the brilliant white throat would suggest, they were White-throated Laughing Thrushes.
I got back down to the entrance at 12.15 without anything new being seen. The bus was parked over by the road. I asked the lady if I just pay the driver and she said yes so I went over. I don’t think the driver liked me much. Nobody there seemed to like me, but the driver particularly didn’t seem to like me. He took me back to the lady and started loudly discussing something with her. Then she told me that I had to wait in the info centre “for a minute” and the driver would let me know when he was leaving.
After a bit she came and told me again to wait “for a minute” because there were two other people coming for the bus. At 1.30pm I was getting pretty fed up and went and asked again what time the bus was actually leaving. The reply was again that I had to wait “for a minute” because two other people were “up the top” and were catching the bus.
I don’t mind waiting for a bus, but it was aggravating just sitting here doing nothing when I could have been still looking for birds. I had specifically made it back here for the bus at 12.30, and I couldn’t just go back up the road looking for birds while waiting because they wouldn’t tell me how long it would be, and I knew for a fact that if I did they weren’t going to hold the bus until I got back like they were doing for these two local tourists.
The bus didn’t leave until 2pm - almost two hours I’d been waiting. I was feeling pretty peeved. On the bright side, as the bus came through Foping along the rocky river which flows through town, a Chinese Crested Ibis flew past along the river channel.
So, the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey attempt was a failure. I know of another site for them at Huayang Scenic Area, which is many hours away by bus so I need to check whether there are trains for at least part of the way. I also have no idea if seeing the monkeys there is still possible either. We’ll see how things progress.
Golden Monkey censorship!
The map-board at the entrance - the white blobs at the top are where the Golden Monkey area has been obliterated. I didn't know this yet.
The paper map, with the photo of the Golden Monkeys still present at the top, but the title of the photo crossed out. This was when I knew I was at the right place at least.
The first map-board along the boardwalk, with most of the upper areas along the left road blacked out! This was where I knew where on the map I was, and where the Golden Monkey area was in relation.
Even the monkey itself has been erased from the information board about important animals at the reserve. This was where it started getting a bit weird.
The map-board at the entrance - the white blobs at the top are where the Golden Monkey area has been obliterated. I didn't know this yet.
The paper map, with the photo of the Golden Monkeys still present at the top, but the title of the photo crossed out. This was when I knew I was at the right place at least.
The first map-board along the boardwalk, with most of the upper areas along the left road blacked out! This was where I knew where on the map I was, and where the Golden Monkey area was in relation.
Even the monkey itself has been erased from the information board about important animals at the reserve. This was where it started getting a bit weird.
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Perhaps they've had problems with poachers in the past, so they're erasing everything they can about the monkeys so people won't go there looking for them.
Could this be an opportunity to warn tourists about the impacts of poaching on local wildlife? Yes, but maybe censoring the monkeys was the easiest choice.
Another possibility is that the path which leads to the golden monkeys has been obstructed (hence why "it hasn't been developed" when it clearly has).
Also, is that a leopard I see on the sign?
No, they just stopped the feeding of them for tourists - probably because during covid there were no tourists - so they are now pretending that never happened.
Definitely not a Covid thing. There're tons of monkey photos and videos posted on Chinese social media platforms as late as last year. However, as those videos went viral, things started to go out of control. Tourists flooded the site, some trying to pet the monkeys and feed them with their own food. Eventually the park decided to stop feeding the monkeys in August to prevent further harm. According to recent social media postings, there're still chances to spot the monkeys in the park, but now the sightings are much less guaranteed.
Perhaps during the Covid break with no feeding they just stopped coming there, then disappeared and they were not able to attract them back afterward?
I searched several Chinese social media platforms and found no recent postings about the monkeys there. It seemed they stopped the practice years ago.
This is so frustrating! But you have saved me a very long day of getting nowhere with Huayang!
I don't suppose you know of any Golden Monkey sites which are open?
I wish I knew... I've heard of a habituated group in Shennongjia Reserve, Hubei Province, but after a little research it seems that site is no longer open to general public either.
Xi’an still
Today was a full day. I’d made a list of the zoos, aquariums and other wildlifey things I had found in Xi’an, and although I didn’t intend to visit all of them I had tried to look up the information for getting to all of them so I could decide on how to approach things.
As usual, the information on the internet isn’t that reliable for China. According to what I could uncover, two locations had metro stations at or nearby (Qujiang Polar Ocean Park, and the Shaanxi Nature Museum), some only had mention of buses (Qinling Four Treasures Scientific Park [two hours!], Qinling Wildlife Park, and the Chanba National Wetland Park), and for the Fantasy Aquarium I couldn’t find anything about it.
I had actually tried to get to at least one of these on my first afternoon after arriving in Xi’an but this city’s metro system is a little bit more complicated for foreigners than (say) Kunming or Chengdu. I mean, it’s basically the same - but much larger obviously - the problem is that their “English” version of the map is just the Chinese name in English letters rather than an actual translation. In Kunming you’ll have stations called something like Western Hills or Kunming Zoo, and in Chengdu something like Botanic Gardens or Chengdu Zoo. You can find your way to the tourist spots just by looking at the metro map. Here not so much. What causes more of an issue, though, is that if you look up the Xi’an metro map online various translated English names are on it, and directions for getting to the tourist spots use these English names. But in the stations they aren’t on the maps at all. It’s like Xi’an decided that if foreigners want to get around their city then they better damn well learn Chinese!
As an example, the directions I found online for getting to the Shaanxi Nature Museum are to go to the metro station called TV Tower on Line 2. Easy. Except there is no station called TV Tower on the system maps in the metro stations. I had to look up one of the online maps, count how many stations along the line TV Tower is, and note the stations either side of it to be sure, then try to find it on the map in the stations - it is called Dianshita.
…………………………………
Today (Saturday) I started the day going to the Shaanxi Nature Museum by metro. The Fantasy Aquarium isn’t too far away from there so I’d been going to take a taxi, but after finishing the museum I had a good look at the city map on my phone and found a metro station called Guanghuamen about ten minutes walk away from the aquarium, so that saved that taxi fare. Then I managed to find a metro station called Weiyanghu (i.e. Weiyang Lake) about ten minutes walk from the Chanba National Wetland Park, so I managed to squeeze a little bit of time in there as well before it got dark.
The Shaanxi Nature Museum is literally right outside Exit B of the Dianshita station. The exit is even called the Shaanxi Nature Museum Exit in English on the directional signage which is handy. In my part of the city the air is pretty clear - when I came out of the Dianshita station the air was like fog there was so much pollution hanging on it.
The museum is in two separate buildings, on either side of the TV Tower which the station is not named after, with the combined ticket price for both being 55 Yuan. The first building, directly outside the station exit, is a giant dome called the Kenneth Behring Natural History Museum (or some variation on that). There are three levels inside. The ground floor is bursting with taxidermy mammals mostly arranged in geographical and habitat displays such as African Wetlands or North American Prairies. The animals all look amazing - none of those Chinese demon-cats here. I took photos of all the displays which I will upload in due time. The second level is a small section with fish models. The third level has some archaeological and other items which I breezed past rather quickly.
The second building is called the Nature Exhibition Hall (I think) and again is on three levels. There is a quite good collection of fossils here, with cast skeletons of several dinosaurs and giant mammals; a room of animatronic dinosaurs; an insect area which includes some tanks for live insects (although most of the tanks appeared to be unoccupied); and a special hall for Qinling wildlife (some of the taxidermy in here veers more to the demon-cat side of things). There are also some areas for things like coal and human evolution.
…………………………………
When walking from the first museum building to the other, past the TV Tower, one passes a pavilion for bird photography, and also a sort of petting zoo. I took a look through the windows as I passed by, seeing some parrots, rabbits and Himalayan Marmots. I didn’t think much of it, but on my way back past I saw that it extended behind that glassed-in area and had an outside section. I took the footpath leading that way and looked over the fence, seeing Black Swans, an Alpaca and a Great White Pelican! It looked like there were some aviaries in there as well. So I thought I’d better go in and see what else there might be.
It cost 25 Yuan, and it wasn’t nice. I took photos of every animal I saw, so I’ll make a species list when I have time. One of the workers was following me around and kept trying to get me to go into enclosures or to hold animals. I kept saying I just want to take photos of the animals. It must have seemed weird to them for someone to go into such a place and not want to hold or pet any of the animals kept there.
Because it was a petting zoo the cages were all small and as soon as I came close the animals inside would start begging for food. It certainly wasn’t clean either. There were old cages and other junk lying around everywhere.
Most of the animals were what you’d expect - rabbits, goats, pigs, deer - but some of the more unusual were the marmots and pelican already mentioned, Black-throated Tits, a Plumbeous Water Redstart, and a Collared Crow, all in tiny cages, and Red-bellied Squirrels which had a mesh tunnel running through the air. There was also a reptile room with a range of standard species, as well as carry-cages with raccoons, coatis, and baby macaques.
…………………………………
From there I made my way to the Fantasy Aquarium. I knew nothing about this place, having just seen it marked on the map. I’d read a couple of Trip reviews which didn’t tell me anything other than that they had mermaids, so it must be a good aquarium and would be a nice change from the petting zoo. Um, no.
The first part of the aquarium was another petting zoo, even worse than the one I’d just come from! The first room had rabbits in glass boxes and a raccoon in a glass-walled pen. The second room had a falcon and an owl in bird cages. There was a deer in a tiny pen, otters in a glass box, cats in carry-cages, quail in aquarium tanks, a cage to the side even had a very dead quail inside. Just a nasty place, which somehow made that first place seem refreshing.
The aquarium itself was up and down. Some was okay, some was bad. A lot of the marine tanks looked grotty and many were rather empty of inhabitants. There was a small pool with eight sea turtles inside which kids could feed with lettuce on sticks. The “Oceanarium” was very small for an oceanarium but I did get there just when a mermaid show was about to start so that’s something. There was a nice section for jellyfish with lots of tanks. Probably the worst section was for reptiles, with loads of those little mesh-topped glass tanks they sell in pet shops - probably a third were empty, the ones which did have animals in they looked sick, and some of them were already clearly dead.
…………………………………
It was getting late in the afternoon now. Apart for time spent in the various facilities I’d been to today, it was also taking a bit of time to walk back and forth from metro stations and for the actual travel times on the trains themselves. Dusk isn’t until around 6pm though, so I still had time to get to the Chanba National Wetland Park for an hour or so.
The wetland park is free entry. When I got in, I was met with souvenir and food stalls, then a playground and amusement park. There was even another petting zoo here! I didn’t visit this one, although I may when I come back - at least it is in the open air so might be mostly okay. From outside as I walked past I saw loads of white doves everywhere, and a Silver Fox and a Raccoon Dog in wire cages.
After a bit more walking I found a lake, and immediately saw a trio of Swan Geese! I thought they were actual wild Swan Geese, but later saw more of them which included a white one and some obviously-domestic ones. However, apart for those I also saw wild Greylag Geese, Spot-billed Ducks, Coots, Moorhens and Little Grebes. I’m finally managing to see some birds this year! There was a large colony of Great Cormorants covering a lot of trees along another waterway, with a smaller colony of Black-crowned Night Herons adjacent to them. Best birds were probably a male Grey-headed Woodpecker which flew past and landed on a nearby tree, and as I was leaving just before dusk a pair of Eurasian Spoonbills which flew overhead.
I decided I’ll be going back there tomorrow so I can spend more time exploring and hopefully see some more birds!
Today was a full day. I’d made a list of the zoos, aquariums and other wildlifey things I had found in Xi’an, and although I didn’t intend to visit all of them I had tried to look up the information for getting to all of them so I could decide on how to approach things.
As usual, the information on the internet isn’t that reliable for China. According to what I could uncover, two locations had metro stations at or nearby (Qujiang Polar Ocean Park, and the Shaanxi Nature Museum), some only had mention of buses (Qinling Four Treasures Scientific Park [two hours!], Qinling Wildlife Park, and the Chanba National Wetland Park), and for the Fantasy Aquarium I couldn’t find anything about it.
I had actually tried to get to at least one of these on my first afternoon after arriving in Xi’an but this city’s metro system is a little bit more complicated for foreigners than (say) Kunming or Chengdu. I mean, it’s basically the same - but much larger obviously - the problem is that their “English” version of the map is just the Chinese name in English letters rather than an actual translation. In Kunming you’ll have stations called something like Western Hills or Kunming Zoo, and in Chengdu something like Botanic Gardens or Chengdu Zoo. You can find your way to the tourist spots just by looking at the metro map. Here not so much. What causes more of an issue, though, is that if you look up the Xi’an metro map online various translated English names are on it, and directions for getting to the tourist spots use these English names. But in the stations they aren’t on the maps at all. It’s like Xi’an decided that if foreigners want to get around their city then they better damn well learn Chinese!
As an example, the directions I found online for getting to the Shaanxi Nature Museum are to go to the metro station called TV Tower on Line 2. Easy. Except there is no station called TV Tower on the system maps in the metro stations. I had to look up one of the online maps, count how many stations along the line TV Tower is, and note the stations either side of it to be sure, then try to find it on the map in the stations - it is called Dianshita.
…………………………………
Today (Saturday) I started the day going to the Shaanxi Nature Museum by metro. The Fantasy Aquarium isn’t too far away from there so I’d been going to take a taxi, but after finishing the museum I had a good look at the city map on my phone and found a metro station called Guanghuamen about ten minutes walk away from the aquarium, so that saved that taxi fare. Then I managed to find a metro station called Weiyanghu (i.e. Weiyang Lake) about ten minutes walk from the Chanba National Wetland Park, so I managed to squeeze a little bit of time in there as well before it got dark.
The Shaanxi Nature Museum is literally right outside Exit B of the Dianshita station. The exit is even called the Shaanxi Nature Museum Exit in English on the directional signage which is handy. In my part of the city the air is pretty clear - when I came out of the Dianshita station the air was like fog there was so much pollution hanging on it.
The museum is in two separate buildings, on either side of the TV Tower which the station is not named after, with the combined ticket price for both being 55 Yuan. The first building, directly outside the station exit, is a giant dome called the Kenneth Behring Natural History Museum (or some variation on that). There are three levels inside. The ground floor is bursting with taxidermy mammals mostly arranged in geographical and habitat displays such as African Wetlands or North American Prairies. The animals all look amazing - none of those Chinese demon-cats here. I took photos of all the displays which I will upload in due time. The second level is a small section with fish models. The third level has some archaeological and other items which I breezed past rather quickly.
The second building is called the Nature Exhibition Hall (I think) and again is on three levels. There is a quite good collection of fossils here, with cast skeletons of several dinosaurs and giant mammals; a room of animatronic dinosaurs; an insect area which includes some tanks for live insects (although most of the tanks appeared to be unoccupied); and a special hall for Qinling wildlife (some of the taxidermy in here veers more to the demon-cat side of things). There are also some areas for things like coal and human evolution.
…………………………………
When walking from the first museum building to the other, past the TV Tower, one passes a pavilion for bird photography, and also a sort of petting zoo. I took a look through the windows as I passed by, seeing some parrots, rabbits and Himalayan Marmots. I didn’t think much of it, but on my way back past I saw that it extended behind that glassed-in area and had an outside section. I took the footpath leading that way and looked over the fence, seeing Black Swans, an Alpaca and a Great White Pelican! It looked like there were some aviaries in there as well. So I thought I’d better go in and see what else there might be.
It cost 25 Yuan, and it wasn’t nice. I took photos of every animal I saw, so I’ll make a species list when I have time. One of the workers was following me around and kept trying to get me to go into enclosures or to hold animals. I kept saying I just want to take photos of the animals. It must have seemed weird to them for someone to go into such a place and not want to hold or pet any of the animals kept there.
Because it was a petting zoo the cages were all small and as soon as I came close the animals inside would start begging for food. It certainly wasn’t clean either. There were old cages and other junk lying around everywhere.
Most of the animals were what you’d expect - rabbits, goats, pigs, deer - but some of the more unusual were the marmots and pelican already mentioned, Black-throated Tits, a Plumbeous Water Redstart, and a Collared Crow, all in tiny cages, and Red-bellied Squirrels which had a mesh tunnel running through the air. There was also a reptile room with a range of standard species, as well as carry-cages with raccoons, coatis, and baby macaques.
…………………………………
From there I made my way to the Fantasy Aquarium. I knew nothing about this place, having just seen it marked on the map. I’d read a couple of Trip reviews which didn’t tell me anything other than that they had mermaids, so it must be a good aquarium and would be a nice change from the petting zoo. Um, no.
The first part of the aquarium was another petting zoo, even worse than the one I’d just come from! The first room had rabbits in glass boxes and a raccoon in a glass-walled pen. The second room had a falcon and an owl in bird cages. There was a deer in a tiny pen, otters in a glass box, cats in carry-cages, quail in aquarium tanks, a cage to the side even had a very dead quail inside. Just a nasty place, which somehow made that first place seem refreshing.
The aquarium itself was up and down. Some was okay, some was bad. A lot of the marine tanks looked grotty and many were rather empty of inhabitants. There was a small pool with eight sea turtles inside which kids could feed with lettuce on sticks. The “Oceanarium” was very small for an oceanarium but I did get there just when a mermaid show was about to start so that’s something. There was a nice section for jellyfish with lots of tanks. Probably the worst section was for reptiles, with loads of those little mesh-topped glass tanks they sell in pet shops - probably a third were empty, the ones which did have animals in they looked sick, and some of them were already clearly dead.
…………………………………
It was getting late in the afternoon now. Apart for time spent in the various facilities I’d been to today, it was also taking a bit of time to walk back and forth from metro stations and for the actual travel times on the trains themselves. Dusk isn’t until around 6pm though, so I still had time to get to the Chanba National Wetland Park for an hour or so.
The wetland park is free entry. When I got in, I was met with souvenir and food stalls, then a playground and amusement park. There was even another petting zoo here! I didn’t visit this one, although I may when I come back - at least it is in the open air so might be mostly okay. From outside as I walked past I saw loads of white doves everywhere, and a Silver Fox and a Raccoon Dog in wire cages.
After a bit more walking I found a lake, and immediately saw a trio of Swan Geese! I thought they were actual wild Swan Geese, but later saw more of them which included a white one and some obviously-domestic ones. However, apart for those I also saw wild Greylag Geese, Spot-billed Ducks, Coots, Moorhens and Little Grebes. I’m finally managing to see some birds this year! There was a large colony of Great Cormorants covering a lot of trees along another waterway, with a smaller colony of Black-crowned Night Herons adjacent to them. Best birds were probably a male Grey-headed Woodpecker which flew past and landed on a nearby tree, and as I was leaving just before dusk a pair of Eurasian Spoonbills which flew overhead.
I decided I’ll be going back there tomorrow so I can spend more time exploring and hopefully see some more birds!
It must have smelled nasty