At least this does translate correctly haha
Chlidonias Goes To Asia, part seven: 2024-2025
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
Tell us more! Photos?
I only saw one Mermaid. They release her into the oceanarium tank for display at certain times of day. She seemed quite healthy. This was probably the best exhibit there.
Chanba National Wetland Park
I had a great day back at the Wetland Park on the Sunday, with 38 species seen. I’d had a look through the eBird list for the park and there were two birds I particularly wanted to see, the Silver-throated Tit and the Pere David’s Laughing Thrush. I saw the former, although it wasn’t as attractive in real life as I thought it would be (usually it goes the other way), and didn’t see the latter but it turned out I’d already seen that one on my last trip to China except then it was called the Plain Laughing Thrush which is why I didn’t recognise the name.
One of the first birds I saw when I arrived was a flock of Yellow-billed Grosbeaks which were a lifer. I saw them a few times during the day and even managed some photos. A mass of small birds surging through the treetops further along the path raised my hopes for Silver-throated Tits but they were the more common Black-throated Tits (which are much more attractive, it has to be said), and they were accompanied by Vinous-throated Parrotbills which are long-tailed balls of feathers with the tiniest little stump of a beak.
Yellow-billed Grosbeak
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
I wandered in a loop around the northern end of the park, seeing flocks of White-cheeked Starlings, a Great Crested Grebe, a couple of male Common Mergansers, and a surprise in a small flock of Mountain Bulbuls drinking while perched on a fallen branch in the water. I knew they were that species but hadn’t expected to see them here and thought maybe there was some similar-looking bulbul in the area (but there isn’t). According to the books the Mountain Bulbul is supposed to be found above 800m, and Xi’an is at 405m so well below their lower limit. If there had just been one bird I would have put it down to an escaped cage-bird, but there were about five of them, and the next morning I saw a pair outside the building my apartment was in, so they are obviously a Xi’an resident species (or at least seasonally here in winter).
Mountain Bulbul
I went round the southern end of the park next, and along the way finally connected with some Silver-throated Tits. True it was only two of them, one seen briefly flitting through some low coppiced trees and the other high up in a regular-sized tree on the other side of the path (but seen better).
I saw another lifer directly before the tits though, but only at a distance when I spotted a little white blob on the water through the trees. That looked like a Smew. I got my binoculars on it and sure enough it was a male Smew, one of the ducks I’ve always wanted to see.
Unfortunately it was so far back that it was barely identifiable. I scanned around and spotted what looked somewhat like three female mergansers, but they seemed way too small, a view cemented when two actual female Common Mergansers swam up to them. Were they female Smew? I quickly looked up a photo of a female Smew on my phone. That was them. They were so small! These females were much closer to me so I got a good look at them, but I really wanted to see that male better. I kept going around the path where there were more waterfowl, Eastern Spot-billed Ducks in particular, and seeing them sitting on land with more female Smew sitting amongst them really showed how small the Smew were. I had not expected them to be so little. To my satisfaction, when I got further around the waterway I came across the male Smew again. Not super close, but close enough to see him comfortably. What a great bird.
A pair of Oriental Magpies were seen soon after this. Azure-winged Magpies are everywhere is Xi’an, but these were the first Oriental Magpies I’d seen on this trip. Later when watching a mixed group of Azure-winged Magpies and Yellow-billed Grosbeaks, what I thought at first was another Azure-winged Magpie landed on the ground behind a tree, but it looked too big, and when it hopped out into view proved to be a Red-billed Blue Magpie.
I also saw a good-sized flock of Silver-throated Tits and managed to get some poor photos. The Aegithalos tits all move so quickly that they are really difficult to photograph successfully.
Silver-throated Tit
Some of the other nice birds seen today were a pair of Bramblings, a Hoopoe, Common Kingfisher, and some birds which I’d also seen yesterday like Red-flanked Bluetail and Eurasian Spoonbill.
.......................................................
The following day I had been going to try and get to one of the forest parks around Xi’an, but I had a footwear situation which needed attention instead.
Those with good memories may recall that on the last trip I made which included China, back in 2013, I had an accident with one of my boots and needed to buy some shoes on the spot. This was in South Korea and in the entire huge shoe market in Seoul I had found exactly two pairs of shoes in my size. I described my purchase as “a pair of shiny new $60 Korean shoes with bright green laces as if a couple of baby pit vipers are attacking my feet. [They] make me look like I mugged some kid from a Korean boy band and stole his shoes”.
They actually held up really well for most of that trip which was a surprise. In that case, my boots were old boots which I’d thought would do for that whole trip, but didn’t. In the current case I had bought new shoes right before the trip, worn them a couple of times to make sure they were comfortable enough, and then saved them until I actually left.
I’ve only been on this trip for a bit over a month and one of the shoes has already suffered catastrophic failure from the taxing mission of walking about. I’m not impressed but there’s not much I can do. Basically the inside of the heel of one of the shoes has collapsed. I made a make-shift repair the other day by pulling up the sole and stuffing wads of plastic bags inside to try and fill up the space, which sort of works although I wouldn’t be able walk easily for long distances. The main problem is that I’ll be flying to Japan in the near future and any time I fly they always get me to take off my shoes so they can put them through the X-ray machine. The last thing you want when they do that is to have a space inside the heel of the shoe stuffed with plastic bags!
Xi’an is the last big city I will be in before Japan so I had to sort this out here. I will be going to some other large cities (Nanning and Nanchang) but I doubt I’d be able to find any there, and I’m not going to be in Shanghai long enough to look. So yesterday I spent five hours going from mall to mall on the subway looking for shoe shops. Surprisingly China shoe shops don’t typically stock giant shoes. I eventually found one shop which had two pairs of shoes in my size. .
I’ll put a photo in the next post of what I had to buy. They cost almost NZ$100 but I didn’t have a lot of choice. Hopefully they will weather into looking something less like what Elroy Jetson would wear. I have no idea how well they are going to last though. I’ll probably have to buy another pair at some point in Japan.
I had a great day back at the Wetland Park on the Sunday, with 38 species seen. I’d had a look through the eBird list for the park and there were two birds I particularly wanted to see, the Silver-throated Tit and the Pere David’s Laughing Thrush. I saw the former, although it wasn’t as attractive in real life as I thought it would be (usually it goes the other way), and didn’t see the latter but it turned out I’d already seen that one on my last trip to China except then it was called the Plain Laughing Thrush which is why I didn’t recognise the name.
One of the first birds I saw when I arrived was a flock of Yellow-billed Grosbeaks which were a lifer. I saw them a few times during the day and even managed some photos. A mass of small birds surging through the treetops further along the path raised my hopes for Silver-throated Tits but they were the more common Black-throated Tits (which are much more attractive, it has to be said), and they were accompanied by Vinous-throated Parrotbills which are long-tailed balls of feathers with the tiniest little stump of a beak.
Yellow-billed Grosbeak
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
I wandered in a loop around the northern end of the park, seeing flocks of White-cheeked Starlings, a Great Crested Grebe, a couple of male Common Mergansers, and a surprise in a small flock of Mountain Bulbuls drinking while perched on a fallen branch in the water. I knew they were that species but hadn’t expected to see them here and thought maybe there was some similar-looking bulbul in the area (but there isn’t). According to the books the Mountain Bulbul is supposed to be found above 800m, and Xi’an is at 405m so well below their lower limit. If there had just been one bird I would have put it down to an escaped cage-bird, but there were about five of them, and the next morning I saw a pair outside the building my apartment was in, so they are obviously a Xi’an resident species (or at least seasonally here in winter).
Mountain Bulbul
I went round the southern end of the park next, and along the way finally connected with some Silver-throated Tits. True it was only two of them, one seen briefly flitting through some low coppiced trees and the other high up in a regular-sized tree on the other side of the path (but seen better).
I saw another lifer directly before the tits though, but only at a distance when I spotted a little white blob on the water through the trees. That looked like a Smew. I got my binoculars on it and sure enough it was a male Smew, one of the ducks I’ve always wanted to see.
Unfortunately it was so far back that it was barely identifiable. I scanned around and spotted what looked somewhat like three female mergansers, but they seemed way too small, a view cemented when two actual female Common Mergansers swam up to them. Were they female Smew? I quickly looked up a photo of a female Smew on my phone. That was them. They were so small! These females were much closer to me so I got a good look at them, but I really wanted to see that male better. I kept going around the path where there were more waterfowl, Eastern Spot-billed Ducks in particular, and seeing them sitting on land with more female Smew sitting amongst them really showed how small the Smew were. I had not expected them to be so little. To my satisfaction, when I got further around the waterway I came across the male Smew again. Not super close, but close enough to see him comfortably. What a great bird.
A pair of Oriental Magpies were seen soon after this. Azure-winged Magpies are everywhere is Xi’an, but these were the first Oriental Magpies I’d seen on this trip. Later when watching a mixed group of Azure-winged Magpies and Yellow-billed Grosbeaks, what I thought at first was another Azure-winged Magpie landed on the ground behind a tree, but it looked too big, and when it hopped out into view proved to be a Red-billed Blue Magpie.
I also saw a good-sized flock of Silver-throated Tits and managed to get some poor photos. The Aegithalos tits all move so quickly that they are really difficult to photograph successfully.
Silver-throated Tit
Some of the other nice birds seen today were a pair of Bramblings, a Hoopoe, Common Kingfisher, and some birds which I’d also seen yesterday like Red-flanked Bluetail and Eurasian Spoonbill.
.......................................................
The following day I had been going to try and get to one of the forest parks around Xi’an, but I had a footwear situation which needed attention instead.
Those with good memories may recall that on the last trip I made which included China, back in 2013, I had an accident with one of my boots and needed to buy some shoes on the spot. This was in South Korea and in the entire huge shoe market in Seoul I had found exactly two pairs of shoes in my size. I described my purchase as “a pair of shiny new $60 Korean shoes with bright green laces as if a couple of baby pit vipers are attacking my feet. [They] make me look like I mugged some kid from a Korean boy band and stole his shoes”.
They actually held up really well for most of that trip which was a surprise. In that case, my boots were old boots which I’d thought would do for that whole trip, but didn’t. In the current case I had bought new shoes right before the trip, worn them a couple of times to make sure they were comfortable enough, and then saved them until I actually left.
I’ve only been on this trip for a bit over a month and one of the shoes has already suffered catastrophic failure from the taxing mission of walking about. I’m not impressed but there’s not much I can do. Basically the inside of the heel of one of the shoes has collapsed. I made a make-shift repair the other day by pulling up the sole and stuffing wads of plastic bags inside to try and fill up the space, which sort of works although I wouldn’t be able walk easily for long distances. The main problem is that I’ll be flying to Japan in the near future and any time I fly they always get me to take off my shoes so they can put them through the X-ray machine. The last thing you want when they do that is to have a space inside the heel of the shoe stuffed with plastic bags!
Xi’an is the last big city I will be in before Japan so I had to sort this out here. I will be going to some other large cities (Nanning and Nanchang) but I doubt I’d be able to find any there, and I’m not going to be in Shanghai long enough to look. So yesterday I spent five hours going from mall to mall on the subway looking for shoe shops. Surprisingly China shoe shops don’t typically stock giant shoes. I eventually found one shop which had two pairs of shoes in my size. .
I’ll put a photo in the next post of what I had to buy. They cost almost NZ$100 but I didn’t have a lot of choice. Hopefully they will weather into looking something less like what Elroy Jetson would wear. I have no idea how well they are going to last though. I’ll probably have to buy another pair at some point in Japan.
What is it with foreign countries never having your shoe size? When I was in Costa Rica I was surprised to find many forest reserves would refuse visitors who weren't wearing rubber boots, so I had to buy some. But it was quite difficult to find any rubber boots that even approached my size.
I get it (at least in Asia), because most locals aren't anywhere near as big as a lot of Westerners, so the shoe shops aren't going to bother stocking shoes they won't sell. But the locals who are of those sizes (or Westerners living there) must find it really difficult. Maybe they buy online instead.
The other annoying thing is that the "plus-size" (as the lady in this shoe shop called the shoes) are always way more expensive. The smaller sizes of this same shoe were 100 Yuan cheaper. And in South Korea there were thousands of pairs of shoes for a couple of dollars each, but the ones I had to buy were $60.
Ah, the myth of the yeti roaming the mountains of China and leaving giant footprints is explained at last.
Fanjingshan
I decided to skip the pheasants at Balangshan, so the next destination for me in China was Fanjingshan, home of the Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey. I was here in 2013 where I had a good time for several days walking up and down the mountain. I didn’t see any snub-nosed monkeys of course (it is like looking for a very shy needle in a very large haystack) but I saw other neat animals, and I wanted to give the monkeys another shot. I don’t think there’s much chance, but a small chance is better than not trying at all.
From Xi’an I got a train at 7.25am to the city of Guiyang. Back in 2013 the train from Chengdu to Guiyang took 12.5 hours. Now it takes four hours. From Xi’an it takes about seven hours. I could have got a train to Chengdu and then another train from there to Guiyang to break up the trip, but it would take the same length of time and cost about the same, and as it turned out the train from Xi’an goes via Chengdu anyway.
From Guiyang, in 2013 I had then got another train to Yuping, then a bus for 1.5 hours to Tongren where I stayed overnight, and then another bus for an hour to Heiwan which is the village at the entrance to the Fanjingshan reserve. There are actually a couple of direct trains from Chengdu to Tongren now, but not if coming from Xi’an.
There were so many tunnels, and so many mountains, going from Xi'an to Guiyang. Any time I looked out the window there were mountains. I've never seen so many mountains, and I grew up next to a mountain factory.
When I got to the Guiyang Railway Station I went straight to the ticket counter and bought a ticket for the next train to Tongren, which was at 3.35pm. Then I went on Trip and booked a room at a hotel there (I hadn't done it beforehand because I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there today, or if I'd have to stay in Guiyang instead).
When I'd caught the train to Xi'an from Jiangyou I'd had to dig my Swiss Army Knife out from the bottom of my pack for security to examine. I had specifically kept the knife near the top this time, and when the security at the Guiyang station wanted me to open my bag I assumed it must be for that. But no, it was my Lynx. I couldn't take deodorant on the train due to the extreme danger it posed.
This was ridiculous. I told them I had taken it on numerous trains already but they weren't moved. It was forbidden. It's generally the little things that annoy me the most, like having deodorant confiscated. Big problems you can just shrug, oh well nothing I can do, but with little things they are always so pointless and stupid that they are far more annoying. I had a security guard at an airport once tell me I couldn't take my empty water bottle on the plane.
Now I have to find somewhere to buy more deodorant, which if my last trip to China is anything to go by will not be easy!
There was rain for a lot of the way to Tongren, which was new. At Tongren itself it was just spitting a little. The hotel I'd booked, the Juxian Business Hotel, was a few minutes walk from the station and cost 64 Yuan for the room. It's not the best hotel. There was one small wall-light which barely did anything so the room was quite dark. In the evening when I went to turn off the lights I discovered that the switch for the main room light was by the bathroom. The reason I hadn't found this earlier is that there are two switches there and they go in opposite directions. The switch for the bathroom light goes down when the light is on, while the room switch goes up - because the bathroom light was already on I assumed both switches were on and the second one just didn't work. Was a bit confusing. Much more problematic was that the room smelled like a toilet. For anyone who has smelled a Chinese public toilet, it smells like that. For anyone who hasn't, you are fortunate indeed. The actual bathroom smelled worse. I mean, the room was clean but it smelled like it wasn't. If I hadn't already paid I'd have gone somewhere else. I was only here one night though, and tomorrow I'd be off to Fanjingshan if I could find the bus station.
I had a look for the station while going out to get something to eat, and couldn't see where it was. Apparently it is close. I also looked in every shop around and, as expected, nowhere sells deodorant. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get any for a while...
The next morning (today) I found the bus station easily. There was a giant sign over the road pointing the way, but yesterday I had been at the wrong angle to see it. I bought a ticket for the 9.20am bus (which was a car) and arrived at Fanjingshan at about 11am.
The driver dropped off the other passengers at the entrance to Fanjingshan. This is where you buy tickets, and then take a bus for 9.5km up to the lower cable-car station. From there you can either take the cable-car to the upper station, or walk up 8000 steps (that's not some funny quip, it is actually 8000 steps apparently; or 6.5km). The lower station is at 850m and the upper at around 2030m. The altitude range of the snub-nosed monkeys is about 800-2200m, so walking up and down the mountain is the way to do it.
I asked the driver if there was a hotel close by so that I could leave my bags there and then come back to the mountain. He drove me first to one very close but too expensive, and then to one which was further away (2km) but at 100 Yuan per night was more of a price I'd be willing to pay. (Although later I was looking at their room board at reception and the standard and single rooms are priced at 288 Yuan, so I guess I've either got a winter discount or it's just because I'm awesome). This hotel is called the Xiushui Villa and it is very much recommended by me. Literally right outside the rooms is a rocky river on which were Little Egrets, Plumbeous and White-capped Water Redstarts, Little and Slaty-backed Forktails, Brown Dipper and Common Kingfisher - all seen from my room!
Slaty-backed Forktail
While driving there I was thinking "this is much too far from the mountain" but it was actually perfect for me because apart for the birds right outside, the walk back to the mountain followed the river the whole way. There were loads of birds, especially Collared Finchbills. There were flocks of them everywhere, along with Brown-breasted Bulbuls, White-browed Laughing Thrushes, Black-headed Sibias, Grey-capped Pigmy Woodpeckers and various other twittery things. A Crested Kingfisher was seen a couple of times, as always looking quite incongruous to see such a massive kingfisher on a shallow rocky river.
Collared Finchbill - a species of bulbul with a finch-like bill, shown quite well in this photo.
Crested Kingfisher
Then I reached the entrance to Fanjingshan.
Remember a little while back (at Foping) where I'd said "I feel like the rest of my run through China is just going to be a series of 'things looked promising to start with...' "
Yeah...
I walked inside and two guys at the desk jumped up and said hello. On my phone I typed in "what time does the first bus go up in the morning?"
"Where do you want to go?" was the confusing response. I mean, I'm in the entrance building for Fanjingshan asking what time the first bus goes up. Where do they think I want to go?
"I want to go up the mountain."
"The mountain is closed."
Huh?
"The mountain is frozen. It is closed".
This was not something I expected.
"It has been closed since yesterday."
I'm not sure if that was an inaccurate translation, or if he just wanted to make it that bit more annoying. Now what was I supposed to do?
"What is there to do here then?" I asked.
"You will have to go to other attractions," was the reply.
I was at a bit of a loss to know what to say. If it was closed it was closed. The thing with Fanjingshan too is that the only way to enter the reserve is on the park buses. You aren't even allowed to just walk up that lower road and look for birds.There wasn't much I could do except turn around and walk away. Seriously, it is like everywhere I have tried to go since leaving Yunnan has just been defeat after defeat.
I walked back to the hotel. At least it was a 2km walk to look for birds in. The Collared Finchbills had all vanished, but there were Brown Dippers on the river and I saw a beautiful Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush and a nice male Daurian Redstart.
Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush (not a very good photo because it wasn't very close).
Daurian Redstart
I'd already paid for three nights at the hotel, because I was going to be going up Fanjingshan at least two or three times to look for the monkeys. Now what was I going to do?
Another site in the general area I had on my plans is Mayanghe, where there are Francois' Langurs. I hadn't been sure if it would be easier to get there from Tongren or from Fanijingshan, but either way I'd have to be hiring a driver to get me there. Tongren is closer. But I've decided not to go now. I know what will happen - I'll pay a heap of money to get out there and then the reserve will be closed, or I won't be allowed in because I'm a foreigner, or the monkeys will all be gone now, or there will be a freak inland tsunami.
Instead I'll stay where I am for the next two days - I'll see what I can see just by wandering about, and it is a nice spot by the river even if I probably won't see anything of any great interest - and then I'll head straight for Nanning. From there it is a quick thirty-minute train trip to Chongzuo where the White-headed Langurs are found. Given my track record so far I'm not expecting to see them, but at least it won't cost me a lot of money to not see them.
Japanese Tit
Black-throated Tit
I decided to skip the pheasants at Balangshan, so the next destination for me in China was Fanjingshan, home of the Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey. I was here in 2013 where I had a good time for several days walking up and down the mountain. I didn’t see any snub-nosed monkeys of course (it is like looking for a very shy needle in a very large haystack) but I saw other neat animals, and I wanted to give the monkeys another shot. I don’t think there’s much chance, but a small chance is better than not trying at all.
From Xi’an I got a train at 7.25am to the city of Guiyang. Back in 2013 the train from Chengdu to Guiyang took 12.5 hours. Now it takes four hours. From Xi’an it takes about seven hours. I could have got a train to Chengdu and then another train from there to Guiyang to break up the trip, but it would take the same length of time and cost about the same, and as it turned out the train from Xi’an goes via Chengdu anyway.
From Guiyang, in 2013 I had then got another train to Yuping, then a bus for 1.5 hours to Tongren where I stayed overnight, and then another bus for an hour to Heiwan which is the village at the entrance to the Fanjingshan reserve. There are actually a couple of direct trains from Chengdu to Tongren now, but not if coming from Xi’an.
There were so many tunnels, and so many mountains, going from Xi'an to Guiyang. Any time I looked out the window there were mountains. I've never seen so many mountains, and I grew up next to a mountain factory.
When I got to the Guiyang Railway Station I went straight to the ticket counter and bought a ticket for the next train to Tongren, which was at 3.35pm. Then I went on Trip and booked a room at a hotel there (I hadn't done it beforehand because I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there today, or if I'd have to stay in Guiyang instead).
When I'd caught the train to Xi'an from Jiangyou I'd had to dig my Swiss Army Knife out from the bottom of my pack for security to examine. I had specifically kept the knife near the top this time, and when the security at the Guiyang station wanted me to open my bag I assumed it must be for that. But no, it was my Lynx. I couldn't take deodorant on the train due to the extreme danger it posed.
This was ridiculous. I told them I had taken it on numerous trains already but they weren't moved. It was forbidden. It's generally the little things that annoy me the most, like having deodorant confiscated. Big problems you can just shrug, oh well nothing I can do, but with little things they are always so pointless and stupid that they are far more annoying. I had a security guard at an airport once tell me I couldn't take my empty water bottle on the plane.
Now I have to find somewhere to buy more deodorant, which if my last trip to China is anything to go by will not be easy!
There was rain for a lot of the way to Tongren, which was new. At Tongren itself it was just spitting a little. The hotel I'd booked, the Juxian Business Hotel, was a few minutes walk from the station and cost 64 Yuan for the room. It's not the best hotel. There was one small wall-light which barely did anything so the room was quite dark. In the evening when I went to turn off the lights I discovered that the switch for the main room light was by the bathroom. The reason I hadn't found this earlier is that there are two switches there and they go in opposite directions. The switch for the bathroom light goes down when the light is on, while the room switch goes up - because the bathroom light was already on I assumed both switches were on and the second one just didn't work. Was a bit confusing. Much more problematic was that the room smelled like a toilet. For anyone who has smelled a Chinese public toilet, it smells like that. For anyone who hasn't, you are fortunate indeed. The actual bathroom smelled worse. I mean, the room was clean but it smelled like it wasn't. If I hadn't already paid I'd have gone somewhere else. I was only here one night though, and tomorrow I'd be off to Fanjingshan if I could find the bus station.
I had a look for the station while going out to get something to eat, and couldn't see where it was. Apparently it is close. I also looked in every shop around and, as expected, nowhere sells deodorant. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get any for a while...
The next morning (today) I found the bus station easily. There was a giant sign over the road pointing the way, but yesterday I had been at the wrong angle to see it. I bought a ticket for the 9.20am bus (which was a car) and arrived at Fanjingshan at about 11am.
The driver dropped off the other passengers at the entrance to Fanjingshan. This is where you buy tickets, and then take a bus for 9.5km up to the lower cable-car station. From there you can either take the cable-car to the upper station, or walk up 8000 steps (that's not some funny quip, it is actually 8000 steps apparently; or 6.5km). The lower station is at 850m and the upper at around 2030m. The altitude range of the snub-nosed monkeys is about 800-2200m, so walking up and down the mountain is the way to do it.
I asked the driver if there was a hotel close by so that I could leave my bags there and then come back to the mountain. He drove me first to one very close but too expensive, and then to one which was further away (2km) but at 100 Yuan per night was more of a price I'd be willing to pay. (Although later I was looking at their room board at reception and the standard and single rooms are priced at 288 Yuan, so I guess I've either got a winter discount or it's just because I'm awesome). This hotel is called the Xiushui Villa and it is very much recommended by me. Literally right outside the rooms is a rocky river on which were Little Egrets, Plumbeous and White-capped Water Redstarts, Little and Slaty-backed Forktails, Brown Dipper and Common Kingfisher - all seen from my room!
Slaty-backed Forktail
While driving there I was thinking "this is much too far from the mountain" but it was actually perfect for me because apart for the birds right outside, the walk back to the mountain followed the river the whole way. There were loads of birds, especially Collared Finchbills. There were flocks of them everywhere, along with Brown-breasted Bulbuls, White-browed Laughing Thrushes, Black-headed Sibias, Grey-capped Pigmy Woodpeckers and various other twittery things. A Crested Kingfisher was seen a couple of times, as always looking quite incongruous to see such a massive kingfisher on a shallow rocky river.
Collared Finchbill - a species of bulbul with a finch-like bill, shown quite well in this photo.
Crested Kingfisher
Then I reached the entrance to Fanjingshan.
Remember a little while back (at Foping) where I'd said "I feel like the rest of my run through China is just going to be a series of 'things looked promising to start with...' "
Yeah...
I walked inside and two guys at the desk jumped up and said hello. On my phone I typed in "what time does the first bus go up in the morning?"
"Where do you want to go?" was the confusing response. I mean, I'm in the entrance building for Fanjingshan asking what time the first bus goes up. Where do they think I want to go?
"I want to go up the mountain."
"The mountain is closed."
Huh?
"The mountain is frozen. It is closed".
This was not something I expected.
"It has been closed since yesterday."
I'm not sure if that was an inaccurate translation, or if he just wanted to make it that bit more annoying. Now what was I supposed to do?
"What is there to do here then?" I asked.
"You will have to go to other attractions," was the reply.
I was at a bit of a loss to know what to say. If it was closed it was closed. The thing with Fanjingshan too is that the only way to enter the reserve is on the park buses. You aren't even allowed to just walk up that lower road and look for birds.There wasn't much I could do except turn around and walk away. Seriously, it is like everywhere I have tried to go since leaving Yunnan has just been defeat after defeat.
I walked back to the hotel. At least it was a 2km walk to look for birds in. The Collared Finchbills had all vanished, but there were Brown Dippers on the river and I saw a beautiful Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush and a nice male Daurian Redstart.
Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush (not a very good photo because it wasn't very close).
Daurian Redstart
I'd already paid for three nights at the hotel, because I was going to be going up Fanjingshan at least two or three times to look for the monkeys. Now what was I going to do?
Another site in the general area I had on my plans is Mayanghe, where there are Francois' Langurs. I hadn't been sure if it would be easier to get there from Tongren or from Fanijingshan, but either way I'd have to be hiring a driver to get me there. Tongren is closer. But I've decided not to go now. I know what will happen - I'll pay a heap of money to get out there and then the reserve will be closed, or I won't be allowed in because I'm a foreigner, or the monkeys will all be gone now, or there will be a freak inland tsunami.
Instead I'll stay where I am for the next two days - I'll see what I can see just by wandering about, and it is a nice spot by the river even if I probably won't see anything of any great interest - and then I'll head straight for Nanning. From there it is a quick thirty-minute train trip to Chongzuo where the White-headed Langurs are found. Given my track record so far I'm not expecting to see them, but at least it won't cost me a lot of money to not see them.
Japanese Tit
Black-throated Tit
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Fanjingshan
I decided to skip the pheasants at Balangshan, so the next destination for me in China was Fanjingshan, home of the Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey. I was here in 2013 where I had a good time for several days walking up and down the mountain. I didn’t see any snub-nosed monkeys of course (it is like looking for a very shy needle in a very large haystack) but I saw other neat animals, and I wanted to give the monkeys another shot. I don’t think there’s much chance, but a small chance is better than not trying at all.
From Xi’an I got a train at 7.25am to the city of Guiyang. Back in 2013 the train from Chengdu to Guiyang took 12.5 hours. Now it takes four hours. From Xi’an it takes about seven hours. I could have got a train to Chengdu and then another train from there to Guiyang to break up the trip, but it would take the same length of time and cost about the same, and as it turned out the train from Xi’an goes via Chengdu anyway.
From Guiyang, in 2013 I had then got another train to Yuping, then a bus for 1.5 hours to Tongren where I stayed overnight, and then another bus for an hour to Heiwan which is the village at the entrance to the Fanjingshan reserve. There are actually a couple of direct trains from Chengdu to Tongren now, but not if coming from Xi’an.
There were so many tunnels, and so many mountains, going from Xi'an to Guiyang. Any time I looked out the window there were mountains. I've never seen so many mountains, and I grew up next to a mountain factory.
When I got to the Guiyang Railway Station I went straight to the ticket counter and bought a ticket for the next train to Tongren, which was at 3.35pm. Then I went on Trip and booked a room at a hotel there (I hadn't done it beforehand because I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there today, or if I'd have to stay in Guiyang instead).
When I'd caught the train to Xi'an from Jiangyou I'd had to dig my Swiss Army Knife out from the bottom of my pack for security to examine. I had specifically kept the knife near the top this time, and when the security at the Guiyang station wanted me to open my bag I assumed it must be for that. But no, it was my Lynx. I couldn't take deodorant on the train due to the extreme danger it posed.
This was ridiculous. I told them I had taken it on numerous trains already but they weren't moved. It was forbidden. It's generally the little things that annoy me the most, like having deodorant confiscated. Big problems you can just shrug, oh well nothing I can do, but with little things they are always so pointless and stupid that they are far more annoying. I had a security guard at an airport once tell me I couldn't take my empty water bottle on the plane.
Now I have to find somewhere to buy more deodorant, which if my last trip to China is anything to go by will not be easy!
There was rain for a lot of the way to Tongren, which was new. At Tongren itself it was just spitting a little. The hotel I'd booked, the Juxian Business Hotel, was a few minutes walk from the station and cost 64 Yuan for the room. It's not the best hotel. There was one small wall-light which barely did anything so the room was quite dark. In the evening when I went to turn off the lights I discovered that the switch for the main room light was by the bathroom. The reason I hadn't found this earlier is that there are two switches there and they go in opposite directions. The switch for the bathroom light goes down when the light is on, while the room switch goes up - because the bathroom light was already on I assumed both switches were on and the second one just didn't work. Was a bit confusing. Much more problematic was that the room smelled like a toilet. For anyone who has smelled a Chinese public toilet, it smells like that. For anyone who hasn't, you are fortunate indeed. The actual bathroom smelled worse. I mean, the room was clean but it smelled like it wasn't. If I hadn't already paid I'd have gone somewhere else. I was only here one night though, and tomorrow I'd be off to Fanjingshan if I could find the bus station.
I had a look for the station while going out to get something to eat, and couldn't see where it was. Apparently it is close. I also looked in every shop around and, as expected, nowhere sells deodorant. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get any for a while...
The next morning (today) I found the bus station easily. There was a giant sign over the road pointing the way, but yesterday I had been at the wrong angle to see it. I bought a ticket for the 9.20am bus (which was a car) and arrived at Fanjingshan at about 11am.
The driver dropped off the other passengers at the entrance to Fanjingshan. This is where you buy tickets, and then take a bus for 9.5km up to the lower cable-car station. From there you can either take the cable-car to the upper station, or walk up 8000 steps (that's not some funny quip, it is actually 8000 steps apparently; or 6.5km). The lower station is at 850m and the upper at around 2030m. The altitude range of the snub-nosed monkeys is about 800-2200m, so walking up and down the mountain is the way to do it.
I asked the driver if there was a hotel close by so that I could leave my bags there and then come back to the mountain. He drove me first to one very close but too expensive, and then to one which was further away (2km) but at 100 Yuan per night was more of a price I'd be willing to pay. (Although later I was looking at their room board at reception and the standard and single rooms are priced at 288 Yuan, so I guess I've either got a winter discount or it's just because I'm awesome). This hotel is called the Xiushui Villa and it is very much recommended by me. Literally right outside the rooms is a rocky river on which were Little Egrets, Plumbeous and White-capped Water Redstarts, Little and Slaty-backed Forktails, Brown Dipper and Common Kingfisher - all seen from my room!
Slaty-backed Forktail
While driving there I was thinking "this is much too far from the mountain" but it was actually perfect for me because apart for the birds right outside, the walk back to the mountain followed the river the whole way. There were loads of birds, especially Collared Finchbills. There were flocks of them everywhere, along with Brown-breasted Bulbuls, White-browed Laughing Thrushes, Black-headed Sibias, Grey-capped Pigmy Woodpeckers and various other twittery things. A Crested Kingfisher was seen a couple of times, as always looking quite incongruous to see such a massive kingfisher on a shallow rocky river.
Collared Finchbill - a species of bulbul with a finch-like bill, shown quite well in this photo.
Crested Kingfisher
Then I reached the entrance to Fanjingshan.
Remember a little while back (at Foping) where I'd said "I feel like the rest of my run through China is just going to be a series of 'things looked promising to start with...' "
Yeah...
I walked inside and two guys at the desk jumped up and said hello. On my phone I typed in "what time does the first bus go up in the morning?"
"Where do you want to go?" was the confusing response. I mean, I'm in the entrance building for Fanijungshan asking what time the first bus goes up. Where do they think I want to go?
"I want to go up the mountain."
"The mountain is closed."
Huh?
"The mountain is frozen. It is closed".
This was not something I expected.
"It has been closed since yesterday."
I'm not sure if that was an inaccurate translation, or if he just wanted to make it that bit more annoying. Now what was I supposed to do?
"What is there to do here then?" I asked.
"You will have to go to other attractions," was the reply.
I was at a bit of a loss to know what to say. If it was closed it was closed. The thing with Fanjingshan too is that the only way to enter the reserve is on the park buses. You aren't even allowed to just walk up that lower road and look for birds.There wasn't much I could do except turn around and walk away. Seriously, it is like everywhere I have tried to go since leaving Yunnan has just been defeat after defeat.
I walked back to the hotel. At least it was a 2km walk to look for birds in. The Collared Finchbills had all vanished, but there were Brown Dippers on the river and I saw a beautiful Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush and a nice male Daurian Redstart.
Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush (not a very good photo because it wasn't very close).
Daurian Redstart
I'd already paid for three nights at the hotel, because I was going to be going up Fanjingshan at least two or three times to look for the monkeys. Now what was I going to do?
Another site in the general area I had on my plans is Mayanghe, where there are Francois' Langurs. I hadn't been sure if it would be easier to get there from Tongren or from Fanijingshan, but either way I'd have to be hiring a driver to get me there. Tongren is closer. But I've decided not to go now. I know what will happen - I'll pay a heap of money to get out there and then the reserve will be closed, or I won't be allowed in because I'm a foreigner, or the monkeys will all be gone now, or there will be a freak inland tsunami.
Instead I'll stay where I am for the next two days - I'll see what I can see just by wandering about, and it is a nice spot by the river even if I probably won't see anything of any great interest - and then I'll head straight for Nanning. From there it is a quick thirty-minute train trip to Chongzuo where the White-headed Langurs are found. Given my track record so far I'm not expecting to see them, but at least it won't cost me a lot of money to not see them.
Japanese Tit
Black-throated Tit
just remind me why you didn't go to South American (or Africa for that matter) and are instead chasing ghosts in a country where finding accurate information is impossible
I love reading these reports and there is some cool stuff but unlike previous threads the ratio between investment and actually seeing cool stuff seems wrong.
Tell me about it!just remind me why you didn't go to South American (or Africa for that matter) and are instead chasing ghosts in a country where finding accurate information is impossible
I love reading these reports and there is some cool stuff but unlike previous threads the ratio between investment and actually seeing cool stuff seems wrong.
I'm just hoping that Japan goes better, otherwise I'm giving up travelling and becoming a mobile phone salesman. I'd probably be better at it.
Fanjingshan
I decided to skip the pheasants at Balangshan, so the next destination for me in China was Fanjingshan, home of the Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey. I was here in 2013 where I had a good time for several days walking up and down the mountain. I didn’t see any snub-nosed monkeys of course (it is like looking for a very shy needle in a very large haystack) but I saw other neat animals, and I wanted to give the monkeys another shot. I don’t think there’s much chance, but a small chance is better than not trying at all.
From Xi’an I got a train at 7.25am to the city of Guiyang. Back in 2013 the train from Chengdu to Guiyang took 12.5 hours. Now it takes four hours. From Xi’an it takes about seven hours. I could have got a train to Chengdu and then another train from there to Guiyang to break up the trip, but it would take the same length of time and cost about the same, and as it turned out the train from Xi’an goes via Chengdu anyway.
From Guiyang, in 2013 I had then got another train to Yuping, then a bus for 1.5 hours to Tongren where I stayed overnight, and then another bus for an hour to Heiwan which is the village at the entrance to the Fanjingshan reserve. There are actually a couple of direct trains from Chengdu to Tongren now, but not if coming from Xi’an.
There were so many tunnels, and so many mountains, going from Xi'an to Guiyang. Any time I looked out the window there were mountains. I've never seen so many mountains, and I grew up next to a mountain factory.
When I got to the Guiyang Railway Station I went straight to the ticket counter and bought a ticket for the next train to Tongren, which was at 3.35pm. Then I went on Trip and booked a room at a hotel there (I hadn't done it beforehand because I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there today, or if I'd have to stay in Guiyang instead).
When I'd caught the train to Xi'an from Jiangyou I'd had to dig my Swiss Army Knife out from the bottom of my pack for security to examine. I had specifically kept the knife near the top this time, and when the security at the Guiyang station wanted me to open my bag I assumed it must be for that. But no, it was my Lynx. I couldn't take deodorant on the train due to the extreme danger it posed.
This was ridiculous. I told them I had taken it on numerous trains already but they weren't moved. It was forbidden. It's generally the little things that annoy me the most, like having deodorant confiscated. Big problems you can just shrug, oh well nothing I can do, but with little things they are always so pointless and stupid that they are far more annoying. I had a security guard at an airport once tell me I couldn't take my empty water bottle on the plane.
Now I have to find somewhere to buy more deodorant, which if my last trip to China is anything to go by will not be easy!
There was rain for a lot of the way to Tongren, which was new. At Tongren itself it was just spitting a little. The hotel I'd booked, the Juxian Business Hotel, was a few minutes walk from the station and cost 64 Yuan for the room. It's not the best hotel. There was one small wall-light which barely did anything so the room was quite dark. In the evening when I went to turn off the lights I discovered that the switch for the main room light was by the bathroom. The reason I hadn't found this earlier is that there are two switches there and they go in opposite directions. The switch for the bathroom light goes down when the light is on, while the room switch goes up - because the bathroom light was already on I assumed both switches were on and the second one just didn't work. Was a bit confusing. Much more problematic was that the room smelled like a toilet. For anyone who has smelled a Chinese public toilet, it smells like that. For anyone who hasn't, you are fortunate indeed. The actual bathroom smelled worse. I mean, the room was clean but it smelled like it wasn't. If I hadn't already paid I'd have gone somewhere else. I was only here one night though, and tomorrow I'd be off to Fanjingshan if I could find the bus station.
I had a look for the station while going out to get something to eat, and couldn't see where it was. Apparently it is close. I also looked in every shop around and, as expected, nowhere sells deodorant. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get any for a while...
The next morning (today) I found the bus station easily. There was a giant sign over the road pointing the way, but yesterday I had been at the wrong angle to see it. I bought a ticket for the 9.20am bus (which was a car) and arrived at Fanjingshan at about 11am.
The driver dropped off the other passengers at the entrance to Fanjingshan. This is where you buy tickets, and then take a bus for 9.5km up to the lower cable-car station. From there you can either take the cable-car to the upper station, or walk up 8000 steps (that's not some funny quip, it is actually 8000 steps apparently; or 6.5km). The lower station is at 850m and the upper at around 2030m. The altitude range of the snub-nosed monkeys is about 800-2200m, so walking up and down the mountain is the way to do it.
I asked the driver if there was a hotel close by so that I could leave my bags there and then come back to the mountain. He drove me first to one very close but too expensive, and then to one which was further away (2km) but at 100 Yuan per night was more of a price I'd be willing to pay. (Although later I was looking at their room board at reception and the standard and single rooms are priced at 288 Yuan, so I guess I've either got a winter discount or it's just because I'm awesome). This hotel is called the Xiushui Villa and it is very much recommended by me. Literally right outside the rooms is a rocky river on which were Little Egrets, Plumbeous and White-capped Water Redstarts, Little and Slaty-backed Forktails, Brown Dipper and Common Kingfisher - all seen from my room!
Slaty-backed Forktail
While driving there I was thinking "this is much too far from the mountain" but it was actually perfect for me because apart for the birds right outside, the walk back to the mountain followed the river the whole way. There were loads of birds, especially Collared Finchbills. There were flocks of them everywhere, along with Brown-breasted Bulbuls, White-browed Laughing Thrushes, Black-headed Sibias, Grey-capped Pigmy Woodpeckers and various other twittery things. A Crested Kingfisher was seen a couple of times, as always looking quite incongruous to see such a massive kingfisher on a shallow rocky river.
Collared Finchbill - a species of bulbul with a finch-like bill, shown quite well in this photo.
Crested Kingfisher
Then I reached the entrance to Fanjingshan.
Remember a little while back (at Foping) where I'd said "I feel like the rest of my run through China is just going to be a series of 'things looked promising to start with...' "
Yeah...
I walked inside and two guys at the desk jumped up and said hello. On my phone I typed in "what time does the first bus go up in the morning?"
"Where do you want to go?" was the confusing response. I mean, I'm in the entrance building for Fanjingshan asking what time the first bus goes up. Where do they think I want to go?
"I want to go up the mountain."
"The mountain is closed."
Huh?
"The mountain is frozen. It is closed".
This was not something I expected.
"It has been closed since yesterday."
I'm not sure if that was an inaccurate translation, or if he just wanted to make it that bit more annoying. Now what was I supposed to do?
"What is there to do here then?" I asked.
"You will have to go to other attractions," was the reply.
I was at a bit of a loss to know what to say. If it was closed it was closed. The thing with Fanjingshan too is that the only way to enter the reserve is on the park buses. You aren't even allowed to just walk up that lower road and look for birds.There wasn't much I could do except turn around and walk away. Seriously, it is like everywhere I have tried to go since leaving Yunnan has just been defeat after defeat.
I walked back to the hotel. At least it was a 2km walk to look for birds in. The Collared Finchbills had all vanished, but there were Brown Dippers on the river and I saw a beautiful Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush and a nice male Daurian Redstart.
Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush (not a very good photo because it wasn't very close).
Daurian Redstart
I'd already paid for three nights at the hotel, because I was going to be going up Fanjingshan at least two or three times to look for the monkeys. Now what was I going to do?
Another site in the general area I had on my plans is Mayanghe, where there are Francois' Langurs. I hadn't been sure if it would be easier to get there from Tongren or from Fanijingshan, but either way I'd have to be hiring a driver to get me there. Tongren is closer. But I've decided not to go now. I know what will happen - I'll pay a heap of money to get out there and then the reserve will be closed, or I won't be allowed in because I'm a foreigner, or the monkeys will all be gone now, or there will be a freak inland tsunami.
Instead I'll stay where I am for the next two days - I'll see what I can see just by wandering about, and it is a nice spot by the river even if I probably won't see anything of any great interest - and then I'll head straight for Nanning. From there it is a quick thirty-minute train trip to Chongzuo where the White-headed Langurs are found. Given my track record so far I'm not expecting to see them, but at least it won't cost me a lot of money to not see them.
Japanese Tit
Black-throated Tit
Is Fanjingshan not the mountain with the extraordinary rock pillar with the temples on top? Was there any indication of what it might open up again or do you think it's a lost cause?
I can fairly safely promise that excluding a freak weather event (unlikely given it isn't typhoon season) Japan will feel like a breeze after this - the vast majority of what is online is accurate, no security checks, reliable buses...
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No idea - presumably when it is no longer "frozen". I haven't read anything about the mountain being closed during winter, so I have no clue. They told me "nobody can go up these days". For all I know they might just tell this to foreigners.
I just checked their official WeChat Public Account and indeed it has been closed since yesterday. A notice was posted yesterday morning saying the mountain would remain closed until further notice due to inclement weather.
Thanks. Talk about bad timing!
I don't suppose you have any current information on whether seeing the White-headed Langurs at Chongzuo is possible?
I've never been there but I know some friends who are more familiar with the langur site. I'll let you know once I got their feedback.
I was hoping that the mountain would be open again today or tomorrow but when I came outside this morning the outlook was not good with all the snow covering the forest. That's my hotel on the left in the second photo.
The third photo is the trail that runs along the opposite side of the river from my hotel.
The third photo is the trail that runs along the opposite side of the river from my hotel.
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Nile Hippo Expert
Well-Known Member
But it still hasn't been found yeti!
Strange - I've never come across this in CR, despite visiting reserves all over the country. Which ones specifically required this? I usually wear walking boots though, so maybe they're considered 'rubber' enough?