9 days 7 nights Chinese New Year 2018 trip to Zhangjiajie, China

I’m back to Malaysia after a lengthy holiday trip to Zhangjiajie, China with my parents during this year’s Chinese New Year festival. Today is already the 7th day of lunar new year and the CNY mood is no longer here. We went to the airport on 14th February for the trip and have returned this morning on 22nd February. So, that’s equivalent to 9 days and 7 nights. I have a wonderful time during the trip (visiting all the beautiful attractions in Zhangjiajie but disappointed by heavy mist that makes it impossible for us to view them clearly and take pictures, not falling ill at all in the whole trip and that’s quite a miracle, meeting awesome people in the tour group).

My advice to the people who are interested to visit Zhangjiajie in the future; avoid visiting the place in winter (like what we did). The mountains are all covered with thick mist and you hardly see anything. Frequent rain also hinder an anticipating wonderful experience visiting these attractions. Also avoid travelling during the busy Chinese New Year period (like what we did) as the crowd is super huge and unbearable at these tourist destinations. We wasted a lot of time just by queuing (or more accurately; squeezing) and in long bus journeys. Nevertheless, we still managed to see some beautiful places and had great time over there. The attractions are all marvelous and interesting. This trip is mostly viewing the natural landmarks, and I have to admit that I’m a bit bored after seeing similar stuff (rocks, mountains, rivers and cliffs again and again) in the later days of the trip.

This is my 4th time visiting China (had been to Hong Kong & Shenzhen in 2006, Beijing & Tianjin in 2009, and Yunnan in 2014). The public toilets are still poorly maintained (very smelly and dirty) while the mainland Chinese are mostly still having some discipline issues (cutting queue, behaving inappropriately, spitting everywhere, etc). These are what you will still experience when visiting China despite the huge growth the country has been seeing in recent decades. And one more thing; when you are going to China in a tour group, it is compulsory to visit some shopping stops (we covered tea, silk, foot massage and body health, and latex mattress).

Here are some of the pictures I have taken during the trip. Besides visiting Zhangjiajie, we also visited Changsha and Fenghuang (all in Hunan province):

Changsha Poetry Wall

Phoenix Ancient Town – highlight: stilted wooden buildings along a river, some famous buildings around here include Xiong Xiling (first Prime Minister of China) and Shen Congwen (famous Chinese writer) Former Residences.

Tianmen Mountain National Park – highlight: world’s longest cableway to reach the mountains, has glass walkway hanging over by the cliff, Tianmen Cave with 999 steps (closed during winter due to slippery steps).

Yuanjiajie Scenic Area – highlight: ‘Avatar’-like mountains, ‘First Bridge in the World’ (natural formation) – cannot see it at all due to misty weather, Bailong elevator – world’s highest outdoor elevator.

Zhangjiajie National Park – highlight: Ten-Mile Natural Gallery (seeing rock formations again).

Baofeng Lake

Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon – highlight: Glass bridge (once the world’s longest glass-floor bridge).

Xibu Street

Charm Xiang Xi Cultural Show

Hunan Embroidery Hall

Tujia Sand Painting Gallery

Jiandu Museum, Changsha – highlight: collection of historical bamboo slips and wooden tablets dating back more than a thousand years ago.

Huangxing Street, Changsha – highlight: main shopping and entertainment district in Changsha, the 452 metres tall Changsha IFS Tower (tallest in the city, construction almost completed and had topped out, same height with KL’s Petronas Twin Towers) is near here.

That’s it for the highlight of my trip. Time for a rest at home after this exhausting yet wonderful trip (totally had a different experience here – visiting the attractions in Zhangjiajie on busy season is like being in a state of a running refugee).

(Copyrights reserved to all images in this post)

China is to build new world’s tallest building in 90 days? Wow! This is madness.

Yes, yes….It’s no joke. A company called ‘Broad Sustainable Building’ has announced to the media and public that it is going to build the new world tallest building, 10 metres higher than the current world tallest, Burj Khalifa which is also the current world tallest man made structure ever erected. And a much crazier thing about the plan is that the new world tallest building would be built in only 90 days! That is what I call total ‘madness’. Can they really do it?

 

(Image source: http://www.gizmodo.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/skycity1.jpg)

Here is an article I have read regarding the news to build the new world tallest building at China in only 90 days. There are many news spreading about it, and it’s not a rumour as confirmed. Here it is below, obtained from the following source: http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/sky-city-china-skyscraper-534/.

China has embraced the challenge of putting up the world’s tallest building in only 90 days. The 838-meter skyscraper, dubbed Sky City, is set to house 17,400 people as well as a hotel, a hospital, several schools, offices and apartments. Construction workers from the Broad Sustainable Building company are expected to build at a rate if five stories a day to meet the deadline. To speed the process up, they will reportedly use the ‘prefabrication’ technique in which blocks of the building are constructed offsite and then pieced together. 

The skyscraper, located in Hunan Province’s capital Changsha, will feature over 100 high-speed elevators, and is expected to be able to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. When completed, the building will be 10 meters taller than the Dubai landmark Burj Khalifa, the world’s current tallest building, which took five years to build. China’s Sky City is set to cost half as much as the Burj – about $630 million. China-based Broad Sustainable Building will employ several thousand workers for the ambitious project. The company has already built 16 structures in China, including a 30-story hotel constructed in 15 days.

 

(Image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2236300/Chinese-company-plans-build-worlds-tallest-skyscraper–just-THREE-MONTHS.html)

What do you think of this project? I find it too ambitious, and that the city, Changsha (which is much less popular than other famous growing cities in China)’s economy does not need such a tall and huge building. It is quite inappropriate to build it. I think the aim is just to challenge something without thinking of its impact and that this new building would gives not much benefit. Building the 220-storey building in 90 days? Seriously? I am questioning its stability and strength. Really, China don’t need to do this to show off. And furthermore, it’s not a distinctive or appealing design. It’s only a very plain and massive building.

I have also read some news that this project has been approved by the government, and the construction would probably commence by December, and according to the crazy schedule, the tower would be completed by March 2013. If this thing really gets a go, then Burj Khalifa will lost its title of world tallest very soon, which is quite unexpected. I thought earlier that the iconic Burj Khalifa would at least stays with the title for a decade. Now, China pose a challenge. If this Sky City One project really is to get built, then I would get myself updated over its construction progress, and anticipating for its completion. A crazy idea to a crazy building with a crazy record of 90-days time frame for completion. Usually, it would gets at least five years to get such a tall and massive building like this done.