I rented a motorbike at Dumaguete, headed up north towards Sibulan and took a left with the path leading up the mountain. I didn’t realize just how long and challenging the path is for a motorbike and with my frequent stops along the way to take photos, look a view or catch a drink in a local joint, I made very slow progress. But there’s no other way to do it, it was one of the nicest paths I did in the Philippines and it couldn’t be rushed through. The scenic views and the locals reminded me of similar motorbike trips I did in Taiwan.

When I finally did arrive at the lakes the sun was already setting down and there was almost no one left there.

It was my nicest adventure in the Dumaguete area. If you can drive a motorbike or a car, I strongly recommend it.

The last photo was of the Saint Peter Parish Church. Now, if you take a close look at the next photo you’ll notice something odd. There is a highway and a bridge that goes acorss the river and then then highway ends. Why? It’s only after the initial construction of the road did they realize that there will be no way to affectively avoid the church across the street, so, they decided to stop and try again. Which is odd if you consider that the church has been there for a few hundred years.

It’s a lovely little town and the church is quite an impressive structure…

Other than that, there’s the river…

Which you can cruise with tour or a restaurant, perhaps go up stream to some of the waterfalls hikes, do some rafting or kayaking and even sky dive.

To wrap it up… a panorama.

Nothing much happened that evening, but perhaps of all the places I’ve visited on my short excursion to Nanjing, that lake will probably be the most memorable in how I would like to see China.

I entered from the western gate bridge and made my way slowly toward towards the east, but anyway you choose would probably be just as nice.

The official Xitang website has a good summary of all the places, so I’ll just share with you some of the photos I captures roaming the narrow streets of the water town.

Temples

People

Shopping

There are also a few small local museums, like the museum of Chinese buttons showing some of the local produce.

Once you toured around and you’re feeling tired, you can sit down for a brew of the local Xitang beer…

Maps of the area and the Xitang attractions:

Great getaway from the hustle-bustle of Shanghai.

It’s quite surprising, actually, that Beijing would have such an area. It’s not trivial. If you think about it, Hong Kong doesn’t really have anything quite like it, and I can’t help but wonder why. Art, by (my own) definition, challenges your perception and feeling of things, and so to find that in an authoritarian country requires sophistication and openness. The way by which art can grow, thrive and challenge the viewers in China in a way that would co-exist with self and central censorship is by itself, an art. You need to be able to strike the balance between not coming across as too blunt while being able to say what it is that you think or feel. If you think Chinese art is really subtle, overly commercial, and non-critical, I’d risk saying you’re probably in for a surprise – I would strongly recommend that you take a tour to either the 798 Beijing art district or the M50 Shanghai art zone with someone who is familiar with the Chinese artists and their work.

Most of the heavy stuff is found in no-photography galleries, some you might be able to catch in the Hong Kong annual art exhibition. But even walking around the streets, you can spot some of the social messages that the artists, or at times even the managers of the art district, tried to deliver. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how you interpret some of the following street statues art.

Once you finish touring the outside, there’s obviously a lot going on inside the buildings. Take the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, as an example. Some brilliant contemporary art on exhibition.

(this last one is Jennufer Wen Ma’s Hanging Garden in Ink.

But what I likes the most was Gu Dexin‘s work. Here’s an artist that challenges us in many creative ways.

But the especially intriguing part was this series…

which had quite a few visitors captivated…

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Generally, it’s a very pleasant area to walk around, with many galleries, coffee-shops, restaurants, and boutique-shopping. It’s also one of the few places in Beijing you’ll see graffiti art and the public space being used in un-trivial ways.

I was also able to just walk into some fancy launch events for major brands in the area (the new Samsung DSLR).

Don’t miss this. I’d say plan atleast half a day to wonder around, if not more.

The Dong Hua Men night market in Beijing is overwhelming. It’s like a horror movie, we – foreigners and locals – love to go see it so that we can turn our heads in disgust and say ‘aawwwee! yuck! horrible! how could they?!’. The local vendors play their part wonderfully, some with inviting gestures, some yelling out what they’re offering in English and Chinese and some acting as if they’re going to throw it at you. If you’re following the right group, I suggest young excited females, you might hear more screaming going on than on a rollercoaster.

So head over to Wangfujing, the shopping center of Beijing a few minutes walk from the forbidden city.

Andrew of Bizarre Foods has a terrific episode showing how he tries all those weird things in the Donghuamen market :

Ready for some extreme food?

Here we go…

But, ofcourse, it’s not all just extreme. There are the usual food snacks you can expect to find in night-markets…

I’m not too sure about the hygiene  of the food there, though. But if Andrew survived, you probably will too. ^^