Chang Bai Shan
Chang Bai Shan 长白山 (”Long White Mountain”) is a mountain and scenic spot in northern China. The mountain is actually a dormant volcano, and in its crater there is a large lake known as Tian Chi 天池 (”Heavens Lake”). Due to the remains of the volcanic activity, there are also natural hot springs in the mountain. The place is very beautiful in the winter (bathing in the hot spring, under a starry sky with snow all around you, is a fun experience) and is supposed to be even more beautiful in summer - I plan to go there again if I get the chance. The border with North Korea passes through the mountain, which is considered a holy site for Koreans - so there are quite a few of South Korean tourists on the Chinese side.
Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like:
The place’s warning signs have some amusing translations to English, here are a few (click image to enlarge):
- “Forbid strtictlys the mountaineering, the consequence is proud”
- “The small idea slides,Attention security”
- “Please does not want the border crossing”
BTW - I’ve finally managed to lose my camera (along with 900mb of images in its flash card) so no more pictures for a while…
Liron
February 13th, 2007 at 5:07 am
The south sounds much warmer after seeing these photos…
I’m sorry to hear about your camera. I remember ow it feels (http://lironp.livejournal.com/3565.html)
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AnNengmin
February 21st, 2007 at 2:27 am
Have you tried jumping into the snow right after the natural hot bath?
I’m sorry to hear about your camera as well!!!
Be safe.
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jarek
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Hi Ori,
We are planning to go there in Dec. I heard that Tian Chi Lake is closed to tourists during the winter months. I guess this is not true….how did you arrange your trip to the lake itself?
thanks
-Jarek
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Ori
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Hi Jerek,
I was there 2 years ago. Winter is considered low season for changbaishan, so some of the hotels, restaurants etc were closed and transportation was less convenient, but the site itself was open and very beautiful.
First we got to Erdao Baihe (二道白河) which is a village nearby the mountain and has a train station. We stayed there the first night at some small hostel. The 2nd day we left our big bags at the hostel and paid a local taxi to take us to the site entrance (I think it was about half an hour dive) as there was no convenient public transportation to the site. Inside the site there is a bus network (included in the entrance ticket) which regularly operate between the main attractions. We went directly to the topmost point (the hot spring), which is the closest to the lake. Next to the hot spring there is a small hotel, there were two options: one of them regular rooms (private bathroom), the other option was inner-mongolia-style rooms in which water from the hot spring is tunneled under the bed (most of the room is one big bed) and keeps it warm, bathing is in the hot spring next to the rooms. We chose the latter which is very warm during the winter. From this location, tianchi lake is just a climb away - it takes about an hour to climb up there if you set a brisk pace.
The next day we took the bus to see the underground forest (not as good as it sounds) and possibly another inner attraction, and finally we rode the bus down to the site entrance. Before getting there we phoned the taxi driver who took us from the village and he came to pick us up back to the village, where we spent a second night.
I consider Changbaishan as one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in China, hope you have a great time there!
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