Nota Bene

At last, I’ve done it!

A few days ago I had my first ever flight connection in Moscow. I was flying from Geneva to Beijing via SVO (btw, the Moscow to Beijing leg was my 99^th flight this year, meaning the one after it – to Tokyo – was my century!).

Something not sound quite right there? Let me repeat: via SVO.

That is, without going home, and simply transferring from one airplane to another at the airport – for the first time EVER (despite flying into or out of SVO a zillion times already). Oh well, seeing as though I was here, might as well see how it compares with other airports…

First off, the main finding: a connection in Moscow is easy and straightforward – almost unnoticeable. Main thing, as least for a Muscovite, is to switch off the autopilot so as not to head towards passport control but instead to ‘International transfer’. Then it’s a matter of a quick X-ray, and some 30 seconds later you’re already in the neutral zone, in among the gates and duty free shops.

Well, that wasn’t difficult. Surprisingly smooth. And that’s in spite of all the inadequacies of Terminal F, the former – infamous – SVO–2!

SVO-2/Terminal F is very old (built specially for the 1980 Moscow Olympics), very cramped, and very uncomfortable to use. Everywhere there’s a kinda dirty gray gloom. There is just no way you can compare this place with the likes of other intercontinental hubs like Munich, Heathrow 5 or Zurich – much less shiny new Dubai, Hong Kong, Narita, BCIA, KLIA or Changi. Well, you could, but it’d be like comparing… mincemeat with motorbikes: no point whatsoever :).

Read on: It’s not all doom and gloom…

A couple of months ago I brought up the topic of tourist attractions and other notable holiday occurrences in and around Beijing: Beijing Temples, the Summer Palace, and a military parade.

Well, it just so happens there’s a whole load more of such touristic delights; so many you could spend weeks taking them all in. Ok, I rarely ever have weeks to spare (unless we’re talking Kamchatka:), but at least I am able to fit tourism in between business meetings – which is just what I did recently in the Chinese capital, where I was staying for the second time in as many months. I got the chance to inspect some well-known, and also not so well-known places. Check them out:

1. The Temple of Heaven. A temple complex of astonishing beauty (as are many in the East). Its size is grandly grandiose (even by Beijing standards), the air’s easy to breathe, and it’s most pleasant to walk around. The air’s especially clean on those rare days when a northerly wind blows across Beijing (as happened when we were there): all the pollution and smog is blown away from the metropolis (hate to think where:), leaving the sky crystal clear and blue.

Temple of Heaven. 15th century religious complex in SE part of central #Beijing #China. Full of symbols illustrating the connection of Heaven and Earth // Храм Неба. На самом деле большой храмовый комплекс. Находится на юго-западе #Пекин. Символ единства Неба и Земли #Китай #ekinchina

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Nov 5, 2015 at 12:55am PST

Read on: The ultimate inevitable…

Hi folks!

For some reason I’m not fully aware of, I tend to keep conference ID badges, and sometimes also tickets to the various tourist attractions I get to see around the world. This hoarding is getting out of hand – I have a big box of ID badges in the corner of my office, and it’s starting to overflow.

How a New York Times journalist who recently interviewed me reacted to them I think sums up the problem: “What is THAT?” he said, pointing at the bulging box, perplexed :). Must get down to some feng shui soon. It’s not as if I’m going to go through them all one day – pics are much better for trips down memory lane… But I digress – before even beginning!…

…So, to begin… During my recent hidden China vacation, I amassed quite a few entrance tickets to national parks, nature reserves, historical places of interest and other attractions.

At first these look like nothing special – just the usual slips of paper or thin card. But when you have a closer look…

Here are my findings in my attempt to crack the code of Chinese entry tix:

Read on: Quadrillion!…

It just so happened that my recent Chinese holidays mostly took place in the Sichuan province (the Giant Buddha in Leshan, Mount Emei, Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou). They say: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I say: when in Sichuan, do the panda thing!

Somehow it’s turned out I’ve written loads about China – its mountains, ravines, forests, lakes, waterfalls, roads, airports, lines, Buddhas and weather – but have been conspicuously silent on China’s supreme, universally adored animal! So to fix that, this post is all about the Chinese panda, with nothing held back…

Here’s one – at the Chengdu Panda Base.

Giant #panda is endangered species with ~3K of them living in the wild. Despite this animal is classified as a 'bear' its' diet consists almost exclusively of bamboo. Panda consumes up to 15kg of bamboo. Why so much? Because it digests if 17% of that amount. Because panda is still a bear // В мире в дикой природе осталось около 3 тыс. #панда Хотя эта животинка считается медведем, кушает она почти только бамбук. В день до 15 кг. Зачем так много? А потому что панда способна усваивать только 17% этой пищи. Медведь есть медведь! #ekinchina #China #Китай #Чэнгду #Chengdu

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Oct 26, 2015 at 7:53am PDT

Read on: Red panda is not a panda!…

Next stop on the route of my hidden China vacation – the Valley of Nine Villages, aka, the Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) nature reserve and national park: Yet ANOTHER absurdly astounding Chinese natural beauty!

Cascades of lakes and waterfalls, crystal clear – albeit fluorescent turquoise! – water in lakes, and a freakish forest of horizontally growing trees under that same crazy colored water, and all that set in the most picturesque of mountainous landscapes. And in the fall there’s a bonus: the blends of reds and yellows and oranges of autumn leaves. Oh my gigabytes.

#No filter – no, really!

#Jiuzhaigou is composed of three valleys arranged in a Y shape. Long Lake of Zechawa valley is the highest, largest and deepest lake measuring 7.5 km in length and up to 103 m in depth. No wonder local folklore features a monster in its depth // Длинное озеро – самое высокое, большое и глубокое озеро в заповеднике #Цзючжайгоу. В некотором смысле "побратим" Лох-Несса – местный фольклор поселил в озере сказочное чудище! #China #Китай #ekinchina

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Oct 22, 2015 at 3:30am PDT

Read on: Jiuzhaigou walkthrough…

Half an hour away on a plane from the not-so small (14-million-peopled!) Sichuan capital, Chengdu, in Southwest China, there’s yet another masterpiece of Chinese natural beauty: Huanglong. Basically it’s a cascade of brightly colored lakes and waterfalls made up of highly mineralized (calcareous) water. But that’s enough words. Better just check out the pics…

More than beautiful. No swimming, just watching. #Huanglong #China #sichuan #ekinchina // Выглядит как бассейн на крыше небоскреба. Здесь в #Хуанлун этих красот 2 тыс. кв.км.

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Oct 17, 2015 at 12:36pm PDT

Read on: Bewildering beauty…

Onward we march on our hidden China tour!

Since we happened to be in the city of Leshan in the Sichuan province, it would have been rude not to have gotten up to the top of Mount Emei, in Chinese known as Éméi shān. That’s what we reckoned anyway. Turned out we were rudely mistaken.

Mount #Emei is traditionally regarded as the bodhimaṇḍa, or place of enlightenment, of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra // По преданию Бодхисаттва Самантабхадра улетел с вершины Эмейшаня на своём белом трёхголовом слоне. Вот такое предание ;) #China #ekinchina

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Oct 16, 2015 at 8:03am PDT

Read on: No landscapes but … elephants!…

If you enter ‘Buddha and’ into Google, guess which five suggestions Google finishes the sentence with…:

Buddha and bonsai

Buddha and ahsok

Buddha and cats

Buddha and mara story

Buddha and the quantum

!!!

Curious, I admit. But my topic today is also curious: Buddha and… the ocean!

Never saw a connection, right? Well, did you see one between Buddha… and cats? :)

Anyway, I’ll save the Buddha-and-the-ocean connection until the end of this post (it’s a brainteasing riddle – well worth the wait). First off – text and pics by way of introduction…

In the city of Leshan there’s a giant Buddha statue, by coincidence called the Leshan Giant Buddha, which peers down on the river Min gushing past it. It’s been there for more than a thousand years. That’s a lot of river water that’s flowed past it…

Giant #Buddha – 8th century, 71-metre (233 ft) tall stone statue near #Leshan city #China The biggest Buddha statue and the biggest pre-modern statue of the world. Extremely crowded place but still worth visiting // Гигантский Будда возле г.Лешань в Китае. 8 век, 71 метр, весечен из камня. Вроде как не только самая большая статуя Будды, но и вообще самая большая каменная статуя. ТОЛПЫ народа, но побывать хоть раз все равно стоит #ekinchina

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Oct 12, 2015 at 1:07am PDT

Read on: All mindful and meditated? Ok. The question…

Attention!

The below pics haven’t been doctored with Photoshop. Well, the colors were brightened just a little, but that’s not full-on Photoshopping really – more like putting Polaroid sunglasses on. Incidentally, such sunglasses are advised to be worn when looking at these here views in the flesh. Everything’s a little brighter, fuller, sharper and more contrasting. Like so:

Amazing colored hills in Zhangye. This national park is not so popular, so not so many tourists. But hurry up, in a few years it will be flooded with people. And don't forget polarized sunglasses when you travel here! // Здесь взрывается мозг. Геологический парк Чжанье Данься в Китае. Для правильного просмотра ландшафта обязательны поляризационные очки #ekinchina #China

A photo posted by Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) on Oct 9, 2015 at 3:08am PDT

Read on: From dusk till dawn in Danxia…

Believe me – in China there’s plenty to look at. I gave myself  a present for my for 50th B-Day and spent a few days there recently. Get ready to say ‘wow!’ when you see some of the upcoming must-see spots!

As I’ve said before on these here cyberpages, the funny thing is – most of that ‘plenty‘ is practically unknown to non-Chinese folks. The conspicuous historical monuments that were lucky enough to have survived the Cultural Revolution are known about, like those in Beijing and around, like the Great Wall of China, Lhasa and plenty more. But there’s a lot more besides, most of it unheard of outside the country. Just ask around – you’ll be met with blank stares. Maybe a few folks know about, say, Mount Kailash but that will be about it!

Oops. Yes, I’m certain I’m repeating myself somewhat here. I’ve already bemoaned this state of affairs not long ago. Accordingly, without more of ado, let me get on with another bit of Unknown China!…

Today’s bit of Unknown China shouldn’t be referred to as a mere bit. For it could well be one of the Top-20 most beautiful places in the world. It’s Wulingyuan – a ‘scenic are that comprises several national parks, one of which is the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park‘.

From somewhere out of sight waaaaay down below rise up huge rock columns. Jagged, naked sheer sides, with green vegetation on top. Utterly mind-blowing and jaw-dropping, moreover – in any weather: can’t say that for many similar natural installations, especially those in Kamchatka.

In overcast murkiness these stone columns get wrapped in a white fog. The actual scale and distances involved get totally lost, with the brain just giving up attempting to gauge them. They can’t be viewed with the rational mind; only with emotions. Then all of a sudden the sun will come out and the scene is transformed: all the detail and colors come to the fore, but still the brain isn’t able to cognize! Check out these contrasts in some of the pics below…

The heights of these columns are just silly: hundreds of meters tall they are. This one in the next pic is a whopping 1080 meters tall – more than a kilometer! Incidentally, it’s called Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, but more about that later. And the stone arch in the pics – that’s also daft-high: around 1000 meters up. You can walk across it too, if you’re brave enough.

Gulp!

Read on: Gulp!…