One of those Nat Geo moments...the micro-moments that matter in LIFE. I took this powerful image in Tianmenshan (Hunan Province, China) in August. That climb of exactly 978 steps to the top of the mountain is nothing short of a death-defying experience and not for the faint hearted...once you start, there is no going back. One slip of the foot and that could be the end of your climb. I was carrying a 12KG backpack (I had no choice) and I was, of course, exhausted...and I suppose this father had no choice either...I took a short rest and as I turned around I saw this to my amazement... this man was carrying his two kids and climbing without a stop for a rest....just remarkable...astonishing...quite risky as well...not sure what to think: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh Climbed Tianmenshan (4 hour punishing hike in the hot weather...never again...feet are burning...but what a way to get a six pack!!...)...never going to do that again...tough mountain to climb but spectacular views...in the middle you feel like giving up...but something inside you says "keep going!". Tourists can walk on kilometres of paths built onto the cliff face at the top of the mountain, including sections with glass floors. An 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) road with 99 bends also reaches the top of the mountain and takes visitors to Tianmen cave, a natural hole in the mountain of a height of 131.5 metres (431 ft). Some Tips 1. It is not as dangerous or scary as the media portrays it as. Everything is safe. If you do not wish to climb the cave, there are elevators that take you to the top (I only found out AFTER I hiked to the top with a 12KG bag behind my back!). 2. Allow a day to see the cave. Start in the morning at around 9am and finish by 4pm. One day is enough. The cost per person is RMB 250 at the time of writing. 3. Be prepared to walk. Wear good quality walking shoes. The Cable Car Tianmen Mountain Cableway is claimed to be the "longest passenger cableway of high mountains in the world", with 98 cars and a total length of 7,455 metres (24,459 ft) and ascent of 1,279 metres (4,196 ft). The highest gradient is an unusual 37 degrees. It will take around a 3 to 4 HOURS wait for you to get onto the cable car (both directions, to go up and come down). It is much quicker if you take one of the free shuttle buses (price is included in the ticket). There is hardly a wait for the shuttle vans. VIEW MORE PHOTOS Zhangjiajie is located in the heart of China's Hunan province. It comprises of the district of Yongding. Within it is located Wulingyuan Scenic Area which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 as well as an AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration. The Hollywood film director found inspiration for his movie Avatar in Zhangjiajie. The place is just something amazing...truly spectacular...just out of this world. Some Tips 1. You can take flights to the tiny Zhangjiajie Airport from Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing and a few other cities- best to book in advance because flights are limited (e.g. from Shenzhen it is one or two flights a week), and they only operate a tiny A320 aircraft here (with around 185 seats) so seats are limited and it can be expensive. 2. Hotels are relatively cheap, but during national day holidays may be expensive. There are hostels inside the national park; however, you may need to book in advance. Cost per night can be anything around 200 RMB (USD $40 per night). 3. The cost of entrance to the park at the time of writing was 245 RMB (approx. USD $50) for a 4 day pass (you can come and go back inside the park everyday). 4. Be prepared to walk a lot. There are free shuttle buses, but only between certain point and they can get very crowded - the rest of the time you will be hiking for hours. Also bear in mind the hot, sticky and humid weather. I had my backpack on me, so I hiked everywhere with 12KG on my back! It can be a good exercise but to climb up and then down constantly is not for you if you have not walked or are not in a position to walk for long period. It can and does get very tiring. Public toilets are available, but just bear in mind that they are not clean/maintained well, and usually you have to take your own tissue, soap (wet tissue) and water because toilets are not equipped like they are in the West. 5. If you can then take your own bottled water (and plenty of it!) before you enter the park. Outside the park you can get a water bottle for 2 RMB, but inside the park you can get it for 10 RMB. VIEW MORE The Bailong Elevator (Chinese: 百龙) is a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in the Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie, China that is 1,070 feet (330 m) high. On 16 July 2015 the elevator was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest outdoor lift.: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh When I used to live in Shenzhen between 2003 and 2007, the city's Skekou area was just expat enclave for foreigners who are working in the oil rigs offshore in the South China Sea, and it wasn't developed as such. All you had in those days were the bars and pubs and the occasional Subway (the only Subway Sandwiches outlet in the whole of Shenzhen was in Shekou before 2005). Shenzhen had no metro system back then. The only five-star hotel was the Nanhai hotel (which has been bought by the Hilton now). The Minghua ship has always been there; however while before it used to house a few local restaurant, nowadays, the ship is home to a five-star hotel and trendy restaurants. The area has become a trendy lifestyle handout place, with high-end restaurants, including the exclusive Elements Fresh and a few other Western style restaurants.
There is also a metro station. It has been an absolute pleasure to be able to live in Shenzhen during its heyday of growth and see the spectacular rise of infrastructure. Truly amazing. Taking-off at night from Shenzhen on a clear day provides an opportunity to take some beautiful photos of the city. Departures towards the northern Chinese pass over Boa'an, Nanshan, before making a sharp 180 degrees turn left over Shenzhen Bay and back towards Longgang District - heading towards Dongguan and Guangzhou. There is no denying that one of my all-time favourite cities has some of the best views around, too. I enjoyed every moment of living in Shenzhen, and I hope I can come back one day to live here again. Guangzhou's old airport, Baiyun Airport, closed down in 2003. I was lucky enough to fly into it back during my first few years in China. Guangzhou was a truly different place in those years- it was the real China! Sadly, there is no trace of the old airport left, except for the control tower building (seen above), which has also been revamped to house a high-end Japanese restaurant! The airport grounds have been replaced with a high-end shopping mall and a huge car park. There is no memorial to the old airport and no reminder for future generations to tell them that the old airport was here (sad): Photo Copyright Navjot Singh For over 400 years, Guangzhou has been a city famed for trade, namely with the Middle East and Africa. Guangzhou is home to China's largest African and Middle Eastern communities. If you go to areas such as Sanyuanli and Xiaobei, you may be forgiven for thinking that you've suddenly arrived in Lagos, Nairobi, Dubai etc. The road signs are in both Arabic and Chinese, and there are many restaurants serving authentic African and Middle Eastern cuisine, all operated by the natives of countries from those areas. As one may expect in a multi-cultural society, there are quite a number of mixed-race people too (Chinese-Africans, African-Middle Eastern etc.). While it may sound derogatory to those in countries outside of China, the local Cantonese people call this area 'Chocolate City'.
Sanyuanli is also an area known as trade city. Most of the trade is with countries on the African Continent and the Middle East. Numerous shops sell various products, including garments, non-branded/ designer fake shoes and other bric-a-brac. After I left Hangzhou, I decided to go and work for a company called DJI in Shenzhen for a short period as a copywriter. DJI, which stands for Dajiang Innovations, is a Chinese company founded in 2006 by mainland-China born Frank Wang Tao, after he graduated from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he studied electronic and computer engineering. Wang developed the idea for the company from a research project at the university, which he effectively turned into an idea for him to get this first start-up up and running in Hong Kong. However, initially Wang's efforts went nowhere, due partly to a lack of funding, lack of government policy support and other operational issues in the city. In the process, Wang was forced to give up Hong Kong as the first choice for his start-up and later launched DJI across the border in Shenzhen. The company manufactures commercial and recreational unmanned aerial vehicles for aerial photography and videography (the question of whether they are used for military purposes has never been, and I suspect, never will be officially disclosed). Shenzhen is not only the home for DJI (whose offices are in the same building that houses the HQ of Chinese household electric firm, Skyworth), but also the hub for many other key technology businesses including Tencent, the parent of the popular real-time messaging app WeChat, Huawei, ZTE, Konka, Mindray, TCL and many other Chinese tech firms, some of which are mega household names in China. DJI's HQ building is located in Shenzhen's science tech park, Ke Ji Yuan, while all the manufacturing and product testing is completed at a factory located on the outskirts of the city. During a visit to the factory, I was highly impressed to see how neat and clean the facilities were compared to most of the Chinese factories I have seen. The staff, all of whom we were told to be highly-qualified adults, seemed to come across as being very proud and happy to work for DJI. So what is it actually like to work in DJI? While I cannot divulge much into the company's inner happenings, I would say that I had the pleasure of working with some of the brightest minds, both Chinese and International, of any Chinese company I have worked for in the past. While most Chinese companies have still a long way to go before they can class themselves as being the next Samsung, Apple, Nissan, Toyota etc., DJI on the other hand is one of the few Chinese companies which I feel is on its way of turning itself into a household name sooner rather than later. Why? Well, to start with, most of the engineers and product designers have a strong background in aerospace engineering or related subjects (some of them have no doubt been poached from Boeing, Airbus etc.), the content and video production team is made of professional writers and video editors (some of whom have a background in Hollywood), and most importantly, the PR team has strong connections with the media industry. They have certainly set the firm foundations of a long-term plan to aggressively go into a market, which is being increasingly competitive. The offices themselves are very neat and clean, and have an international/multi-national feel to them. Outside it may be Shenzhen, but inside the premises it could an office based in London, New York or any other Western city. Some of the unusual behaviour that you may encounter while working for a local company is thankfully not clearly visible (I am not going to divulge into details). Wang has been quite instrumental in securing strong financial backing from keen investors, and has made it his number one priority to really click the right buttons when it comes to digitally engaging with the consumer. They have realised that the future is mobile and that engagement through digital innovation is what is going to make DJI a leader in the technology- something that their competitors can only dream of. It was a sheer pleasure to work with some of the brightest minds in the industry. Below is a video I presented showcasing the capabilities of the DJI Guidance SDK, which was released in June 2015. Below is a video I presented showcasing the DJI Matrice 100 and Guidance, which was released in June 2015. DJI in ChernobylThere were a few interesting projects I had worked on while at DJI. One of them involved writing about DJI's visit to Chernobyl with filmmaker Philip Grossman, who is making a documentary named ‘Exploring the Zone’. This documentary is part of a five-year personal project that Philip has been working on about the area surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where in the early hours of 26 April 1986, one of four nuclear reactors exploded creating a 30km radius zone now known as the “The Zone”. Learn More
One of my colleagues, who went with Philip to film the project for DJI, came back with a little souvenir from Chernobyl - an unused film (as seen below in pictures), which is still intact from 1986. A nice to keep gift. |
Get in Touch:LIFE MATTERSHere I share my thoughts
and experiences during my travels, and how some things have affected my life as an expat and world traveller. Travelling is about capturing that moment in life. Every word, view and opinion on this page is that of Navjot Singh - except where indicated. The most recent is at the top. Scroll down to read the archive. Or search using CTRL+F (COMMAND + F) and enter a keyword to search the page. Just some of the stories you never heard before. The NAVJOT-SINGH.COM web blog is separate to this web site....Click blog, which may not be visible in some countries due to local firewall restrictions, so in those cases this weblog may be read. The weblog also includes some of my press trip reports- most of which are not published on the official blog because of copyright issues. The weblog also contains articles that may be associated directly with a PR trip for a country, airline or a hotel. These are PR reviews done in relations with various companies. If you are an investor or a trend watcher then you may find this website useful as investing has a lot to do with personal observations and finding the ideal trend or next big thing. The average human on the street frequently knows far more about the state of the economy than politicians, university professors, subject matter experts, and financial analysts who seldom travel, or if they do so, only from one hotel to another hotel! The pulse and vibrancy of an economy is nowhere more visible than on a country's streets. All photos and words are © Navjot Singh unless stated. Photos taken by others or by agencies are appropriately copyrighted under the respective name. No photo or word/s may be taken without the prior written permission by the author (i.e. Navjot Singh). All Rights Reserved. Archives
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