One Hundred Dragons Sky Stairs

In Chinese fables, dragon appears quite often, and there are many monuments and symbols of dragon in China. Below is the entrance of a man-made tunnel that leads to the double-deck-elevator that carries one hundred people at a time between the foot and the top of the hill. The rail of the elevator is built on the face of vertical rock cliff as high as over three hundreds meters as you see the left picture below.

I think ninety percent of the tourists in Zhang jia jie (張家界) area are Koreans. Most of the shop keepers and road vendors can speak a little Korean. They lure foreign tourits with offering "Every thing One dollar, One dollar (chon won, chon won)" Almost every thing they sell is priced only one dollar. (actually Korean Won 1,000won) So cheap but don't think about quality.

Tianzishan, Zhang Jia Jie

It was again raining when we hop on a Tianzishan (天子山)Cableway. Under the cable car a deep valley and high rock cliffs were  unclearly visible through window due to fog, clouds and rain.

The highest natural bridge on earth

Tianzi mount(天子산) is named after the Tujia people(native) rebellion chief Xiangwng Tianzi. The platform, rising above the surrounding countryside, is the most conspicuous feature of Tianzi mountain. The sightseeing line circles the mountain 45 kilometers. The total area covers 67 square kilometers. Looking from Tianzi mountain, you will get the broad sight of peaks in peaks, peaks beyond peaks. Cloudy mist, moon light, sun rising from the morning clouds and the snow in the winter are the four spectaculars of Tianzi mountain.(Quoted from a tourist guide book)

When I got on the Tianzishan, photographing was almost impossible due to low casted clouds and fog swirling over and around the peaks and valleys, and with sometimes rain.

If it were fine we could have enjoyed the panoramic view of Chinese Grand Canyon from this terrace. Nothing is visible. Maybe next time?

Tesla사 Daimler의 Smart 전기차 개발설

인터넷 신문 AutoCar는 전기차 Smart prototype이 San Carlos에 있는 Tesla 공장에서 충전하는 것이 목격됨으로써 Tesla가 Smart Electric을 개발한다는 소문이 퍼지기 시작했다고 보도했다. 이 차의 출현으로 현재 영국 London 에서 시험하고 있는 Smart All-elecric, Smart ED의 개발을 위해 Tesla가 Daimler와 파트너 계약을 맺은 증거라는 것. 지난 달에는 실리콘 밸리에 있는 이 회사는 80 명의 종업원을 감원했으며 단독 개발 예정이였던 Model S 개발을 연기 결정한 바 있다. 그러나 Tesla측은 2009년 3월 제네바 모터쇼에 출품할 것이라고 주장하고 있다고 AutoCar는 보도했다.

Tesla의 Elon Musk 회장은 재원을 확충하기 위해 주요 자동차회사와 합작에 주력하고 있다고 말한 바 있다. Tesla는 Lotus를 기반으로 제작한 Tesla roadster 출시후 전기차의 선두주자로 인정받고 있다. Tesla의 내부 인사에 의하면 상당 수의 주요자동차 회사로 부터 서비스와 기술을 요청 받고 있다고 말했다고 한다.

A Mile-long Gallery 十里畵廊

Our guide explained to us about the  weather in Zhang Jia Jie area. It rains 260 days in a year on average.The rest one hundred days?  it is cloudy or foggy and only less than a month of a year is shine.

There was a huge crowd of sightseers. This is the entrance of the One Mile-long Gallery (十里畵廊) where a mono-rail tour starts. Mono rail runs every 15 minutes back and forth. The scenery seen from running mono rail was like beautiful oriental paintings.

The photos below show you how they look like. The reason why they named this valley is that the scenery is so picturesque like all oriental paintings displayed in a gallery. That's why. Take a look.

Clouds swirling around peaks

Clouds and clouds and clouds....swirling around peaks

A little mono-rail and a romantic young couple take a walk under an umbreller.

Zhang Jia Jie - World Natural Heritage, World Geological Park

Our flight from Tianjin (天津) was delayed about one hour due to bad weather in Zhang Jia Jie(張家界) area and our 26 member-team finnally arrived late in the evening at Zhang Jia Jie airport. This airport was built three years ago, our guide said.

Zhang Jia Jie area is a World Natural Heritage and also a World Geological Park. Every year millions of tourists are visiting here for sightseeing from all over the world.

Even the next day, it was rainy and foggy so the sight seeing was not pretty much enjoyable.

The entrance of Baofeng lake (寶峰湖) which is a man-made lake where people enjoy boat tour. Baofeng lake is a rare gorges lake and regarded as the elite scenic spot. The limpid lake embraced by the green mountians, mirrors its silhouettes and makes it a scenic masterpiece.

As it was raining, photographing was not as good as expected.

The Great Wall 萬里長城

The Great Wall of China. If it was not foggy we could have enjoy the spectacular paramount of the Great Wall.

Electric 버젼 Mini E

BMW가 아이콘 Mini 전기차를 소개할 것이라는 것은 얼마 동안 알았었지만 드디어 AutoCar가 공개한 사진으로 증명이 되었다. Mini 전기차에 대해서는 지난 10월 16일에 Mark Juhn's blog에 포스트한 일이 있다. 성능은 알려지지 않았지만 572-파운드의 리티움-이온 배터리는 8시간을 충전하면 150 마일(240km)까지 주행할 수 있다고 한다. MINI E는 204-마력에 162-ft 토크로 가히 특종감이다.

0-60 mph에 이르는데는 8초. 최고속도는 시속 95마일(152km/h)로 제한했다고. 총중량은 3,200파운드(1,451kg), 브레이크 작동시 재충전(regenerative braking)으로 주행거리를 확장해 준다고 한다. 차체 변경을 극소화했고, 단지 특유 뱃지와 페인팅으로 개솔린 엔진의 Mini와 Mini E를 차별화 한다고. 인테리어는 계기판이 변경되어 다기능으로 운전자 앞에 위치해 있다. 다음달 11월에 LA 모터쇼에서 볼 수 있을 것이다.

LA Auto Show.