Changbaishan Travel Story

During the 2020 Christmas and New Year vacation AnotherMile team decided to travel to Changbaishan, a small town at north east of china to capture beautiful snowy landscapes, enjoy the serene beauty and experience the extreme cold weather.

Shan in Chinese means mountains and Changbaishan, as the name suggests, are a major mountain range that extends from the northeastern provinces of Chinas – Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning across the Chinese border with North Korea. They are also referred to as the Jangbaek or Ohnan Mountains in Korean, and as the Šanggiyan Mountains in Manchu. Most peaks exceed 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) in height, with the highest being Paektu Mountain. Changbaishan scenic area is adjoining to the Baishan town in Jilin province.

Struggling with holidays, as we always are, we tried to make an itinerary that fits within 7 days and visit some of the gorgeous places around the Changbaishan scenic area. Our itinerary for 4 days and 5 nights was as follows:

1. Dec 29 – We flew from Shenzhen to Beijing. Overnight stay at Beijing airport hotel.

2. Dec 30 – We took the morning flight from Beijing to Changbaishan Airport. Overnight stay at Erdaobaihe Town, Changbai Mountain at Lanjing Hot Spring Resort.

3. Dec 31 – We visited Changbai North Scenic Area , Tianchi lake , Lvyuantan , Changbai Waterfall. Overnight stay at Baishan City.

4. Jan 1st – early morning we visited the Jianhua Pinggang , Orchard Folk Village and in the afternoon we roamed around the small town of Baishan.

5. Jan 2 – Visited the Swanlake Scenic Area , Tashan Park

6. Jan 3 – Flew back from Changbaishan Airport to Shenzhen.

Arrival At Changbaishan Airport … AnotherMile Team

Changbai North Scenic Area

This was truly an amazing place. The weather in the morning was clear and the sun was shinning brightly but as the day progressed it got worse. However, even in the morning, there was a strong wind blowing which gave a real-feel temperature ofas against the actual temperature of. The hotel bus dropped us off to the base of the Changbaishan Scenic area where we were greeted by a severe gust of freezing wind. Somehow, we braved through the wind and got into the jeep that was supposed to take us to the top of the mountain near the Tianchi lake. The trip took around 20 minutes through the vast stretches of beautiful snow-covered mountains. When we got down, we probably experienced the most extreme cold weather that we would ever experience in our entire life. The wind was so chilling and strong that it almost cut through us and tried to blow away the 7kgs camera kit. We somehow reached Tianchi lake but unfortunately it was covered with thick fog with no visibility at all.We waited there for sometime expecting the fog to clear but we were in no luck that day. So we had to move ahead from that spot with no good pictures. Here, we need to give you an idea of the Changbai scenic area. There are multiple spots along that mountain and Tianchi lake was one of the spots. Other spots are the Changbai waterfall and Luyuan Tan. When you book a trip to the scenic area, the ticket will cover the expenses of visiting all the different spots. The jeep that we took from the base of the scenic area to the Tianchi lake was a part of the scenic area transportation. From the Tianchi lake, there are buses at short regular intervals to take us to the next scenic spot. Our next spot from the Tianchi lake was the Changbai waterfall. Fortunately, in between, there was a huge cafeteria where we could warm ourselves up. The Changbai waterfall was completely frozen. When the bus dropped us off to the Changbai Waterfall spot, our guide told us that we had to trek for sometime to go up to the mountains. The trekking fully covered with snow and the strong freezing winds made it even harder. Along the way, we could see the trees with hanging ice crystals,hot waterwhere the locals were boiling eggs without any fire. It was nature at its utmost beauty. For us it was like heaven in earth. Although the weather was foggy and cloudy, we managed to get some pretty good shots those actually bear a testimony to the freezing cold. Other than our DSLR camera, our mobile phones and GoPro had completely stopped working by that time. By the time, we returned to the base of the scenic area, it had already started snowing.

Changbai County

From the Changbaishan Scenic Area, we headed to Baishan City administrative town of Changbai County which took us almost 3 – 3.5 hours. It is a small town bordering North Korea, but extremely well planned, beautifully decorated and very peaceful. People are very friendly and local food was amazing. We stayed in a nice hotel Changbai County Hotel at the city center. During the winter, the sun sets by 4:30 PM and by 6:30 PM, the roads become empty and quiet.

Jianhua Pinggang

Jianhua Pinggang is not a tourist spot. It is actually a vast stretch of open land on the top of mountain fully and during the winter, it is fully covered with snow. All the trees are covered with ice crystals and it makes the whole area beautiful as heaven. However, we were not that lucky. This year the snowfall was less and the trees barely had any snow on them, although the ground was covered with snow. In spite of that, the overall beauty of the place was mesmerizing. The weather had also cleared up after the snowfall the night before and this time we were lucky to capture some great composition with the morning sun.

We spent a lazy afternoon by visiting a small but beautiful garden in the Baishan City followed a great dinner at a local restaurant.

Swan Scenic Area

The next morning we went to the Swan Lake Scenic Area. This was another amazing place full of full of snow and ice. The area is to the outskirts of the Baishan town and the road to the scenic area was as beautiful as the area itself. The weather was clear and the sun was shinning brightly, which made everything even more beautiful. On the way, there was a spot, where all the tree had ice crystals on them shinning like diamonds.

The entire scenic area was actually a hike with the mountains on one side and river on the other side. The waterfalls from the mountains were completely frozen creating unique patterns and ice caves. The ground along with the small bridges across the river, the wooden cabins were all covered with thick snow and made a unique combination. It took us almost three hours to cover around 60% of the entire area, however, we were very slow as we preferred to enjoy the serenity of the place rather than rushing through it. The hike along the snow-covered trail was a new experience for us. The river was not completely frozen which made it even more beautiful and we could actually see the snowflakes floating on the ice-cold water.

Journey Back

This was the last day of out trip and the next morning we started our journey to the Changbaishan airport saying goodbye to our guide and driver who had become our good friends in those few days.

Overall it was an amazing and new experience for us. We are very tropical people and have never stayed anywhere with a temperature below the freezing point. That probably made it a bit more difficult for us to acclimatize, but again the first experience is always very special. There is natural beauty everywhere and there are great opportunities for camera shoots.

Things to take with you:

1. Camera Kit – Take with you both tele photo and wide angle lens. Your mobile battery will die very soon, so don’t depend too much on mobile or equivalent battery driven camera. Best is to use the DLSR. Take atleast 2-3 spare camera batteries.

2. Clothes – Take ultra-warm inners, heavy winter jacket designed for temperatures below , two or three layers of woolens, woolen caps and scarves, two layers of gloves, woolen socks and snow shoes, and hiking sticks.

You can contact Mr XUI of Changbai Mountain (international)Travel Services for car and tour guide. Contact 13904498495. Also contact Ms. San Mao for photography guidance. You can ask Mr. XUI to connect to her.

All photos taken by Chiranjib Chakraborty