StChin

2018-02-16 12:59:16

The attraction is a collection of grottoes carved into a mountain wall high above the ground.It is located far from town, approx. 90 min from Handan city. We hired a car.RMB 25 for adults and RMB 15 for children. Don't lose the tickets because you need them at the second entrance to the grottoes.Near the main entrance of the attraction, there are several temples and pagodas. Then, begins a 700-step climb to the grottoes. The gradient is comfortable and there are rest areas along the way.Stalls selling refreshments, joss sticks and firecrackers can be found dotting the path. You will also meet some fortunetellers offering their services.The grottoes are numbered but do not follow any sequence. The signage provides scarce information. You only know in which dynasty it was built. Not all the grottoes are found here and the people manning the area do not seem to know where the others are located! Perhaps at the "temple peak", which goes all the way up the mountain, which we did not try!The Buddha statues are mostly defaced, possibly due to the Cultural Revolution - almost all of them have had the faces and hands broken off. The main "tallest Buddha" appears to have been restored from a similar damage.There are some modern additions (new statues of gods from the Taoist/Buddhist pantheon) but the original stone statues certainly show the styles of religious statuary across time. The locals here do not speak or understand foreign languages, so a guide will be helpful. The exhibits all provide the opportunity for visitors to pray (and leave a donation).The Fairy People cave is not included in the main grotto collection and a wizened old lady will charge RMB 3 for a "guided" tour of the small cave dedicated to creatures from folklore, such as Lady White Snake. Provided that is, you can understand her: she speaks only the local dialect, not even Mandarin!

VivFraser

2018-02-08 07:43:46

The Xiangtang is also known as Xiangtangshan Grotto. It has been named the national AAAA tourist scenic spot in 2009. From Handan you can catch the 604 local rural bus which goes the back roads but takes 1.5 hours. From FengFeng you need to try and get a taxi or the no 5 bus. Dont recommend eating at the Grotto - take your own snacks but you can buy drinks. Entry was 25yuan. The place is magic - a decent climb past a huge pagoda - there are steps but give yourself an hour to amble and enjoy the scenery behind you. Walking through the arched wall entranceway you will be greeted by a series of caves with breathtaking buddha carvings. There is reputed to be almost 5,000 buddha carvings on Gushan Mountain. So worth the effort of getting there. Note. Lower ground beside the pagoda and behind a closed off temple is a series of stunning beheaded statues.

匿名用户

2018-01-24 08:08:19

今天去了乒乓球训练基地，看到了好多很帅很精神的残疾运动员，在那里拼命的训练着，我心中的感慨的油然而生~世界给了你一些好东西，就会拿走你其他一些好东西的！！@随手摘下的给你戴在发间的一朵花 @不喜欢真理 @不知天高地厚的肖丫头 @只要能够飞翔纸飞机又怎样 @Perfect丶顽童

匿名用户

2018-02-20 09:29:03

昨天出差到南通，住在国家乒乓球训练基地，在那里吃了河豚，味道确实不错，但吃的时候还是提心吊胆的，厨师长一再保证，并吃给我们看，我们才勇敢的吃下去没事。

匿名用户

2017-11-26 22:33:51

分享图片 河北正定国家乒乓球训练基地，院里竖着7个世界冠军奖杯模型。因为拜访这个地方，我没赶上火车。值得。

bmc1

2018-01-25 08:02:25

Fully agree with Mark S, do not book with cntttc. We did the same mistake the first time we went a few years back. Double the price and cheeky request for whiskey.. If you are interested book directly with the base. Emma was the main contact who helped us last year. Basically, for the accommodation there are 2 choices, budget is a real basic one, although with air con, tv and wired internet, the bathroom is poor (very poor, the hot water only comes on on certain hours of the day and that itself was erratic!) and the basic cleaning is poor. The better accommodation is a little better but the maintenance is again poor, cleaning again poor. We had problems with blocked and overflowing toilets, noisy fridges, insect bites , etc the maintenance people do come but do a "bodge" job. The cleaning staff although welcoming are only doing what they have been trained to do Chinese standards. The table tennis training is what we have come for is good. Remember you might be thinking that you paid your money think that you are going to be trained, well you are wrong, you basically join their existing training schedule with the many kids groups. What level you are you will be put into the group according to your skill, technique. if you have poor technique you will be put in the lower baby group. Don't think this is bad the babies are awesome! What you get out of this is what you put in that meaning you do the drills, like everyone else... Yes the coaches can't speak English but one does understand their methods and they look at your attitude and work ethic too eg if multiballing and it is not your turn you are expected to pick up the balls (loads around) wtih zest and speed. If you don't the coaches will automatically not warm to you! Oh yes...What ever standard you are from the west they will have people/kids that can beat you! Food yes it is Chinese.... we are in China! but they do try to put on some Western food, chips,m chicken nuggets(cold) spaghetti etc it is ok and they do try to make something that you would like. PS there is KFC 15 mins walk away so that was a relief. Like everywhere in China if you want more than the basic you have to pay more. this is direct to the coach, then you get "special" attention. Staff there really are trying to help but I can't help thinking that they are poorly trained and managed. They need IMO 1)a hotel trained manager to look after the upkeep of the accommodation. 2) Get their website sorted so that people can contact them directly. 3) Get their accommodation up to a reasonable standard and maintain it.

Ankenyhamster

2017-11-28 09:49:57

I came to the training base in May as a visitor rather than a trainee or a trainee's family member. This is a place that I had been longing to be at, and I finally met a world-class coach there. The training hall is so huge that it had accommodated over 16 ping pong tables, and as many as 30-50 young players were playing. I suspected that there was any air circulation in the hall which could disturb the natural flow of balls back and forth. While in the hall, I had a chance to play with a girl of 12 from India. Yes, I tried my best playing, but I felt as my proficiency level of playing were like a 12-year-old and hers was my age. I chatted with several other boys and girls around 10, who told me that they were all from India. In the yard outside the training hall were several adults waiting who looked like their parents.

BrownieBern

2018-01-06 21:37:03

My 16 years old son is a passionate table tennis player and we decided to spend 15 days in China so that he could practice in the country where they play the best table tennis in the world. That is how I got to know the official site of cntttc and asked for information. Later on I found the other two reviews (until now) about cntttc in Tripadvisor and was discouraged to go there. Nevertheless, I got into touch with zdtttb, which is exactly the same but with no middleman (thank you, Mark S.) and exchanged some e-mails with "Emma". In the end, we spent 13 days at the base and we are happy we went there. Here some facts, pros and contras. PRICE- We paid 60 dollars a day pro person. This included lodging, three meals a day and training (also so much mineral water as you can drink). If you book through cntttc and not directly with zdtttb@yahoo.com.cn, it would cost 100 dollars a day (!!!). No need to pay any money in advance but you have to take the dollars cash (with "new" notes so that they can take the money to the bank). Anyway, Emma will answer every previous question you have, no matter how many e-mails you write. If you want transfer from Beijing to the Base in ZhengDing, it costs 1600 Yuans (about 260 dollars), one way (it takes more than three hours to get there) but you can also go by train (very cheap for western standards). LODGING- This is China. Is it the equivalent to a 3 star hotel? Well, in our opinion, the rooms at the "new" hotel are quite OK. We have been there in the beginning of October, so it was not so hot. Anyway, you have air conditioning, a little fridge (a bit noisy but we disconnected it at nights), a washing machine (no need to take so many T-shirts, they provide you with the washing powder for free), TV, Internet (no problem with e-mails or Skype but no Facebook or Youtube in China unless you get the appropriate software, for example VPN). The room was much better than we expected after having read the other two reviews (and we are Swiss ;-) MEALS - Again, this is China. It is true that the meals were a bit repetitive (always Chinese food), but it is a fact that every time you have five or six different things to eat and nobody tells you that you have to eat from everything every time. We foreigners (or special guests, as you prefer) ate on our own at the dining room (we were only four at the time) and we had the feeling the people cooking there tried their best to please us. If you are picky about meals (you need dairy products or you expect a steak or something like that) you will have a problem. But the meals contain everything that is necessary to be properly nourished. It is also true that we stayed only two weeks and we like Chinese food (but the first thing we ate on our coming back in Switzerland was a good Fondue). TRAINING AND LANGUAGE - There are different levels, of course (the boys playing in the best two groups would be at the top of the ranking in Switzerland, no doubt). My son got into a group where he fitted quite OK. I am 52 years old and a beginner but I decided to take advantage of my staying there and I trained as well, partly with the small kids and partly with a coach dedicated to me (15 dollars for two training sessions a day). They train hard and we noticed how tired we were already after a couple of days. They also have a gym with lots of machines you can use any time you want. Something is clear, if you get there, you get there to practice table tennis, table tennis and table tennis. The coaches speak very little English but you get along with gestures, a couple of words and, if necessary, calling Emma to come and translate for you. MOVING AROUND ZHENGDING - If you are interested in culture, ZhengDing offers you some interesting places but you have to get the information on the internet before you visit them because they do not have much information in English. We found our way around with a GPS, always taking care of the chaotic traffic. Taxis are cheap. Also you have to get used to be stared at when walking around since there are not many non-Chinese people in town. Pollution is a problem there. IN SHORT, if you want to spend some time practicing table tennis, this can be your place. If you are going alone and planning to spend there more than a month, you will need to be physically and mentally strong. I do not know how things are in Summer about other guests and heat. Autumn is a good time to go (with somebody else). If you can, learn some Chinese before you get there: you'll be glad for any Chinese word you have learned.

Wayward666

2018-02-26 06:48:45

My friend said: Don't go to China they will cheat you. He was completely right. Here is my story:I found a training center on www.cntttc.org website. I paid for 1 month training 3090 € and I was asked to bring to the bigboss two bottles of Bombay sapphire dry gin as present. Now some pro's and contras:Pro's: I meet there some very friendly people even chinese people. Training is acceptable, players have a good level.Contras:- I paid for 3 star hotel room. In fact they wanted to give me a dirty hostel like room. I had pay about 300 dollars extra in order to get a better room. First I refused paying but they started to frighten me saying that they go to the judge and I cannot leave china until the judge won't decide.- Even the better room was not well cleaned. Sometimes it was very smelly as well. Fridge was noisy, they didn't exchange it. I had to wash the towels myself. They exchanged bed sheets only once during my stay that is to say during 1 month. - Nobody speaks english. There were some translators but they spoke very bad english. Coaches do not speak english at all thus you can't discuss anything with them.- Food really bad and we had to eat from dirty trays. Service is annoying. - Pollution is very high everywhere. You can smell petrol and smoke in the training room. Coaches smoke just next to the training room what I found very weird.- Training is just nothing special. Players have good level but I think there is no big secret. We made every day the same basic topspin block exercises, multiball training and service training.To sum up everything it was a bad decision to go there. If you want to go there then I would not recommend the agency www.cntttc.com but the hotel. They organise also the transport from the airport and you pay for the same service instead of 120 dollars only 60 per day. The website of the hotel is http://www.cttazd.com/index.html

99MarkS

2018-03-04 08:58:07

I am writing in to caution travellers from Europe, USA or any of the other English speaking countries who are thinking of learning to play table tennis at the CNTTTC at Hebei, China.First of all, CNTTTC is an agent that recruits for the Zhengding training base, located in the town of Zhengding in the province of Hebei, China. The website of CNTTTC is full of lies about the services they provide. They charge upto 4 times more than what you would have to pay if you went to the Zhengding base directly. On their website, they advertise that you would be put up in a 3 star hotel like room. But in truth, what you get is a filthy, small, student hostel room for about 100 American Dollars/day. The bathrooms are never cleaned inspite of repeated requests. The food sucks!! CNTTTC's website charges you for car pick-up from and to the airport. They charge you for a driver and translator. But all of us here who came through CNTTTC paid for the car pick-up(included in the overall cost) but were transported by train and bus. the translator was never to be found. After repeated requests for a discussion on the matter, we were told(by the translator who arrived by now) that this is how it is and we could take it or leave it!!(after they took our money upfront). The testimonials on their website are all fake and some of them were dated when we we were present there(when we knew we were the only foreigners present)As for the training itself at the zhengding base, it is good. Extra attention was given when we requested for it. The coaches made sure that focus and more practice was given on the weaknesses of the player. But you don't need CNTTTC to go there. The direct mail-id of the base is zdtttb@yahoo.com.cn. Response can be a little slow so might want to try a little ahead.