Just a note to say that I’m safe at home, and even mostly recovered from jet lag and the cold I brought back from China. I have given up on catching up the blog entries (the places/locations are firmly scrambled in my head), but I have updated my website - see http://www.travelingtiger.com/travelingtiger/china/china.htm.
Enjoy!
We went to Hua Shan (Flower Mountain) day before yesterday, and climbed partway up one of the peaks. Hua Shan is a mountain near Xi’an, that makes me finally understand all those Chinese brush paintings with trees growing from sheer cliffs on craggy mountains. I’d never seen trees growing from small crevices in sheer walls [...]
Well, Typoon Wipha missed Shanghai, thank goodness. We landed here safely yesterday afternoon, after a half-day spent with the Terra Cotta Soldiers in Xi’an, the ancient capital of China.
The terra cotta soldiers are amazing, both in antiquity and sheer volume. They are part of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China, [...]
We’re scheduled to fly into Shanghai tomorrow, after seeing the Terra Cotta Soldiers, but I’m guessing there is about a 50% chance that our flight will be canceled. Typhoon Wipha, which is expected to be the worst hurricane to hit China in over 50 year, is due to hit Shanghai tomorrow, probably around the time [...]
We’re now in Xi’an, the ancient capital of China, where we are staying in the five-star Hotel Sofitel. Not only do they have Internet in the rooms, I can actually access my Website! So I have been doing some hasty website editing and have a few pages up for your perusal. I’m nowhere near being [...]
I’m giving up (for the moment) on catching up, as it appears we have another day or two of heavy-duty traveling ahead of us. It’s frustrating to me not to have time to write - I’m totally unused to traveling on someone else’s schedule, and we’re busy from dawn to dusk on most days. I [...]
Today was a travel day, so not much in the way of sightseeing. I did, however, get the opportunity to try an Asian delicacy which I skipped in Vietnam and have regretted ever since:
(Background: when I was traveling in Vietnam, my guide took me home to see his family’s lychee farm, and they slaughtered a [...]
Yesterday we went to the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, also in northwestern China. These caves were carved out of sandstone by Buddhist monks and decorated with the most amazing murals, frescoes, bas-relief, statues, and tile over the course of about 1000 years, funded by offerings from merchants traveling the Silk Road. They are amazing.
Up until [...]
I somehow got behindhand a few days ago due to the breakneck pace of our travels (we’ve now done something like three cities in four days - no way to travel!), and some things have gotten scrambled in my head, but I’ll do my best to catch up.
After the caves, we went to a silk [...]
We flew into Dunhuang this morning, after leaving the hotel at a thoroughly ungodly hour. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and relaxed for a few hours before lunch, then went out to the singing dunes (which reputedly make a humming noise when the wind blows, i.e. most of the time). There we [...]