Note to reader, this post is extremely long as I have not written in a while. I left you in Nha Trang the day before I went diving. The diving was fun, nothing out of the ordinary, some of the cast of "Finding Nemo" things of that nature.The only glitch I had there was that apparently I have the most sensitive fingers in the world because I managed to blister three of my knuckles pulling my wet suit on and off, and on again (the guys on the boat insisted I was wearing it back to front cause the zipper was [View Full Entry]

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Thanks for the lovely emails and comments everyone. They really make us feel that you are all closer. All continues to go well for Ari and I. We are currently in Pingyao after having travelled the long slow slog from DaTong.. So many things to tell, and so little enthusiasm to sit in a hot and sweaty internet cafe for long.. Highlights will have to do I guess... ok, my fave was getting Arianna into trouble in a Chinese wax museum (if you can't read the sign you'd be surprised where you end up!).. It was a total bore, so to [View Full Entry]

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We were picked up from the train station on what looked like a golf cart and were zipped to our hostel through the streets of what looked like an old movie set! Besides being in awe, I was waiting for Bruce Lee to jump out! Our hostel was an old governor's house so it was gorgeous and the quiet, a welcome change to the cities! We were in what Dave thought was the concubine's room, but there was plenty of space and a table with big chairs. After a nap, we went out to explore the city and bought a ticket [View Full Entry]

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We stayed in dusty Da Tong for one night and one very full day, this was more than enough. The CITS agent mentioned that we could, then we couldn't, then we could get a direct train to Xi'an, his story continued to change hourly, or he could possibly get us a direct train to a place called Pingyao, which I had noted in my note book some weeks ago as 'Pingyao a promising place of much interest and real red paper lanterns' but then I forgot about it. So me thinking this was fate in part gave him some cash to [View Full Entry]

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Salut les amis Pour les vacances du premier mais Mai je suis partie une journée a Pingyao; 26 h de train pour 10h sur place. Mais c'était sympa; le train comme la ville. A l'aller j'étais en face d'un noich de mon âge ingénieur qui parlais bien anglais, il était cool. En chine on ne peut acheter un billet train que dans la ville de départ du train. Donc faut s'acheter son retour sur place direct en arrivant. Après une grosse heure de queue; au guichet je pige qu'a moins de passer 3 jours à Pingyao faut que que je rentre [View Full Entry]

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Our second of the two flights that would take us to Jiuzhaigou was delayed due to weather conditions at the receiving airport. However, after several hours we were descending between mountains on our approach to Jiuzhai airport, some 3500m above sea level; it was snowing! We were in the northern Sichuan Province, and with no visas being issued at present, it would be the closest we would get to Tibet. We jumped in the taxi already shivering uncontrollably. With the short snow flurry over, the road conditions were fine, but for some reason unknown to us, our driver was not happy [View Full Entry]

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nach dem gestrigen franzoesischen ein- nun ein deutscher nachtrag. wir hoffen es geht euch allen gut und ihr habt die festivitaeten der letzten woche gut ueberstanden. wie ihr ja schon wisst haben wir weihnachten in dem tibetischen dorf xiahe verbracht. Ahhh...Tibet!! Man kann suechtig werden nach all den Farben, Klaengen und Eindruecken! Moenche in pink-rot-braunen Roben bestimmen das Bild - alles voll - ueberall eine Explosion in Pink. Daneben, dazwischen, dabei bewegt sich die vornehmlich tibetische Bevoelkerung in ihren eindrucksvollen Maenteln, behangen mit buntem, Schmuck und kla [View Full Entry]

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Pingyao Banking [View Full Entry]

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Hey people, I had a great the last few weeks and months. This is one of the reasons I haven't updated this page. Meantime I have also opened a facebook account. So if you wanna add me as a friend look for manfred messerli. It's much easier to upload the pictures in facebook. So, please, follow the links given below to access the lates photos and share my experiences in this ancient walled city... Pingyao 1 of 2 Pingyao 2 of 2 [View Full Entry]

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Pingyao - Xi'an - Chengdu 9/5/07-9/19/07 This part of the trip was a bit of a whirlwind. We only spent a few nights in each place...except for chengdu, which I will explain why later. Pingyao So lets see...Pingyao was a pretty cool little old city. The city itself has a huge stone wall surrounding it and the traditional chinese style buildings with the upturned corners. It seriously looks like the setting for a Bruce Lee movie. We popped into a local restaurant for a nice bowl of noodles and yak meat...mmmm...yak meat. Actually the meat was pretty good...a bit ga [View Full Entry]

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