Blogs from China, Asia - page 2238

Hello, and welcome from China, (Would have been more impressive if I could have said that in Chinese I know, but I can't so there)! Done a lot of travelling since my last entry and it's been a hard slog I can tell you. I'm lugging a lot of stuff, (damn the pursuasive techniques of those market sellers in Temple street), and the temperature here is around 27 degrees. We finally all came together completely as a group on Tuesday Morning. I still hold that we're a funny assortment of folk, some of whom I just can't suss, but it aint as bad as I first feared and I am developing my own little clique. We have a Journalist! She's Canadian... BUT SHES STILL A BLOODY JOURNALIST! (I'm meant to be on holiday away from such ... read more

hey everybody!!! im in lhasa, tibet in a sketchy internet bar right now. i do not want to spend my night in here, so i am only going to say hey and let everybody know that i am alive and having a great time and now am officially an adult. i will write an entry about my trip to tibet when i get back to beijing on sunday, so you can look forward to that. okay talk to you all soon. ahhh i only have 3 more weeks in the motherland...i need to go wander the streets and soak up the china.... read more

The main attraction in Lijiang (besides the town itself) is Tiger Leaping Gorge. A gorge 900 meters deep and at some points, the width of a four lane highway. The TLG trek is about 25 kilometers over two days with a significant vertical climb (and descent). For the trek a group of people from Mama's organized and hired a minivan to get us to the starting point. And so, three hours after leaving Lijiang (an hour of which was due to what seemed to be the most disruptive road construction possible - there was just no road) we found ourselves facing a sunny day and 900 vertical meters of climbing. The group consisted of yours truly, Hadar and Ayelet (I imagine you notice the Israeli sounding names), Joanne, the sunburned Northern Irish girl (her own words) ... read more

Lijiang has undergone a decade long operation. The operation was a huge success. Incidentally, the patient is now in a coma. What was once a quaint town mostly housing the Naxi minority was earmarked for tourism development ten years ago. Ten years later, the once 30,000 strong Naxi minority living in the old town has dwindled to a few thousand. What has replaced it are souvenir shops run by Han Chinese (the majority in China). When you see a Naxi in traditional dress, he does so for the benefit of the tourists. the result is the saccharine feeling of Disneyland. You half expect someone dressed up as Naxi Mouse (whatever that may be) to show up and hug the kids. Sadly, this trend is quite prevalent across China, with perfectly nice little villages becoming the target ... read more

Got the bus to the train station and had dim sum with Goo-poh in a nearby restaurant. Took the early afternoon train to Dongguan, China, about an hour's ride. Felicia's Dat-suk (dad's youngest brother) met us at the station and we got a taxi back to his house. He later told Felicia that he wouldn't have recognized her, since it had been over 5 years since the last visit. Luckily, Goo-poh told Dat-suk to look for the tall guailo (white guy, or literally, “ghost guy”). Over the years Felicia’s dad had already got the family used to foreigners because he would bring his kung-fu students to visit. The taxi driver was behind a cage surrounding the driver's area....All the aunts and uncles and most of the cousins came over. We all went to dinner at a ... read more