Blogs from China, Asia - page 2398

Next stop China. Yes, dear reader, that's the plan and this travelling caper is starting to get real interesting. An American girl from our Tokyo guest house was keen to head out with me, and we caught a bus south to Osaka to link with the ferry voyage to China. Strategic planning wasn't a top priority for a pair of impulsive young travellers, and we only sensed trouble when the bus arrived in Japan's second largest city after midnight. Winter was setting in and we had no idea where to find a hotel that was still open late at night. Eventually we found ourselves walking the streets of Osaka for the night in an increasingly desperate search for warmth, amidst much immature grumbling from yours truly. Before dawn we found a fire lit by fishermen, and ... read more

This is the day I am leaving Lhasa. My 2 weeks stay in Tibet has come to the end. In the morning, a taxi driver came to pick me up, we left before dawn. In the street you can already see Tibetans walk towards Jokhang Temple holding pray wheel in hand. The city is so quiet. Unlike other cities in China, which is when traffic begin. Taxi is driving so fast towards the airport and soon I can see a little bit sunlight coming out behind mountains. It's a sad day for me. Even though I have only stayed in Tibet only for 30 days in my two visit this summer. I have felt deeply connected to her people and culture. Yesterday, I went to the Jokhang temple to say farewell to my Tibetan friends. I ... read more

For the Chinese and many East Asian countries, a month after a baby is born the child is one year old; the point where the child is considered viable, having gone through the highest risk periods of infant mortality with life beginning with conception. As I was conceived in China, I am beginning this story of my life's journeys with the marriage of my parents on January 11, 1949. My parents William Donald (hereafter referred to as Dad) and Edna Dorothy (known simply as Bonnie since her college days, and hereafter referred to as Mom), were married at the mission station in Labrang, Gansu Province, China, in what is ethnographically Tibet. Labrang (Chinese name is Xiahe) is a major Tibetan religious center, with a monastery which at the time had over 5000 monks, but let's back ... read more