CHINA: The Hanging Monastery & Mu Ta. Ren Cheng asked if it was OK if his wife came as well...resident of Datong but never been to the Hanging Monastery. Drove to his home to collect her...dirty austere building...rent 2,000RMB a sq mtre..."cheap"...sixth top floor...back entrance...wife at the door...nil English...please come in. White tiled floors...quite large...sparsely furnished...massive TV on the floor in the middle of the main room...couple of chairs & a tall bookcase...empty other than about 10 books/mags that he was proud to show us. I will never forget what he showed us...pulled our heartstrings. He showed us his few books...PSP computer books that showed how computers & computer chips worked...binary codes...complex maths...technical as...probably outdated. He was "studying them to get a computer"...every night he reads them...when mastered he will get one! ... read more

CHINA: Travels with a Rickshaw Driver. On my second trip to China...just Denise & I...me Tour Leader...I've been here before...I learnt on Day 1...what has become my modus operandi when I arrive in a Chinese city...I find a taxi driver to take us around as required. And it all started when we met Wong...a Taxi driver...and his brother Wun...a Rickshaw driver. Taxi drivers get work by picking up passing fares...the success of their day...a lottery. All depends if that hand goes up at the moment they pass by. So...if you can find a taxi driver that is prepared to negotiate an appropriate fare "for the day"...and you use him on other days...he makes more in those days than he would in a month or more. But be warned...such practices can have you invited to their homes...or ... read more

CHINA: Xian by Police Escort...The Chain of Command. Upstairs Hotpot Restaurant...the "Best in Beijing" they said...other patrons passing and bowing to our table...not to others that I can see. Reunion for my Aussie mate's partner...the one whose parents were Professors of Fine Arts...who was sent 1,000 kms from her family in the Cultural Revolution...for re-education...lived in caves...her stories bitter and chilling. Our guest tonight...one of the others living in those caves...then at the bottom of the cultural heap. Not now. Now he is a General. Guess the patrons are bowing to him! Chief Fitness Instructor of the Beijing Police...Retired All China Boxing Champion...even has his own T.V. show...talk about reversal of fortunes. Life tentative during the Cultural Revolution...then cream rising when the waters are still...the resilience of humanity. ... read more

CHINA: Zhongdian...the Road to Shangri-la. We have all been on hairy precipitous roads...one of the best...the road we took from Lijiang to reach the reason for my first trip to China...Shangri-la...brilliant. The road beyond to Tibet...impassible due to heavy snow. First bend of the Yangtze...the river takes a 180 degree turn...then heads deep into China...all the way to Shanghai. Signs warning not to swim across...as if...vendors around small fires...only moving if we approach their tables of wares. Bought a Tibetan mirror and a Tibetan necklace with a pendant of a minature feather one side & a dagger the other...wore it for the rest of the trip...as well as my later trips to China...special piece among the truckloads of souvenirs I have bought to assist the Chinese economy. Into the 8 seater heading into the mountains...STOP...road blocked...Detour ... read more

CHINA: Lijiang...Rectifying my Regret...4 years in the coming. We all have regrets. Why was I so impulsive? I could have handled that better. Wish I hadn't done that. In relationships...finances... shopping...sporting moments...in travel...aspirations. Wish I could go back in time...rectify...do differently. But it's passed...irreversible...opportunity lost. All we are left with is...REGRET...that insidious worm that sucks our confidence. Somehow I had the opportunity "to rectify a regret"...something really major...something that had been eating me up for 4 years...and I received a GOLD MEDAL for doing so...yep...a Gold Medal...crazy!!! We are in Lijiang in Yunnan Provence on my first trip to China...we had New Year in Dali...so this would be early 2003. Staying just outside the old city walls...Dayan Town...home of the Naxi People... read more