http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Dawei/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Dawei en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:19:50 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:19:50 +0000 Pandas China's national treasure and about 30 of the precious creatures at the Chengdu Panda Reserve which is where Anna and her family took me today.People tend to forget I know I did that the black and white panda is technically the Giant Panda and there is a smaller lesser known Red Panda too.They're like a cross between inquisitive meerkats and.. cats I have definitely decided that http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-40437.html Not quite at 100 after the very wet events of last night but I figured that Mt Emeishan shouldn't be much of a problem. it was only the highest mountain I would climb at 3099 metres altitude. And trust me that last 99 did count.Emei at the top is a beautiful buddhist sanctuary and is one that I definitely want to visit again. At the moment it's possible to stay at the monastery with al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-38276.html Azure City Mountain or Mt Qingchenshan was pretty awesome. It's named because it looks like it's surrounded by a collosal wall of connected mountains and the effect this had at the top was stunning. The air was misty too just like in my most memorable dreams. ....A most excellent mountain which I would recommend to any of you since it's almost like a well kept national secret few foreigner http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-35998.html As part of a two day tour package that Anna's family so kindly booked for the two of us we were to explore this mountain and Mt Emeishan yeehah in the next two days.Once we arrived Anna and I got separated from the rather oversized tour group and the guide had a rant at us for wandering off well.. what with the resentment from the 'museum' read tourist trap earlier coupled with the si http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-35980.html This mountain soars over 4000m above sea level and is named Yellow Dragon because of the yellow soil that runs in a winding dragon shape all the way down.The BIZARRE chemical reaction that occurs on the ancient glacier runway causes these thousands of pools that resemble the scales of the dragon. Close up each one's resemblance to a jaccuzzi bath is uncanny.Oxygen tanks were sold to combat altit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-14989.html This was the big one. Jiu Zhai Gou scenic area is a nationally protected area of stunning natural beauty and also happens to be where parts of Jet Li's Hero was filmed.The water wasn't like water anymore so clear i could see the moss growing on the fallen branches laying on the riverbed 50m deep.The mountains looked like they were sculpted they were so beautiful. A part of the objective of my http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-14988.html In an utterly random turn of events my dad completely randomly suggested on the phone that I take a detour to Chengdu in Sichuan 561 miles awayThe original plan was to head north to Shaolin and then east to Xi'an look it up on a map if you want but this kind of turbelence is typical of my dad as any member of my family will know.Hence here I am in Sichuan dubbed as being host to the bes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-14987.html Mt Hengshan in known as the Southern Peak or Nanyue consists of 72 peaks and rises 1266m above sea level although it felt like a lot moreThis was my first real mountain and I reached the summit on July the 4th with 2 mates that I met on the local basketball courts Socrates and Chen Yue.Together we laughed all the way up on our 11hr hike everyone helping each other with every difficulty en http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hunan/Xiangtan/blog-13143.html WooHooI've managed to add this town into this website and I feel all proud..Seeing as I lived here 16 years ago lots of the retired teachers seem to expect me to remember themC'mon I was three years oldI feel a bit strange about constantly being praised about things I feel I have or had no influencecontrol over such as my height I seem to tower over most chinese and my English which http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hunan/Xiangtan/blog-12318.html My last day in Shenzhen was spent lychee picking and lychee peeling and lychee eating Look at all the lychees Lychees Lychees Everywhere Me gt in tree gt munching lycheesBeats watermelon picking that's for sure. The pictures of this joyful moment were captured on a friend's camera and the pictures will go up when he sends them to me.Me to stop munching merely to take a picture h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-12031.html I've now reached the town where I was born Xiangtan.In contrast to Shenzhen nothing seems to have changed here and I still have strange black and white memories of running up the three or four steps where my grandad worked to meet him after work. This was before I left China so I must have been no older than four.My grandparents still live in the college compound where they worked as teachers http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hunan/blog-12032.html Profound thought acquiredI think that If one remains in a fixed location for a long time one runs the risk of finding anything and everything different from one's immediate surroundings SURREAL For example watching people iceskate on an olympic sized rink on the fourth storey of a shopping mallOr doing this while enjoying an excellent meal from a restaurant that doesn't take cashAll for the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-11824.html Well Here I am in Shenzhen after a beautiful flight across Russia yay JON I love how the clouds look from above it's so pure and full of promise.Shenzhen is a huge metropolis littered with futuristic skyscrapers watching all that japanese anime I sometimes forget that there are cities such as Shenzhen which are actually pretty close to what's depicted on screen.And the lychees here are th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangdong/Shenzhen/blog-11562.html