I will update this site as I add (and probably delete) some of my favorite photos. [View Full Entry]

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Wow, we are here and it is awesome!! We are sitting at an internet cafe at the YAK hotel. Its high speed connection and as we wade our way through the Chinese Microsoft version, trying to remember which row some of our responses are on, it is a bit hit or miss!! We are on our 4th day here and appear to have adjusted to the altitude (13,000+). We leave on Sunday (Oct 2) for a 9 day trip, 4 days trekking to Everest Base Camp with a Spanish couple. So, we will be back on line @ Oct 12th. We [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Chengdu after a very pleasant 2.5 hr flight. Within one hour of checking into our hostel we had arranged our flight and permit to Lhasa for the 27th and a morning tour of the Panda Reserve. The reserve was great, a beautiful parklike setting with about 20+ pandas that we saw. They were quite animated and fun to watch as they munched on their bamboo. The afternoon was spent at a beautiful Buddhist monestary. Chengdu is a less modern city with a little more communist feel to it mainly from the older block style buildings. Though they too have [View Full Entry]

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Saturday night in Shanghai. the lights and people were amazing. They were having a boat display with the river full of decorated boats. But the number of people were incredible, shoulder to shoulder particularly trying to get out of the metro stop. But a very enjoyable and festive atmosphere. This morning it is a Sunday brunch and then off to the airport for our afternoon flight to Chengdu. [View Full Entry]

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We just wanted to add a few more photos. We continue to enjoy Shanghai roaming the streets. Went to the Urban planning museum. The pictures of before and now were amazing, more so since so much of the construction has occurred since 1985. It was also very impressive to see what their plans include for the next 15 years! In one of our walks we stopped into a very small food vendor on the street. Everything looked great so we began to order by pointing at the various dishes. Oh no, we were to order from the menu in which case [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Shanghai. Well this is our first attempt at blogging... let me know how it works. We have spent the last 5 days thoroughly enjoying this beautiful very 21st century city. Mark & Marla and the girls are excellent travel guides. The girls are enjoying their school which lessons include Chinese and the violin! We've enjoyed the fakes market where we did succumb to some great deals (:! We shall see how long they last. The variety of buildings between the old and new, many side by side makes for fascinating walks. Today we are on our way to the [View Full Entry]

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