We arrived in Lhasa yesterday afternoon after an interesting trip. We got settled in our rooms and then went for dinner. On the drive from the airport into Lhasa, we stopped at an interesting spot where there is a beautiful Buddha painted on a rock wall. We also got our first glimpse of the Potala Palace which we will visit on 01 Nov 2008. Today we walked to Bokhar Square and visited the Jokhang Temple and Monastery. For dinner, we went to a Tibetan buffet and then saw a cultural dance show. Slooow internet - details and photos to follow... read more

I've spent the last two days exploring Kunming and it has been fun. On the 28th, I went to the Yuantong Temple which is at the foot of Yauntong Hill in northern Kun ming. The temple was built more than , years ago and is the grandest and most important Buddhist temple in Yunnan province. I then went to the Flower and Bird Market which was interetsing - they had all manner of fish, reptiles, and birds for sale. I wasn't sure how many were meant to be pets and how many were for dinner! I went to the Yunnan Provincal Museum which was impressive then I then walked around The Golden Horse and Jade Rooster Square, the city center of Kuming. I picked Mo up from the airport and it was great to see her ... read more

I'm here! The travel gods were on my side: all of my flights were on time and I got my luggage with no problem. Thanks to Roxanne for the early AM wake up call and to Janice for the ride to the airport! My flight from RDU to DC was on time and, although I only had 45 minutes, to catch the flight to Beijing, it was no problem. The flight was scheduled to be 14.25 long, but because we had a female pilot, we were efficient and only took 12.75 hours! It was a smooth flight and I slept for maybe seven hours. I also watched two movies and read "The Good Earth" which is an excellent book. The food was pretty fgood except for the fish-flavored cup-o-noodles they gave us in the middle of ... read more

Today I went to Rishikesh and Shivpuri. Rishikesh is Haridwar’s twin city and is about 20km away which is actually an hour’s drive with the road conditions and the traffic. It lies even further upstream along the Ganges and is the starting point for the holy Char Dham pilgrim route of holy sites along the Ganges. We drove through Rishikesh to the northern end of town where we parked. I wanted to walk across the Lakshman Jhula, one of two suspension bridges across the Ganges in town. It was cool and there were good view of the river from the bridge. The city sits on two sides of a gorge while the river runs through. It’s quite pretty and the water moves rapidly. It looked even cleaner here than in Haridwar which was way cleaner than ... read more

Today I went to Sarnath which is 10 km northeast of Varanasi. Sarnath is as scared to Buddhists and Varanasi is to Hindus. In 528BC, The Buddha came to the Deer Park to preach the Dharmachakra, the Wheel of Law, his first major sermon after attaining enlightenment. Sarnath was one of India’s ancient centers of learning and many monasteries flourished here. The Dhamekh Stupa marks the spot where Buddha delivered his sermon to his five disciples. The tower is 28.5 metes in diameter and 42.6 meters high. There are eight niches around the stupa which once contained images of the Buddha. Not much of the original artwork survives on the outside of the stupa, but there are some spots that hint at the former glory. Nearby is the base of the Dharmarajika Stupa which was built ... read more