Last Day in China Never underestimate the entertainment value of a middle-aged white woman taking her first ride on a motorbike in a crowded intersection of downtown Yangshuo. A crowd quickly gathered to witness my maiden voyage, as I struggled coordinating the hand throttle and hand brakes, and dodging the unlucky pedestrians who wandered into my path. The crowd shouted words of encouragement and instructions: “OK! OK!”, “Brake!”, “Stop!” and the ubiqitous “Hello, Be Careful!” (which flows of the tongue of every hawker in China.) I e [View Full Entry]

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Yangshuo The river boats carrying tourists on the famous Li River Cruise from Guillin to Yangshuo pass just beneath our deck every morning between 10:30 and noon. A cacophony of boat horns, of varying pitch and volume, announce their arrival at the Yangshou dock, just a mile downriver from us. I am reminded of sitting near the Ballard Bridge one Sunday afternoon when the large lock emptied out its capacity of sailboats and motorboats heading back to Lake Union or Lake Washington after a weekend in the salt. Somewhat controlled chaos, and lots of near misses. It is a sight to [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Lijiang We arrived in Lijiang in the dark, but left this morning at 7 AM, on a warm day with the sun just starting to rise above the mountains. This is a beautiful spot, with near-perfect weather, and I can see why the Naxi settled in this mountain valley some 500 years ago. The kids were all heading off to school when we walked out of town with our baggage in tow (no cars allowed in the Old Town). They must start school pretty early! They were all dressed alike, in red pants with a red and white jacket. A [View Full Entry]

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What's stuck in my mind after a week away from Beijing.... Wudaokou station on the subway line lies astride Chengfu Road, a broad and busy boulevard that stretches through the sprawl of northwest suburban Beijing. Much of the area is taken up with universities - 8 or 9 of them, one after the other, with what must be hundreds of thousands of students. Departing the Wudaokou station, you can walk in one direction toward the Foreign Language and Culture university (where Doug teaches English); in the other toward Qinghua University and Peking University - these are the cream of the cro [View Full Entry]

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We have settled in to this bipolar town, and are loving it. The up side is the ancient architecture, good food, alpine scenery, warm weather,and the glimpses into everyday life of the Naxi. The down side is the daily arrival of the tour buses, from which quite literally thousands of people are disgorged and descend upon town like bees to the hive. EVERY ONE has a camera phone, and photo ops abound. The Chinese seem to like their photos quite formal and posed, so the notion of a "snapshot" is completely unheard of. Amazingly, Caucasians of any sort are still a [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Lijiang late last night after a short flight from Chendu. Lijiang is in southwest China, near Tibet, and the town has an elevation of 7800 ft. It is nestled in a bowl, surrounded by mountains. The highest peak nearby, Snow Jade Mountain, reaches well past 15,000 feet, and you can take a chair lift ride up to 14,00 feet. The travel guide says local vendors will sell you oxygen up there if you need it. I think Jim and I will be going up the mountain in a few days, but we may skip this highest elevations. We [View Full Entry]

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The Coffee Buzz Jim and I finally succumbed to our urge for a cup of joe, and ended up in the local Starbucks. This shop, in the heart of Chengdu, is indistinguishable from my local Mercer Island version. Same warm décor, same pretty glass pendant lights, same tall, grande and vente. Funny how the earthy color of paint on the wall and that wooden menu board can conjure up a bit of security in a strange place. We lingered for an hour…. A cup of coffee in China is clearly the most overpriced product we have found. The two of [View Full Entry]

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Chengdu We are now in the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. This is a “moderate” size town of nearly 9 million people. Chengdu has the look and feel of a western industrial city….a welcome change from the frenetic pace and minute-to-minute challenge of holding on to life, limb and sanity in Beijing. We are staying a few blocks from the center of town, near the city square and the giant statue of Mao (where all the Chinese tourists must have their picture taken.) Chengdu is a pleasant city, with many parks and public spaces. Today we spent sev [View Full Entry]

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Xi'an Terra Cotta Warriors On Sunday, Jim, Doug and I visited the Terra Cotta Warriors archeologic site near Xi’an. Here, in 1974, a couple of farmers digging a well, discovered the 2000+-year-old remains of an entire Chinese army division sculpted in clay, and carefully arranged in appropriate formations. Each figure is different, and accurately represents the uniforms, weapons, chariots, horses, armor and configuration of military units and divisions of this era. The warriors were commissioned by the emperor to accompany him to his grave, and thus were purpose [View Full Entry]

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Doug, Jim and I are flying from Beijing to Xi’an aboard Shanghai Airlines. It’s been a busy 3 days in Beijing…amazing how the time flies. On Wednesday we visited the Summer Palace, a vast enclave that was built in the late 1700’s during the Ming Empire for the pleasure of the emperor. It covers about 3 sq km, and includes a large lake, an opera house, Buddhist temple, multiple residences, meeting halls, and courtyards, and the first large residential gardens in China. (Makes Bill Gates’ place seem ho-hum.) Lovely traditional Chinese Imperial archite [View Full Entry]

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