As we sit in the airport -- David wants to add.... 1. China produces 10 million cars a year. 2. Even though the Eclipse is scientific, there is a chewing gum named Eclipse. 3. The Yangtze River is named after a Chinese Emperor: Yang is family name, Tze means respect! 4. Special Solar Eclipse Glasses let you see the partial eclipse, but not the total eclipse! 5. Beijing, home of Forbidden City and Summer Palace, will hold 2008 Beijing Olympics! That's all folks! [View Full Entry]

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We are on our way home -- in the middle of a 40 hour day, about to get on the Hong Kong to LA flight. David said last night, "I am really glad I came on this trip." Me, too! The last day was spent in Chongqing -- what they say the largest city, not just in China, but in the world. 34 million people -- city and outlying areas. We arrived their after midnight and left by noon, so we didn't see much of it; but since we went shopping in the morning -- we got a little of the [View Full Entry]

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TODAY WAS THE DAY OF THE ECLIPSE: David first: Wow was today great (of course I mean the Eclipse )!!! I skipped Breakfast b/c I was tired of eggs and bread ( that is the only good thing they had ) so I ate a Granola Bar in the hotel room. We had free time, so we went to China Post and bought some stamps. Poppy looked at Postcards but he thought they were bad. We came back later, and this time the lady showed is Olympic Stamps that come with Olympic Postcards! Anyway, I'll skip the lame parts and get [View Full Entry]

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Two days to go -- to the eclipse and we are getting excited. But now we are traveling, and traveling. Today was a long day -- up before 6 am to leave Tashkangur to drive to Kashgar. Visit a mosque and then off to the airport to fly to Urumqi. The highlight -- David's camel ride in the Mosque! Urumqi is a modern and nice city. Mat Kaplan at the Society visited here twenty years ago and said it was ugly and nothing here. But now it is a thriving and modern city, and the hotel we are at is the [View Full Entry]

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It's Tuesday evening and we are back in China (Tashkurgan) after several days in Pakistan Hunza Valley -- mostly with limited or no Internet. Pakistan was wonderful -- amazing to see the mountains, and experience the grandeur of the Himilayas and the greater than 7500 meter peaks here. We did our own climb yesterday -- 500 meters, rugged and scrambling, to a place called Eagle's Nest. It was beautiful. David was terrific; an excellent hiker and climber -- except he was a bit nasty complaining that his grandpa was too slow (both up and down). We had some excellent meals in [View Full Entry]

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Hi -- David and I are fine enjoying the magnificent weather and mountain scenery. Peaks are amazing. We are in Karimibadn the Hunza Valley enjoying walks through villages and meeting people. But we have very limited Internet and so ourt report is brief and without pictures right now. All is well. [View Full Entry]

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David and I reached new heights -- I will let him tell you. Yesterday we went over the Khunjerab Pass into the Hunza Valley, Pakistan. We went through many passport checks, and we were also on a 4800 meter ( 15000 feet ) mountain. It was snowing at the pass, and it was VERY windy. After a while, I started seeing 7400 meter mountains ( 23000 feet ) and they had a tiny bit if lust on the top layer. When we stopped for lunch, it was as windy as can be, so we sat behind a pile of rocks. Again, [View Full Entry]

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We are in Tashkurgan, a few km from the Pakistan border (and not far from Tajikistan for those of you checking out the map). Altitude is near 4000 meters, the highest David has been to. Scenery on the highway from Kashgar yesterday was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We are really in Central Asia now, Kazak and Tajik people and different environment. We saw some Yaks and Camels yesterday, and although David was bored on an 8 hour bus trip, he did enjoy new experiences -- including two passport control checks by Chinese officials as we travel from region to [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we went to Heaven's Lake. It took 3 hours to get there, but it all paid off with a Gondola ride up the steep mountain. Then we ate at a local hotel restaurant. After, we were picked up by what looked like golf carts and driven to Heaven Lake. My first impression was the water: it looked really clear, maybe the clearest water I've ever seen ( of course, the water was melted glaciers ). Lucky for me, we took a boat ride. It was very enjoyable, but soon enough, I was in the bus on my way to the [View Full Entry]

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With our visit in Urumqi we were in the capital of Xinjiang -- a province as big as Alaska. David was impressed with the 5-star hotel. A 3 hour drive through the country took us to Heaven's Lake, where we enjoyed a gondola ride up mountain and boat ride on the lake. Then a night trip by air to Kashgar. Today we are taking it a little easy (opting out of the morning excursion) and catching up on things (including our blog.) Kashgar is listed on some maps as Kashi -- the Chinese name. Some pictures from our trip outside Urumqi [View Full Entry]

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