http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Planet/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Planet en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:43:27 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:43:27 +0000 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 respect4. Special Solar Eclipse Glasses let you see the partial eclipse but not the total eclipse5. Beijing home of Forbidden City and Summe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-307869.html 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 s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-307864.html TODAY WAS THE DAY OF THE ECLIPSE David first Wow was today great of course I mean the Eclipse I skipped Breakfast bc 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-307151.html 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 sai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-306353.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/blog-305976.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/blog-305372.html 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 lay http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-304781.html 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 yesterd http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-304132.html 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 . Lu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-303429.html With our visit in Urumqi we were in the capital of Xinjiang a province as big as Alaska. David was impressed with the 5star 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 u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-303416.html Last night I had a full sleep finally 9 12 hours. We visited the Terra Cotta Soldier Museum and this time I wasn't sleepy so I was ready to see the SoildersAll of the Soldiers were taller than my grandpa and they looked pretty nice considering they were underground for a LONG time. The Soldiers were there to protect the Emperor's tomb. We watched a Cinemax movie after. It explained about http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-302250.html Today we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors and the site of the Qin Dynasty's Emperor's Tomb. It is truly an 8th wonder of the world both physically and in its impact. This was the first emperor of China. He was so arrogant of his power and sure of his eternal glory not to mention murderous to his people that he employed 34 million people slaves for nearly 40 years to guard him in th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-302186.html DAVID I'm finally in China after the LONG plane trip 13 hours straight. It wasn't fun at all but at least I'm out of that plane. I don't really feel so well at the moment and i don't like Chinese food all the time. I really miss everyone at home badly LOU Yes indeed we are tired and as you can tell David is a bit overwhelmed. He was surprised to learn that we would be eating Chines http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-301846.html THE PLANETARY SOCIETY CHINArsquoS SILK ROAD HUNZA TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONJuly 17 August 3 2008 DAILY ITINERARY See map on May 31 entry DAYS 12 USA TO HONG KONGThursFri July 1718Expedition members on group flight check in at Los Angeles International Airportfor Cathay Pacific flight 883 to Hong Kong.1145 pm Los Angeles passengers depart on CX883 for Hong Kong. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-298533.html I love getting into the Sunday NY Times. Today they had an article by Helene Cooper about engagement vs. isolation in politics. article The subject of engagement is a big part of my trip. Engaging with China is an important issue for the world and for the space program and being a tourist at this time of Tibetan rights human rights issues Islam secular mixes all in the part of the w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-296147.html We are getting ready for our trip and today is David's first entry. I asked him are you excited and what are you looking forward to gtI am looking forward to seeing a solar eclipse nice scenery and foreign people. And yes I am pretty excited I'm nervous about getting sick on the plane though... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-294171.html We have now been given a detailed new itinerary for the Eclipse tour group. It eliminates Chengdu of course that area is devastated by the Earthquake and has a lon road to recovery. It is still not possible for foreigners to plan travel to Tibet and this trip goes through the magnificent scenery of the Silk Road area of Western China Xinjiang and the Hunza Valley in Pakistan. See map http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-284870.html We are still in a state of uncertain planning. Tibet remains closed to foreigners and hence we can't get visas there. That may or may not change but we have to apply for visas now. That uncertainty has caused some people to cancel their trip others are quite willing to change to the Silk Road Hunza trip see map. The other uncertainty is about the first stop Chengdu point 1 which http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-282255.html 1215 UTC 0515 Pacific 2015 China The adventure of this trip is still all virtual haven't even bought the air tickets yet but notable. Today a magnitude 8 earthquake is reported in Chengdu the nominal starting point for our summer trip. An online blog reports Sichuan ChinaMagnitude 8.0Origin time 20080512 062802.3 UTCEpicenter 103.19E 31.13 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-275406.html We received information yesterday from Betchart saying that Tibet is closed to westerners until the end of June after the Olympic torch passes through Lhasa and thus visas for the trip cannot be processed. They have recommended that people switch to the China Silk Road and Hunza Valley trip same dates ending up in Altai China or Mongolia for the eclipse viewing. This trip has no prob http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-274801.html