Last night, I had a full sleep ( finally ): 9 1/2 hours. We visited the Terra Cotta Soldier Museum and this time I wasn't sleepy, so I was ready to see the Soilders! All 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 how the Emperor made the Soldiers and the tomb. After that museum, we went to another museum that was built around a prehistoric village. The village was [View Full Entry]

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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 3/4 million people (slaves) for nearly 40 years to guard him in the afterlife so he could be ruler there forever. Instead he ruled on Earth for less than 40 years, and the warriors and his construction were destroyed [View Full Entry]

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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 Chinese food at every meal! -- So I took him for a pre-supper at McDonalds. The city is very large (8 million) noisty, crowded [View Full Entry]

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THE PLANETARY SOCIETY CHINA’S SILK ROAD & HUNZA TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITION July 17 - August 3, 2008 DAILY ITINERARY See map on May 31 entry DAYS 1/2 USA TO HONG KONG Thurs/Fri July 17/18 Expedition members on group flight check in at Los Angeles International Airport for Cathay Pacific flight #883 to Hong Kong. 11:45 pm Los Angeles passengers depart on CX#883 for Hong Kong. (Meals aloft) DAY 3 ARRIVE HONG KONG & FLY TO XI’AN Sat July 19 5:25 am Cathay Pacific Los Angeles flight arrives in Hong Kong. Check in for flight Hong Kong to Xi&rsq [View Full Entry]

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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 world we are visiting focuses us on that issue. Political engagement is also an issue in the [View Full Entry]

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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? ======> I 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... [View Full Entry]

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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 with the previous entry). This means getting visas for both of China and Pakistan (!). The visa process in onerous -- it is based on the principle of not trusting [View Full Entry]

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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 is ravaged by earthquake damage. The Silk Road/Hunza trip ends up viewing the eclipse in Altay (point 7) -- close to the border of Mongolia, where China, Mongolia and [View Full Entry]

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~12:15 UTC (05:15 Pacific; 20:15? 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 on-line blog reports Sichuan, China Magnitude: 8.0 Origin time: 2008/05/12 06:28:02.3 UTC Epicenter: 103.19°E 31.13°N Depth: 10 km Location: manually revised Other news media now reporting it is magnitude 7.8 with large and growing death toll. An Tibet news source (obviously in exile) sh [View Full Entry]

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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 problem with visas. It is a little unclear whether this is backup and Tibet is still possible; or whether this is a decision for firmly switch that must be made now. As the Society [View Full Entry]

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