http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Qinghai en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:31 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:31 +0000 The T 9662 tto Lanzhou was comfortable. We had the wide bedded soft sleeper with clean sheets and a cool but not cold cabin. We boarded and slumped onto our seats. We chatted for a while but soon could not do so any longer and drifted off to sleep at 2330hrs. We rumbled and clacked into the night and woke refreshed at 0630. The train halted at exactly 0700 at Lanzhou. There was the usual scrum http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Xining/blog-456824.html Amdo in the Tibet and Chinese borderland Amdo is located in the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai northern Sichuan and southwest Gansu provinces. Amdo is home to over 1.5 million Tibetans. Many families in Amdo are farmers who take advantage of the fertile soil in the area. Western Amdo is mostly nomadic with people herding yaks and sheep. Many Magnificent monasteries and sacred http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Tongren-Rebkong/blog-437443.html Nangchen is a county of Yushu in there centralize plateau pasture virgin forest deep and serene canyon thousand years old Buddhist Monasteries and myth stories. Nangchen is the county name and Sharda is the name of the county capital. Nangchen was an independent kingdom of Tibet up until the 1950's. It was independent from Lhasa and also very independent from Beijing. Nangchen is rich in Tib http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Nangchen-Nanqian/blog-437438.html In the autonomous region of Qinghai china formerly known as khamEastern Tibet Yushu prefecture is rich in Buddhist Monasteries. Being a constituent of the former NangChen Kingdom. The different balance of power in this part of Kham enabled the older Tibetan Buddhist orders to prevail in Yushu.Yushu Tibetan is located in southern Qinghai province. It is comprised of six counties Yushu Chengd http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Jyekundo-Yushu/blog-437436.html My friends and I went to Qinling mountains in April. it's a really wonderful place and we were so lucky could see a wild giant panda exciting I found a very good trip report about this placeshare it. If you are interested in it you can read it at herehttpwww.mammalwatching.comindex.html http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Xining/blog-409335.html After posting last night we headed back to the hotel for an early night in our very basic hotel room in Tongren. We read our books wrote in our journals and shut out the lights for some much needed rest after traveling basically the whole day...About a half hour later I was awoken by what sounded like some very drunk people in the hallway. After five minutes the sound died down and I thou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Tongren-Rebkong/blog-408394.html This afternoon we boarded a train to Xining the capital of Qinghai Province which is on the border with Tibet. Outside of Tibet itself Qinhai has the greatest density of Tibetan people in the world and since Witt and I couldn't go to the real thing we wanted to be able to experience a taste of tibetan culture in Qinhai. The train ride was uncomfortable but uneventful with some pretty scen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Tongren-Rebkong/blog-408110.html Day 4July 10 2008Before coming to Ledu County I said on numerous occasions that I thought this would be an opportunity to see a part of China I hadn't seen the rural countryside. I realize now that I have actually seen the rural countryside numerous times throughout my time in China. The difference now is that I am not in Ledu County as a tourist. I think perhaps I thought that I would be teachi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-372753.html excerpt from an email I sent to my friend MichelleThis is my third day here in Ledu County but we still haven't started teaching English because the students are taking exams or something. Instead we've been going to a ton of official dinners and lunches with people in charge of the schools and the government here. I'm not really sure what we're accomplishing by doing that..... Plus today at lu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-372752.html Day 2 July 8 2008Day 2 in Ledu County has been relatively uneventful especially for someone such as me with a low level of Chinese comprehension. Because the students are taking exams we will not start teaching for several days. Thus the Tsinghua students have set out to do some research on the successes and failures of a recent government health program aimed at covering a percentage of healt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-372751.html Day 1 July 7 2008I am on a train to Xining the capital of Qinghai Province. I will be here for the next ten days or so teaching English to children in the countryside. After arriving at the train station we will take a bus to Ledu County.This is all part of the Summer Service Learning Program sponsored by the Poverty Alleviation Office at Tsinghua University. My traveling companions include one http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Xining/blog-372749.html Xi'anLanzhouXiningLhasaChengduChongqing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-357523.html Xining the capital of Qinghai province turned out to be already more wild than expected. It was far less modern than the other cities. The most obvious sign for this were the missing chain stores of Mc Donalds KFC and Starbucks. We arrived after a comfortable night on the train. Chinese sleeper trains are of good quality with open 6 berths compartments and clean bed sheets. There is also a wak http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Xining/blog-357082.html Shane flew to Beijing in September as part of his new job with USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center working on a satellite telemetry project of waterfowl migration in Eurasia and Africa. By placing transmitters on the backs of ducks and geese using little harnesses we can track the migration of individuals around the globe. A specific focus of the project is determining how wild birds may http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-345393.html OK I will try this entry again. I had written for 20 minutes about the beauty of this land and then the manager of this internet cafe in Zadou pullled the plug the hour done. No bother to ask if I wanted to continue no warning may I add very annoying However this is China and I am in the middle of nowhere so I shouldn't be surprised at anything that happens here. I realized it is hard to co http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Jyekundo-Yushu/blog-317075.html On our last day in Tibet we visited the family of our guide in their small village between Lhasa and Shigatse. The village was shielded from the road by a high embankment and consisted of about thirty families. The small traditional houses were without running water or indoor plumbing. Our guide showed us the very public place outdoors designated for bathing. Though there was a sm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Xining/blog-272051.html Many months have passed since my last entry. Irsquom in the US now and I guess I only think about updating my travel blog while Irsquom overseas and technically traveling. And here at home therersquos not much to report except for life in the good olrsquo US of A as most of you already know it. These days that means a little cold a little grey and a little too much holiday food.My La http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Golok/blog-230165.html A day in transitI had a bit of a sleep in this morning which was great I think I need to catch up on some sleep after all those late nights drinking in Beijing. So I headed out got some breakfast and packed up and headed towards the long distance bus station for my bus to Xining. To refresh your memory I was heading to Xining to maximise my chances of getting a permit to Tibet and as I said yest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Xining/blog-225898.html Please visit the extensive photo gallery that goes with this entry. See it here.Shortly after four of the pilgrims left for their homelands see last entry Chuck Carin and I returned to Ngawa and to the home of Lama Yonten and Osel Drolma. There we spent ten days so that Chuck and Carin could assist with work at Lama Yonten's monastery Kashi Gompa. Their primary role was to teach Engilsh t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/Golok/blog-202389.html videos from a friend and a great helpful personhope you don't mind Sunny to put them on my blog http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Qinghai/blog-188401.html