The reason I went to Leshan is a giant Buddha carved out of the rock next to the river by some hard-working monks. Leshan is very nice itself because it is situated on the peninsula of a river mouth. Instead of joining all the tourists on the standard boat cruise to the huge feet I took a ferry to an island opposite the Buddha. Here, many locals spent there evening while having a picnic and enjoying the view.... read more

Together with Raul I took the bus from Xi'an to the nearby Tomb of Qin Shi Huang. The place is known better as 'Terracotta Army' because that's the main attraction to see. The Tomb itself is a rather uninteresting green mound. That would be all if not some local farmer drilling a well in the 70's had discovered a huge underground army of terracotta soldiers. They symbolically stand guard at the tomb and are arranged in several formations around it. Before they were discovered wooden structures supported the ground above them. These structures had collapsed or had been distroyed in many places so that most of the soldiers had to be excavated and reassembled. Today the three main excavation sights have been roofed with large hangars and some money is collected at the entrance... Besides the ... read more

The best trip I did in China so far was to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Starting from Beijing there are several possibilities to visit the Great Wall. And everybody will tell you another spot which is the most beautiful, the most remote, has the least tourists, is restored in the most original way, is by far the cheapest, features the 'Secret Wall', and so on. Especially the touts in Bejing selling all inclusive tours are very imaginative in praising their spot. And all the other tourist I met where quite certain that the place they had visited is the best. So am I! And here is why: I wanted to see a section of the Great Wall that had at least partly been restored. When you've had a picture in your mind from the age ... read more

In the center of Beijing is the Tian'amen Square and north of it the Forbidden City. The whole layout of these is huge, somhow resembling the vatsness of the Chinese empire. On foot you walk a whole day just to explore all the gates, halls, gardens, and courtyards. Like this you can experience the Chinese peopels' taste for monumetal buildings very genuinly. The Forbidden City has several nested courtyards. So you are walking from gate to gate to the innermost courtyard. Here you find three halls, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Medium Harmony, and the Hall of Protective Harmony. These are for the official purposes of the emperor. Further north there are another three halls for the private porpose of the emperor. In this part are also some gardens with little temples. A ... read more

Kashgar is the first major city in China when you come from Pakistan. At first it looks very Chinese. Big modern buildings, broad streets. One very big east-west street and one very big north-south street. Transport system is well organized, Chinese Supermarkets everywhere. A huge statue of Mao Zedong at the main street. But most of the people do not look Chinese at all. They look like people from central Asia. And when you take a second glance you can find signs of their culture everywhere. This becomes especially obvious at the markets. Kashgar is famous for its Sunday market. When I visited it I was a bit disapointed because it was not so special, not especially big (maybe due to the season) and mostly Chinese. Not the variety of things and goods I hoped to ... read more