Thurs - Fengdu Ghost City We awoke on the boat this morning and our first excursion was to the infamous Ghost City, a combination of Buddist, Taosim and Confustion temples. There are so many stories and legends with this place I can’t get them all down here, but suffice it to say we got all the basis covered in one place for making sure you get to the right place in heaven. The temple go up the side of the cliff and as you climmb higher, you get see how each philosophy brings there common points together and stilll keep there separate beliefs strong. We had to pass a couple of tests to see if we were “good enough” to get to heaven which was an even higher temple. But the highest temple was representing hell. ... read more

Sorry for the brief note yesterday but we ran out of time. I'll go back and add some captions so you can tell a little more about those pictures. Today was my day. I was in archaeology heaven. We traveled to the Terracotta Warriors museum to see the excavated clay life size warriors surrounding the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor, Chin. These were discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a well and 3 huge pits have been excavated since revealing life size slaves, infantry, archers, generals, horses and chariots. Everything was broken since the roof was made of wood and deteriorated, but archaeologists have carefully reconstructed most of the warriors, although they have left some broken to show things as they found them, and have even uncovered the pits but not excavated to show ... read more

And our last day in Beijing. Today was a bit different from the rest, much more relaxing. But before we get into details, I have to take a moment to respond to some of our messages. First, for Jesse, both Ernest and I felt the duck was good but not any better than in Houston, and the fish today was much better than the duck. Jesse, Ernest bargained to get an IPod Nano, 8 gig, for about $15. Just dwell on that. I won't be eating any dog because Ernest is in love with every one he sees here as his pic today shows. They are so well trained here, that the owners never use a leash, the dog just follows them around no problem. However, rest assured I will take a few risks to get ... read more

The day started off great. The sky was beautifully blue. All the clean air processes in place seemed to have made a difference. After breakfast, we went to the Summer Palace about 30 minutes outside of Beijing. The Dowager Empress, also know as the Dragon Lady, made this famous when she spent all the treasury's money on creating things like marble ships instead of outfitting her real navy to fight a real war. It was the beginning of the end for Imperial China as she was the one to designate the last Emperor who left in 1911. It was gorgeous out there with a huge lake, all the mountains visible in the background and the many excesses that we can now enjoy. After spending so many months preparing for this trip, reading the books, watching the ... read more

We are here in China ! I'm still trying to process that. All our flights went smoothly (all 20 hours of it!) and all luggage made it in tact. Our flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo went over the southern most edge of the Arctic Circle so Ernest took a couple of great shots of the ice sheets from the plane. We had a 747 across the Pacific but an Airbus from Tokyo to Beijing and that is a really great plane with personal video units. Although Ernest slept the whole way, I got caught up on some movies and read a good book. We arrived in Beijing on time at 10:00 pm but with getting luggage, meeting our guide and driving to the hotel, it was well after midnight when we got settled in and we ... read more