We arrived in Datong late last night, checked into our hotel and got up early today for our excursion. We rode about 120 km to a Tao temple, the Xuankong Hanging Temple, carved out of the cliffside. It was built in 481AD, is 1500 years old, twice destroyed by fire with the current version standing for the last 600 years. [read more]
We arrived in Pingyao last evening by hi-speed train from Xi’an. There is a display at the front of each train car that tells you how fast you are going at any given time. Much of the time we traveled at 240kph (150mph) [read more]
We arrived in Xi’an yesterday morning by overnight train. A little less scary than the night train to Varanasi, this one had limited access to the car and someone official looking roving about. Our room was once again inside the old city wall. Quite a large area, this section of town has been occupied for 2800 years. Many [read more]
We flew from Lijiang to Chengdu yesterday. Our hotels have been hit or miss especially for plumbing, but wow have they consistently been in the right area. This one is right on the river and an historic street. There are lovely parks both to our left and right and the Sichuan Opera house is several doors down. We took [read more]
The sun came out today. After a couple days of steady drizzle, it was a welcome change. Lijiang is literally 100 km south of Shangri La. It says so on the highway signs! The basis for Lost Horizons, I could see why as we crept through green, green mountain passes and through clouds to get here. Even our guesthouse [read more]
I received your news early this morning. My phone had buzzed in the night, but I had it on mute so as not to disturb my roommate’s sleep. I thought this was a Chauncey, “Are you free for lunch today? call. I stayed on in Lijiang today while the rest of my group went on to Tiger Leaping Gorge. I will [read more]
Yesterday, we left hotel and in 5 taxis with a picture of the address of the long distance bus station. Our driver looked continually confused, kept asking me questions in Chinese and when I couldn’t answer, she just asked louder. We saw [read more]
This morning we left our place in Yangshuo and took a shuttle to the airport in Guilin. Every airport and train station I’ve seen so far is epic in size. We took a flight on Southern China Air to Kunming which is just intended as a layover city before we transfer to Dali. Its a really big city and we only had [read more]
… first time on just the bamboo variety though. We arrived in Yangshuo last night after several metro transfers, a train ride, immigration clearing out of Hong Kong, [read more]
The bed at my AirBnB was like sleeping on a board. I actually looked under the sheet to see if there was any kind of mattress going on. Indeed there was. Four fine inches of no give. I say I prefer firm, but this is like lying on the floor with only my yoga mat. I think its designed [read more]
I took the bus from the airport (about 45 minutes) to Kowloon. I missed my stop so I walked back an extra half mile or so. This part of town is lit up like Times Square but with a slightly different flavor. Not to worry, there is plenty of neon too. I finally [read more]