Bing Chuan Sichuan

We came to Danba to see some of China's best villages around the city.
Jordi needed to extend his Chinese visa so we went to the PSB (Police Security Bureau) supposed to do just that.

We found a policeman who called his English speaking superior, who told us they did not have the authority to do it, and we had to do it in Chengdu. The officer, apparently nice, asked us where ...

So we left on a bus from Xichang and headed to Yanyuan. I may have mentioned before how I didn't really think much of this town and how long it took for us to get a ride. Although I did get to see Thibaut feed a tiny, wild kitten some crackers. We finally set out on this journey headed to Muli. (Eric had said that from there we could get a bus to Yading and we'd be set). Ha Ha Ha...oh Eric. In our travels to Muli a few guys road with us. I have no idea their age they ...

Litang has 2 good things: a monastery up the hill, North of the city and beautiful landscape with snow capped mountains, never ending prairies occupied by only yaks and a few nomads tents.
The rest of the city does not have much to offer, guesthouses included.

Highlight of the stay was to go visit nomads in their tents ...

... wheels... and.. Yaks. Everywhere: in the landscape, on people skin, in your plate, in your glass!! Everywhere...

We settled for a few days at Mama 1 GH where we met nice Chinese with whom we did a long bike balade along the hills surrounding the village.
The next day, with Jordi, and still by bike we reached a monastery up the hill, at 4000m...

Then we shared a little van to go to Litang.

15.8.2009
V Dujiangyanu, jsme opet meli budicek v 5.00 a v 6.00 jsme vyrazili busem smer Xiaojin. Cesta mela trvat asi 6 hodin primo na zapad. Cesta nakonec neodpovidala predpokladu. Ukazalo se, ze silnice na zapad je po lonskem zemetreseni pro autobusy neprujezdna. Absolvovali jsme tedy objizdku na jih kolem Ya`anu. Nakonec jsme tedy jeli 12 hodin autobusem, zpestrenych vymenou autobusu u mostu, ktery ...

... later I moved to China and then to Fujian Province and took a friends advice to go see some strange houses. When I arrived I began jumping up and down yelling paragraphs of strange things my Chinese Driver thankfully couldn't understand. There were the very same houses that blew my mind decades before. But this time they were real! Yongding and Hakka Peoples Houses Adventure ...

... are the same. Everything is manually done and most of them have to either walk or ride their bike for many kilometers to get to their land. The same goes with road workers etc. At the end of each day when i ride I pass heaps of them and each have their own shovel or pick etc slung over their shoulder. Anyhow, for those who want to know a little about Teachers Day continue reading. If you read it ...

... tea is used in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese cuisine. Not everyone agrees on the origin, but no one disputes that tea is deeply woven into the history and culture of China. The beverage is considered one of the seven necessities of Chinese life, along with firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. Some writers classify Chinese tea into four categories, green, white, black and oolong. Others add ...

... earthquake zone) where the people now have even less than what you see here. Joyce is part of a family of 5 - the one child policy is seldom, if ever, applied to those living in the countryside. Apparently, it is hoped that one or more of the children will choose to remain in the village and continue working the land, however, this is most often not the case. The young people migrate in droves to the cities as soon ...

... last month or so in preparation for it. Well, our work paid off and 2 of the girls (my student and one of Craig's) placed 4th and 5th; the prize for the top 10 scores is a trip to Hong Kong including a visit to Disneyland. Our other student narrowly got beat out for the 10th spot, and ended up in the second prize group which will get to go to a two-week English camp in Yangshuo this summer. She was pretty upset, as scores mean EVERYTHING to these kids and competition is intensely ...