Gong Shang Hotel Lanzhou

... prepared the food i got my ass whipped on an x-box driving game (not exactly my forte...i think they all found it quite amusing...) As if by magic plate after plate of food came out of their kitchen in foil trays, some of which looked appetising (sushi, noodles) and some of which looked decidedly unappetising (chicken feet, and stuff i couldn't even describe that smelt pretty bad but i'm sure was a delicassy) (for the most part this was 'i'm a foreigner get me out of here') but we ...

... v rychlejsich obcerstvenich (proste jako u nas) - vubec ve fastfoodech to neni nic moc. Kde je menu bez fotek v anglictine uz zacina trocha zabavy, protoze preklad nebyva uplne presny. Nejlepsi je samozrejme pokud je menu pouze v cinskych znacich. Tam nasleduje improvizace, nekdy podarena, nekdy mene.<br> Stavik, ktery je o kilometry dale s cinstinou nez ostatni, jiz rozezna na listku bezpecne nekolik jidel - nudle, druhy masa, tofu, omeleta, knedlicky, samozrejme rozeznava ryby a ...

... a tunnel and built this hydroelectric dam to provide power, but the lake is land-locked at 4,441m, with no perennial water supply and no diversion of river water is yet replenishing it, so we may have been witnessing a withering beauty! Nonetheless, it's beautiful and snakes around the Yarlung Tsangpo landscape gloriously (with the Brahmaputra River close by). After a very touristy opportunity to don local attire and have photos taken on a brightly adorned yak ...

... when it was written. Some believe that it is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts. Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to be a Catholic. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England ...

... but the fog's chill starts to seep into our flesh. We put our sweaters and raincoats back on but it's too late to warm up. We walk back down the stairs, refreshed and hungry. This afternoon, we're going to the ethnic Tibetan town called Tongren. *** What it cost: Hotel for two: 80 RMB Taxi to the Meng Da Tian Chi park: 70 RMB (we tipped, to round to 100 RMB) Entrance ticket to Meng Da Tian Chi park: 50 RMB each Bus from Linxia to Xunhua: 21 RMB each

... mounted my bus and we set off. Seeing Hotaugau as we left it in broad daylight, it seemed a far less prepossessing place than the previous night. There wasn't a blade of grass in the town, and nodding donkey oil dericks surrounded it. It appeared a completely alien construction in the surrounding barren landscape. Every conceivable thing needed to sustain life in Hotaugau had to be imported by truck. The journey to Dunhuang took 8 hours. Most of it was just the ...

... almost 60 cars per 100 people. These pictures show the diversity of transportation in China. The majority of people take buses to work. Most trade goods are carried on motorbike or bicycle. Real size trucks are used for construction projects and highway transport, though not many 18 wheelers in China, and certainly no triple trailers. Concrete trucks are about the same size as the US. It is refreshing that cars ...

... suspended for three days. National flags will fly at half mast, public entertainments will be cancelled and the Olympic torch relay suspended during the three-day mourning period Condolence books will be opened at the Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates around the world. Also, the Olympic torch relay will be suspended till Wednesday, organizers said. Meanwhile, the magnitude of last Monday's quake was Sunday revised from 7.8 to 8 by the China ...

... was the music that was playing. Usually when you get a massage there is some kind of fruity world music playing, or some kind of twinkly hippie new age thing, but they played an album I can only guess was called "Gay Bouncy Euro Club Mix 2000 Yay!" It was like getting a massage to the tune of the Vengaboys' "We Like to Party" (see 2003 Six Flags commercials if you don't know what song I'm talking about). The worst part was when one of the ...

... so we go with it. She wants to take us for a meal, which is the last thing we want after our bad night. Eventually under pressure, we succumb and say yes. She comes up to the room, comes in while we settle, uses the loo, then we all head out for a meal. We have been unable to get across that we are crook in the guts, and don't want much at all (we don't have one word of common language - all conversation is via the phrase book, where we all point to a ...