Kunlun Hotel Lanzhou

... in Xian. I got a text message from Xinhua. I get at least four of these everyday so that was hardly surprising. Unfortunately, this one had the characters for the heaven I was headed for, as well as those for riot, dead, wounded... I cried. Not out of any self-pity for me and my now thoroughly dodgy travel plans. I cried because I had forgotten the reason why I had been so fascinated by heaven in the first place. Hatred had reared its ugly head. More messages rolled in. I texted Mum ...

... per no acabar tirant la tovallola o perdent els estreps. Despres d'uns moments de panic, acabo trobant allotjament (gracies a una noia de Vancouver a qui escometo a preguntes mentres li poleixen les sabates al carrer) i lligant una excursio de mig dia a unes coves budistes, construides fa segles pels rics comerciants de la ruta de la seda, que inclou un buda gegant, un d'estirat, un monestir tibeta i una passejada en barca. Massa facil, penso ...

... of the universe, and yang masculine, positive and fiery qualities, and when something goes to one extreme it then goes to the opposite. Winter solstice in the northern hemisphere is the shortest day and longest night. After it, days become longer, which ancient Chinese thought meant yang qualities would become stronger, so should be celebrated. The Winter Solstice became a festival during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and ...

... from the checkpoint, one of the cop cars from the checkpoint sped by us at lightning speed. Whether they were going to Hotaugou to make sure we checked into the desired hotels and left the next morning was anybodies guess. The journey to Hotaugau took about 90 minutes and was marked by periodic glimpses of large oil derricks. After Shimien Kwang Hotaugau felt like a real town with restaurants, hotels, shops and even KTV establishments. The Traffic hotel turned us away ...

... we both said our happy good byes. The walk at the bottom of the mountain takes you along the river and past several waterfalls. I wouldn't say they are spectacular but they are beautiful all the same. It takes only an hour or so, so if you do it kick back and relax and dip your feet in for awhile. I had no idea how long it was and on the ...

... Fujian Province.....shane _______________________________________ _______________________________________ The soundtrack to this entry was for my beautiful happy friend Paris....The Ramones! The album was the totally awesome 'Ramones Mania' I guess I gotta break the news! That I got no mind to lose! _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _

... add to that the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 'small mountain' villages located far far far into the huge mountain regions and you can only then begin to imagine the almost impossible task that is happening in Sichuan Province as I type this. On the English Channel here they had a panel of experts from Japan and ...

... statement (language school),tomorrow (painting, sculpture, architecture, astronomy, calendar, etc.), medical Fang-ming (medical science and pharmacy), from tomorrow (Logic), within the prescribed (Buddhism), to be known as the five-Ming Buddhist College, then the Tibetan Buddhist schools of higher university, and students there is the Tibetan culture senior intellectuals. Today's plan is to go half-way transfer Luhuo ...

... Aussie Dollars. Now I'm sure to get lost! The sun set, the moon was out and we could even see the stars. Not a bad part of China I thought! Near our overpass we found a little beer garden thingy out the front of a hotel. There we sat drinking cold beers by star light. Not a bad part of China indeed! Lanzhou is a great city, in fact it would be my favorite city visited these holidays ...

... early, same at Shirley's, so settle for fried egg, toast and jam at the Friendship cafe, next to Shirleys. The breakfast is good, and three young Americans across the aisle are drinking yoghurt, which reminds us that this was our drink of choice last China trip. Still pretty good. Into bus with a 60ish Aus guy from Wollongong, on his second trip to China, plus a couple of Swiss, probably honeymooners by their behaviour, and assorted other nationalities. The ...