Qinghai Xi Ning Hotel Xining

... old. Suddenly, it is infront of you, taking up the entire length and apparently in a state of nirvana having a very long lie-in. <br><br>Another random Buddhist site that we passed, quite unexpecetdly, was a temple built into the side of a mountain we were (relatively unexpectedly) ascending. From this looks of the map, this temple was the 'town' marked on our way... Unless the road had been built over the old town (not unknown though), I would say it comes ...

... wallet in vain in his bags, he comes back towards the bus stop. Thinking he won't find it I go talk to the controllers with our permit stating the 4 names and the 3 tickets with consecutive berth numbers to explain our case. After 30min (Nishi is back without his wallet) I talk by phone to a train official who speaks decent English. She explains that without ticket he cannot take the train and that the 3 of us better hurry as the train is set to leave in 3 min. As our train ...

Viimeisenä päivänä Xianissa lähdimme Hua Shanille, joka on yksi taoismin viidestä pyhästä vuoresta. Alkuperäisenä tarkoituksena oli patikoida ylös vuorelle ja samalla kohottaa kuntoa ennen Tiibetiä. Aikataulullisista syistä jouduimme turvautumaan köysirataan, jotta ehtisimme nähdä alueesta mahdollisimman paljon ennen lentoa Xiningiin. Hua Shan osoittautui odotettua jylhemmäksi kalliomuodostelmaksi. Valitettavasti my ...

... it was the first time for me to be really excited in a while, probably the previous time was in Tiger Leaping Gorge while the places after that (Lijiang, Dali, Kunming, Hong Kong, Beijing, Pingyao and Xian) have mostly been nice but nothing totally different and amazing, what I expect to see during our three-week tour in Tibet.<br>

Sorry for the silence. Jessica and I have been super busy but the past few weeks have been quite a learning adventure. Our hosts have been warm and friendly and we have seen lots of places, met lots of people, and learned about Tibetan medicine which incorporates prevention concepts innclduing nutrition! Today, we met a group of medical students from the States including from Standford (Laura: I told him to find you when he does his Peds rotation). <br ...

... of minority peoples here. <br>Yesterday we went to the Tibetan Medicine Museum of China, which has<br>the world's longest Tangka, by Guinness Book of World Records<br>standards, measuring in at 618 meters long! A Tangka is an<br>encyclopedic picture meant to depict the history, culture, religion and<br>folklife of the Tibetan people. It is, honestly, one of the most<br>spectacular things I have ever seen in my life. It took 300 artisans<br>to ...

Het verblijf in Xian heeft me best kunnen bekoren. Het was de hoofdstad van China toen het verenigd werd en bleef dit tot Beijing de hoofdstad werd. Xian heeft weinig van zijn oude glorie verloren maar ook hier is de moderniteit toegeslagen. Een voorbeeldig wegennet. Na een verblijf van een dagje zijn we van hieruit naar Xining gevlogen om ook daar nog even rond te dolen.

... first, but i really hope it happens. The biggest problem of course, is money la. I'm trying to be hopeful for now. Will call Thai Airways to hopefully shift my dept city to Beijing, get Leo's in Beijing to find me some trans-Siberian railway tickets. Wish me luck.... For once in my life, i'm gonna just do something with wild abandon (almost). - Feli "Tibet to Mongolia" Wong

... It adds an element of surprise when you can't converse at all with the nice, but helpless receptionists in the "alien-approved" hotel. That's what sign-language and charades are for. And hurrah for the dirty little hole-in-the-wall restaurant! I was thinking I'd never find 2RMB bottles of beer again. Our first full day in Xining, we headed to Taer Si, a "Yellow-hat" Tibetan monastery not too far away. Following the Lonely ...