Sunshine Holiday Hotel Chenggong

... market for most of the morning. Once we got tired we made our way to Yunnan's famous cave network about 100km away (i forget its name).

The journey was the most stressful of the entire trip.

First we had to catch a bus to a small market village. After an hour the driver was shouting at us to get off. We grabbed our bags, jumped off the bus and took note of our surroundings. It was raining, we were on a freeway off-ramp and in the ...

... small and barely broke through the soil while others reached high into the sky like the tallest of trees. They were gnarled and twisted, remaniscent of Salvador Dali paintings, monoliths of melting wax. Many were joined together to form giant causeways of stone. In the tangled web of twisted limestone it was easy to get lost and so we often had to climb these causeways to get our bearings.
In some parts of ...

... 3,500 per person. The cost includes hotels, meals and travel within China but does not include travel to China. The tour group will be limited to 10 participants. This master class puer tour is Seven Cups' third tea tour of 2009. Their first, an early spring green tea and yellow tea tour, was held March 20 to April 3. A second tea tour, focusing on oolong and black teas, was scheduled April 15 through 30. For more information, call (520) 628-2952 or visit Seven Cup's Web site.

... Hemp Industrial Holding Co Ltd, has an annual capacity of 2,000 tonnes. In addition to being used to produce fibers for rope and clothing, hemp can also be used to make paper which is much less damaging to the environment than paper made from trees. Aside from causing deforestation, tree paper is bleached with toxic chlorine bleach. Hemp paper can be bleached with less environmentally harmful hydrogen peroxide ...

Where else would you get a travel story in the politics section of a paper? A rant with a soft centre? This piece from Taiwan, which you can read at http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/ the-china-post/special-to-the-china-pos t/2009/02/09/195260/Liberty-is.htm in its entirety. But here's the soft centre, from near Lijiang: I reflected on some of this as I traveled up the winding stone path to Yufeng Monastery ...

... came in, and she was looking for Christmas gifts, so I suggested that she go with him to see all of the stuff Kris and I had bought in Thailand to sell in our new shop. We had just begun walking down the street when we heard a large explosion. Looking back to the restaurant, we could see people running out of Salvador's. I ran in as quickly as I could and went straight to the gas line to turn it off. I had assumed that our gas line had exploded. It ...

... de la porte du dragon (grottes creuses ''a la main'' par des moines). La, j'ai suivis un groupe de chinois, qui eux aussi avaient choisis de ne pas prendre le telepherique. Ils etaient d'une gentillesse, presque genante, a mon egard. Je recupere mon visa le mercredi soir, puis file vers la gare routiere, en esperant trouver un bus pour Dali.

... a shortage of airbridges that most planes land and then are taken to a place off the runway where they discharge their passengers and reload. When you land at Kunming airport, more often than not, an airport car somehow meets your plane as it comes off the runway and speeds in front of you. On its back window is a sign: Follow Me. I am not making this up (and it is a step up from the guy cycling in front of the plane to show it ...

... a faire un peu de varape et de speleo, mais ca en valais vraiment la peine. L'aprem se passe a Kunming, attente de train en jouant au quadri-plumes sur le parvis de la gare, et ensuite, 18h de train pour Guilin, et on va louper la ceremonie d'ouverture des J.O., c'est notre regret de la soiree...

Route: Yiwan - Shihyusan - Sansiantai - Chenggong ( bigger harbor city ) - Heping Total Distance: 25 km Altitude up: 200m Altitude down: 200m For three days Neal will join me in my walk. Here he writes his view of this day. "THE FAR EAST" by Neal Moore We've just arrived along the Eastern coast of Taiwan, with a breathtaking view of the sea, this carriage I'm traveling in, surrounded by quite affable nuns. Loads of Christians in the south. All locals ...