Feitian Star Express Lanzhou

... Finally, as the sky started to go dark, I felt a hideous stab of guilt and shame. If it were true that driving at night was dangerous, by agreeing to board the last flight out of Lanzhou, I had committed LX to coming out to the airport in the middle of the night. I had endangered him. I felt like kicking myself. I had not thought things through properly and had been much too naieve. I got off the plane, collected my bag and waited at the airport bookshop for LX to arrive, with my heart in my throat.

... between. We did some very serious off road stuff on narrow paths with loose stones and crossed a river to get into the "real" China that most of us came to see. We had an amazing lunch in a village, having worked up an appetite we scoffed everything, even the tofu, the fav dish was the roasted pumpkin. We called in on a local school called Hope School, its named beacuase it is a "free school" built from charity for the poorer ...

... and pretty much told not to come home at night until I had shared several bottles of beer with who ever wanted me at their table at the Night Market. Why? Because it was a tiny town, I taught most of their children and they paid my salary. Then there was Fujian Province and the uncountable amount of beers that flowed freely through out each and every big dinner. It didn't matter how many you ...

... in, stays in. Everybody else out, and stay out! Agree or not with the fundaments of the dissension, the pragmatist in me can certainly understand how and why an authoritian state would react in such a way to a social stability threat, or at least an embarrassing chapter in the lead-up to their big day. However, understanding autocratic logic in no way sweetens the pill I had to chew on. Earlier, I'd approached the 'kingdom in the sky' from the south, through Nepal ...

... the mountain there were more than 300 villas which were constructed by America, England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Portugal and so on. It is said that in 1898 an American Pastor did missionary work, infatuated by the clear waters and green hills, then covered a church, because his big propaganda, more and more embassy personnel who from ...

... an obsession with photographing prayer flags. During the day, the main square in the old town is filled with merchants selling the ubiquitous selection of silver, turquoise and animal skin products. But every evening from 7-9pm, they clear the square, crank up the music and hundreds of people (many in traditional dress) dance in beautifully choreographed circles around the square. Initially, we assumed this was one ...

... Robert Mugabe, and his ruling Zanu-PF party were doing. "The effect of this is that more than three million Zimbabweans had to flee Mugabe's tyrannical rule to South Africa." The problem was exacerbated by "ineffective" action by the departments of homes affairs and safety and security, which were "incapable of securing South Africa's borders and to process refugees". Also to blame was poor service delivery at grassroots level. "The ...

... Sertar found here Tibetan houses and other places, the top floor with protruding Rendezvous, construction also has protruding central room, there are obviously split-level, so that the building is very aesthetic, with modern architecture in the air. Here the land is fertile, planting large tracts of highland barley, I was under the front of a sunset color scenery attract Tatsu, some sense of this delay on the road, or now here do ...

... it's gone slightly to my head. It's worth it though. Both Tibetan villages are set in beautiful mountains and surrounded by Monestaries with cool-looking Monks wandering around everywhere. On the menu here in Langmusi is Yak Burger (the Mac-Yak) and strangely; apple pie (there are no deserts in China! You can imagine my suffering!) See pics...

... to do several loops of the monastery complex (clockwise, always clockwise in Buddhism), turning the prayer wheels lining the walkway or looping the stupas. The truly devout do it one body-length at a time - they lie down, and then stand where their hands reached, and then lie down, and then stand where their hands reached... For about 3 km!! So a very nice and cultural wander ...