CHINA | Thursday, 13 Sep 2012 | Views [2102]
Landed in Urumqi this evening, flying in from Dunhuang. Greeted at the airport by our guide and driver both of Uighur origin. Our driver is quite the cutest guy I have seen in a long time with typical Uighur faintly exotic eurasian features. Something ... Read more >
CHINA | Wednesday, 12 Sep 2012 | Views [2110]
Today (Day 11) ended with "high tea" (aka late lunch) in Yangguan 阳关 town, a very pleasant leafy little enclave that has prospered on the back of growing grapes. Throughout Yangguan town are vineyards - they grow mostly green grapes which are ... Read more >
CHINA | Wednesday, 12 Sep 2012 | Views [2061]
Dunhuang 敦煌 surely has to be one of the most picturesque towns on the Silk Road. Probably anyone with an pocket automatic camera will be able to take an impressive photo as the scenery simply doesn't permit failure. Dunhuang ... Read more >
CHINA | Tuesday, 11 Sep 2012 | Views [2693] | Comments [1]
And today's first was donkey meat. Served with noodles (soup-less), as well as plain sliced. The noodles are the same type of noodles as used in a Lanzhou beef noodle soup, except it is coloured with a natural plant extract which makes the ... Read more >
CHINA | Sunday, 9 Sep 2012 | Views [9475]
As we leave central China, distinctly, we seem to be straying away from rice country into noodle country. And there seems to be an assortment of noodles to sample, ranging from Lanzhou beef noodles 牛肉面, to Bang Bang Noodles (chinese characters ... Read more >
CHINA | Sunday, 9 Sep 2012 | Views [2449]
Jiayuguan 嘉峪关 was regarded by the Ming Dynasty as the border of China separating "home" from the western barbarians. Today, Jiayuguan city is a small industrial town largely populated by immigrants from all over north and western China. It ... Read more >
CHINA | Sunday, 9 Sep 2012 | Views [2163]
Leaving Zhangye (张掖) with a goodbye wave to Marco Polo. Yes, there is a statue of the man in the centre of town. Apparently he lived in Zhangye for almost a year whilst waiting for permission to enter China proper. See - another bit of evidence for my ... Read more >
CHINA | Saturday, 8 Sep 2012 | Views [12328]
This is a speciality noodle in the town of Zhangye (张掖）- translated as "kneaded fish noodles" (搓鱼面）because the noodle is kneaded by hand to be shaped like little fish. They are deliciously light and slightly al dente, served dry but eaten ... Read more >
CHINA | Saturday, 8 Sep 2012 | Views [6777]
Set out to visit the second set of historical buddhist caves and carvings on 6 September - the Binglisi Grottoes (炳灵寺石窟）. (First was the Maiji Mountain grottes). Turns out to be a really long and dull car ride from Lanzhou to a dam along the Yellow ... Read more >
CHINA | Thursday, 6 Sep 2012 | Views [3063]
Have finally crossed the border into Gansu province today. On the road towards 兰州(Lanzhou), the capital of Gansu, I stopped at Maiji Mountain 麦积山 where there is a very interesting set of grottoes with buddhist cave paintings and mountain sculptures.... Read more >
CHINA | Thursday, 6 Sep 2012 | Views [2355]
It turns out that I was still sleeping in Shaanxi last night in the one-horse town of 宝鸡 (Baoji) which is on the border between Shaanxi and Gansu. As you will see from the photos, I stayed at the very international "Vancouver International Hotel".... Read more >
CHINA | Monday, 3 Sep 2012 | Views [3573] | Comments [2]
That's the moral for the day after visiting first the Han Emperor's tomb and now Qinshi Emperor's tomb (or rather the location where thousands of replica people and animals have been bured to keep the emperor company). Impressive no doubt, ... Read more >
CHINA | Monday, 3 Sep 2012 | Views [722] | Comments [1]
Arrived at Xian on a sunny and dry afternoon. Absolutely wonderful weather - I can tell as I have volume in my hair, which isn't sticking to my head limply as it normally does in Hong Kong... Left the Xian airport and went straight to ... Read more >
HONG KONG | Saturday, 1 Sep 2012 | Views [612]
One "good deed" has led to another! The mere decision of taking time off from work has propelled me into a fit of efficiency on the home renovation front. After years of procrastination about my unenvironmental halogen spotlights at home ... Read more >
HONG KONG | Thursday, 30 Aug 2012 | Views [635]
I am bringing one huge duffle bag with wheels and one backpack. That's it. Even I am shocked at my "leanness". But I will have four pairs of shoes... (some things won't change)
TURKEY | Thursday, 30 Aug 2012 | Photo Gallery
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HONG KONG | Thursday, 30 Aug 2012 | Views [676]
So finally, I have packed my clothes and shoes (yes, actually had to try out a few things just to make sure I fit into them... and look reasonably attractive....). Sadly, clunky shoes and sporty pants with zips were unavoidable (so not me). ... Read more >
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