KunMing (昆明)
…all I remember from my Lonely Planet about it is something to the line of “there’s nothing to see in KunMing proper”. Well, I sent my LP home already in the package from YangShuo, so I don’t have it anyway. And all I wanted to do in KunMing was to see the Stone Forest, which got quite some praise from various people, last from Rita and James. Continue reading Kunming Stone Forest / Last Day in China
Oh…YangShuo is so great a place to just hang out… I had always wanted to spend a day on the bamboo rafts crossing up and down the rivers. As Rita was a bit handicapped anyway and the weather was great again it was the perfect day to get driven out to YuLong River, hop onto the bamboo rafts, and get slowly moved down-river through stunning scenery. Views are comparable to Li River, if not even better. And no annoying loudspeaker announcement or engine sounds around. Just silence. Or water fights… 😉 Continue reading YangShuo (II) Bamboo Rafting on YuLong River
Li River (漓江)
Despite the money it costs and the bad weather forcast I had opted for accompanying Rita and James on the Li River cruise once again. A great decision! The weather forecast proved completely wrong and it was a nice sunny day with very good views on all the limestone hills along the river. Not that we could identify much more of the rocks named by the Chinese, but just the scenery as such, without names, was great enough. Compare these pics with my first tour here in February! (Organization was similar this time, but the bus not full, and I had an iPod to block out the unavoidable guide’s talking 😉 Most surprising: No bamboo rafts selling souvenirs on the river!)
Nothing interesting happened today. And there is likely not anything interesting to be happening tomorrow. Let me just give a brief note that I am still alive and well. I spent a lot of time waiting at airports today. Continue reading GuiLin (I) Arrived
I just had a quick walk around LiJiang’s Old Town by night. From my new location, the Ancient Town Youth Hostel, that is basically just a step over the door step. Continue reading LiJiang (II) By Night
LiJiang (丽江)
LiJiang is a charming little town in Yunnan, of which especially the old town is amazing in its litteral meaning: It’s a maze of cobble-stone alleys and paths and you will get lost for sure. Don’t worry…you aren’t the first one and you won’t be the last one either. It’s just fun to dive into the alleys, get lost, emerge somewhere, find something seen before, and after 2 or 3 days even find short-cuts. Continue reading LiJiang (I) A-Maze-ing
EMei Shan (峨眉山)
11 hours hiking, incl. 1 hour lunch break, 25km distance only, but 2.500m altitude difference, netto…with all the ups and downs we probably did 3000m up. In one day, which was yesterday (12-JUN-2007). It is doable given the steep stairways on EMei Shan. It is no fun on the way, partly due to these very stairways. It is one of you best possible experiences after you reach your destination: Golden Summit. Continue reading EMeiShan – There are 5 Million stairs…
07.07.07…I guess there were many weddings throughout the world today. Unfortunately not including me, I wasn’t even invited to any one, nor did I see any one here. I would probably not even have noticed the rarity of today’s date if not the morning newspaper had an article about a Libanese couple, which wanted to marry on this date no matter what (in fact: the bride wanted, but the bridegroom accepted it so it would be easier to remember the date ;))
Well, the best I have done with this date was to get on Taipei 101’s observation deck, which at least provided me with a dated ticket I will now use forever as a bookmark; it’s print reads “2007/7/7 12:00”. Continue reading Taipei (III) 101 and the Leaders
Taipei (台北)
What an easy going day: The breakfast has a fair cappucchino, you walk out of the hotel door and stumble over a Starbucks (which I haven’t visited yet as I just had a cappuchino), life on the streets is a lot safer than in China’s mainland: Cars actually stop in front of zebra strips and when doing right turns before crossing pedestrians! I got used to that again in a matter of minutes. Hope I can readapt to mainland’s way of traffic once I’m back… Continue reading Taipei (I) Rain
Pathetic title, isn’t it? 😉 What I am talking about is: The Macau fortress and lighthouse (worldly) and various churches (heavenly). And gardens there were, too!
Continue reading Macau (IV) Protection, worldly and heavenly