This time to China and Tibet for 22-days

Have a wonderful time. One of my girlfriends just came back from a month over there, China and Tibet. I wish I'd saved her travelogues for you. Have fun, CI.

Thanks, Mame, I intend (always) to.

I know I've said this already, but have a good time and take lots of photos.

Are you getting to the Three Gorges dam? (NOT the Three Corgis dam) I'm interested in that for varied reasons.

Well, I'll be interested in all your photos.

First post from Beijing just to say "hello." This was our second day of our tour. We did the Tienanmen Square and Forbidden City yesterday, and the Great Wall today. We're going to visit a children's opera training school tomorrow morning, then I'll be on my own to visit some of Beijing's museums in the afternoon. The weather has be especially good to us with sunshine every day.

Beijing has really changed alot since my last visit here in 2000. Construction is going on everywhere, and prices of realty is shooting through the roof; many comparable to US prices at $250/sq ft. The Chinese government no longer allows foreigners to buy realty here, because there's been too much speculation, and the prices are hurting the average Chinese.

I think you'll enjoy some of my picturs when I get home to post them.

Our next stop is a nght train to Xian (the home of the terracotta soldiers) and home to some 30,000 Muslims.

Keep tuned.

Did you have western breakfast CI?

CI

Having a good time eh. Bring me back a terracotta soldier to guard my door please. Or are they too big to get on the airplane?

Hello from Xian. We took the night train last night for our trip from Beijing to Xian. We got in early this morning, checked into our hotel, had breakfast, and we're going on our first tour of Xian in about a half hour. We're staying at the same hotel where I stayed in 1992; the Xian Garden Hotel, a cooperation between the Chinese and Japanese. It's really a very nice hotel, and the others in our group was impressed; I am too!

I think you're going to enjoy my travelogue and pictures; these digital cameras are the best!

I'm beginning to remember the names of the 15 people in our group.

I went out with a Chinese-American group last night for dinner, and it cost me about $1.08 for a bowl of noodle.

Yes, I'm having fun! Talk to you later.

Enjoy, have fun .... and a safe journey!

Hi again from Xian. I'm waiting for our group for dinner and a Tang show. Xian, as many of you probably know, was the first capitol of China. My interest is mainly during the Tang Dynasty, because that's when the empress "hired" foreign soldiers to protect her from her own government officials. The terra cotta soldiers are from the Qing Dynasty. They have really built a very nice museum on the terra cotta museum grounds, and is now a UNICEF World Heritage Site.

This computer is very slow, so I'll try to send short notes along the way.

Thank you, Walter, for your message. T.

C I
Though I keep aloof, I always read your views.
Take care and enjoy your trip.

Hello from the Yangtze River. We're on the Victoria Anna, only one year old, and only 105 passengers on a over 300 passenger boat. Although it's rainy today, we visited the Three Gorges Project. We're now sailing through five locks that takes about three hours to transit. The name of this river was based on Emperor Yang and Tze means "noble." Will provide more info once I get home to write up my travelogue.

We had our "tours" this morning at the dam, and we are now sailing to our next destination - going upstreams towards Chongqing.

More, later.

ohh I can not wait to see these pictures

Enjoy yourself!

Mr. CI,

Please note the Hawaii meet is in the works. Please bookmark.

Hehe, Mr. CI, you are now travelling in places even I haven't been to~~~

Sglass, Hawaii meet noted.

J-B, This is my third trip to China, but with so much growth in the big cities, it seems like a new trip for me too!

We passed the Hu Gorge this morning, and in about 15-minutes, we're going onto small boats to visit the lesser gorges.

This computer is r-e-a-l-l-y slow.

We have completed going to the lesser gorge and the smallest of the three gorges today. It is really an amazing project on the Yangtze River; many small and large villages are already under water, and many more will be under water in the next two years when they complete this project. They are building new briges across the river, and many built will be taken down - some built recently.

Many of the new towns being built to settle those displaced from their homes are hundreds of condos without any single homes. It's ugly from my viewpoint.

Till later.

Great reading as always, CI. Thanks! I am sure the pictures will be great, too,

Take care!

Our tour this morning was to Fengdu, one of the towns that will be flooded by the end of 2009. We visited one family in the new development, and we were able to ask questions about how they felt about their displacement. Many, like our local guide, think they are now better off, because their homes have electricity and more room - from three rooms to about six rooms. They have markers all along the river where the water level will be when the project is completed, and many more towns and villages will be destroyed and or under water. The family we visited runs a store on their first floor, with the living quarters on the second and third levels. They have 17 pigs in their basement.

We also visited the market in Fengdu, and saw how they bring their veggies, chickens, ducks, and other products to market on baskets hanging on each end of a pole. Fengdu is a city over 2000 years old, so much of their history will disappear with the flooding.

They told us the dam was built for three important reasons; 1) flood control, 2) transportation, and 3) energy. It's ironic that they are flooding out thousands of villages that have existed for centuries to control flood.

Today is our last day on the river boat. We stay one night in a hotel in Chengdu after a five hour coach ride from the last port, then fly to Llasa early in the morning. Llasa is 12,000 feet above sea level, so many brought medicine for the altitude (sickness). I was not affected when I visited Cuzco (10,900 feet) in Peru some years ago, so I didn't bother to bring any meds. Some purchased herbal medicine in Beijing.

Since the rest of the afternoon is leisure time, I may post again before I hit the sack for tonight.

November 21: We flew from Chengdu to Lhasa this morning, and most of us rested most of the afternoon to get acclimated to the 12000 feet elevation (thin air). I young woman in our group has been sick all day. We visit the Potala Palace tomorrow. I'm excited. T.