October 16, 2004
Hutongs in Beijing
Quin-dynasty Beijing was redesigned with mazes of mud and brick walled courtyards after Genghis Khan's army reduced the city to rubble and is "now the stomping ground of a quarter...Read this update
October 15, 2004
Far East Youth Hostel
After slogging it out across Russia and Mongolia, we soak up creature comforts at the friendly Far East Youth Hostel located among the back alleyways of one of Beijing's ancient...Read this update
October 12, 2004
Reflecting on the Steppe
We are lucky...days are brisk but sunny...the sun glints off bare hills covered in golden fall grass. This feels like fall in southeast Oregon where I grew up. I...Read this update
September 26, 2004
Hanging Out Feels Great
After hanging out a couple days...glad to be off the train...Gregory, a former University teacher of German, drove Bob and I, three Germans and a Pole on a half-day excursion...Read this update
September 18, 2004
Free-Wheeling Moscow
2004-09-19 Like in the big Central European cities we visited, there are cranes everywhere... old soviet buildings built during the Stalin era are scheduled to be razed and new one...Read this update
September 10, 2004
Forest Mushrooms and Vodka
The night before we leave St. Petersburg, Elena and her childhood friend, Dula, breathlessly excited, bring home bags and boxes of forest mushrooms. Bob and I haven't eaten and we...Read this update
January 01, 2003
Panda Research Base
An early morning one-hour ride on Sam's Guesthouse bus took us south of Chengdu to the Panda Research Base where China is trying to keep the Giant Pandas from disappearing...Read this update
December 09, 2002
Naxi Old Town-Lijiang
Lijiang has been designated a World Cultural Heritage Site by the United Nations. There are two kinds of Naxi dwellings built with wood, clay tiles, earth bricks and hard work...one...Read this update
December 06, 2002
Zhondian to Baishuitai
Friday Dec 6 There were no street lights so we walked the equivalent of several blocks to the Zhongdian bus station in the dark to catch the 7:50am bus for...Read this update
December 05, 2002
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
Bob took a flight south to Mangshi and then on by bus to Ruili near the Burma border. Jana and I left Kunming on a Yunnan Airlines flight to...Read this update