10/13/98: Arrived safely in Panzhihua and met up with my friend Travis. He is teaching English at a university here with the Peace Corps… Hilarity ensued when we got to the campus…
Social Etiquette Is Different Here
10/12/98: We couldn’t go through China without stopping to see Pandas. So today we took a tour to a panda refuge about an hour out of town… We met a fellow traveler…
It Did Not Even Faze Her
10/11/98: I stayed in bed with a cold, while Ruth went out to get train tickets onward… On her way over one of the bridges that spans a canal she noticed a…
Eat Your Veggies
10/10/98: A friend of ours told us to look up the Jiao Tong hotel when we arrived in Chengdu. He said it was the newest and cheapest place in town. We couldn’t…
Travel Day 200!
10/9/98: Travel day 200!… On the train we met Gene and Deb, from Alberta, Canada. He’s a university Prof. who teaches technical writing, and she is a CPA… They are traveling for…
They Buried His Army With Him
10/8/98: Today we visited another one of China’s mainstay tourist sights: the Terra Cotta Soldiers… This burial site includes more than 8,000 life-sized clay soldiers, each apparently modelled after real men in…
The Older Part Of Town
10/7/98: Arrived in Xi’an and were surrounded by a horde of taxi drivers hoping to take us to our hotel… Though we had chosen our hotel before we left Lanzhuo, the driver…
The Bucket List Item I Didn’t Know I Needed
10/6/98: Visiting a factory in China was not on my bucket list, but now I know it should have been, because today it happened… John set up a business manufacturing toys, so…
Helping With The Little Things
10/5/98: Ruth and I wandered around the open market near John & Ivette’s apartment and took some photos… This evening we babysat the kiddos so John and Ivette go out on a…
Amusement Park
10/4/98: It is Sunday, but no churches in this city, so we all had a time of worship right there in John & Ivette’s apartment… Then we all ate lunch at a…
Into Central China
10/3/98: This train winds into Central China through some incredible countryside. John K., who picked us up from the train, later told us he had read somewhere that this route was among…
The Honeymooners
10/2/98: Made train without a problem… Our 4-bunk sleeper compartment was shared with a Chinese couple from Beijing… The language barrier made for a comical attempt at conversation which we all enjoyed…
The Many Facets Of Tiananmen Square
10/1/98: Revisited Tiananmen Square to shop for some kites… We had quite a fun time bargaining, since we had spoken to several sellers when we were there the other day and had…
Of Operas And Acrobats
9/30/98: We are in Beijing during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, so we ate some mooncakes today… Usually a muffin with a hard boiled egg yolk baked into the middle, but they come in…
The Great Wall
9/29/98: Went to the Great Wall today, but not all 13,170.70 miles of it… A defensive project begun around 220BC, work continued through the Ming Dynasty (from 1368AD–1644AD), it was originally built to…
The Forbidden City
9/28/98: Today we visited the Forbidden City. Famous British actor, Roger Moore, was our tour guide. On audio cassette of course. He was busy and couldn’t make it in-person… The palace complex…
Beihai Park
9/27/98: Stayed in and spent the day reading… We did have to go out to eat though and boy did we find a great treat. Right around the block from our hotel…
Jingshan Park
9/26/98: Tourist day: Jingshan Park and Gardens, Beihai Lagoon, the White Pagoda, and Tianenmen Square… Jingshan Park, immediately north of the Forbidden City complex, was spectacular… Grand strolling boulevards lined with colorful…
City Scenes and Chinese Cuisine
9/25/98: A lovely city, but the acrid haze was so thick at some points during the day that we could not see more than a couple of blocks… From what I read…
Crossing Long Rivers
9/24/98: 30+ hour train ride north, from Hong Kong to Beijing, through beautiful country… Over the course of the trip, we passed over both the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Including…
Unable To Read The Signs
9/23/98: Wandered around Tai Wai neighborhood for a bit today… Booked a room in Beijing for the next leg of our trip… We are expecting the next few weeks to be among…
ESL In Hong Kong
9/22/98: Ruth joined Jodi in her classroom again today, but just for the morning… Then she and I both joined Jonathan back in Mong Kok to help him with teaching the ESL…
Language Like Music
9/21/98: It was fun listening to Jonathan at his Cantonese… Tonal languages are like music… After lunch we sat in on the prayer meeting that Jonathan and Jodi and their other friends…
Dim Sum Yum Yum
9/20/98: Joined Jonathan and Jodi at church this morning… Because it was a Chinese speaking congregation, both Ruth and I were provided with our own personal interpreter… After the service we were…
The View Above The Skyscrapers
9/19/98: Explored Tsim Tsa Tsui and Kowloon this afternoon… The famed “Walled City” is no longer in existence though… Met up with Jonathan and Jodi at the YMCA and then took the…