Twenty years ago I was in Wuhan, China. My Wuhan recall is of a provincial city with few cars. A global pandemic was pure sci-fi fantasy. Then in 2020, I wrote a New Years post about a decade of travel highlights and upcoming adventures, there was no reason for a Wuhan recall. No reason to include images or stories of my visit to the … [Read more...]
Endangered and Elusive: Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkeys
For centuries there were tales of woodland elves living in the remote land James Hilton dubbed Shangri-La. In 1960 Chinese scientists explored the area by mule train looking for extinct yeti. They returned with news of a mountain monkey. Named the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) it is, like pandas, on the endangered list. On … [Read more...]
Shangri-La Discovered – A 2015 Highlight
The Quest..... ...for Shangri-La began in Tacheng near the Yangtze and continued to Cizhong, on a bluff above the Mekong River. (Searching For Shangri-La) I was already in awe of the jaw-dropping landscape of mountains, gorges and neat terraced villages perched on remote plateaux. Was this place, just miles from Myanmar and Tibet, … [Read more...]
Searching for Shangri-La
The northwest corner of Yunnan Province is one of China's most beautiful and wild regions. Here the Mekong, Yangtze and Salween rivers tumble from the Tibetan Plateau carving jaw-dropping gorges twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. Mt. Kawagebo soars to 22,000ft, crowning ranges of mountains where more than one hundred tower over 16,000ft. This … [Read more...]
Awakened and On The March
When I stood in the vast hangar-like museum at Xian and gazed at the life-sized army of marching men, horses and chariots I understood why some call the Terracotta Warrior site the 8th wonder of the world. They march in silence. Generals, lieutenants, cavalry, foot-soldiers, archers, horses and chariots, enigmatic emissaries for their emperor … [Read more...]
