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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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May 10, 2006 02:00 PM Sailing Yangtze River...
Our ship has poetic name "Yangtze River Tourism No. 5" . Few people from the crew speak English but I can manage all problem anyway. First day of sailing took us to the Ghost Town. There is old monastery with impressive pagoda to see and very comercial, poor disneyland-style Chinese Ghost Town...
But afternoon was fantastic: I bought optional bus tour (80 yuan) from the port to the Green Dragon Waterfall - Qinglong. You know that I am great fan of the falls... We drove there through the rice fields country.
They say it is the biggest waterfall in Asia. Wow! 64 m high and 115 m wide. Not much water - sorry - but the water forms there like a courtain and you can take the walk behind it! Just wonderful! It remember only one such a place it was Sapo waterfall close to Canaima in Venezuela
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May 09, 2006 02:00 PM To the Yangtze River...
Yes, I want to see famous gorgez of Yangtze river before they dissapear in 2009... The best way is to take boat trip through the gorges from Chongqing to Yichang. Cruises on this route are popular so it is better to book in advance - I made it via Dragon Town Youth Hostel in Chengdu. They know that bacpackers are not rich so they offer the cruise on the tourist boat for local people, not for the luxury liners dedicated to the foreigners. Just make sure that you will pass through all 3 gorges in the daytime. Prices for 4 nights/3 days sail starts from 400 y in 6-bed bunk cabin, 600 in the 4-bed and 1000 for comfortable double with private shower. You can buy extra excursions from the ports.
I took a bus to Chongking - it takes 6 to 7 hours and went to the port. It was the first time face to face with the third river in the world. I saw Yangtze in the late afternoon - it is almost as huge as Amazon! We are sailing in the evening!
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May 08, 2006 02:00 PM Big Buddha in Leshan...
It is not far from Emeishan Mountains to Leshan - just 42 km. Leshan is famous of the Great Buddha statue cut of in the cliff overlooking the river in 8th century... I took a boat to see it... The boat 20-min round trip journey cost 50 hefty yuan. Sorry, no cheap ferry mentioned in the Lonely Planet book.
The sitting Buddha is 71 m high. Da Fo... Impressive! But it is second highest in the world: Years ago I saw two statues of Buddha in Bamian - Afganistan. One of them was even higher! You can also take bus no. 13 to cross the river and to climb the cliff to be closer to the Lord. But first you must pay again: 70 yuar entry fee unless you have a student card. China is still cheap to travel but do not expect to pay 10 or 20 yuan for entries to the tourist places as it was years ago... They learned how to make tourist business!
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May 07, 2006 02:00 PM To the Golden Summit...
At 5 am the monks pray in the main hall of the monastery... It is good opportunity to watch and to listen. Then rice porrige and steamed buns - mantou for breakfast and I we started to climb again. I am lucky - it is not raining but there is a lot of clouds ant visibility is poor. I wish you to have better weather in Emeishan! After two hours of climbing we reached Leidong with little temple and big car park - if you do not want to climb by foot the minibus from Baoguo will bring you by mountain road for 30 yuan. Then it is again 2 hours climb or cable car to the Golden Summit. Dissapointment! The Golden Summit now is a big construction place. They build new big and fancy monasteries there and new, huge terraces. I hope it will be ready next year. So far I enjoyed the huge, golden statue of Buddha located on the back of four golden elephants. It is like 30 m high! The sea of clouds below - it is 3000 m above the sea level - it is not easy to take your breath. The pilgrims use small, old monastery buildings for praying. Well, it was worth to climb Emeishan anyway, but not for the Golden Summit but for all those tiny monasteries on the trail...
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May 06, 2006 02:00 PM Climbing Mt Emeishan - China
The bus from Chengdu to Emei town cost 33 yuans. Then you must go to the tourist village Baoguo located at the bottom of Emeishan. Left your backpack at well known Teddy Bear Hotel and go... The most common trail to the one of four holy Buddist mountains in China goes via Wanian Monastery. It is large and old monastery beautifuly located in the lush forest on the altitude of 1000 m. There are many buildings to see but the most impressive is those who houses the statue of Buddha on the elephant... It was also first place where I saw nasty monkeys - they beg for the food. After visit in Wanian I took a trail to the the next places of worship located on the Emeishan peaks. The trail is well maintained - you just follow with local pilgrims the stone steps - up 100, 200, 1000 of them. Then 200, 300 down through the rainforest. And up again. A lot of sweat, but there are many snack shelters on the trail so you can buy water, coke etc...
At 6 pm we reached the old monastery of the "Elephant Bath Pool". It is far fom the crowds, a bit run down but very nice and authentic. They offer overnight stay there for 40 yuan a bed. What a place for the evening tea with clouds sailing below! The monastery is located on the level of 2070 m...
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May 05, 2006 02:00 PM A day in Sichuan...
The train from Beijing to Chengdu goes 34 hours! I decided to take Air China domestic flight for this segment to save a time.
I landed in Chengdu... Good news for you my friends: They confirmed that on 1st July the new railaway line will be open: the train will go to LHASA - Tibet!!! What a great journey ahead we have! Along the highest mountains of the world! Years ago I took transtibetan highway to get overland to Lhasa it was horrible journey in the crowded bus with smoking local passengers. Now it will be much more comfortable and it will allow the tourist to see the areas closed before.
Chengdu is nice provincial capital with more then 4 mln people... 28 deg Celsius. I stay in the little old part of the town: Dragon Town youth hostel is highly recommended - it is located in the old chineese mansion, has special atmosphere and friendly staff.
In Chengdu it is the must to see Wenshu Buddist Temple - 1400 years old monastery complex. It was nice to sip there green tea in the tea house located in the old pagoda pavillon... Tomorrow new adventure is waiting for me: I want to climb Emeishan - one of four holy mouintains in China... Hope the weather will be nice...
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May 04, 2006 02:00 PM 10 kms along the Great Wall...
19 years ago I saw the Great Wall for the first time: in Badaling with hords of tourists, vendors, photographers etc,...
I was impressed anyway. But today I made the other and better choice: 10-kms walk on the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai... I was lucky: yesterday it was raining in the afternoon but when today I got by bus to Jinshanling the sun was shining there! It was fantastic day: climbing the picturesque towers located on the mountain ridges, enjoying scenery and landscapes. Parts of the wall are still in bad shape so it is necessary to take trekking boots. It took 4 hours including photo stops to walk to Simatai... Youth hostels in Beijing organize drop off and pick up by bus and it cost 110 yuans. In addition you must pay entry fee to the two parts of the Wall: 40+30 yuan, and 5 y to traverse the chain bridge in Simatai. But it is worth: We returned tired but happy at 9 pm.
What a day!
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May 03, 2006 02:00 PM Back in Beijing...
Foggy morning. The room reserved via hostels.com was waiting for me. After check-in I took a subway to the Lama Temple - the biggest tibetan temple outside Tibet -thay say. It is really worth to see - it is huge, living complex of ornate buildings. They charge 25 yuan entry fee ang the photography inside the buildings is not permitted. But you can still enough to photograph! I spent there two hours and I think it is the nicest temple in Beijing - second capital's attraction after Forbidden City. Not far from Lama - just a walking distance is Confucius Temple - it is under restoration (entry fee 10 y) but the Imperial College in the same complex is still worth to see. It was raining in the afternoon when I passed the narrow streets of Beijing's hutongs - old quarters. They almost dissapeared, it is pity - the city is changing the face... More and more skycrapers, highways, supermarkets...
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May 02, 2006 02:00 PM Bye, bye Northern Korea...
Our last breakfast in Phongyang... They are always serving them in the separate room... Then they check the room... Why? By car to the station... I have my passport back... Thank you... The train is departing on time - at 10.10 am. The same rice fields and sad villages. After 5,5 hours we are at the border station. Custom clearance. Some foreigners are receiving back from the deposit their cell phones. Customs officers do not speak english or russian. But the gestures are enough: digital camera? show me your pictures! Advice:keep your "proper" memory care ready! Some "bad" pictures are cancelled... After two hours we are crossing the river to China. Freedom! (Can you feel the freedom in China?). But here nobody is asking you to stay here or not to go there. You can speak to the people on the street without any risk, nobody escorts you...
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May 01, 2006 02:00 PM In Panmunjon...
Empty highway took us to south to the Demilitarized Zone. Control points... No pictures on the route! Our guides are very strict... Escorted by the soldier we came to the row of white and blue barracks where International Commission talks took place. You acn even take the seat at the table and have your pic there. Great tourist attraction... In the afternoon near the town of Kaesong we visited the tomb of the Korean who unified country thousand years ago. Nice, well restored place. But when we wanted to see also the second tomb located just 12 km away (it was mentioned in the guide book) the answer was: no! Sorry...
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