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Feel the difference in Dalian
Travel / Regional Travel
Written by : Christian Edwards
May 9, 2008
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Dalian
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| So then, find yourself on the appropriately named First Japanese Street and you'll quickly realize there is no city in China quite like Dalian.
Not far from these leafy sidewalks, and behind Victory Bridge, the newly glitzified Russia Street, complete with hawkers touting mini-Stalin dolls, Stalin lighters and Stalin night lamps recall a time when French-influenced Soviet architects were busy trying to help redecorate Russia's new toehold in Asia. It's a sight to behold.
Yet for such a young and buoyant city that so clearly delights in its internationalism, Dalian also hides a painful past that is difficult to reconcile. Gleaming streets and fantastic bars full of giggling Korean students, hard-drinking Japanese salarymen and Russian working girls are testimony to one of China's greatest metropolitan success stories. Dalian has indeed come along way from the brutality of the last century; a century where foreign ambitions and ranging ... ... |
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Pastime pleasures in Pingyao
Travel / Regional Travel
Written by : Lee Ambrozy, photos by Lee Ambrozy and Lucia Pedrero
Apr 2, 2008
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| Amble through this ancient town in Shanxi Province.
First light in Shanxi. The carriage window reveals a horizon broken by enormous red, blue and white characters on low brick hamlets. The fields are dusty and devoid of tractors; the air is perfumed by the Lao Chen Vinegar brewery. As the train nears the city of Pingyao, this groggy tourist feels that she is journeying back in time – or to a China of the imagination.
Indeed, Pingyao embodies what many foreigners hope to find in China. It's a jewel of Ming and Qing architecture with elegant courtyard homes, stellar temples and a complete city wall. This physical beauty is the fruit of Pingyao's eventful history. Strategically located at the crossroads of the Han heartland, the town grew wealthy in imperial times through commerce and banking. In 1824, native son Lei Lutai opened China's first draft bank, the Sunrise Prosperity Draft Bank. The city was China's financial capital during the 19th c ... ... |
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Another planet just next door
Travel / Regional Travel
Written by : Elyse Singleton
Mar 11, 2008
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| Head to Gansu Province for an otherworldly experience
Northern China is a wealth of sights and history, and if getting to Tibet is too hard or too expensive, then head to Xiahe, Gansu Province, for your monk and monastery fix. Fly to Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu, and one of the most polluted cities in the world. It is also home of lamian – hand-pulled noodles. A dispiriting city in general, buses out of here are plentiful and the station is a microcosm of Northern Chinese society, with Tibetans swaggering, women in white caps with black velvet lace veils, and Hui men in white fez.
On the road, corn dries on rooftops and market towns are awash with white hats, and carcasses. There is no squeamishness here about dead animals. Carcasses are strung up outside stores, thrown into the back of trucks, or trussed up on the back of a bicycle. In Linxia, an old woman had a bike basket full of goat heads for sale.
Linxia is a medium-sized town with a few ... ... |
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Fear ye not the forbidden kingdom
Travel / Regional Travel
Written by : Matthew Niederhauser
Feb 4, 2008
Tags :
travel
valley
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| The remote beauty of a hidden Himalayan valley.
Spending a few weeks amid the vaulted peaks of the Himalayas is a requisitepilgrimage for any serious travel trekker or nature enthusiast. Isolated valleys girdled by snowcapped mountains engender a sublime trepidation, as if one were trespassing upon an inhuman landscape fit only for the gods and demons adorning the walls of local temples. Each time one returns one feels humbled by the sheer immensity of these natural marvels. Here, heaven touches the earth and gives the Himalayas its undisputed title as the roof of the world.
The heart of the Himalayas straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal. An extended string of massifs – including Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu, Cho Oyo, Qomolangma (Mount Everest), Makalu, and Kochenjunga – form an
imposing wall of 8,000-meters-plus peaks that draw some of the most intrepid (and some say slightly insane) climbing teams in the world.
The best views of a mountain ... ... |
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Looking for the lost city of Yangshuo
Travel / Regional Travel
Written by : Elliot Brenchley
Jan 28, 2008
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| Three young men, a fake map, and no language skills whatsoever £ what could possibly go wrong?
So Frank asked me to meet him at the L'Amour café in Dongshankou. He was waiting and visibly excited when I arrived. "How was the traffic?" he asked anxiously. I could see that Frank had a rolled-up yellow piece of paper in his hand. He asked me if I knew what it was and then unraveled the knot and laid the paper out on the table. My eyes widened when I realized what Frank had just set before me. "Is this the map to...?" Frank nodded before I could even finish my sentence.
He had in his possession an ¡®authentic' map outlining, in great detail, the whereabouts of the ancient lost city of Yangshuo, previously thought to have been ransacked and razed in some religious attack many centuries ago. I sat back and sipped my campari, adding: "You understand we're go ... ... |
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