I'm giving this blog another try. It seems the Chinese government blocks the blog itself, but not the site where I update it... However, the instructions are in Chinese :/China is incredible. Beijing is a lot like NY -- lots of people, concrete, skyscrapers, even a subway. The Forbidden City is impressive, and I enjoyed the Summer Palace even more. The Great Wall at Simitai is breathtaking -- I climbed from tower to tower, thinking that better views may lie ahead... eventually I had to give up and turn back, having spent hours covering only a fraction of what the eye could see.
Then onto Xian, the old capital and site of the Terracotta Warriors found only 30 years ago. Eight thousand life-sized statues were painstakingly placed underground to accompany Emperor Qin into the afterlife. Crazy.
I think I am allergic to Xian (the air quality is horrible), but overall the food has been fantastic, and the people wonderful. Now I head to Yichang, site of the Three Gorges Dam and gateway to the soon-to-be-destroyed gorges.
It looks as if my departure date for Malaysia is firm, October 14. Sunny (travel agent recommended by Richard) in Beijing has been super-helpful and worked out a great itinerary for me in China... still to come: Guilin, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. A month in China is ambitious, but so far the pace is fine and I feel great.
Who is meeting me in Malaysia?
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