All-American Road Trip

When I arrived in L.A. from China, I began a two-week road trip with family. My sister and her husband picked me up at LAX and we drove to Utah. On the way we stopped at the Las Vegas temple … Continued

Beijing, part two

Our journey to Beijing took us on two trains; a twenty four hour overnight train to Xi’an and another eight hour D train to Beijing. Last time we were in Xi’an we saw the Terracotta Warriors. Ever since then I … Continued

Western China’s Ancient Remnants

From the Mogao Caves we hopped in a taxi for the day to visit a few other sites outside of Dunhuang including a 2,000 year old wall and gate and Yadan National Park where Zhang Yimou’s Hero was filmed. 1,000 … Continued

The crown jewel of Buddhist grottoes – the Mogao Caves

The main draw for Dunhuang and why the town gets any real attention is because of the Mogao Caves, a series of ancient grottoes that have been preserved by the desert with a brilliant collection of statuary and frescoes that … Continued

Dunhuang, camel trekking near a desert oasis

We reached Dunhuang a couple of hours later than expected the next day and made our way to the Dune Guesthouse to arrange our adventures for the next couple of days. Since we arrived late, we didn’t really have time … Continued

Lanzhou, Gansu

posted in: Adventure, China, Museum, Photography, Travel | 1

On the way to Dunhuang we stopped in Lanzhou, the capitol of Gansu province on a long layover. As we woke up on the train we looked out the windows and saw desert landscape that reminded both Aaron and I … Continued

Pandas are so darn cute!

I wrote this as I snaked across the Chinese countryside from Chengdu, Sichuan to Lanzhou, Gansu on a 21 hour train ride. Chengdu was well worth the trip. The highlight had to be our trip to the Giant Panda Research … Continued

What big ears you have! – the giant Buddha of Leshan

Many years ago I saw Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel visit this colossus and I told myself I would go there someday. That day has come and gone and it was pretty darn cool. It is the biggest Buddha … Continued

Chengdu, Sichuan – China’s gate to their Wild West

After a 27 hour train ride, Aaron and I arrived in Chengdu, the biggest city of the western Chinese provinces. I’ve been waiting for this trip since I decided to come to China for two main reasons; Sichuan is the … Continued

My Great China Train Trip

posted in: Adventure, China, Historic Site, Travel | 3

The next several posts chronicle my trip around China over the last couple of weeks. Many posts I wrote on the train in between destinations. On the trip I spent just over 100 hours on 7 trains traveling almost 10,000 … Continued

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