CHINA

Terracotta Warriors

Overall, our route across China took about 3.5 weeks and went like this:  Beijing - Xi'an - Lanzhou - Dunhuang - Xining - Xiahe - Langmusi - Jiuzhaigou - Chengdu. Sadly we ran out of time before getting to Yunnan, which we wanted to visit more than any other place in the country, and Tibet, which we heavily considered doing as a side trip from Chengdu (one of the downsides of our being new to this and also planning the trip as we go). One day we'll have to go back, but we've decided there will be no more China on this 4 month adventure. That means unfortunately will not make it back to eastern China at the end of our trip as originally planned, so no Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Guilin, and other areas we had hoped to see. We could have been much more efficient in our travels through China, but we learned and grew so much along the way that we're happy with how it turned out. China is a fascinating, mind-boggling, amazing, and at times an incredibly frustrating place. We enjoyed being challenged to communicate in the local language rather than having English to fall back on. We met some amazing people. We saw wonders of the world that we've only read about in history books. We are grateful for the opportunity to have traveled there, and despite some unbelievably challenging experiences along the way, it was an incredible journey.

Tunnel on the way to the Great Wall (the only tunnel we encountered in all of China that actually had lights inside)

Jinshaling Great Wall

The Bell & Drum Tower Bar (a really cool rooftop restaurant/bar in Beijing)

Us at The Bell & Drum Tower Bar

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square & Monument to the People's Heroes

The Forbidden City

Pedestrian street just outside our hostel

Beijing hutong (small alley streets)

Beijing West Train Station

Our friend from the train station (we think she & her family were just fascinated with our odd looks)

Our favorite street vendor dinner in Beijing ... and the birth of our obsession with wok fried peanuts.  Also the night I realized I can drink beer brewed from barley & hops without feeling sick.  Not sure what this means about my supposed diagnosis of celiac disease?

At a wedding in Beijing (we were able to watch the newlywed couple being presented to the villagers celebrating in the street, thanks to our local friends Alice and Charlie who invited us). This girl was really shy and hiding behind her father's leg, but she belted out the months of the year in English when she saw us. It was incredibly cute!

Terracotta Warriors

Terracotta Warriors under reconstruction (we were able to see a huge excavation site in progress)

Our sleeper berth in the train from Lanzhou (a terrible mistake) to Dunhuang

The famous sand dunes of Dunhuang in northern Gansu. We climbed to the top of the largest peak in this picture in the midst of a brutal sandstorm... incredibly torturous at the time but ultimately rewarding

View of the dunes walking back to our hostel

Our fellow (predominately Tibetan) bus passengers on the 8-hr route from Xining to Xiahe

Our monk friend Adam who showed us around Xiahe and invited us into his home to discuss Chinese-Tibetan relations and American politics, among other fascinating topics.  Adam taught himself English by visiting with foreigners and enjoys showing tourists like us around town so he can practice his English. It was an amazing experience for us too!

Cute girl outside of Labrang Monastery in Xiahe

Our Jeep from Xiahe to Langmusi got stuck trying to go around a road construction site. Notice all of the people helping to move the car -- female road workers clad in traditional Tibetan clothing (a surprisingly common site)

Our favorite town in China -- Langmusi! (on the border between Gansu and Sichuan)

My beloved horse who carried me through our 2-day horse trek into the mountains behind Langmusi

The Tibetan nomad tent (made of yak hair) where we spent the night while on the horse trek. An experience of a lifetime. Our hosts were incredibly gracious and we enjoyed communicating with them via sign language and drawing pictures. They got a huge kick out of the size of Robert's feet. Our host (29 year old guy) tried on Robert's shoes and danced around the tent like a clown, it was classic. The nomad culture, particularly the gender roles (woman do all of the back-breaking work while men sip tea in town and come home only to herd yaks in the evening) is fascinating, eye-opening, and awe-inspiring. We were nearly eaten alive in the middle of the night by the Tibetan guard dogs (literally; we didn't sleep a wink). We got to help our hostess collect dried yak dung, milk the yaks, churn yak butter, collect water from the river, and Robert helped our host herd the yaks back to camp before sunset. We were served delicious sauteed vegetables over rice and endless cups of green tea. Having the opportunity to stay with and learn from the nomads, albeit for an incredibly short amount of time, was by far one of the most enriching things either of us has ever experienced.

Our hostess and a stubborn yak (or maybe it's a Zo we found out later, ie. yak-cow hybrid). Her husband, our host, is in the picture just below.

 

Our horse trekking guide

Us in the nomad tent, behind a cloud of smoke from the multipurpose stove/heater in the middle of the tent, fueled by dried yak dung (see below)

A local home where we stopped for lunch and tea on our horse trek

Monk living quarters, part of Sichuan Monastery in Langmusi

Local bread baker in Langmusi

A view of Langmusi from the top of Red Stone Mountain

Us overlooking Langmusi on our last morning

Waterfall at Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan (an amazing display of natural beauty tht has been completely ruined by Chinese tourism).  We realized how fortunate we are to live in the US and have seen so many amazing natural parks in our lifetime

Us at Jiuzhaigou (photo courtesy of our friends Nick & Mo from Singapore with whom we toured the park)

Robert with our friend David from New Zealand. We 3 braved the worst drive in the history of the world with the worst driver/person on earth.  Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu took us 11 hours (slower than the public bus, thanks to a few lies and diversions from the driver), and describing the journey as "torturous" does not begin to do the experience justice. But, we loved getting to know David... he's a fabulous restaurant manager in Shanghai, and we hope to see him for a visit and fancy meal before heading back stateside.
 

We enjoyed a self guided bicycle tour around the city of Chengdu for 8 hours. Unfortunately we didn't take cameras but got a couple of iPhone pictures and one video (below). The pics are of two interesting guys we saw along one of the "modern ancient" pedestrian streets, and the video is long (and potentially boring) but shows a taste of what it's like to bike for transportation in Chengdu

Largest smoking pipe of all times