Dr. Mark Nan Tu

Located on the south east coast of the China, Macau was ruled by the Prot

From

The South Trail is a 2 hour difficult hike through the southen part of the Phoenix Mountain. There are some historical ruins of temples and pagodas along the path. The small pagoda on the top of a stone is recently added. This trail combines easy access and interesting historical sites.

2 / 10 Visit a giant cypress which is 2500 years old. Tour the Lulang Forest which has the world’s largest species of flora and fauna

We arrived in the birthplace of SongZhanGanBu. At the entrance, we met two local children asking for money. We gave them some money and took some pictures of them. People in Tibet region is still very poor. The money-making opportunities are mainly in the tourism industry. The employees in these sectors still need to become more professional. The restaurants are mostly owned by the Sichuanese cultures. Trading is mostly done by the Qinghai and Gansu people who are Muslims. The local Tibetans do make much money but yet they seem to live a very peaceful life. For the capitalistic society where we come from, it is very important to make money. But Tibetans lives in a completely different and isolated society where praying is more important than making money. Are the Tibetans better off to live in the primitive and closed society as they have done for thousands of years? Or are they better off by entering the modern society? Or we can ask another questions: do they have a choice??The same question also applied to the American Indians. When I was traveling in the wasteland in North Dakota, I see the Indians drinking in the local bars. I certainly know this: the arrival of the

30/ 9 Beijing -Lhasa flight CA4112
Before landing in Lhasa, we can see from the windows of the aircraft, the barren mountain that stretches in the distance. There is no vegetation. It is difficult to imagine how mankind can make a living here.

Upon arrival of the airport, driver Mr. Wang has been waiting for us. Our group was a six person team. There were three men and three women. Mr. Wang took us to the guesthouse by coaches. Although I felt fine, the girls in our group began to fell the altitude sickness They had headaches and difficult to walk. After reaching the hotel, they immediately lie down and rest. Mr. Wang told us to take it easy for today and rest in the hotels.

Instead of resting in the hotel, I decided to go to the Potala Palace Square. The square is only 10 minutes by foot.

The Manjushri Bodhisattva – the Buddha of Wisdom.
The White Tsanbala or The God of Wealth

I also watched a National Geographic documentary called Mr. Everest. The story is about a group of mountaineers climbing the world’s highest peak. It showed various scene of Tibet. For me, Tibet is a very remarkable; a very mysterious and very beautiful place. What is Tibet really like? I decide to visit Tibet and see everything through my own eyes.

In October 2005, during the National Day holiday, I booked a flight to Tibet and spend 10 unforgettable days there. Here is my personal account of the trip.

I booked the trip in Beijing. It is called the freeman trip. It means that the itinerary was designed by us. Our travel agent would take car of all the traveling details such as booking of the airplane, accommodation, buying entrance tickets to the tourist spots, local tour guides, and transportations and even provide us with a driver. The total cost for the 10-day trip, over 10,000 RMB (including tips, meals, etc) is considered expensive comparing with the Chinese standard. I also donated some incense money to a Tibetan temple.

Tibetan style funiture

LaoLongTou Great Wall

???Shanhaiguan Pass, called ??Yuguan in the past, is in ???Hebei province, about 15 km. from ???Qinhuangdao’s city center. A strategic pass in the northeast since antiquity, its present fortress and Wall were built in the fourteenth year (1381) of the ??Hongwu reign during the ??Ming dynasty (1368-1644) by the great general, ??Xu Da. To its northwest lies the ???Yanshan mountain range, and to its east the ??Bohai sea marks the end of land � thus, comes the name ???Shanhaiguan (Pass between Mountain and Water).

Shanhaiguan has 4 gates, of which the most well-known and the most important is the town’s east gate, called ???Zhendongmen. But because poetics and drama stick to the populace more, this gate has since been known as “???????”(The First Pass Under Heaven Gate Tower) or simply the “?????”(The First Pass Gate Tower). This is due to the huge board hanging on the face of the gate tower with the four large characters “?????” written by the Ming calligrapher ??Xiao Xian. The gate walls are 14 meters high and 7 meters thick, and these surround an inner town with a perimeter of 4 kilometers. The Great Wall connects to The First Pass and runs 26 kilometers across the town and up the western hills, and links the ??? Old Dragon Head to the ??Bohai Sea in the east.

???Laolongtou (Old Dragon Head) is about 4 kilometers south of Shanhaiguan. The “Dragon’s Head” refers to the group of structures that converges on the ??Bohai Sea. The most dramatic is the section that enters the water, called �????�(The Stone Fort Entering the Sea). As I stood on the shore observing its profile, “Old Dragon’s Head” I thought: the ancient mythological beast’s long jaw, knotty forehead and scaled neck reveals itself as it slowly submerges and retires to the sea. After tens of thousands of li � from its desert tail end through mostly barren highllands and wastelands, then descending toward east, winding through its rolling green hills and craggy mountains � its quiet head finally reaches into water and urges for the depth of the sea.

The repaired section of the greatwall just outsie ShanHaiGuan

The ruins of the greatwall

The west gate of ShanHaiGuan

The stores in the ShanHaiGuan township

?????????????????

I went with the Beijing 4×4 offroader club to BaShang GrassLand over the weekend.

Sea of flowers in the streets of Kunming
Electrical Scooter and fashionable girls

I had lived in Kunming city for several years. I do not dream of returning to the city now as I think this city is more suitable for retiring living. Going out to other cities is better than staying here for young people

If you travel around in China, you will discover that a lot of travel agents offer very low price for their tours. The price is so low that you may wonder if they will loss money on such tours.

For example, a day trip to the Stone Forest from Kunming will normally cost around 150RMB which includes the entrance ticket for the Stone Forest, 80 RMB tickets, the transportation back and forth, 50RMB, the lunch, 10 RMB and the tour guide, 10RMB. Some travel agencies dare to quote for only 80 RMB for all the services listed above. It looks like the travel agent is going broke soon. But are they?

Of cause not. There is no free lunch in this world. Travel agencies will try to squeeze money to at least breakeven from the tourists. For example, they will take the tourist too many shopping stops. To be exact, 5 of them in a day and 30 minutes each. That is 2 hours in total. The time that a tourist should spend in visiting places but have to spend in shopping alleys where all the prices are significantly inflated.

The travel agent gets 10 RMB for each visitor they bring to the shops. On top of that, the agency gets 30% or more on all the purchases tourists made in the shops. The shops usually sell things like jade, jewelry, specialty tea, fish oil and other health products. These products have no market value and the margin is extremely high. There is a shop in Yunnan called “Colorful Yunnan.” At first glance, that is a scenic spot. But in reality, it is the largest in Yunnan shop for tourist, specific for foreigners.

Cut a long story short, I have been back to China for a few years and I have been to many places. I went to Xi’an, recently. I took a taxi from the Xi