Travelogue
China Summer 2004
In the summer of 2004, I traveled to Yunnan Province by way of the Yangtze River. I stayed in Lijiang and Dali, and returned to Beijing through Shanghai.
Kashgar 2005
In July and August of 2005, I traveled to Xinjiang Province. I flew to Urumqi, and took the train to Kashgar. Kashgar is an oasis in the far western part of Xinjiang. It has a very mild summer climate--warm and dry during the day, and cool in the evening.
Gansu -- Qingdao Summer 2006
Summer 2006 I traveled to Gansu Province. My purpose was to see if I could find some way to become involved in rural education in Western China. I visited the southwest area of Gansu Province (see interactive map). After a weekend in Lanzhou, I proceeded to Langmusi. The village of Langmusi is not on the map, but if you look at the regional map of Gannan, you can see the highway that goes down into Sichuan Province, and Langmusi is right on the border. I also went to Xiahe, then back to Lanzhou. After I got to Lanzhou, I decided to take the train across China to the Sea, and visit Qingdao, which will host the sailing portion of the 2008 Olympics. It is easy to get a train ticket from Qingdao to Beijing, because the trip is only seven hours, so you can always take the "hard seat" of all else fails.