Xiahe – A Land of Pilgrims

It was up before the sun this morning as we had a bus to catch at 7:15 am for Xiahe, 6 hours from Xining. We knew from our fellow passengers that we were heading to an unusual place right from the start as many were Tibetan nomads dressed in sheep skin clothing and prayer beads.

Our 6 hour journey was full of interesting scenery, starting out as red rock cliffs then to grassy meadows with a backdrop of snow covered mountains in the distance. After plenty of passes climbed and descended, we finally entered the valley of our destination and from the bus stop checked into our accommodations, Tibetan Overseas Hotel. A larger hotel with not the warmest staff but since it had clean beds and Lianna’s favorite, a private toilet, it seemed good enough for a few nights.

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Train Day

We boarded our train at 1:47 and that was to be our home for the next 24 hours while we journeyed across China from Beijing to Xining.

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The Greatest Wall of Them All

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I decided it would be a good day to go to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was designed for royal families to escape the heat of Beijing, and is ranked among the most beautiful gardens in the world. As you can imagine, the Summer Palace is supposed to be a tranquil beautiful area to walk around. Bringing back the fact that it’s a national holiday this week, the Summer Palace was a big disappointment.

The only picture we could get without people in it

The only picture we could get without people in it

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Too Many Men in Tiananmen

Yesterday we arrived in Beijing to sunny skies and temperatures of 20 degrees, after driving from Galway to Dublin, taking a flight to Heathrow, then the 9 hour flight to Beijing, then a train then taxi to our hostel – Santilun Youth Hostel.

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My Chinese Visa Story

Pre-trip preparations can either be fun and exciting, or annoying and time consuming. Getting your visas generally falls into the latter category

Chinese Visa

To get a Chinese visa you have to personally go down to the Chinese embassy and stand in line (in a small room with no air conditioning!) and drop off your passport, then return 3 days later to pick it up along with your shiny new visa. My story, however, went more like this: [Read more...]

Snow Lions, Tiger Riding Gurus and an Infamous Tariff – and Why It’s Worth It!

With laws prohibiting smoking, billboards, plastic bags, traffic lights, the support of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product, Bhutan is unlike any other nation. It’s uniqueness coupled with superb Himalayan trekking, authentic Buddhist culture, and astonishing bio-diversity, it is surprising that Bhutan sees less than 20,000 tourists a year. This is because like all other aspects of the nation, Bhutan has a different way of doing things.

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