It is only fitting that I found myself in an airplane to begin the dawn of the new year. This past year was a whirlwind of travel, airplanes and airports. With 28 countries and territories visited in 2012 (including my home country) - 2013 is off to a good start! Papua New Guinea has long been on my list of countries to visit for a number of reasons: incredible array of wildlife ranging from the untouched marine environments to colorful birds, … [Read more...]
Benxi Water Cave
Today we visited the Benxi Water Cave - the temperature was about -9 Celsius outside while the inside of the cave was around 12 C - much more pleasant! This is the world's largest underground water cave system accessible by boat. Thousands of stalactites hang from the ceiling and the interior is lit up by both under water lights and lights near the ceilings. Beautiful eclectic pieces of stone line the riverbanks. The water is super clear and not … [Read more...]
Dandong, North Korean Border
We arrived in Dandong - in the mid afternoon. This tiny community of 1 million people line the banks of the Yalu River directly across from North Korea. This river divides the two countries. After a lunch of "meat" in which we cooked chicken heads, other entrails and beef over a gas powered stove built into our table - we headed out to the Broken River Bridge. This iron bridge was built over the Yalu River in 1911 by the Japanese. It was the … [Read more...]
Dalian China Greetings
Greetings from Dalian China. This and the last city we visited of Shenyang would EACH be the second largest city in all of the USA! Here is a stat to chew on that I read in the latest issue of Conde Naste Traveler, not sure if its true or not, but it read something like this, "China has 370 cities with populations of between 1 and 5 million, the United States has eight - nineteen China cities have populations of more than 10 million - more than … [Read more...]
Magic Slope and Magic Meal
The weather is slowly getting colder and colder this week. Today we headed out of town to the "magic slope" where you can seemingly sit on a bike and move "uphill" without peddling. It took about an hour to get here. Once we arrived we parked at the entrance as they wouldn't let us enter because of all the black ice covering the steep road up to the 'spot'. Our driver exited our vehicle and walked over to purchase tickets at the booth. As he … [Read more...]
Antiquing & Wine Tasting in Shenyang
Today was another fun filled day in Shenyang. The group that is hosting us owns a number of incredible antique stores - featuring some of China's finest wood furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. A couple of pieces certainly stand out: the largest ancient sandalwood closet in all of China, an amazing large piece of amber with a million year old scorpion preserved perfectly inside, and a huge quartz crystal rock with a number of partially … [Read more...]
Shenyang Cold Weather
Shenyang, where we are currently, is considered just a small to medium sized city in China; it has a population of around 9 million people. Ummm, this would be the second largest city if it was located in the USA, behind NYC and ahead of LA! This is a very wealthy city; we counted 5 different Louis Vuitton shops, a Maserati, Ferrari and Bentley dealerships. Several streets have major name brand after name brand lined up. Cold is the name of … [Read more...]
Hanging out in North Eastern China
I am currently in North Eastern China for some wine and tourism related fun. I'm with Sandi and John, the owners of Arns Winery and Bob and Nancy of Montagana Estate (both premium Napa wineries). We spent the day shopping around Beijing and trying to stay indoors out of the frigid cold. Headed up to Shenyang in the evening - where the temperatures are even colder than Beijing! Today we walked around Shenyang's version of Beijing's Forbidden City … [Read more...]
Possible Himalayan Trek to Sikkim
I've been to India several times already; earlier this year I secured a 10 year multiple entry visa, for more exploring within this amazing country. We visited Chennai in July for my sister's wedding - as expected, the weather was hot and humid - frequent dips in the pool made the weather more bearable. It was nice to visit Southern India for the first time - although we were missing the mountains. A few years ago we got to experience the … [Read more...]
Managaha Island Saipan
Managaha Island is merely minutes off shore - and the quickest way to get here is by walking on the beach in front of the Fiesta Hotel until a boatman flags you down. When we visited much of Saipan was covered by dark clouds - but minutes offshore, Managaha Island was bathed in bright blue sunshine surrounded by billowing white clouds. This small island has a number of beaches overlooking the corral - but most people head for the well trodden … [Read more...]
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