Anna was clearly interested in Galen, which made my asking for a ride easy. She had wanted me to ask. While we were weaving our way through the Buddhist caves at Maijishan, we were approached by three young women. This was nothing unusual; we had already twice been asked to take pictures with people since …
America has two kinds of national parks: one is a place of natural beauty, a Yellowstone or a Yosemite. Another is a place of historical significance, a Gettysburg or a Governor’s Island. In America, natural beauty and historical importance segregate themselves from each other naturally, like oil and water, as if a place cannot be …
One of the things I found most troubling at Huashan was, despite the fact that we were hiking up through this gorgeous granite mountain, it rarely felt like we were “in nature.” We were constantly surrounded by thousands of other climbers. Along the way, there were stalls where old folks were selling trinkets. Most annoying …
Here are two videos from our hike up Huashan.
It was the first time we could see the stars in China. They twinkled lightly above the granite outcroppings that loomed above us in the midnight sky. During the day, we had been sweating on the streets of Xian, but, here at Huashan, the night air was cool and got chillier as we worked our …
Here’s a video Galen put together of our hitchhiking failure:
The Terra-cotta Warriors are Xian’s biggest attraction, but the Han Emperor Jingdi’s smaller tomb on the outskirts of Xian is as impressive, if not as grand. Hundred foot tall tomb-mounds dapple the burial site just across the Wei River from Xian. Beneath these hills lie the tombs of the Emperor, his wife and others. Inside …
So, our first hitchhiking attempt was an epic fail. We knew we had to get out of the city, so, looking at a map, I figured that we could take the subway line to the northernmost station and walk to a bridge that would take us where we wanted to go. From there, I figured, …
Here are some additional photos from Xian. There is no particular order or theme:
Created around 215 B.C., the Terra-cotta Warriors are Xian’s best-known attractions. At the time they were created, they were one of the most impressive technological wonders of the period. Thousands of soldiers with individual faces stare back at us across the millennia, each face painstakingly formed into an individual with what was then cutting-edge technology. …
Continue reading ‘Terra-cotta Warriors and Technological Failures’ »