China Travel Stories

Ngari, West Tibet, by Tom Carter

Date: 2008-9-18 22:36:00 by chinatravel Tags: Tibet

My path to purification began in the home of Shiva the Destroyer – or perhaps it was just his rubbish bin. The shantytown of Darchen at the foot of Mt Kailash in western Tibet is populated with half-naked, red-cheeked children playing in trash heaps. Teahouses running on car battery power, with dirt floors lined with old pillows, serve as bedding for road-weary pilgrims and backpackers be

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Frog Soup

Date: 2008-3-12 1:47:00 by Carl Tags: Chinese Food Tibet train travel Tibet

The first day I arrived in Hang Zhou I was just getting over my flu. My friends, an assortment of Chinese and Koreans, suggested I go with them for a walk around West Lake. My appetite had returned that morning. They'd all seen me eat a hearty breakfast. It was late autumn and a light mist hung above the lake, accompanied by a fine rain and low clouds. We walked along the shore and watched fish

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The Hanging Monastery

Date: 2008-3-12 1:44:00 by Carl Tags: Hanging Monastery Tibet Namtso Lake

About 20 miles south of Datong, in Shanxi Province, our taxi broke down. Smoke poured out from the engine. ?We had a busted water pump. We'd arrived in Datong from Inner Mongolia by train earlier in the day, several hours before dawn. Excited to see the Hanging Monastery at the base of Mt. Hengshan (the northern Hengshan, not the southern one) we booked our taxi right away and left fr

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