Breakfast at the hostel Back to Lake Kawaguchi With better weather, we head back to the lake to get better photos. Click for full size Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park Situated near Mt Fuji, the park opened in 1968 and has since modernized with facial recognitionRead more
To Fuji We travel by train towards Tokyo then divert by bus to head up the mountains to Kawaguchiko. The whole journey takes over 5 hours. The town is named for Lake Kawaguchi, one of the 5 lakes surrounding Mt Fuji. While this lake is surrounded by lodges and other tourist attractions, we are visitingRead more
A beautiful morning in Lijiang old town. This is the view from the hotel. Looking down on the courtyard of the hotel. This is where the owners play cards all night and keep me awake. The street in front of the hotel. Heading into old town This canal comes from theRead more
Starting the day with a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. Local noodle dish and some eggs. The hotel is located near the old town in on the Southwest shore of Lake Erhai, in a revitalized area. A lot of indie businesses, art shops, bars, restaurants, and boutique hotels. This map outlines what attractions andRead more
Down from the mountain, we head back to Shangrila Old Town and then to the north to Ganden Sumtseling Monastery (松赞林寺) in the late afternoon. Built in 1679 by the 5th Dalai Lama, and the size of a small village, this is the largest monastery in Yunnan and one of the most important Buddhist monasteries in China.Read more
The next morning we check out the map of the national park and realize so far we have seen roughly 25% of the must-see sights along the forked valley. We decide to grab a bus and skip past the area we saw yesterday. I’m starting to feel better. I don’t know the nameRead more
Joni and I are companions on the “10” hour bus ride to Jiuzhaigou Valley in the Tibetan Plateau, just 424km north of Chengdu. The bus is far from comfortable. No AC, no heat. Windows don’t really open. No restroom. Barely any brakes. The driver is intent on never stopping… but since the bus would breakRead more