Category Archives: Tour guides

The construction of DunHuang Grottoes started around 360AD and lasted over a thousand years. Buddhaists transformed hundreds of caves into temples and decorated them lavishly with murals and scupltures. They imported art styles from India and mid-east. They captured ancient … Continue reading →

Foods represent an interesting economic phenomenum in China. The essentially same product may have a range of prices that can be 100 fold: the high end is 100 times more than the low end. It bewilders me that vendors in … Continue reading →

I left China on the Chinese New Year’s Eve when a big part of the country was fighting the worst snow storm in 50 years. Tokyo should be several degrees warmer than Beijing, so I was relative at ease. Snow … Continue reading →

First time to VietNam, and obviously, Ho Chi Minh City. The airport is modern, clean, and spacious. The custom was courteous and speedy. When we entered the city, seas of motorcycles swallowed the car that I was in. Whenever the … Continue reading →

Walk into a park anytime on a good day, you find many active Beijingers. Starting at daybreak, exercising crowd group themselves by activities: folk dancers, martial arts, muscle trainers, Badmington, etc. Afternoon will have duelers attempt their kills on one … Continue reading →

Adobe CS3 is an amazing collection of creativity software. I recently acquired them and upgraded my sadly outdated PhotoShop 7. As an amateur, I barely scratched the features, among the first to play is the photo stitching feature. Click to … Continue reading →

In this city of more than ten million, I bet half of them thought of the same thing: the Sunday lazy sun is warming the afternoon, how about hanging out in the park, playing Mahjongg over a cup of tea. … Continue reading →

The Confucius Temple (夫子庙) area reminds me of ShangHai’s City God’s Temple (城隍庙). It stands, non-participatorily aloof amidst the touristic crowd, on the banks of QinHuai river (秦淮河): the entertainment center of the capital for hundreds of years. This area … Continue reading →

It's national holiday for the whole week. My plan was simple: sleep. I have crossed pacific too many times this year. I need to get to know my bed better. For the 1st two day, it worked. I will doze … Continue reading →

Last time I visited HuaLien was about 20 years ago. It is a place you remember and think of coming back once in a couple of years or so. Thanks to a very organized friend, a group of old buddies … Continue reading →