Overland from Lhasa to Kathmandu
via the North Face of Everest
Greetings from the Himalaya group.
Impressions from Beijing (Sep 23, 24, 2011):
There has been a spectacular change in China since some of us visited it in the 1990s. Its infrastructure appears second to none. You can buy anything you want. The overall impression is that China is indeed an emerging power.
Great Wall
Sanjay, Paul, Chandra and Gary (others were too busy doing their own thing)
We went to the non touristy side – Jinsaling. From there you can traverse the wall on and on. We climbed to the wall (instead of taking the cable car) and did a short hike while the wall went on forever. Some of us did manage to go a fair distance – up and down and saw some spectacular scenery on the way.
A serendipitous visit to a Museum:
Pre-opening of the exhibit Coal and Ice. Sanjay got a call from his good friend David Breashear who happened to be in Beijing for the opening of the new Exhibit Coal and Ice in the Museum designed by the famous Chinese artist Iwewe, featuring his photography of Himalayan Glaciers. It is an exhibit that describes what has happened to the glaciers in the Himalayas over the last 100 years. Old photographs by some of the early pioneers, Mallory and others were analyzed (and digitized) and depicted on a rolling giant (35 ft wide) screen. Side by side are the photographs taken by David from exactly the same spots to show the difference. David provided a running commentary of the exhibit which was still being put together for the opening the following day. It was awesome to watch it and hear David's live naration.
Rod, Gary, Chandra, Lynne, David and Paul
David Breashears has climbed Mt. Everest 5 times, made a number of movies on Everest, including the IMAX movie on Everest. And more recently “Storm over Everest.”
That evening we dined at the Revolution Café– Dinner Theatre; The show depicted the revolutionary and patriotic songs and show of the time.
Olympic Site: Not much to say, except that it looked as impressive as it appeared on the TV
Water Cube (above) and the Birdnest (below)
Forbidden City:
Huge huge crowds. Even for those who had seen in 1990s, it came as a surprise how vast it is.
A very impressive site indeed.
 Chandra, Elizabeth, Lynne, Rod, Paul, Gary and Sanjay
Hey Elizabeth where's your 'group' hat?
Lynne and Elizabeth Barnard (two of Sanjay's clients) joined our group in Beijing, Chengdu and Lhasa before flying off to tour India.
Now onto Chengdu |
