Name: MBE (jason)
After living in China for over 6 years, my life back stateside...
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(since 5.14.04)
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Our last stop along our summer journey will be Kashgar (Kashi). This is probably the city that I am most looking forward to seeing. There are several reasons that I say this. It is one of the most western cities in all of China. The majority in the city are (close to 90%) are Muslim. There are many sights of interest in Kashgar. The most famous would be the Grand Bazaar. On Sunday the Bazaar can be host to over 150,000 people! They sell everything from handmade weapons, silks, clothes, and even livestock. Other stops on this leg of journey will be the Abakh Hoja Tomb, Id Kah Mosque, and Karakuri Lake.
I just realized that in almost a year of maintaining this site I have given very many links to the city where I live. Well, you are in luck, here are a list of sites about where I live and work in China:
CSSD
SIPAC
Suzhou Buildings
Suzhou Info
Suzhou is a really cool place to live. It is about an hour from Shanghai and two hours from Nanjing. The Suzhou Industrial Park (where I live) is growing at an incredible pace. Everyday we see new developments starting and completing. It is like a giant construction site, however, it still have many things that keep ones interest. Comment here if you have more questions about Suzhou or China in general...
My wife and I visited our neighborhood Starbucks today because our apartment block was without power for a few hours. While there I was reading several very interesting magazines provided by Starbucks. One of the mags was called "8Days." It is an English-language weekly magazine from Shanghai. It has stories about Shanghai and other things about events and such. I then picked up a copy of "Maps" magazine. ( I was not able to find the link to their homepage because it have another name in Chinese and I forgot to write it down) Anyway, there was a story in there about all the skyscrapers that are being built in the world and MOST of them are in China. There was a cool diagram about the heights and such about each new construction. The diagram came from a site called SkyscraperPage.com. It is really a cool site with a lot of interesting information about current and future tall buildings from around the world. Check it out!
I know that is has been about two weeks since I last blogged about our upcoming summer trip. Some things have changed with our plans, but more on that later. Our next stop along the silk road is not actually on the silk road. However, it is the capitol of the XinJiang Province. Urumqi is a heavily industrialized city with many buildings and people. There are many reminders of old Russia in Urumqi. While in Urumqi we plan to see Heaven's Lake, Nanshan Grasslands, Ghost Town, Southern Mosque, & Red Mountain. Most of these attractions are not even in Urumqi but you must start from there.
From the title for this entry you can see that MBE has passed a big mile-stone. In less than one year this blog has been visited over 20,000 times! I know that other more popular blogs probably get this many a day, but it is still really amazing to think that that many folks have found this page interesting. Anyway, thanks for visiting and I will strive to continue posting thoughtful posts...
Every year in China there is a holiday from May 1-5. We also get this time off. It is much like the SPRING BREAK week in the states. If a person is planning to travel in Mainland China at this time it is CROWDED. In fact, it is unlike anything you have every seen. Imagine trying to board a bus with 1000 other people and this might give you a mental image of what it is like during a holiday time here. This year my wife and I have made plans to visit a city in the southern part of China, Xiamen. Xiamen is an excellent city in the south that boasts an environment of clean air and quiet living. There is even a ban on car horns within the city. Most of the things to see and do in Xiamen are natural. Meaning that they are mostly gardens, caves, etc. We are really looking forward to just having some time to just chill out.
My ill grandfather (that I spoke about back in January) died last night. This is only 50 days after his wife, my grandmother, died. They were married 64 years. If I could only be that lucky. I have often heard about people who have been together for a very long time dying within a short time of each other. My mom told me that in the past two week my grandfather had lost nearly 20 pounds! He had been suffering from several things, but the worst was a broken heart at the loss of his wife. At least he did not have to suffer for a long time, but it is still a really hard time for my family. And to add to all this pain, I will not be returning for the service. Anyway, tomorrow or Sunday I will blog more about our summer plans, I just felt it necessary to stop and reflect on this event in my life.
For our next city we will visit Turpan (TuLuFan). It is located in the Xinjiang province and is the lowest and hottest place in all of China! It is situated 328 feet below sea level. There are many things to see in Turpan. We are planning to see The Ruins of Gaochang, Flaming Mountains, Emin Minaret, Baizeklik 1000 Buddha Caves, Astana Graves, the Grape Valley, Aydingkoi Lake (the 2nd lowest lake in the WORLD, behind the dead sea), Sand Therapy Center and the Karez Channels. Turpan is really very famous for the grapes that its vineyards grow. The climate is considered to be ideal for certain kinds of grapes.
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