China

Last week's post was written about four days before the Japan earthquake and tsunami. All week my mind had been on my temple trip to Tokyo, so when the disaster occurred on Friday, I was stunned. How horrible! It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the suffering that is going on over there right now. It's seems unbelievable. But it is so real.

Then Sunday came... and yet another episode of The Amazing Race that left me smiling!

This week (and next) The Race takes place in China. I don't know very much about the geography of China. But I'm learning. The racers went to the city of Lijiang in the northwest part of the Yunnan Province which is in southern China. Here's a map.





Wow! What a beautiful place. I gotta go someday. From what I've read and from watching the show, it looks like this is an area that the Chinese like to visit. Because of its low latitude and high elevation, Lijiang has a mild subtropical highland climate. It's wet time of the year is during the summer months. The population is 1.02 million people. That surprises me because it doesn't look very big. They must be packed in there pretty tight.

Look at these mountains! Matt will be happy to know that he could golf here.



Just gorgeous. The racers went up Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on a gondola. It is the southernmost glacier in the northern hemisphere.

Here's another place in the area that the racers visited. The chinese like to come here and ride the yaks and get their pictures taken. I couldn't find a good picture that showed people on the yaks. Look at the terraces! Gorgeous! This place is called Baishui Terrace Baishuitai which translates to "White Water Terrace". Spring water flows over a sinter terrace leaving behind travertine. Cool.





Lijiang has an "old town" that dates back 800 years. It is a UNESCO heritage site because of the way it's been preserved. What a place! The traditional people here are a minority called Naxi.



Oh my goodness! Look at this cute old lady!



Can't wait to see what the next episode of A.R. brings:)