China

Xian Terracotta Warriors

Country Information:

The capital of China is Beijing. There are approximately 1.4 billion people living here. The official language of China is Mandarin Chinese, but a variety of other dialects—Cantonese, Wu, Minbei, Minnan,—are officially recognized in respective provinces. The majority of the population is religiously unaffiliated, but Buddhism, folk religions, and Christianity are also practiced. The time zone is 12 hours ahead of EST.

China is rich in cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity. Travelers enjoy visiting the capital, Beijing. The center of the city is the world’s largest public square, known infamously as Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is surrounded by other historic sites such as the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of Chinese History, the Museum of Chinese Revolution, the Qianmen Gate, and the Forbidden City.

Jim’s Perspectives:

My father and I took a tour to China in 1998, visiting Shanghai, Guilin and Beijing.  One of the most memorable flights I’ve ever been on was trying to land during a typhoon in Shanghai.  We had to circle the airport numerous times, with several aborted landings.  We enjoyed our time in Xian, seeing the Terracotta Warriors, a collection of once-buried sculptures of the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China.

Next we went to Guilin, where we motored around on the jade waters and bamboo-lined banks of the Li River, awe struck by the karst peaks.

 

In Guilin, beautiful Karst peaks

Then on to Beijing where we toured and walked on the Great Wall —it’s magnificent! A series of walls intended to keep foreign invaders out, the Great Wall was built by emperors during many imperial dynasties. Altogether it took over 2,000 years to build and four dynasties to build. Note: you might want to avoid the Badaling section of the Great Wall because it is often overcrowded. Instead, try visiting the Wall from less populated sections such as the Jinshanling, Huanghuacheng, or Simatai sections.

We found food difficult in Beijing. The funniest part of our trip, was when dad and I were sampling dishes at a local restaurant and we had ZERO idea what we were eating because the menus were only in Chinese and NO ONE spoke English. The food was literally mystery meat … so much so that I chewed something, spit it out (which dad didn’t see me do), put it back on the plate and he picked it up and ate it … yes, it was that level of mystery meat!

 

In the China Forbidden City

Sudan

With my buddies in Sudan Country Information: The capital of Sudan is Khartoum and the official languages are English and Arabic. About 43 million people live here, and the main religion is Sunni Islam, with almost all of the population being Muslim. Divers will...

Vietnam

At an orphanage of children impacted by Agent Orange   Vietnam War Remnants   Country Information: There are approximately 98,000,000 people living in Vietnam, in a country about the size of New Mexico. The majority of Vietnamese practice Buddhism and...

Czech Republic

Jim looking at the Astronomical clock in Prague, Czech Republic Country Information: Czech Republic, which gained independence in 1993. The capital is Prague and the official language is Czech. About 10.5 million people live here. The country used to be primarily...