South of the Clouds: Hiking Cangshan Mountains, Dali, Yunnan, China

by Catherine Bodry on

Gadling introduced you to Dali, in Yunnan Province, the other day, and touched on a few activities and sights there. Out of all of them, hiking the Jade Belt Road (also called the Cloud Road) in the Cangshan mountains was our favorite.

Green furry mountains rise out of Dali’s back door, and are an easy escape from the town. A mostly flat, paved walking path winds in and out of valleys about two-thirds of the way up the mountains, making a lovely day hike. If you don’t feel like working too hard, an old-school chairlift can carry you up on one side, and a fancy-time, Austrian-built gondola 11.5 kilometers to the south can take you down – or vice versa. The path also extends beyond the lifts on either side, but we only explored the terrain in-between.

We chose to climb to the main trail by following a sometimes-muddy, often-slick path up under the chairlift. It took us the better part of an hour to climb up the steep mountain, and we arrived at the top of the lift sweaty and out of breath. The top of the chairlift, and the path that leaves from it, sit at 2500 meters (or roughly 8000 feet), high enough for us to feel it in our lungs.

%Gallery-111568%At the top of the chairlift sits Zhonghe Temple, a quiet spot with refreshments and a pleasant view of Dali and Erhai Lake. We paused for a snack and some photos, then began our walk south.

The path is paved with flat, square stones, and is better than most sidewalks. Mostly flat, it snakes in and out of valleys, across steep streams, and along vertical cliffs. We were in a foggy cloud, so a light mist constantly rained. Be sure to carry clothing for all types of weather; what might be a sunny day down in Dali could be a damp slog up in the mountains.

The walk to the gondola should take you a couple of hours. Once there, you’ll find Gantong Temple, as well as a giant chessboard (see gallery). From here, take the gondola down; taxis will be waiting at the base to take to back to Dali.

Read more about my travels in Yunnan here.

Gap Adventures introduces new trips for 2011

by Kraig Becker on

As the final days of 2010 rapidly slip away, it is time to look to the new year for new opportunities and adventures. With that in mind, travel company Gap Adventures announced a host of outstanding new trips last week, offering up fantastic options for travelers looking for unique experiences.

Gap Adventures is amongst the top adventure travel companies in the world, offering hundreds of affordable trips to far flung places across the globe. These newly announced offerings are no different, giving travelers more than 100 new trips to choose from in 2011.

The new trips have been designed to offer a little something for everyone. For example, the Columbia Coffee Trails adventure is perfect for coffee lovers everywhere. They’ll visit some of South America’s top coffee plantations in search of the perfect brew, while exploring lush landscapes in Columbia, a country that his quickly becoming a top destination for travelers.

If coffee isn’t your thing, perhaps you’ll find an adventure more to your liking in Africa. New offerings to that continent will get travelers off the beaten path and into remote villages, where they’ll experience cultural immersion, spectacular landscapes, and fantastic wildlife. And if climbing Kilimanjaro has always been on your “bucket list,” Gap has made it easier and more affordable than ever with new options for that classic trek.

Gap has new adventures on every continent, ranging from the island of Sumatra to the deserts of Egypt, to the highlands of Guatemala and beyond. So whether you want to go to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, or somewhere in between, you’ll find plenty of fantastic opportunities in Gap’s back catalog or in their new offerings. To check out all the new trips, click here. But be warned, there are so many great trips to choose from, you may have to select more than one.

FourSquare is everywhere … even North Korea

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Whether you tweet or not, log into Facebook or skip it, you know that social media is everywhere. You just can’t get away from it. There are references on prime-time television, news stories all over the place and special deals at stores large and small. If you think you’re surrounded by this stuff, brace yourself: it’s more pervasive than you realize.

As I was scanning my Twitter stream this week, I saw a tweet by social media company FourSquare, a service that allows people to “check in” at different locations, track their friends and, if they choose, share their locations with the world.

The tweet contained a bold claim, specifically, that the service had recorded check-ins in every country in the world in November … even the most reclusive one:

With 8 check-ins in North Korea, foursquare users visited EVERY country in November! Bouvet Island, you’re one of just 5 territories left…less than a minute ago via webfoursquare
foursquare

%Gallery-109277%While FourSquare has yet to accumulate the user base of Twitter (175 million) or Facebook (550 million), it has grown quickly in the past year, going from a mere 725,000 in March to 5 million only 10 days ago … and it’s adding 25,000 every day.

In addition to letting your friends and followers know where you are, FourSquare has some tools that are useful for both occasional and frequent travels, including the ability to record and share tips at each of the locations you visit. While it’s fun to get check-ins at places that are prestigious, fun or remote, nothing says “for the win” – #FTW in Twitter parlance – quite like a North Korea check-in.

So, are you on FourSquare? What’s your craziest check-in? Leave a comment below to get the ball rolling! I have to admit: mine aren’t all that adventurous, but I am the mayor of an Upper West Side bodega. Okay, that doesn’t compare to a DPRK check-in!

[photo by yeowatzup via Flickr]

Artist plans exhibition at the summit of Everest

by Kraig Becker on

The Louvre, the Met, and the Hermitage. Without a doubt, three of the most prestigious art galleries in all the world. But if 78-year old artist Ranan Lurie gets his way, you can soon add the summit of Mt. Everest to that list.

Lurie has announced plans to place three acrylic-on-canvas works of art on the 29,029-foot peak. These small pieces are a part of a much larger project consisting of dozens of individual works that has been on display at the United Nations for some time. That project, entitled “Uniting Painting” stretches over 600 feet in length and has been a focus of Lurie’s artistic talents for more than 40 years.

While the details of just exactly how those paintings will get to the summit have not been elaborated on, we can assume that Lurie has commissioned a team of climbers to carry his works to the highest point on the planet when the Everest climbing season gets underway next spring. If all goes according to plan, the world’s highest art exhibition will probably take place sometime around mid-May, 2011.

Lurie hopes that by displaying his art in the High Himalaya, he can send a message to the world about the scope of his works and the uniting message he hopes to convey, which is that no matter what our race, creed, or culture, art is a common denominator.

Photo of the day (12.16.10)

by Meg Nesterov on


What charmed me about this photo from Thimphu, Bhutan, other than the pleasant colors and lines, was the caption. Flickr user AndreaKW translated the suggestion box’s Dzongkha script as literally “thoughts box” and I love the idea, much less pressure than coming up with constructive suggestions. A thoughts box could have notes like “Next time, pack fewer shoes” or “Why don’t I ever eat meat on a stick at home?” or even the classic “Help! I’m trapped in a thoughts box!” The possibilities are endless, especially for traveler interaction, like the postcards from strangers project.

Have any photos to leave in our thoughts box? How about adding them to the Gadling group on Flickr? We might just choose one of your shots as our Photo of the Day.