The real Great Wall, and how to get there

by Jerry Guo on

The girl in the photo is my girlfriend, in the process of slowly freezing to death on the Great Wall. We were stuck in a snowstorm with the nearest hikers miles away. And that path? Yep, it’s as narrow as it looks, and I’m not exaggerating here, but one slip, and you’ll be falling a few hundred meters down straight cliffs.

Yet that hike at Simatai has been one of the most fun adventures we’ve taken. Why? We got to experience the real wall (which is rapidly crumbling), avoided the masses of tourists (see this ridiculous shot at Badaling, the most over-touristed section of the wall), and the climb was actually strenuous in parts.

We had such a blast that we returned to the wall a few months later, this time to Jiankou (translated as the “arrowhead”), the steepest section of the 3,000 mile Great Wall. Here, we camped in one of the watch-towers for a night, which I’m sure is not exactly legal, and hiked an untouched part of the wall that has been almost covered with dense vegetation. Here’s some info about hiking to Simatai and Jiankou. Backpackers in Beijing and hostels will also have more info for you (it’s a bit strange that Westerners will actually know more about the “wild” Great Wall than the local Chinese).

This gallery has photos from both trips.

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Best photos of the year from Reuters

by Jerry Guo on

Here’s a collection of some of the best pictures from Reuters taken this year. The one on the right is from a new aquarium that opened this summer in Qingdao, a beach resort town in China. That cute thing is a Beluga whale, and I guess that kid is kinda cute too.

The other picture taken in China was from the “bird’s nest,” or what the locals fondly refer to when they’re talking about the National Olympic Stadium in Beijing. It’ll be up by next year, when 90,000 spectators will be partying inside at the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Some of the other pictures are somewhat more disturbing (spoiler: rat soup in Thailand). A nice pat on the back to Reuters for showing us photojournalism at its best!

International Volunteer Day

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are a volunteer somewhere, give yourself a pat on the back. This is your day. Started as a UN resolution back in 1985, December 5 is a day to get people fired up for the other 364 days of the year. Even though the areas of economic and social development, are the target areas for applause, I say, if you’re helping anyone anywhere, bravo for you. Hmmm. Economic and social development. Those are broad terms. There’s a page on the International Volunteer Day Web site that lists the 7 Goals for the Millennium that volunteer activities are linked to. They are:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality & empower women
  4. Improve maternal health
  5. Reduce child mortality
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability

Kabul, Afghanistan, Kathmandu, Nepal and Beijing, China are featured as areas where such projects are happening, but there are more. If you are looking for a place to make a difference when you travel, the International Volunteer Day Web site might be a place to start. Here are volunteer stories to get you inspired.

Suzhou Bookworm now open for business

by Kelly Amabile on

Back in July I took a daytrip to Suzhou, China (about 40 minutes by train outside of Shanghai) and visited the future site of The Bookworm’s latest English-language library cafe location. Owner Peter Goff took me on a tour of the construction site, which you can see here (scroll down to the photos at the bottom of the post.)

I was happy to learn this week that the transformation is complete and the new Suzhou Bookworm is now open for business. The photos really wowed me. After walking through demolition rubble and dust, it was cool to see the finished project looking so fab — the two-story bookstore cafe appears almost to be floating along one of the canals that Suzhou is famous for.

A few days ago, Peter checked in with an update on how things are going: “We had our first booktalk last night..historical fiction writer Adam Williams doing his stuff. It was great. About 30 people turned up to listen and buy books so not a bad start.” They had another event today, award-winning Canadian children’s writer Marie-Louise Gay.

This opening is another great score for booklovers in China. Be sure to visit a Bookworm location (the others are in Beijing and Chengdu) when your itinerary brings you through any of these cities.

New Chinese Architecture: the “Wild East”

by Iva Skoch on

China’s rise as an economic power has prompted daring feats of construction; China’s getting known as the “Wild East” when it comes to this new construction. And they’re putting up new buildings at a tremendous pace: some 10,000 new structures in all, particularly with next year’s Olympics coming. I certainly witnessed it in Shanghai-Pudong a couple years back.

But now take, for example, the new, $800m, China Central Television Tower in Beijing, designed by Rem Koolhaas. Daring to defy the requirement that all skyscrapers point up, Mr. Koolhaas designed one that loops back on itself. The main feature: it’s got an overhang that’s an amazing 11 stories tall, 250 ft. above the ground. The building will be the world’s second-largest office building, after the Pentagon.

It’s now reaching a very precarious moment: the two halves of the building are being joined soon, according to the WSJ. First, it’s in an earthquake zone, so they had to test a three-story replica on a quake-testbed to make sure it’ll last because it’s like stacking two bridges together. Second, the two halves lean on each other so much that they must join the final pieces at dawn, so that the sun’s heat won’t distort or expand one half more than the other. I just hope the thing holds up.