Land of Avatar 21-28 Sep 2013

张家界 ZhangJiaJie, situated at west of Hunan Province (湘西) is where Avatar, Journey to the West (西游记) and many other movies are filmed!  The tall, beautiful, majestic, natural ‘floating’ rocks have attracted not only many local tourists but also hordes of Koreans to pay homage to this World Natural Heritage (世界自然遗产).  ZhangJiaJie is Korean’s back garden! Everywhere we go, we see signage in Chinese and Korean. There is a Chinese & Korean jointly invested and biggest ever McDonald restaurant, Mcafe on top of the mountain 天子山.  We fondly remembered the ride on the 335m tall German made elevator 百龙天梯 and the stroll on the boardwalk at the Grand Canyon大峡谷.  The cave 黄龙洞 was just ok.
 
West of Hunan is also home of the Miao/Hmong tribe 苗族 - a hardworking, tough, clever people who adore silver, embroidery, songs, ginger candy and dried meat 腊肉.  Phoenix old town 凤凰古城, the most western part of Hunan is packed with shops along small alleys and the river. In and around west of Hunan 湘西, we observed wild roasted chestnut, pomegranate and kiwi were in abundance.  We learnt that 湘西 was home of famous singer宋祖英 and writer 沈从文, 熊希龄.
 
Prior ZhangJiaJie, we stopped by and leisurely explored Guangzhou city广州市and Changsha city长沙市. Though the rain has lessened our comfort and the bus journeys to ZhangJiaJie and Phoenix town were very long, we still have had a good time and my sister was very pleased with her great buy - beautifully embroidered cushion cover with a flavor of 苗族 and 凤凰古城！           

North West China 1-14Jun2013

Bhutan 15-24Nov2012

Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon
  home to majestic snow-capped Himalayan Mountains

Druk Air flies us to Paro, we then drive to Thimphu
  where the air is extremely fresh and cool

Kuzuzangpola¹ we greet
  friendly and helpful Bhutanese we meet

Dochula has spectacular picturesque views
  Chimi Lhakhang has vast paddy fields

The Divine Madman² created the Takin
  and propagated the image of the man’s thing

Betel nut the Bhutanese chew
  while watching the dance at Tsechu³

Dzong, Chorten, Lhakhang⁴ we visit
  bumpy winding rides make us sick

Stupa and Chorten we walk in clockwise
  chili and cheese we eat with red rice

Men wear Gho, women wear Kira
  we go for stone bath and ara⁵

Yak, horse and cow
  no cauliflower for now

Punakha⁶ Dzong is wondrous
  4th King coined Gross National Happiness

Beautiful black necked cranes
  winter roost in wide Gangtey plains

We get puffed out and take rest
  as we hike up the sacred Tiger’s Nest⁷

Bright shiny stars we gaze
  Wi-Fi access we give praise

Bhutan trades with India and Thailand
  Bumthang is Asia’s Switzerland

Bhutanese revere Wangchuck Queen and King
  we kadingche⁸ helpful Bhak and Tshering

Prayer wheels creak, Prayer flags flutter
  We adore Bhutan, the Shangri-la like no other


¹   Bhutanese’s national language Dzongkha “Kuzuzangpola” means “Hello! “

² Divine Madman refers to Drukpa Kuenlay (1455-1529). Takin is Bhutan’s national animal which has the head of a goat and body of a cow.

³  Tsechu refers to Festival usually to  celebrate the harvest and give thanks to God.

⁴  Dzong is fortress, Chorten and Lhakhang are temples.

⁵  Gho and Kira are Bhutan’s national costume. Ara is a distilled drink with almost 20% alcohol content.

⁶  Punakha is Bhutan’s ancient capital. Thimphu is the current capital.

⁷  Taktshang Monastery aka Tiger’s Nest, Bhutan’s most famous monastery is 3000 meters above sea level.  

⁸  Kadingche means “thank you”. Bhak is our guide, Tshering is our driver.