Absurdity, Allegory and China

I have taken to reading Ben Schott’s column in the NYT called Schott’s Vocab, “a repository of unconsidered lexicographical trifles — some serious, others frivolous, some neologized, others newly newsworthy.” It is hard not to love our words, since they are at the center of how we tell our stories. How they evolve is always [...]

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Here’s the latest on spring tourism opportunities in large and beautiful areas of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces: Official: Tibetan areas closed to foreigners
An official at the tourism office of northwestern Gansu province’s Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, home to a major monastery and large Tibetan communities, said the region was closed to foreigners and would [...]

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Just when I was wondering what had happened to the world’s most expensive train, this shows up. (h/t to Danwei). And at a great deal, too – 50% off. Twenty-one days as an extravagantly pampered tourist in one of the world’s most fragile environments on a train that is “normally reserved for celebrities and government [...]

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Recently I visited Gangca Tibetan Primary School (elevation 3292 meters, 10, 800 feet) to view a local style of stone architecture called  rDo sBis (in the local Tibetan dialect it is pronounced do we, as in “Do we know where we are?” – accent on the we. This is one of the three styles [...]

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I’ve just returned from an all-too-short trip to Qinghai where the weather was a little cooler than Tianjin and Beijing. There was snow on Laji Shan (3820 meters) and cold rain in the lower valleys on several days. On a trip into a nomadic region to visit a water project I climbed the slippery muddy [...]

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