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Adventures in Wonderland

~ a pilgrimage of the heart

Adventures in Wonderland

Category Archives: China

Water Water Everywhere . . . hiking the Dragon’s Back in Hong Kong

December 11, 2019

10 June 2018. I’m sitting hunkered down in the shade, squished up against the low bushes on the side of …

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Treasure Islands: Hong Kong’s Lamma Island and Cheung Chau

December 4, 2019

9 June 2018 I never forgot Cheung Chau. Back in 1978 it was one of the most exotic places I’d …

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The Streets Of Hong Kong: a photo essay

November 27, 2019

24-26 June 2018. From Yangshuo we travelled to Hong Kong: a two-hour ride in a private van to Guilin, followed …

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The Great Wall That Wasn’t, and other tales from China

November 20, 2019

16 May-7 June 2018. All the stories that couldn’t find a home in any of the other posts about China: …

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The Legend of the Song Fairy: Impressions Sanjie Liu

November 13, 2019

Presented on the biggest natural stage in the world! The river as the stage, the mountains as the backdrop! A …

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. . . . For All The Tea In China! A tea plantation, a town, and a village in Yangshuo

November 5, 2019

4-6 June 2018 Legend has it that a few thousand years ago, somewhere in China, a cocoon fell from a …

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The Glorious Landscape of Yangshuo, China – a photo essay

October 29, 2019

4-5 June 2018 This time I know I’ll be able to do it because I’ve already done it in Xi’an. …

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War of the Three Kingdoms – like an action movie only live!

October 17, 2019

1 June 2018 The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, it must divide. Thus it has ever been. These …

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Yangtze River Cruise: don’t get your hopes up!

October 10, 2019

1-3 June 2018. We were warned that the Yangtze River is very industrialised and not to expect lush scenery or …

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Quick Change Artists – the ravishing Sichuan Opera in Chengdu.

October 3, 2019

29 May 2018. She’s standing in the aisle of the theatre a few levels up from the stage. She’s facing …

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Pandering to your love of PANDAS! Now that I have your attention . . . . .

September 19, 2019

By all accounts Chengdu, the fifth largest city in China with a population of 14 million, has a laid-back ambiance …

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Monasteries and Mad Monks – China’s Baoguo Monastery and the Leshan Buddha

September 9, 2019

28-29 May 2018 I hear the music and follow it, the sound of the chanting drawing me like a magnet …

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Some of the Best Experiences of a Three-week Tour of China

September 4, 2019

In May and June of last year I spent four weeks in China, three of them on Intrepid Travel’s China …

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It’s Not The Mountain We Conquer But Ourselves.* China’s Emei Shan

August 17, 2019

27-28 May 2018. This is the day! This is the day I’ve been working towards for six months. Eight months …

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Travelling through the world, and through life, feeling our way by the tips of our fingers.

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Kitano Tenmangu flea market, known as Tenjin-san, has the feel of a small-time festival. Performing together at the flea market in Kyoto, I think this human has had his monkey from when it was a tiny baby. The love between the two is so palpable, and the monkey looks so healthy, that it makes me smile. It’s such a delightful performance. It doesn’t matter that I don’t understand a word of what the human is saying, the monkey says it all in his own clever way, and when it’s time to bow, he bends at the waist so low his head is on the ground. The whole audience laughs and claps. See my latest blog post: The Ultimate Treasure Hunt - a flea market and a food market in Kyoto. Link in bio.
Kitano Tenmangu flea market is known locally as Tenjin-san flea market. It's as if the attics and storage rooms of Japan have been emptied out and put on display. There are both special artefacts, and the detritus of life spread out on the street; picture frames and small furniture, vinyl records, toys, an old scale, stacks of new dishes, beautiful handmade pottery, and uniquely Japanese antiques and curios, and rack upon rack of gently-loved kimonos. It feels like a small-time festival, and we lucked into it. It only happens on the 25th of each month. See my latest blog post: The Ultimate Treasure Hunt - a flea market and a food market in Kyoto. Link in bio.
Nishiki Market, a narrow street of five covered blocks with a ceiling of rainbow windows, is known as the kitchen of Kyoto. The market began life in the 1300’s as a wholesale fish market. Over the years it morphed into a retail market selling primarily foods, but also various other goods. There are hundreds of shops and restaurants, many of which have been in the same family for generations, and the market is now a long-standing fixture of ordinary life in the city. These two ladies are selling tea, and they hand out tea samples in beautiful pottery cups. No one steals the cups, because Japan. See my latest blog post: The Ultimate Treasure Hunt - a flea market and a food market in Kyoto. Link in bio.
For over three weeks we were based in Cusco, the still-beating heart of the Inca Empire, as we explored the Urubamba Valley. It is known as the Sacred Valley because it was the property of the emperor, and it is littered with imposing Inca ruins and traditional villages. We visited such sites as Moras with its enormous circular crop terraces, the cascading salt evaporation ponds of Moray, the villages of Chinchero and Ollantaytambo, several of the more prominent Inca ruins, and of course Machu Picchu. And all along the way we encountered ordinary people living their lives pretty much in the same way as they have done for hundreds of years.
After a three day overland trip from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile across the Bolivian altiplano to the Uyuni salt flats we flew to La Paz, Bolivia’s capital. I don’t remember why we decided to not spend time in La Paz; instead we took a bus straight to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. I took this photo from the bus while waiting to leave La Paz. Mi ciudad esta cambiando – My city is changing. Blog post: Salt Flats and Bowler Hats. Link in bio.
We did a road trip by bus in South America: Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile, two days later Santiago to La Serena, two days later La Serena to Antofagasta, two days later Antofagasta to San Pedro de Atacama. All the buses were double-decker, and all had seats the size airplane business-class, and on every leg we got the upstairs front seats giving us panoramic views of the landscape as we travelled. It was epic! Antofagastais a working class town with a rough edge to it, a regular downtown core, and a small beach; an unremarkable mining town in the far north of Chile. Still, there is this bright mosaic gecko bringing a little life to an otherwise dull building.

Recent Posts

  • The Ultimate Treasure Hunt – a flea market and a food market in Kyoto
  • We Could Be Heroes – shameless self promotion
  • The Eyes Have It – a photo essay
  • Traditions Both Tribal and Personal: Stories From Montreal
  • Winter in Montreal
  • An Ode to Vancouver’s Fraser River
  • Happiness Is To Hold Flowers In Both Hands* – a photo essay
  • Oh deer! Nara – Japan’s Ancient Capital

Top Posts & Pages

About us - Alison and Don
Salt Flats and Bowler Hats: Uyuni and Copacabana, Bolivia
Why I Blog: Creativity And The Need To Give It Away
The End of an Era
To Tour Or Not To Tour? Independent Travel Versus Travelling With a Tour Group
Homing In On Home
Jordan Highlights: Gerasa, the Dead Sea, and the Map of Madaba
Why The Best Travels Of My Life Started After Fifty
Earthquake City – Antigua, Guatemala
Women of Guatemala - a series of vignettes

Archives

Categories

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© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2021.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any written or photographic material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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