Wooden House with No Nails

I am one of these people who has to know everything about what he is seeing as sometimes you discover remarkable skills and interesting details. This house is in Sichuan province very near where the earthquake happened recently. I took these pictures about 10 years ago on the way from Chengdu north to Jiuzhaigou Valley. The house is all made of wood and typical of the area inhabited by Tibetans. The man was building this house and I was interested in the construction technique. I quickly noticed that there were no nails in the wood....just a few pegs here and there and then pieces fitted into place by hand carefully by planeing each piece until it fit very tightly without nails or pegs. I knew they had electricity so I asked through an interpreter that I had with me why he didn't use a skill saw and other electric tools. All his tools were for hand use only. He said, it all costs money and it would take many months of salary to afford to buy the tools. I mentioned it would be much faster and he said he was in no hurry. His father and grand father built their houses this way and he would do the same....again in no special hurry. Now and then exteneded family members came and helped him with the heavy timbers. Other similar built houses have stood for several hundred years withstanding earthquakes where many stone houses have been destroyed in the past.

Largest Buddha in the World - Leshan, China

The Leshan Buddha at Leshan, Sichuan China is the largest Buddha in the world. Carved into the sandstone side of a cliff, it is over 1300 years old. Two rivers meet here and you can take a boat out onto the river for a close up view and to take photos as I did here. Known by the Chinese as Da Fo, the Buddha took 90 years to carve. To the left of Da Fo are steps carved into the cliff so you can climb down to the foot of the Buddha. To show you the size, each toe of his foot is 25 feet long and each ear is 22 feet long. There are steps to the right of the Buddha going up inside the cliff to the top where you will find the Mahaoya Tomb Musuem with many artifacts shown in it. There is also a statue of the Monk who organized the carving of the Buddha. Leshan is located just south of Chengdu and can be visited in just one day either from Chengdu or on the way to Chongqing. Staying overnight in Leshan is always interesting as there are few western tourists and a nice city to enjoy the local culture without a crowd of tourists around every corner. Another city near by is Zigong known for the ancient museum of Dinosaurs and an ancient salt mine over 2000 years old. Again another city where few if any tourists visit and you can really get into the local culture. For more places to visit check my web site at www.interlakechinatours.com and you might want to subscribe to my Blog and be notified each time I write a new story.

Stone Forest of China

From a distance it looks like you are approaching a major metropolitan city with countless tall buildings. Actually this is one of the rare areas of the world where million of years ago the earth coughed up these stone figures. The clusters extend for many miles around in this area just 3 hours from Kunming in Yunnan province of China. I went there several years ago as part of my business as a China Travel and Tour Agency to China and Tibet. It can be seen in one day with a return to Kunming that evening or you can stay overnight in a local modest hotel and spend the night there too. Near by is a village to walk through which specializes in growing tobacco. You will see some minority people selling their handicrafts there also with many hand made and unusual gifts. Few tourists stay overnight so it is always interesting to spend the later part of the day and early morning hours without tourists around so that you might enjoy the area more. There are paths all through the Stone Forest with flower gardens and shrubs that make it a wonderland of nature and for peaceful meditation too. AS a China Tour Planer and Tour Operator for the past 16 years, I have many more interesting places like this that I will be writing about in future blogs. Sign up to get email notifications of my future writings. I would appreciate hearing from readers too to let me know what you would like to read about. email me at: interlak@eskimo.com Thanks, ChinaDave

ART OR JUST A GAME?

Is it ART or just a child's game with a candy reward? Outside many primary schools is someone with a table like you see in the photo above. There is a board with a spinner on it and pictures of many different animals in a circle like a dart board. The child pays a small amount to spin the dial and it then stops at one of the pictures. Some pictures are large and some are small....a game of Chance? The man then takes a liquid sugar usually colored and squeezes it onto a hot plate seen at the bottom of the photo and makes many different designs into animals. He then creates the differnt animals and designs after it hardens on a stick and gives it to the child. If the child's luck is good he receives a large animal which is good to eat....but I also look at it as a piece of art. What do you think? Let me know your comments. As a Tour Operator to China doing Tours to China and Tibet only, I come upon many interesting and entertaining enterprises in China including the home made portable Cotton Candy Machine that I wrote about earlier. When in China some of the most interesting days are just taking a walk through the back streets or villages spending a day poking around and checking out whatever you come upon. Keep reading my blogs for future stories that I will be writing about. After 20 years I have a lot of stories to tell about my adventues in China. Check out my web site at www.interlakechinatours.com and sign up here to be notified when I write future blogs. Thanks, ChinaDave

The Blog of ChinaDave in Seattle

Thank you for finding and reading my Blog on China. I am known by my friends as "ChinaDave" for obvious reasons since I have been working in China for 20 years and almost 50 trips there. I go through China looking for special places to send my clients as a Tours To China internet company. I am basically a China Tour Planner but often referred to as China Travel Service, Agency or China Tour Operator. I do mostly custom tours for clients wanting private tours or groups who come to me looking for a tour to China out of the ordinary or something that caters to their interests and doesn't fit a standard cookie cutter mold. You see me trying a Chinese home made cigar made by my Chinese friend....and did I get sick! I don't smoke so it made it worse of course. The other photo is of a worker in a Woman's Buddhist Monastery located outside of Chengdu in Sichuan province. I am 6 feet tall and I don't think she is more than 4 feet. They are always so friendly and hospitable. If you enjoy reading my blog, please let me know. Just a short email will encourage me to write more often. Let me know what you would like me to write about too. I have thousands of photographs and slides plus stories I can tell non-stop until they either put me away or lay me away in the "dirt bed". My email address is: interlak@eskimo.com Thanks I will appreciate it.

Best Hot Springs in China

This is the best Hot Spring in all of China and one of my little secret places. I have spent 20 years and over 48 trips to China looking and searching for special places to send my clients. Interlake China Tours of Seattle is my company specializing in Tours To China as a China Travel Agency and China Tour Operator for the past 16 years. This Hot Springs is located in a National Park amongst fantastic mountains and rural scenery. I stumbled onto this hot springs while putting together one of my specialized package tours to China which you can find on my web site at www.interlakechinatours.com There are 14 pools that are at different levels on the mountain side with the hottest pools at the top and they get cooler closer to the bottom. There is a modern restaurant, lockers with showers and even some cottages to stay in if you wish to stay overnight or for a period of time. Up the mountain further is a cable car that goes up onto the mountain further with possible snow fields during the fall months. Lots of hiking trails as well within the park. At the bottom of the mountain just outside the park is a small town with
a four star hotel with all the modern facilities and friendly people through out the town always hospitable to strangers. The Austrians in the photograph were the first western tourists that I had seen in a week. Check my web site and other stories in my blog for more interesting places to visit in China.