[JPM Travel Journals] CHINA 99 [ Photo Archive ]

CHINA Nov - Dec 1999 The following brief text, photographs, and captions document my trip to China in the late fall of 1999. I unexpectedly spent a night in Tokyo on the way there, a serendipitous result of a SNAFU with the Northwest Airlines courier flight ticket. Upon arriving in Beijing, I met up with a friend studying there and we almost immediately went to Shanghai for a few nights. Then we split up, and I explored China further on my own for another two weeks. After returning to Beijing I ventured out to Datong by overnight train, and then took some mini-buses a few hours further into rural China to visit ancient Buddhist caves and then an astounding Hanging Monastery built into the side of a cliff. The return trip by day on the train was amazing, like a slow Chinese New Wave film... clicking and rolling past the frozen lakes and desolate landscapes, sitting in the carriages with families and the Chinese soldiers, all intrigued by my presence. I stayed in Beijing in a small, traditional chinese guesthouse buried in an old neighborhood in the city. I also took a day trip to the Great Wall of China, hiking and gazing for a few hours in the winter cold. Tiennamen Square and traditional kites. Click here for the complete photo archive >> ©2001 JPM. All photography and writing copyrighted.