Kuqa City (pop 49,000)
Kuqa County
Aksu Prefecture
Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region
China
June 27, 2017
Sheep’s Head Stew.
Sheep Lung.
Lamb Ribs.
Grilled sandwiches: choose your fillings.
Blackberry juice.
At the Kuqa Night market, other items are more prosaic: fresh fruit and vegetables, kebabs and candy.
Kucha
Xinjiang
China
June 27, 2017
Xinjiang’s most extensive Buddhist site lies in a riverbed 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the modern city of Kucha.
The Ancient Ruins of Subashi date from the Third Century CE and includes towers, halls, monasteries, dagobas (domed-shaped shrines) and houses, all severely damaged by time and the elements of the desert. Yet the basic mud brick construction materials are clearly evident.
The city held several thousand inhabitants but was sacked and burned in the Ninth Century and had been abandoned by the Thirteenth Century.
Korla
Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region
China
June 26, 2017
Dear Friends and Fellow Dreamers,
Stand with me now at the Iron Gate Tower … and imagine ….
Imagine that behind us lies the Tian Shan mountain range. Our Silk Road caravan has traversed the mountains carrying goods from Pakistan and the West. Beyond the gate we face steep cliffs and even more mountains.
Please close your eyes.
Ürümqi (pop 3.5 million) - Uyghur name
Wūlǔmùqí – Chinese name
Xinjiang – Uyghur Autonomous Region
Peoples Republic of China
June 24, 2017
Hello and Welcome to Nan Shan – The Southern Mountains,
In the parking lot of this popular tourist area seventy-five kilometers (46 miles) south of the city, young Kazakh women offer to take us to their summer yurts for tea or lunch. Horseback rides are available as well as hikes through the grassland meadows up the mountainsides.
(Between May and October Kazakh families move their yurts into this area to graze their herds. Kazakhs are an important minority group in this area of China. The border of Kazakhstan is just beyond the mountains.)
Skógáfoss
South Coast
Iceland
September 13, 2015
Dear Friends,
Iceland is blessed with a plethora of dramatic waterfalls.
Skógáfoss is 15m wide and 60m high, and is certainly on any Top Ten list (49 ft and197ft).
On my second visit to Skógáfoss, the weather was sunny and even a bit warm for Iceland so I decided to make the climb of 450 steps to the Skógá River above the falls.
Black Sand Beach
South Coast
Iceland
September 12, 2015
Hello,
I visited Black Sand Beach twice. Once with my tour group on a blustery, foggy, nasty day. And once again on my own on a clear, sunny, albeit windy day.
And since it was a pleasant day I first stopped at the Dyrhólaey Peninsula.
The Iceland Guide describes Black Sand Beach:
The world-famous Reynisfjara shore, on Iceland's South Coast, is widely regarded as the most impressive black-and beach in Iceland.
