Shanghai - Sep 2011

A night out at The Bund, Shanghai.

Journey to the West - Part II Slideshow

The whole slideshow will take about 25 minutes to finish. You may wish to go direct to the gallery at http://weng.zenfolio.com/journey2west2 or use this link to play slideshow on bigger window http://weng.zenfolio.com/journey2west2/slideshow

Grapes Harvest - Xinjiang

An old Uighur man was busy at his grapes farm for the harvest. He was kind enough to let us experience the harvest process. We helped him harvested a few baskets of grapes. Pretty fun experience indeed.

Journey to the West - Part II Gallery

After spending a week in Xi'an to rest and enjoy great food, on Aug 20th we embarked on the 2nd leg of the journey. From the greens of grassland in 1st leg, we now moving to see Desert and Autumn foliage. Due to longer distance, transport is mostly by train in 2nd route. The second batch of photos are now online at http://weng.zenfolio.com/journey2west2

Journey to the West - Part I Slideshow

Alternatively, you can view the slideshow via http://weng.zenfolio.com/journey2west/slideshow

Journey to the West - Part I Gallery

Two months of long tour (>10,000km) in China West has covered Qinghai province, Gansu province, part of Sichuan north, Shaanxi province, Ningxia and Xinjiang autonomous region. The first batch of photos are now online at http://weng.zenfolio.com/journey2west

The beautiful old towns of Dali, Shuhe and Lijiang

Many who visited Yunnan province, southwest of China will mostly put Dali and Lijiang into their itinerary. Here are some photos which I took during my trip to Yunnan in May. I will, in particular, recommend the small old town of Shuhe 束河 to anyone who wish to have a relaxing and quiet vacation in a beautiful and serene place.

For more photos on Shuhe

For more photos on Lijiang

For more photos on Dali

The long tour ended

The long tour finally ended. Two months of long tour (>10,000km) has covered Qinghai province, Gansu province, part of Sichuan north, Shaanxi province, Ningxia and Xinjiang autonomous region. Tiring but is no doubt a fruitful trip.

Below was the route/path taken in the two months journey.
Started at Xining, Qinghai, the trip followed some part of the Silk Road and has the final end at Urumqi, Xinjiang, after completed the Northern Xinjiang tour.

The long tour begins 西部之旅

We have always looked forward to explore the western side of Mainland China which requires longer time to tour. We are glad the opportunity has finally come. Destinations will include Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang or Tibet, and Northwest of Sichuan.

My first compact digicam - Olympus XZ-1

After playing with DSLR for a couple of years, I finally decided that I do need a smaller and lighter digital camera that allows me to carry around easily and for short vacation trip. Me and my wife shortlisted three cameras in the same range, ie. Canon S95, Panasonic LX5 and Olympus XZ-1. We picked XZ-1 for its image quality, fast lens (F1.8) and stylish finishing. For detailed review on XZ-1, click here.

Lugu Lake — The Kingdom of Women 美丽的女儿国—泸沽湖

Lugu Lake is located in the North West Yunnan plateau in the centre of Ningliang Yi Autonomous County. The middle of the lake forms the border between Yunnan Province and the Sichuan province. It is an alpine lake at an elevation of 2,685 metres and is the highest lake in the Yunnan Province. Lugu Lake is a popular side excursion from Lijiang. It usually takes around 7-8 hours bus ride(including a lunch stop), from Lijiang to Lugu Lake due to poor road condition. A highway to Lugu Lake is almost completed and will shorten the distance to 3-4 hours. And an airport in Lugu Lake will be completed in 2 years time. Soon, this place will be swamped with tourists. Lugu Lake has an admission fee of RMB78. More photos here.