WanderlustandWhimSea

  Shanghai fascinated me with all it’s new glitter and glam. 90% of the buildings are less than 10 years old. Everything is clean, new and glitzy. It was perhaps the most cosmopolitan city I have ever visited. The Bund area along the waterfront was beautiful during the day but she really shown all lit… Continue reading Shanghai – Fastest Growing City in Asia

The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia and a popular tourist destination. The most beautiful part is the narrower gorges. We took a small boat deep into the valley where the cliff walls got vertical.   The big story in this area is the worlds largest Three Gorges Damn that generates power for most… Continue reading Yangtze River and Three Gorges Dam

    Well the Travel Gods had the last laugh in Tibet! I made the mistake of bragging to a fellow traveler about how lucky I had been, given my pace of travel, that I hadn’t even had a sniffle. I started with a cold (no big deal) and then landed in Tibet to a… Continue reading Bad Timing in Tibet

The Panda’s are definitely the celebrities of Chengdu. We were fortunate to go in the morning and many of the Panda’s were pretty active, eating and climbing and posing for pictures. It was fun to see Panda’s of all ages and the keepers interacting with the infants was a hoot. Fun day with the furry… Continue reading The Celebrities of Chengdu

  Can you believe the Terra Cotta Warriors were just found 40 years ago?  A farmer was digging a well and pulled up the head of a Warrior and knew he had found something pretty special. The warriors were made 2200 years ago and intended to guard an Emperor’s tomb. Each one is a different… Continue reading Xian and the Terra Cotta Warriors

I flew from Hanoi to Beijing to catch up with another tour, this one is 17 days in China and Tibet.  New group, new personalities and a pretty hectic pace to see everything. Beijing included the Square, Forbidden City and The Great Wall and of course a rickshaw ride! There was a 3-hour line to… Continue reading Next Stop China

    After quiet Laos, Hanoi assaulted the senses, all of them.  We arrived on a Sunday night on 4 day holiday and it appeared all 97 million Vietnamese were on the streets fighting for an inch of space. Crossing the street was a deaf defying miracle each and every time. The funniest was the… Continue reading Ferocious Frenzy in Hanoi Vietnam

There was joy in the streets as the people of Laos celebrated their New Year.  It was one huge water fight with kids, teenagers and adults all getting into the fray. The water is suppose to be about washing off the old year and starting fresh with a new year but it was just one… Continue reading Happy New Year Laos Style!

I love LAOS.  After all the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, the quiet countryside of Laos was a relief and respite, Perhaps except for the burning of the rice fields that kept the air filled with a cloudy haze and it smelled like a camp fire everywhere. Although welcoming to tourists, Laos is still very… Continue reading LAOS – A quiet respite

Bangkok is a huge city with cranes on nearly every corner as it continues to grow at a fast clip.  Thailand is 92% Buddhist so we visited a LOT of Temples and saw Emerald Buddha’s, Reclining Buddha’s, Golden Buddha’s, Stone Buddha’s.  With all the people there was also a lot of traffic but hardly anyone… Continue reading Bangkok – 16 Million Strong