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Make a rainbow🌈 on the street of a city close to the Gobi Desert
18/09/2017

Make a rainbow🌈 on the street of a city close to the Gobi Desert

In the past few days, I traveled east from all the way to , stopping by and along the Tarim River. It was a tough...
18/09/2017

In the past few days, I traveled east from all the way to , stopping by and along the Tarim River. It was a tough journey with long hours on the road. Internet has been slow in all these places. I will update photos as soon as possible. To be continued....

Day 5 & 6: went on a 2-day trip to Tashkurgan, a town in the far west of Xinjiang Autonomous Region with the majority of...
15/09/2017

Day 5 & 6: went on a 2-day trip to Tashkurgan, a town in the far west of Xinjiang Autonomous Region with the majority of its population being ethnically Tajik. Since the old Silk Road days, it has been an important town that connects China with West Asia. Now, suited on the 1300km long Karakoram Highway or China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, it continues playing an important role along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The name, Karakoram Highway, comes from the majestic mountain range along the highway. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region, only glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range (more specifically, near K2) have slightly grown in size. The others glaciers all have been shrinking in the region. According to a recent article in Nature, this may be because of a summer 'vortex' of cold air over the Karakoram mountain range. @ Tashkurgan, Xinjiang, China

Day 4: my second full-day in Kashgar. I went back to the rundown part of the old city, which is currently closed down as...
12/09/2017

Day 4: my second full-day in Kashgar. I went back to the rundown part of the old city, which is currently closed down as some houses & mud walls are falling apart. One old man came back to pick up a carpet from his abandoned house. He told me that his grandparents & parents all lived in this house, but now his family had to leave. Although some families are still living in those almost 'war-torn' like houses, the fate for this part of the old town is unknown. I was lucky to get into the workshop of an old ceramic artist to see how he makes traditional pots. It was a truly amazing experience. His house is right on the edge. But what is more pity than the fate of his house, is that no one will carry on his skills and tradition. Later I went to the renovated old city again. Once you get away from the main streets full of shops for tourists, you can smell, hear and see the non-stop shows of everyday life. At one corner, you know that one family is cooking some stir-fried dish with green pepper, and at the next you see kids in blue school uniforms running around, bringing you into the movie scenes like "the Kite Runner". Sadly, we cannot always prevent the fadeaway of some traditions. What can we do to make our culture adaptive but also resilient? @ Kashgar Old City

Day 3: spent the day in Kashgar. In recent years, the old town has undergone big renovations: rundown houses have been r...
12/09/2017

Day 3: spent the day in Kashgar. In recent years, the old town has undergone big renovations: rundown houses have been rebuilt and main roads have been widened and paved. For travellers who seek images of the past, such development may not be welcomed. But after walking around the renovated old town, you will realise such thought is selfish. Most parts are still very traditional but tidier. People living in the old town are still keeping their traditions, and kids are playing after school, which reminds you of those old movies. For developing countries, keeping balance between improving living quality and preserving tradition is always a challenge. But, a bigger challenge is whether there will be sufficient water to sustain a growing city in the face of climate change. Climate adaptation would be a bigger issue than cultural adaptation for cities like Kashgar which are reliant on glacier-fed rivers. @ Kashgar Old City

Day 2: So finally I arrived in Kashgar, a city that I always want to visit. From here, I will slowly travel back to Urum...
10/09/2017

Day 2: So finally I arrived in Kashgar, a city that I always want to visit. From here, I will slowly travel back to Urumqi, roughly following the Northern route of the old Silk Road as well as the Tarim River & its tributaries. Interesting facts that I learned from reading Peter Frank's book "The Silk Road: A New History of the World": although Kashgar looks pretty much a Muslim city, Christianity was once introduced here (around the mid 6th century), which was at least a century earlier than to Canterbury, England (not to mention the Americas). It's a truly melting pot of different cultures and ideas, and a city that connects the west and the east. @ Kashgar Old City

Day 1: after around 6 hrs' flight with a quick stop-over in Lanzhou, finally arrived in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang ...
09/09/2017

Day 1: after around 6 hrs' flight with a quick stop-over in Lanzhou, finally arrived in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far west China. For the journey from Lanzhou onwards, most of the landscape you would see is desert, vast flat areas of barren land. But once you get close to Urumqi, the majestic Tienshan mountain ranges appear on your left side, offering an amazing view. Tienshan mountains hold one of the largest ice reserves in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region. Some of the largest glaciers in the region can be found in these rugged mountains. The water from glacier & snow melt feeds numerous streams and rivers that made establishing towns and cities in the deserted environment possible.

Day 0: started from the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal on the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, Asia's metropolitan and cer...
09/09/2017

Day 0: started from the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal on the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, Asia's metropolitan and certainly a global city. Hundreds & thousands of years ago, it was just a few islands with small fishing villages far far away from all the trades & plays going on along the old Silk Roads. During the last century, Hong Kong rose to prominence in the world stage as one of the major financial centres. Sitting at the river mouth of the Pearl River Delta, it now plays a crucial role in China's connection with the world on trade & finance. Will Hong Kong lead in innovative financing for climate change & green development?

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