Tagged With "Great Wall of China"
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Re: Road Trip, Day 5: My Birthday in Chinatown
What a great way to end a roadtrip. I've visited Chinatown many times in the 20+ years I lived in California, always on the agenda when going to the Bay area. But you saw things in it that I just didn't appreciate. I mostly went for a great meal. You seem to have experienced a genuine slice of China in America. A belated Happy Birthday, PM! Wishing you many more.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#121)
A steep roofed building that looks like it's built around a tall brick wall. No idea where we are, though.
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Re: United, Air China sign up new codeshares
Good to hear. I just took an Air China flight and the airline has some good points for the longf distance budget traveler, like free meals and free video options.
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Re: China amusement park gets full-size Titanic
I wonder if there's a "made in China" label on this boat?
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Re: Ethiopia Musings: 2) Languages and People
Another fascinating look at a rarely visited place, Lester, thanks! I've heard that the Ethiopians send their bureaucrats to China for training. Any evidence of that in your visit?
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#113)
You two must have sharper eyes than mine; I thought the background was painted on a wall and that this was an indoor display! Actually, I'm still not sure it isn't...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#113)
"...I thought the background was painted on a wall..." Anything is possible P, - deciduous palm trees painted on a wall?
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Re: Visiting Cuba.
Very helpful. Looking forward to part II. Sounds a bit like traveling to China before the 1990s. I'd like to know the best way to organize an independent trip and what to see and how to get around on your own.
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Re: Visiting Cuba.
The enthusiasts I've met in the US are looking for genuine cars ! The Cuban guys call these blasts from the past " Frankencars " Like the original Frankenstein's monster these beauties are made of parts from maybe a dozen other cars. Moskvich and Lada engines from Russia. Brakes from China and everything else off the scrap heap! Panel beaters ( now there's a dying trade ) will beat a new wing from the hood of a dead Russian truck in a few hours. You'd be surprised how much these trade for in...
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Re: The newest, biggest, bestest airport: Aren't they all?
I confess to a preference for developing world airports - small, simple, friendly places, like the towns they get us to when we choose to fly at all. I realize that I'll likely need to go through one or 2 of these urban behemoths to get to them, and then I'm reminded I'm on the right track again when baggage claim is a few steps into the building and it's a couple of guys who just pushed a cart to an opening in the wall and I can still see the plane.
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Re: Our 3 Favorite Beaches on Philipsburg, St. Martin
Beautiful photos of Philipsburg, St. Martin beachs and great information!!! Thank you for sharing...I'd love to visit there.
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Re: Our 3 Favorite Beaches on Philipsburg, St. Martin
Thanks Marilyn, they are absolutely beautiful. Hope you can make it someday. Little Divi Beach is nice too. Happy Travels.
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Re: Our 3 Favorite Beaches on Philipsburg, St. Martin
There are few things more beautiful than watching the sunset on a tropical beach. Today I've found a few more worth exploring. Thanks, Samantha!
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Re: Our 3 Favorite Beaches on Philipsburg, St. Martin
Thank you DrFumbleFinger I agree, there is nothing better than relaxing on the beach and watching the sunset. Amazing. Thanks for the comment.
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Re: Our 3 Favorite Beaches on Philipsburg, St. Martin
We fell in love with St. Martin! The beaches and food on the beach were amazing. Great post. Love the pics!
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#306)
Here is your next puzzle clue. A brick wall and iron gate protect the entrance to the garden at this historic site.
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Re: Why Spending a Business Conference in Cyprus Is a Great Idea
Cyprus sounds great, never actually considered the possibility of picking an excellent business conference venue, I'd often just look out for something functional.
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Re: February 17, 2020: San Francisco Views
Go to Fishermans Wharf. Rent a Bicycle. Ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Stop at all viewing spots. On to Sausalito. Stop for Coffee and a cake. Sit on the sea wall and watch the Fishing Boats cleaning their nets. The Seagulls will steal your piece of cake when you're not looking . Back on the Bicycles and on to Tiburon using the Cycle Tracks. Find the Ferry Terminal then back home to base. Wonderful days excersise !
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Re: Town Hall, Manchester, England (Where Gumbo Was)
Manchester City Hall featured in the news last night, as it was there that the Brexit Referendum result was officially announced.
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Re: Town Hall, Manchester, England (Where Gumbo Was)
Great piece! I loved Manchester. You showed some great details of Town Hall that I missed.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#215)
No, the furthest distance in the picture is a wall, just a couple of yards past the pillars.
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Re: Why your airline chose your plane
I rode a 747 to and from China a few months ago. It was the first time in years that I had been on one, and it reminded me that not all coach flights have to be like a sardine can. The wide body had room to walk and stretch on the 13 hour flight, and toilets were actually comfortable. I wish they were still using them on cross country flights.
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Re: Most of China's Wall in danger: Can it be saved?
I'm not sure it's even a good idea to rebuild the entire thing, but certainly significant sections should be restored and preserved. I think most of us agree this great human site should survive.
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Re: Most of China's Wall in danger: Can it be saved?
This is old news. Very old. Villages in proximity to the wall have been built from it's bricks for eons and the parts that people love to visit and pretend are historical are nothing of the kind, but completely newly built and Disney-fied versions for the tourists, foreign & domestic. The Chinese government, in its (lack of) wisdom has no more interest in cultural preservation than it does in playing fair in any area of endeavor. History and its artifacts are tools having no value beyond...
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Re: How do you buy your travel?
There's been no mention, that I noticed, of consolidators for multi-segment air travel. I've had great success over the years using Airtreks and now, after a number of bookings, have a "relationship" with an agent there. The only job of a consolidator is to find their clients the cheapest fares point to point and string them together to make a unique personalized trip. They use airlines with which they have contracts for the lowest fares so, short of a spectacular sale, will, as far as I can...
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Re: Feb. 4, 2016: Speke Hall, Liverpool England
The early architecture of nearby Chester predates Speke Hall by over 1.000 years. I asked a Canadian girl who was visiting my daughter if she would like to walk around the 2,000 year old wall of Chester. Built by the Romans. "We did history in school. It sucks, Cant we just drive ?" I think appreciation of the finer points of life are acquired when you turn 40.
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Re: Paris builds a wall, too—around the Eiffel Tower
Interesting to note that the French think a wall will work.
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Re: Paris builds a wall, too—around the Eiffel Tower
Well, yes, in that limited sense. My house walls work, too, for their purpose. Quite a bit different from the proposed 'The Wall.'
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Re: London development plans "sky pool"
I suspect it's going to look quite a bit different "as built," since I notice that in the picture, the water runs right to the edge, and one side hasn't even a place to sit! By the time it's done, there will need to be an ugly wall to keep bathers in, and keep water from splashing pedestrians below. At ten stories above building walks and parking lots, I'm not sure the view down through the pool will be worth it, either.
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
Never been anywhere in Nevada except Vegas. Didn't know they had beautiful places like this. Can you get there from Vegas as a day trip? Was it hot?
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
Well, for a start, make sure you visit Reno, Travel Luver. It's a much small town than Vegas but still has all the casinos, restaurants, etc that you'd expect from a Nevada City. From here it's easy to do a day trip to Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or down to Carson City. Reno is actually the closest major city to Great Basin National Park, say about a 3-4 hour drive. Vegas is 6-7 hour drive away. Salt Lake City is closer to Great Basin than Vegas. But you really can't do it as...
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
A friend who was a park planner for the National Park Service said his favorite park was Big Bend in Texas. He's a lover of desert landscapes, wide-open spaces and, in the case of this park too, almost no visitors. Another orphan, no doubt. http://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
Thanks for the note, PortMoresby. I've visited a lot of the US parks, but Big Bend is still on my "to do" list. They do white water rafting trips there, which appeals to me. One of the things that a lot of folks enjoy about these "orphans" is that they are so sparsely peopled, with few tourists. I think the US Parks system is the USA's biggest tourist asset. I'm certainly a huge fan. Seems whenever I'm in a US Park, more German is spoken than English. The German folks certainly are aware of...
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
The comments on "orphan parks" made for some interesting thoughts. How do we (as a society) choose what to save for parks? When you consider urban parkland, the point is obvious: people who have no land of their own need areas for public recreation. In other cases, individuals with wealth and influence have created parks in areas important to them personally (think of Acadia and the Rockefellers, Palisades Interstate Park and Morgan partners). But setting aside and maintaining areas like...
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
Pheymont, you speak as if budget cuts are in the future when in fact the Park Service has been functioning with less and less for years now. The Service has a mission to which they're dedicated but less funding has meant "deferred" maintenance on buildings, trails, you name it. And when features of a park are deemed unsafe or there isn't personnel to oversee visitors then parts are closed. I've experienced that myself recently when a trail I've visited in years past was closed. I have no...
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
Costs for the existing parks is mostly maintenance and salary. In the face of a broke federal government, I would favor increased user fees. $10-20 for a family to visit a national park for a week is the greatest bargain out there. People who love the parks would happily pay twice as much and I don't think the extra cost would be a deterent. Also, it's reasonable for those with concessions to pay up more than they are. They are given a monopoly and some of those profits should go back to the...
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
No, I'm painfully aware of the past and present cuts...but I see more ahead. My concern is that there are loud voices (my own included) to speak out against cuts to parks that have a big "fan base," including Gateway here in the NY area. Because so many speak out for those parks, I fear that NPS will increasingly "hide the damage" by even more drastic cuts to others--perhaps even outright abandonment. And that's not so far-fetched an idea. For some 20 or more years here in New York, Prospect...
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Re: A visit to Great Basin National Park
PHeymont, I don't believe we disagree. I think the problem is that the park system relies on "federal handouts" and when a government is broke, there's less to hand out. As I said, I sort of favor them being self-funded by their user and concession fees. That's a lot of money already (if it was all kept in the parks) and people would be willing to pay more IF they knew the money stayed in the parks and didn't get diverted back into the Washington's general budget. Orphan parks would be...
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? (11/20/13)
It's been a great game, Gumbo fans, and you've now pinned it to the wall. Tuesday morning's post will confirm your correct answer, with more details. It was fun playing with the group. In answer to the question: I've only been to Kaliningrad twice, both times on paper. Most recently, I was reading Tatiana, and was struck by Smith's comments on the rebuilding of churches, partly as vanity projects of the new capitalist class. When I came to the chapter in which Renko is attacked at the...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Nov. 26, 2013: Zhangjiajie National Park, China
Avatar was one of my favorite movies! Now I've another reason to go to China (besides the awesome food!)
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Re: Sri Lanka: A Land Like No Other (Part 8) Hill Country
This is the chapter I've been waiting for, DrF. I 'm a lover of all things tea, which includes stays in tea growing places. I've made pilgrimages to the hill countries of various parts of India, China and Malaysia and now I believe "Ceylon" must be the next target. Many thanks for the fine introduction.