Wandering and Wondering

Wikitravel suggest blue dragon pool of Lijiang as China's finest view and it goes on to add Tiger Leaping Gorge as China's finest trek. It was hard to imagine what could be so great about a gorge! guess its time to experience.  A 2 days walk marked with villages with Yulong mountain always in front and Yantze river continuously deepening the gorge deep below.  "Be like water, making its way through crack" Yulong mountain in Back drop A guest house on the way, but way to early to stop Numbers have always fascinated me and here is another one. The owner of one guest house told me that almost 50 trekker visit the tiger leaping gorge everyday but the lower reaches of gorge accessible by bus is visited by 5000 people. These numbers speak volume about the tourism industry these days.  I continued the trek with the help on some sign boards but the path is normally well marked.  And I wish i could know what they want me to The above sign bo...

It is always special to travel first time to a country. It is the only time when imagination meets reality. How much did China surprise me? It cannot be told in numbers. What can be told in numbers is only the number of days I spent, 12 days. These twelve days had a strong analogy with Vipassana meditation! A Vipassana meditation is designed to detach one from daily life distractions and outside world. The mediation is designed for 10 days sometimes. One goes through the hardest time for first 3-4 days. Its only then one realizes the presence of self being. The sound of heart beat, the focus of imagination, the force of air gushing in and out of nose.  I was in a land totally unfamiliar with an absolutely unknown language and off the road. What more was an existence of an individual in Singapore like never before. I could barely keep my thoughts off! Initial few days were frustrating because of no proper conversation, getting lost, ending up in wrong places, ordering food t...