Here is a panorama picture made from two pictures taken at the gate of Zhangjiajie, the first place recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in China. It is an amazing and unique place in the world with 243 peaks and 3000 karst upthrusts, waterfalls, limestone caves and rivers.

About twenty entries ago, I posted a picture of myself at the West Lake in Hangzhou, one of the most beautiful places to visit in China. Before I returned to China in June of 2007, I met an American in Pasadena who had told me that she had been to China and that her favorite place was the West Lake, so I gave her a copy of this picture; but not before tweaking it a little. I really liked the way it turned out so I decided to re-post it here for you too.

One of the nicest places to visit in China, that I unfortunately have not had a chance to write about yet, is the West Lake in Hangzhou. I have actually been there a couple of times now and still have not had a chance to see all the nice areas surrounding the lake. Good food, nice people, blue skies, great scenery and a beautiful lake make this place a must-visit in China.

Here is a quick 360 degree video taken from the top of one of the sand dunes of Mingsha Shan, or Singing Sands Mountain, directly in front of the Crescent Moon Spring in Dunhuang, Gansu Province in China. The video was shot on February 26th, 2007, there is snow in many places and half the spring is frozen so you can just imagine how cold it is. However, when you're hiking up, you get so hot and sweaty that you convince yourself it is a good idea to take off your shoes so they don't get full of sand. When you finally calm down after reaching the top you start to realize how cold it is.

It was quite an experience to wake up at 7 am this morning in Urumqi in Xinjiang province and have it still be dark. It was even stranger when 8 o'clock hit and it was still dark. Imagine my surprise when I waited all the way until past nine in the morning to be able to take a picture of the sunrise over Tian shan (Sky or Heaven, Mountain). For some reason, Beijing has decided that the entire country needs to use the same time zone that it does... even provinces that are thousands of kilometers away. Although this is quite confusing, it makes for an interesting time.

Here are a couple of videos taken from Moon Hill. The first one is from the Lookout at the official "top" of Moon Hill. You can see at the end of the first one where I climbed to in order to shoot the second video. I will be posting pictures later that will show how I got to the real top of Moon Hill, however, I was told that the various illegible signs said No Admittance. At that point there are no steps and only a harsh and difficult trail so I do not recommend the climb for everyone. You can hear from my panting in the second video too that i was pretty out of breath by the time I got up there.

Aside from bicycle riding to Dragon Bridge and Bamboo Rafting down the Yulong River, the next best thing to do in Yangshuo has got to be visiting Moon Hill and climbing to the top for a view of the amazing landscape all around you. Although there are many ways of getting there, I opted for the 1 hour bike ride. If you are short on time, there are mopeds, motorcycles, taxis and shuttle services available as well. Click here for some photos of some of the things you can expect to see along the way. By the way, the directions in Lonely Planet for how to get out there are pretty vague. The best way is just to go straight on the road you take to Yulong River (do NOT make a right before the bridge), pass over the bridge, go through the tunnel and make a right at the rotunda. You'll ride for about an half hour or so and cross a cool bridge before you see a sign saying Moon Hill (pictured here) on the right side of the street. Try not to get caught riding during rush hour because these are normal traffic streets and it can get pretty bad especially near the tunnel and rotunda. Once you get there, expect to stay between 30-120 minutes depending on far you like to climb and how much time you like to stay up there.