I recently saw the movie Avatar and like most people, was awed by the visual effects. Another thing that awed me though was that I realized that I had been to Pandora before. It wasnt in some far away world, but instead in central China; Hunan actually, Zhangjiajie to be exact.

I have to admit, when it comes to China, and what I was to expect when I arrived there for hte first time in July 2006, I was completely ignorant and naive. Although I have met many Chinese people in my life, both American-born and China natives, that were just as Westernized as anyone else I knew, I for some reason, was expecting to go back in time, to a place where everyone rode around on bicycles, were pulled by rickshaws, fanned themselves with painted Chinese fans and wore the typical grey Mao Zedong suits. Boy was I surprised!

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.

Here are some pictures I took of the hike up to Harmony Peak at the top of Heng Shan, one of China's holiest mountains, often referred to as Nan Yue Shan (Southern High Mountain), while I was volunteer teaching in HuNan province.

I noticed that I have not mentioned anything in my blog about Chairman Mao Zedong yet so I decided to share with you a picture I took of the home he grew up in. For those of you that do not know who he is, he is the founder of the People's Republic of China and one of the original members of the Chinese Communist Party. I am not going to go into any more detail about him here as you can find all the information you want about him online, however...

I am not really sure what it is, but I have a bad habit of loosing it when I get close to the end of my trips. I am less than two weeks from heading home and today I finally blew up on a poor cab driver. In my defense, I had been playing it cool for what I consider far too long when it comes to cab drivers trying to rip me off...