Here is a short video of the 10,000 Buddha Monastery at Sha Tin in Hong Kong. This temple and tourist destination is a must-see while in Hong Kong and this video only begins to show you all there is to see. I have many more that I will post as time goes on, for example, of the statues and alters found at the site and of the hundreds of man-sized golden Buddha statues that line the 400 steps up to the temple and around the bamboo groves.

This ia short video taken from Lugard Road at Victoria Peak of the nightly light show at Hong Kong harbour. I have some great pictures I'll be posting to GaryInChina.com soon.

Today I had a great time celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China from Great Britain. Although I have a ton of video including a spectacular parade, and a pro-democracy rally, I thought I would share this one with you first. It's a short video of the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen which was taken from the Aqualuna boat in Victoria Harbor. As you can see both the fireworks and lasers were choreographed amongst many building surrounding the harbor and played to music. I can't quite keep the camera still considering I'm on a boat but it's still a great video to watch.

What better way to celebrate the return to rule by a communist government then with a Pro-Democracy Rally? Here's a quick video of the 2007 Pro-Democracy Rally in Hong Kong during the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Handover of Hong Kong to China. Unfortunately it was so humid that day that my good video camera wouldn't work so I had to shoot this with my panasonic photo camera's video function. The audio is a bit tough to make out but it's still worth a gander.

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a train in China looks like? Here is a short video of a sleeper car taken during a ride to Beijing from Guilin. Sorry, the room has been used so its a little messy but you get the idea. In the video you see the hall in the sleeper car, my room with 4 beds, two on each side, which not only shows the beds, but where the electrical plugs are, the switches, the area to put your bags and even the foot handles to help you climb up to the top bunks. The bathroom is also shown, the hot water dispenser, and a very short clip of the adjoining hard sleeper car.

Here is a quick video shot walking mainly down Fuxing Lu in the old city of Dali, in Yunnan Province, 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.

Although it is the fifth day of the Spring Festival and I am in Urumqi, which is an autonomous region of China, there does not seem to be any letting up of the festivities. At least not when it comes to fireworks. They really must be cheap here because I find it amazing how many of them are constantly going off. When I buy fireworks in the states, I am lucky to get a good five minute show. This video is shot from the 7th floor of the Xin Rong Hotel between the hours of 9pm and midnight Beijing time and edited for the sake of your time. It kind of sucks because you hear them constantly but being in the hotel room, you can only see the ones right in front of you. By the way, here are a couple of interesting bits of information about travel during this time of year. Yesterday alone there were over 3.8 million people riding the rails and that number is expected to be 4 million riding the rails on Friday. In addition, there were 33 million people on the buses today!

I found this video on YouTube of the fireworks going off on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year 2007, taken from the 26th floor of an apartment building in the suburbs of Beijing. I think it compliments my video very well because it gives you a birds-eye view of what was happening all over the city (and the country for that matter).

During the Spring Festival, people here in China pour into the streets, primarily at the Miao Hui's or temple fairs; however, there is only one Miao Hui that can say that it is still held in a temple. that is the Baiyunguan Temple Fair at the White Cloud Temple. The main reason for the visiting this temple is apparently for prayers and the wishing of good luck for the coming year as you can see from the videos and pictures I will be posting over the next few days. Here are some pictures and a video of one such good-luck-wishing event at the temple; throwing coins (50 coins for 10 yuan) at a bell on the Wo Feng Bridge.

Another interesting thing people seem to do for good luck is rub this ornate pot at Baiyunguan (aka White Cloud Temple) here in Beijing. As I mentioned in previous posts, the miao hui (temple fair) held at this Taoist Temple is actually the only miao hui that is still held at in a temple. That seems to explain why the crowds lining up at the door here are primarily visiting to make prayers and to perform the many rituals for bringing good luck. I found this one interesting as it involves approaching the pot with your eyes closed. Everyone seems to have pretty good aim, and for the most part, they all hit it dead on... I wonder if anyone peeks?

The miao hui at Ditan Park definitely seems to have been the most crowded one of all. The Beijing International Spring Carnival may have had more people but it was more spread out so I really couldn't say which was bigger. One thing I've noticed that these things is that food is huge. It seems to just be a place to eat a lot and then walk it off while doing a little shopping. It's pretty tough getting through the crowds. I always have a backpack with me wherever I go and I must say it was pretty difficult to get around with it on. Unless you really need something, I suggest leaving it at home or at your hotel. I hope you enjoy the video and this collection of pictures. It should give you a great idea of what a Spring Festival celebration is like in China.

Although I accidentally deleted by favorite clip of the evening, I shot over an hour more of the celebrations that took place on the streets of Beijing near the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Wangfujing districts. Take a look at this 10 minute inside look at how China welcomed in 2007, the Year of the Pig, on the night of February 17th, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

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.

When traveling throughout China there is no way to avoid noticing the vast number of ethnic minority groups. Although the Han Chinese officially make up more than 90% of the population, there are 55 other ethnic groups officially recognized by the government. Here is a video clip of a tour guide in Yangshuo named Shirley who was nice enough to sing a song for us in her local Zhuang language. You may find this song familiar. I also used it on the bamboo rafting video I posted yesterday. If you have a chance to visit Guilin or Yangshuo, I would strongly recommend getting in touch with her as she is very nice and very helpful. She works at the travel desk in the lobby of the Yangshuo Regency Holiday Hotel on West Street (Xi Jie) or can also be reached on her cell phone at: 13457360321

Another, more popular way, of returning to Yangshuo after bicycle riding to the Yulong River is by Bamboo Raft. In fact, you can normally bamboo raft all the way back to Yangshuo from practically anywhere on the river. Unfortunately, because I came in the winter, the water levels were pretty low and we could not raft the entire normal route; there were also plenty of areas where it was a bit difficult to pass as it was, but overall, it was still a great experience. And in case you are wondering, YES, you can get wet so remember to keep your feet up if you don't want to. Things are safe though as long as you keep them well-elevated and off the raft itself. Click here for some pictures and video of the trip.

Here is a short video clip taken from the top of Dragon Bridge on the Yulong River in Yangshuo, China. For more pictures from here, click here.

Today I had the priviledge of experiencing one of the most amazing scenic activities one could possibly engage in, taking a bicycle ride from Yangshuo to the nearby Yulong River. A popular activity here is riding a bamboo raft down the Yulong River. Although I plan to do this as well, today I thought it would be best to get to know the terrain a bit and just ride as much as I could. Although I eventually made it to a very nice spot at the river, my desire to take the road less traveled got me lost many times through the fields of some of these small farm villages.

I was extemely lucky to have been visiting Baomo Park on the day that I did because they happened to be performing a rehearsal show of the Annual Spring Festival Show. The Guangdong TV station and various other reporters were also there to report on the event. It was definitely an interesting experience and quite the teaser for the up-and-coming New Years show.

Here's Part Two of Baomo Park's Sneak Peak of their 2007 Chinese New Year Show.

Due to popular demand, I decided to post a short video clip of a view of the world famous Bund in Shanghai taken from Pearl park in the new Pudong side of the Huangpu River, or Huangpu Jiang as it is known in Chinese. Shanghai, like any major city, is huge; not only in size but also in population reaching almost 10 million, so keep a look out for more videos from this city, its people and places. I will be returning here, what many call the Paris of the East and a city which is set to become a major global financial center, in March as well so I will have plenty to show you. As you can tell from this video clip, there is not much Chinese architecture here. In fact, all you really see on this strip of coastline are remanents of China's colonial rule and the days of British and French control in China trade and finance.

Just 30 kilometers away from Suzhou, a place many refer to as Venice of the East, and a one-hour bus ride away from Shanghai, ZhuoZhuang is definitely a nice place to spend the day. Although I have more video I will be adding later, I thought I would share with you this quick two-minute clip of a small boat ride, gondola-style, taken through the canals of this ancient city.

If I had to pick one thing that I think is on everyone’s minds when they think about China, I would have to say money. Whether it is that China is taking jobs/money, it is keeping its money artificially undervalued, it is attracting investment/money, or that it can help make you money, everyone is thinking about China and money. For that reason, I thought it would be a good idea that my first set of videos be about money. So, here it is, a collection of free videos explaining a few useful things about Chinese money; a must see for anyone thinking about spending money while in China.

DKar.com This is a pretty cool web site with videos and pictures from a man teaching in Chengdu, China.