Chad’s Blog

Yes, the sky really was that beautiful blue colour.

Christmas Island couldn’t possibly be an Australian territory if it didn’t have some form of messed up wildlife. Crabs living on land might have qualified, but fish that live on land definitely fit the bill.

Watching them jump a foot from rock to rock was very cool.

The red crabs are cute considering they’re large red relatives of spiders.

What gets a little disconcerting is that they’re everywhere.

Their bigger cousins, the robber crabs are big and scary looking. They really reminded me of a creature from Alien.

What I didn’t realize is that crabs are foragers that eat whatever happens to be on the ground. Judging by the speed with which this guy snatched and ran, banana peels are a tasty treat.

We also stumbled across these little guys who are barely two inches from tip to tip, and have wee yellow eyes.

The trees were still brown, but spring has sprung and cherry blossoms are everywhere.

We had a great hike along the wall near Jiankou. Technically this part of the wall is closed, in reality it’s open enough that you need to buy a ticket.

Some parts were extremely steep, but very manageable. I couldn’t imagine living on the wall hundreds of years ago having to bring water up these cliffs.

It was the first beautiful day in Beijing this spring and it seemed like a great time to get outside. Peking University was the eventual destination.

It’s a beautiful campus, especially when cherry blossoms are in season.

It’s big, green, and run-down. The most interesting parts were the little details, like this old padlock.

One of Kashgar’s big attractions is the weekend animal market.

I’m not sure what a well-trimmed behind says about a sheep, but they were certainly well groomed.

Big Brother is everywhere in China, especially in provinces known to riot. In Kashi, he made himself known in the form of heavily armoured troops marching forcefully through the streets.

He made himself less known, but just as present observing and recording from the roof of our hotel.

I have no idea what this poster actually says, but I get the impression that it’s a pretty stern warning to anyone considering starting an uprising.

During the riots, the government shut down all forms of electronic communication. Local phone access is back, but there was still no internet access, no international phone access, and no international sms messaging in Xinjiang. I went through withdrawal for the first few days without Blackberry service.

It was a spectacular road to nowhere in Xinjiang. Our destination was Kalakule lake, about four hours by car from Kashgar.

Along the long and winding road, we stopped several times to check out the frozen desert. This is the most rugged and bleak terrain I’ve ever seen. At the same time, it was spectacular.

I wouldn’t have known that the rice would have an official home, nor would I have guessed that it would be in the middle of a desert in Kashi where nary a rice paddy is to be found.