China

We were interested in seeing parts of China rarely visited by Westerners. Orient Odyssey International Travel Service (1385 Gulf Rd., Ste. 203, Point Roberts, WA 98281-9005; phone 800/637-5778, fax 800/564-8893 or visit www.orientodyssey.com) organized a 19-day trip for us in July 1998 that included Beijing, Urumqi, Kashgar, Turpan, Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, Lanzhou, Xi'an and Datong.

This tour was absolutely fascinating. We wrote a list of all the sites we wanted to visit and, for our group of 12, company president Thomas Cheng put it together for us at a cost of $3,099 per person (from Los Angeles) including three meals a day, a national guide, local guides and all tipping.

In Urumqi we were able to visit a Kazakh family living in a yurt and a local Uygur family in their home. In Kashgar it seemed as if time had stood still for 100 years. On the main street, in shop- after shop, people were still making things by hand, such as brooms, pots and pans and musical instruments. Our taxi back to our hotel was a donkey cart.

In Lanzhou the scenery was absolutely incredible on the way to the Binglingsi Buddhist Caves by boat on the Yellow River (it rivals the Three Gorges for sheer beauty).

Since we had already been to Xi'an on a previous trip, four of us chose to go to Datong instead, where we saw the most spectacular Buddhist sculptures and carvings at the Yungang Grotto.

We were a week into our tour before we realized we had. not seen another American. We felt it was the real China that tourists seldom see. The people were kind and friendly and equally as curious about us as we were about them. The Silk Road was a step back in time. See it before it catches up with the rest of the world.

SIMON & ARLENE KLEIN, Sugarloaf Key, FL

COPYRIGHT 2002 Martin Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group