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Rudy Dale | profile | all galleries >> Meanderings around the globe >> Marco Polo revisited - China 2006 tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Khao Yai National Park | Aizu Wakamatsu | Return to Nara | Kyoto in autumn | Bay Area Reflections | Kool Korea | Stendhalismo in Italia, 2007 | Our grand Alaska Adventure | Japan 2006 | Marco Polo revisited - China 2006 | Pacific NorthWest 2005 | Gabon 2005 | Hawaii 2005 | Florida 2005 | Japan 2004 | France June 2003 | Alaska 2002 | Japan 2001 | Finland 2000 | Alaska 2000 | Barrow, AK 2000 | Norway 2000 | London 2000 | Italy 2000 | Denmark 2000 | Fairbanks, AK 2000

Marco Polo revisited - China 2006

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION...

While not finding Kubilai Khan on the throne in Khan-Balik - present-day Beijing - during my own travels to the Middle Kingdom, and finding the communist legacy of the Chairman vastly superceded by the capitalist imperative, modern-day coastal China is again a land of hungry hawkers, some prosperity, rampant mercantilism, and industrious workers that would warm Polo's itemizing heart.

My own travels commenced in May 2006 as an official representative of my nation's national park agency, to formally establish the first sister park relationship between China & the U.S. - Huangshan and Yosemite national parks. Our reception was vastly more friendly, warm and smooth than if you were to travel there on business or on your own initiative, as you can see from the flurry of red carpets that often awaited us. We were fortunate to see Hangzhou, Huangshan and many sites around Beijing during our whirlwind one week visit.
Hangzhou
:: Hangzhou ::
Huangshan
:: Huangshan ::
The Great Wall gauntlet
:: The Great Wall gauntlet ::
Forbidden no longer
:: Forbidden no longer ::