Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “China”
ong overdue, but not to be missed: video Episode 3 – Dashboard diaries into the Desert. Watch it on Youtube or Youku and let us know what you think! In this episode, we’re heading into the desert. Trading our car for 2 camels and climbing sand dunes in Dunhuang. And just as we thought to have left every tourist behind …
ong-awaited for, crossing the China-Kazakhstan border! Our first test if all our paperwork is in order. Our visa, our car papers, our ATA (Chinese Carnet the Passage, which is the bottle neck in the mind blowing amount of paperwork) and of course, the stuff that we take with us. With proudness we can say, we succeeded!
e woke up in the morning by sun beams coming over the mountains, making the lake look like a mirror while wild horses were grazing in front of the tent. So peaceful and quiet, really amazing. We spend the rest of the day happily without internet and phone reception and were able to focus on daily things like swimming in …
ur last stretch of Chinese highway! Ever since we arrived in Xinjiang, Kazakhstan felt ‘next door’. But this has been very deceiving, even from Urumqi it is again a full day drive to the border. We made it to Sayram Lake, about one hour drive from the border. This crystal clear lake is surrounded by the towering high and snow-capped …
nother one of our ‘pit stops’ along the way to the Netherlands at one of the BYD dealers. No, there’s nothing wrong with our car but a regular check-up can’t hurt, and it gives us interesting photos to share with you! In the afternoon we visited Hongshan Park, really a nice getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city …
day full of emailing, videos editing and an interview at the Urumqi Architectural Design Institute. At this institute we spoke to Mr. Ma about the urban development of Urumqi for the book Maren is writing about ‘Perspectives along the Silk Road: from an urbanizing China to an urbanized Europe’.
e packed up our car and were all set to go to the Heaven Lake, about a 2 hour drive from Urumqi. Heaven Lake, or Tian Chi, is a small, long, steely-blue lake nestled below the view-grabbing 5445m Peak of God.
rumqi, or Wulumuqi in Chinese, is the capital city of Xinjiang and sprawls 20 km across a fertile plain in the shadow of the Tian Shan mountains. Close to two million residents make this a surprising city of high-rise apartments, tower blocks and one of the greatest assets of the city: People’s Park. A fantastic place where young and old, …
injiang, China’s far-flung western frontier is really not around the corner. Three weeks on the way now and after driving again for 9 hours brings us from Dunhuang to Turpan in the middle of China’s Death Valley. At 154m below sea level, it’s the second lowest depression in the world and the hottest spot in China. Only a week ago …
atch episode 2 – Into the Wild in Sichuan – on Youtube or Youku and read all about our 2nd week below. I’m honking vigorously while driving. Not an unusual sight here in China. However, there are no pedestrians and traffic jams where we are. Welcome to rural Sichuan province, where honking my way through groups of yaks has become …