We spent 3 weeks in China in 2000. Took a boat up
the Yangtze River, went through the Three Gorges before the dam was finished and
the canyon of the river inundated by water backed-up by the dam.
On the cliff above the Yangtze, we saw a coal mine and all the tailings were
dumped down the cliff into the river. Beijing's air was brown with coal
smoke.
It was, however, a beautiful country in its way and we
had a wonderfully educational trip. Lots of interesting and unusual
social observations. Far too much to discuss here.
In response to Barbara McCrary's post regarding trip to
China:
One of my dearest friends, who is an Equine vet at my old
college, went to China with some students in May of this year. She
visited us last weekend and had some interesting things to say about China;
especially since she has taken a trip each year for the past 3-4 years.
(Sweden, France, mainly European destinations).
Anyway,
she said the pollution is UNBELIEVABLE - China has not been as concerned with
air quality as the rest of the world in its haste to get "industrialized" -
now the country is in a bit of a panic due to the upcoming Bejing
Olympics. They know that the athletes would not be able to breathe in
their air. She said when they landed in the US, all the students could
say was, "OMG Fresh Air!" China is trying desperately to implement
solutions to this issue.. I hope it will be OK to send our
country's horses over there!
Also, the difference between
Europe and a communist China is, shall we say "eye-opening". They also
went to the Great Wall, and 3 or 4 major cities. (Bejing, Shanghi, I
cannot remember the other names....) One place, they saw uniformed men
moving a HUGE mountain of dirt from point A to point B - with buckets.
Here, it would be a loader. Lots of stark differences between classes of
people.
Anyway, maybe you have been there before and this is all
old news. If so, I am sorry. I told her that if she
ever gets to go to Dubai I want to go, but she doubts that Lake Erie will ever
send a group to the ME. She did have some cool pictures from China....
Have fun and be careful!
-- Renee E.
Dorsey "Love Many, Trust Few - but always paddle your OWN canoe."
