Here’s a classic video covering the first flight of this legend (the video is in 2 parts). Enjoy!

I must be careful with using too much past tense in this story, coz its not over yet! Even as i write, the good folks at Boeing are already embarking on the next chapter -- the B747-800. You can immerse in the whole saga from the beginning at Flight Global’s coverage of the 40th anniversary at this link:

http://www.flightglobal.com/page/747-40th-Anniversary/747-40th-Anniversary-Evolution/

I had the honour of visiting the very first B747-100, at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Here’s a picture of RA001:

The world witnessed the passing of a legend – Michael Jackson, and the Nobel crowning of another. Descending from his almost perfect pedestal, Tiger Woods proved that he was human afterall. Roger Federer and Kim Cloisters showed what true Champions are made of – with truly amazing comebacks. An AirFrance A330 disappeared over the high seas, while the skill and good fortune of the Hudson river crew ensured a happy ending for a bunch of A320 passengers. Earthquake in Sumatra & Snowstorms in europe and the US, wrapped up another year of natural disasters – although none were equal in magnitude  to the tragic 2008 sichuan earthquake. H1N1 almost brought the panic to SARS levels, before making a quiet exit – at least for now. World economies and stock markets which were tumbling down a seemingly bottomless crevasse, hit the brakes and pleasantly surprised with a sharp turn-around.

Back home in Singapore, the AWARE saga, SPUR schemes, recession heroes, the Mas Selamat re-capture, foreigner-influx debates, citizenship privilege upgrades and the SEA games took most of the headlines.

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2010, the end of a decade & the year of the tiger, promises new adventures, hopes, dreams and the occasional setbacks. Both my sisters-in-law(my brother’s wife in India &  Ming in singapore) are due to deliver their bundles of joy sometime this year. We have a few trips lined up to explore the world and make the best of our annual leave. Big sporting event of the year - the FIFA world cup. More A330s in the pipeline means more new destinations for me. Although we hear of green shoots everywhere, not all is well with the world economy, and i expect a few more shocks to the downside for the western world, and thus – to a limited extent – for asia as well.

As we mark yet another milestone, build on our past and stride into the future, we wish you safe takeoffs and landings on your personal journeys towards your date with destiny.

Keep in touch, thank you very much!

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Meaningful 2010!

Au Revoir B747-400, Great Wall Airlines and 2009!

(Source)
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We sat in a cab yesterday, stuck in traffic in central London. We watched people walk by and wondered. What are they thinking about? What do they want out of life? What do they think of themselves?

There were hundreds of them…different shapes…different sizes. A businessman in a pin-striped suit, briefcase in hand, concentrating on his sales report; he almost stepped in front of a motorcycle. A salesgirl, grotesquely overweight…yellow hair streaked with brown…wishing she hadn’t had so much to drink the night before. A lawyer daydreaming about his secretary. A man who would have rather been fishing…still in his waxed coat. A woman annoyed about something. A heavy construction worker, his legs splayed outward as he walked. A tense young woman who dared not look up. A woman worrying about her son. A man thinking about buying a new car. One man trying to remember a line from a song he learned 30 years ago. Another talking to herself. One looked like a doctor taking an afternoon stroll. Another was stark raving mad.

All of them walking along…from one place to another…shuffling along…the living towards the dead.

We were thinking of our children. What a different world they grow up in. And yet, it is still the same too. A man might have been stuck on a London street 50 years ago…and hundreds of years ago he might have watched the same shopkeepers and carpenters walk by, each caught in his own thoughts like a fly in a spider’s web.

Our old friend John Mauldin wrote to say that his mother’s experience was not much different than ours. She joined the WACs during the war…met John’s father…and then nature took her course.

But both John and your editor had a big advantage in life. We both caught the upswing.

Not so with our children. They inherit a different world. America was the world’s leading nation in the ’50s and ’60s. And it was growing in power and wealth – rapidly. We grew up with it. Things were getting better and better…we were sure we’d live much grander, richer, and more exciting lives than our parents. The sky was always the limit!

Now, America is in decline. China’s economy grows while hers declines. The Far East has savings, while she has none. The Asia nations are net exporters, making huge profits…while American industries are judged too old, too expensive, and too highly regulated to compete. Americans have debt up the kazoo, while their competitors have little. A young person in America has to look forward to supporting 70 million retired baby boomers…and paying for their drugs, their food, their wars, and their bailouts.

For our children – ours and John’s – the situation on a personal level is different too. Coming from poor families, we could look forward to much more wealth and material success than our parents ever knew.

We came back to Ireland this week for a reason that our parents would never have dreamed of. Your editor has set up a family office. It is a very modest affair by family office standards. The typical family office manages a fortune of $100 million, according to The New York Times. We may not even be on the same planet with these rich families; but we are in the same universe. That is, we try to think about…and manage…our wealth as rich people do…as a family legacy or an endowment, not as a retirement fund.

What wealth we have accumulated – even if it is paltry – will be held by a family-owned corporation. Then, the corporation, run largely by the adult children, manages the assets – from our base in Ireland.

Your editor, freed from the responsibility of managing his own money will be free to wander and think…like a vagabond, a gypsy, a refugee, an itinerant mendicant…forced to sup on whatever is at hand and take lodging wherever he can find it – but favoring the Four Seasons and Chateau Margot when they are available.

Whatever else this does, it puts the children in a very different situation from their parents. Instead of starting out with nothing, they’re starting out with something. While this would seem to be a big advantage to them, it has huge hidden disadvantages. Like America itself, they are in danger of finding themselves slipping downhill. Instead of expecting things to get better, they may find it hard even to hold onto what they’ve got. Instead of the “Morning in America” that Ronald Reagan promised, they may find that it seems more like evening, both in their personal as well as their national lives.

“From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations,” say the French. The grandfather begins without a coat. His grandson ends that way.

But what to do? Spend it all now…so the children begin with the same clean slate we had? Move to Brazil or India – countries with more obvious upside?

In the deep, cosmic end, it probably doesn’t matter. The advantage to starting out on an upper rung of the ladder may be about equal to the disadvantage of having to worry about falling off. Who can know?

Every man has to play the cards he’s been dealt. What else can he do? He may have a humpback or a beautiful voice. He may have had a hard upbringing or a soft head. He may have a fortune worth of poetry in his soul but not dime in his pocket. As far as we can tell, every young man starts out even. Each one begins life in the same place – where he is. And every generation takes what it is given, and makes the best of it.

The real advantage in life is having the gumption to get on with it; no one knows where that comes from.

Until next time,

Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning Australia

Geology: Huangshan Mountain, with a maximum altitude of 1864m, has a complex geological history. The formation of the peaks dates back to the Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era as a result of crustal movements and subsequent uplift. During the late Mesozoic Era and the early Cenozoic Era, a large amount of granite magma erupted through fissures due to further crustal movements, which became the main body of the Mountain after cooling down.  (Source)

Getting there: From Shanghai, there are direct trains as well as buses. The 12-hour overnight train via Nanjing is a popular choice, while the comfortable bus ride from Shanghai South Bus Station takes 6 hours. As the train tickets had run out, we took option 3: Fast D-train to Hanghzhou, followed by a 4-hr bus to Huangshan.

Route: Our plan was to ascend via the shorter Eastern steps, spend a night up there, and descend via the Western Cable Car. But mother nature had other plans, as you will discover later…

Before you conclude that this trip was a walk in the park, remember formidable mother nature? On the day of our descent to the cable car station, she still gave us beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine.. and just for fun, she added some winds -- strong gusting winds!

Have a look: 

The winds were so strong that the Western Cable Car service was suspended for the rest of the day, and we had to walk all the way down… Ouch! It was tough going, with the wind changing its mind every few seconds. At times, we and our fellow climbers just had to crouch down low on the narrow steps for minutes, holding on to dear life. It’d be comical, if it was not so scary! The winds mellowed as we got lower down the mountain, and after a quick snack for lunch we got on our direct bus back to Shanghai.

Although we missed out on the spectral mists due to the dry high pressure weather, it was already more than what we’d expected. Truly, spectaculare!

map of gansu

Ok, here comes the much delayed part 2 of our Qinghai Gansu trip. Here’s a recap: We did this trip in late August trying to retrace a part of the ancient Silk Route through Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and a bit of Qinghai. Our route included famous cities such as Xi’an, Lanzhou, Dun Huang and Xining. Part 1 of this travelogue saw us on top of the Lan Shan Mountain overlooking the city of Lanzhou on the banks of the Huang He (Yellow River).

Lanzhou to Dunhuang

Long queues of travelers were snaking up to the entrance of Lanzhou train station, thanks to the ramped up security checks due to the Olympics and the militant activities in this region. After half an hour of jostling, we made it in to the waiting room, for the overnight train to the desert oasis of Dunhuang. It sure was crowded, and we were probably very lucky to have gotten our sleeper tickets the night before.

As our train made its way westward into the setting sun, we caught fleeting glimpses of tiny settlements, corn fields and gushing rivers carrying the red silt that made up most of the soil here. A dinner cart came along and we bought a simple meal. Shortly afterwards, it began to drizzle and then pour.

We awoke the next morning to a dazzling red sunrise, the reddest I’d seen at least! Few shrubs survived the vast expanse of sand that lay on both sides of the track. Dun Huang (meaning Blazing Beacon) – Lonely Planet guide best describes it: “ After traveling for hours, the monotonous desert landscape gives way to lush, green cultivated fields with mountainous rolling sand dunes as a backdrop.”  The new train station was an impressive stone structure, and about 30mins from town by bus.

We decided to hop on a mini-bus and head straight to the main attraction of Dunhuang – the Mogao Caves. Said to be one of the greatest repositories of Buddhist Art in the world, the Caves were the last stop on the desert where wealthy merchants and caravans offered prayers before the arduous journey to the West. Almost 500 in number, these caves were carved into the side of a canyon wall stretching 1.7km. Thousands of murals & paintings line the walls inside, the ‘paint’ mainly derived out of expensive minerals imported from Central Asia – Malachite(green), Cinnabar(red) and Lapis Lazuli(blue). Earliest caves dated to AD366, and others were added along as the Wei, Zhou, Sui and Tang dynasties successively ruled the area. To preserve the precious paintings, cameras were not allowed and we had to follow a guide as he showed us around 10 selected caves. As we stood in the dark hollow of the caves and followed the beam of our guide’s torchlight on the walls, we were transported into worlds long gone, but which really did exist. Quite an experience, that. If you do visit, do also spare some time for the newly built Dunhuang Research Centre, opposite the caves.

On the mini-bus again, we reached town and checked into a hotel. In the evening, we got on a local bus and headed for the MingSha Shan (Singing Sands Mountain), where the Oasis ended and the desert began. And yes, as with any tourist attraction in China, you can expect to pay a hefty entrance fee! The winds had picked up and we needed masks to protect ourselves from the blowing sand. After half an hour of trudging through the sand, we reached the crescent moon lake at the base of the enormous sand dunes. Even though wooden footholds were planted into the slope of the dune to help people get to the top, it was tough climbing. The view at the top was worth it though, with more dunes meandering as far as the eye could see. After a few minutes braving the wind and sand in it, we chose the expeditious route down and raced to the bottom on a terrifying wooden sled! The capsize rate was 70% that day, but both of us just about made it… phew! Our legs too shaky from the experience, the only way back was a camel ride to the entrance.

By nightfall we were back in town and in the middle of the night market. Local artists and peddlers sold some amazing pieces, and we just had to buy some. Some delicious street food wrapped up an eventful day for us in Dun Huang, and we made our way back to the hotel.

Dunhuang to Jiayuguan

Post-lunch the next day, we got on a train back to the east. Six hours later, we’d arrived in Jiayuguan, a fortress town on the Silk Route, at the mouth of the Hexi corridor. A smallish town, it’s home to a Ming dynasty fort and a few sections of the Great Wall. It was supposed to be the last civilized stronghold of imperial China guarding against the barbarians of Central Asia and the deserts. We got on a local bus the next day and were one of very few visitors at the fort. It offered spectacular views of the snow capped Qilian Shan range against a brilliant blue sky. The Great Wall museum adjoining the fort is definitely worth visiting. After hanging around a local market for a few hours, we headed into town for dinner and the train ride back to Lanzhou.

Lanzhou again

After what had turned out to be the most uncomfortable journey of the trip (sitting tickets on a packed overnight train for 9 hours), we were back in Lanzhou, at our favorite hotel, for some well earned sleep. In the evening we made our way to the South Bus Station to try and buy some tickets to the Tibetan monastery town of Xiahe famous for the Labrang Monastery. To our surprise, the ticket lady refused to sell us any and told us off. Subsequently, a friendlier staff at the station explained that it was a temporary directive from the central government, barring all foreign visitors to this Tibetan town in light of the ongoing unrest in Lhasa.

Lanzhou to Xining

After a pleasant evening along the banks of the HuangHe, we set off the next day on a bus ride to Xining, the capital of Qinghai province. Perched on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, Xining is the only large city in Qinghai. A surprisingly modern-looking and clean city, it’s a stark contrast with the rest of the mostly nomadic towns and villages in the province.

Next day, we booked a local tour to the iconic Qinghai lake (Blue Sea Lake), a huge saline lake 100km to the west of Xining. Located 10,500 feet above sea level, the mini-bus had to climb through some breathtaking valleys and grasslands to get there. If the journey was breathtaking, the beauty of the lake would leave you gasping… and its not coz of the altitude! Ok, maybe I am getting carried away a bit…  Serene and untouched, one felt humbled by this huge expanse of blue. It is no wonder they named the province after this lake! If you looked at a map of this province, it is said to resemble a rabbit, with Qinghai lake being the eye of the rabbit. The tour also included other interesting sites such as the Riyue Shan (Sun Moon pass), Jade factory, dried Yak meat market and some grassland and desert views. It was a whole day trip, and definitely worth the price.

From Xining, we ventured out again the next day to the small Tibetan town of Tongren (Repkong in Tibetan), a mid-sized monastery town. It is home to small monasteries and temples, and we spent a night here. Apart from an interesting conversation with a Tibetan tour guide-turned-aspiring monk, and a walk around the local market, it was an uneventful stay. The journey there and back was more interesting than the place itself!

The last day in Xining involved a short trek up Beishan Si (North Mountain Temple), a 1700-year-old cliff-face temple. In the evening, we treated ourselves to a delicious hotpot dinner. At the crack of dawn the next morning, we were onboard a Hainan airlines flight winging our way home back to Shanghai.

It was a memorable trip. Lots of traveling by buses and trains really helped us to sample the diverse ways of life in north western China. For the next travelogue, we will probably change the presentation style and have more pictures and fewer words. It’s probably faster that way, and easier on the keyboard!

Useful Links:
Silk Route – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_road
International Dunhuang Project – http://idp.bl.uk/
Dunhuang Art – http://www.silk-road.com/dunhuang/dhcaves.html
Jiayuguan Fort – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiayuguan_(pass)
Qinghai Lake – http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/19Scenery475.html

The financial turmoil in the world will probably continue in 2009 – cascading into more bankruptcies, job losses, etc –  like the lingering aftershocks of a dying earthquake. When it does subside this year or the next, we would have a far healthier world relieved of its excesses. Obama as the new president of the United States will probably try and reverse some of the unilateral military policies of the previous administration. That would definitely help to constrain the fuel feeding the fire of hatred & terrorism.

Here we are yet again… at the doorstep of a brand new year! Jan 1 2009 – Of course its just a date, just another moment in cosmic history. Mankind has been through terrible tragedies before, and it will in the future. We have always evolved to be a stronger and better lot, as we learned from our collective mistakes. So lets pick up where we left off, and walk into the future with two indispensable items – Hope and Faith – the enablers of our survival and progress!

All the best, and may Love, Health and Happiness be yours in the year ahead. Happy 2009 from the both of us!

There’s also a modern version by ‘Voice Male’, the Belgian acapella group -- very nicely done. You can listen to it free at this website: http://www.last.fm/music/Voice+Male/_/Weather+With+You?autostart

Enjoy!

Source: http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/ 

Our latest trip was to Gansu and Qinghai provinces (and a bit of Shaanxi) in northwestern China. It was two weeks long and was during the last week of August to the first week of September. While most of southern and eastern china was engulfed in rains or sweltering heat during this period, the area we were traveling to, was blessed with clear blue skies and mild temperatures.

Our route followed most of the Northern Silk Route, and to just to have a touch of authenticity, we decided to be in proximate contact with the ground just like the travelers and merchants over the ages. This meant trains and buses for most part of the journey. Of course, it was cheaper too!

Shanghai to Xi’an(Shaanxi province)

We managed to book a soft sleeper berth on a train from Shanghai to Xi’an. Soft sleeper compartments have 4-bedded sections with doors. The doors help to screen off some of the smoke from the notorious Chinese train smokers (or should I call them ‘chain smokers’). Anyways, it was a comfortable overnight 16 hour journey, arriving in Xi’an, the ancient capital of China, early in the morning.

Xi’an to HuaShan

As we were quite familiar with this city from a previous trip here, we walked straight to the bus bay alongside the train station, and got on a 2-hr bus to Hua Shan, one of the five most sacred – and spectacular – Taoist mountains of China. From a distance, the five distinct peaks of this mountain seem to form the shape of a flower (‘hua’ in Chinese), hence the name. It is famous for its natural vistas of steep and narrow paths, precipitous crags, and a high mountain range.

With at least 10 days of hard traveling ahead of us, we decided against trying to trek up the mountain, and headed straight to the cable car station. The beautiful ride up led to the North Peak. Wading through the swarms of fellow tourists meandering the various trails crisscrossing the various summits, we finally reached the highest point, the South Peak. Descending by cable car again, we caught the last bus back to Xi’an.

Xi’an to Tian Shui (Gansu province)

After a refreshing overnight rest in Xi’an (Xi’an Ibis hotel – nice budget place), we took a 5 hour train ride up to this small town. We scored a First here – our first STANDING tickets, traveling in the lowest class possible! Yes, the train system actually allows a certain number of standing tickets for desperados like us. But we didn’t have to stand for long, thanks to the kindness of our fellow travelers, ordinary Chinese folks who took turns letting us sit on their seats.

Tian Shui is famous for the Buddhist caves at Maiji Shan, and was the main reason for out visit there. This area of Gansu is also known for its variety of fruits and nuts, which are exported to other parts of China and the world. A minibus covers the 45 minute ride from the train station. On the way, we passed by numerous fruit plantations… apples, corn, walnuts, grapes, peaches, etc. Maiji Shan is basically a solitary rock formation, full of niches and statues carved onto its face, all connected by catwalks and steep spiral staircases. Initially carved during the Northern Wei and Zhou dynasties (AD 386-581), it was more spectacular than we’d imagined, and is probably better described by the photographs.

Tian Shui to Lanzhou

After a sumptuous bowl of Lanzhou La mien at the bus station, we got on a 4-hr long distance bus to the capital of Gansu province, Lanzhou. It is a major transport hub, and the beginning of some epic overland journeys into Xinjiang, Sichuan and Tibet. A distinct change in the diversity of the people is observable in the streets here. Hui Chinese, Tibetans, Mongols, Salar, Dong Xiang and Kazakhs are some of them. We were lucky to get overnight train tickets for the next leg of our journey to Dun Huang. By now our diet was mainly mutton, either bbq or hotpot style. If you are ever in Lanzhou and you like ‘Banana bread’, do check out the ‘Promenade Bakery’ on TianShui NanLu for a brick-sized banana bread for just 12 yuan. Its yummy, and recommended by lonely planet too! After spending a night in the city, we took a cable car up to Lan Shan mountain for some spectacular views of the whole city. We tried some treasures tea, and had fun on the Chinese Ludge – basically looks like a slide on bed pan.

Got back down in time for our 12 hour night train to Dun Huang – the last stop on the Silk Route before the desert.

To be continued…

As you know we’ve been based in Shanghai for the past 1.5yrs. We’ve spent a good bit of our offdays trying to travel to places around this amazingly diverse country. Our travelling style was pretty much free and easy… trying all modes of transport, fine-dining at roadside stalls and staying in youth hostels. Here, we would like to share some of our travel experiences as and when we find the time. 

To start off, here are some of the places we’ve been to so far, other than places around Shanghai:

1) Xi’an (Shaanxi province)
2) Hangzhou (Zhejiang)
3) Nanjing (Jiangsu)
4) Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La (Yunnan)
5) Taishan (Shandong)
6) Tianshui, Lanzhou, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang (Gansu)
7) Xining, Qinghai Hu, Tongren (Qinghai)

Can you find them on the map?