2 Days in Dali

The next day we rode by Bus to Dali. The trip took several hours, and it was more of that glorious mountain view the whole way. I spent pretty much the entire trip watching out the window and taking pictures.

Enjoying the view on the way to Dali
Enjoying the view on the way to Dali

Along the way we took a rest stop at in a town called Yongping. It was pretty much like any truck stop you would stop at on the edge of any small town in the U.S., except most the town’s architecture was in that old Chinese style which I’m a big fan of. Off to the side was a row of hedges around a sign supported between 2 pillars; the whole thing was covered in webs occupied by a bunch of spiders that looked similar to Orb Weavers. The rest stop had a large and reasonably clean restroom which was nice, and the standard convenience store with a large selection of snacks, candies, beverages and souvenier-like items. All of these items were aimed at women – shoes, jewelry, purses – and I grabbed a couple of ornate cloth person shaped like fish to give to my mom & sister back home. At 14 RMB each they were very inexpensive – that’s about $2.23 USD.

As I was waiting to check out at the register, there was an explosion outside. It wasn’t quite an earth shaking explosion, but it was definitely something blowing up outside and was way to powerful to just be a vehicle backfiring. Everyone in our group was very startled and started looking around; somewhere across the street a small cloud of smoke was rising. But locals didn’t seem phased, there didn’t seem to be any buildings or anything where the smoke was rising from, and there was no screaming or panicking or sirens. So after a moment we shrugged it off and went about our business. Never did find out what it was, maybe it was a nearby mining operation or construction or something.

After hours on the road, the arrival at Dali felt very sudden. We took our hundred-someteenth turn around some mountain and then bam – suddenly we’re in a city.

The city of Dali is pretty big, at least by my standards. It has a population of something like 6 and a half million. It also sits an elevation of about 6000 feet. It has a long history, with the original town of Dali being a walled town that is several hundred years old. And unlike many of the old Chinese towns, Old Dali stills stands in it’s original form. The sprawl of city surrounding it is called New Dali, and it’s growing rapidly. One thing that struck me as very unique is that in the middle of this big city, there is still a lot of farming going on.

Farms in the heart of the city of Dali
Farms in the heart of the city of Dali

We had the pleasure of staying at an ancient hotel near the heart of Old Dali. The building was around 500 years old according to our guide – of course it is maintained in a modern style, retrofitted and reworked to have plumbing and electricity and the like. Although on the outside it did appear as mostly real, original, unspoiled ancient Chinese architecture, the inside of the rooms felt like any basic economy hotel room you’ve ever stayed in. Unlike all our previous 4 and 5 star hotel stays, this place was very simple and humble. I liked it – my grandfather was not such a big fan of the rooms due to the dim lighting and smaller, stiffer beds. It was also just a lower class place in many ways – where the higher end hotels provide a separate lotions, soaps, shampoos and conditioners, flat screen TV’s & free teas and fruits, this place had a 3-in-1 bathing soap dispenser and 2 free condoms on the night stand. And an old school CRT TV.

The Vice Mayor of Dali welcoming our group
The Vice Mayor of Dali welcoming our group

At the Lovely Landscape Hotel in Dali
At the Lovely Landscape Hotel in Dali

But there was no denying the wonderful atmosphere of the hotel. It was called the “Landscape Hotel” because there are impressive gardens and plant arrangements throughout the place. It is divided into 6 court yards, each one with a garden in the center and beautiful paintings on the walls (actually on the walls, not hung pictures). It had a covered bar and other covered benches that were also very ornate, brightly colored & built with that classic Chinese architecture. Along the stone paths were more flowers & garden plants, more great paintings on the walls and a koi pond full of beautiful fish. There was also a restaurant area, and a couple of small shops selling awesome stone & marble works that Dali is apparently famous for, as well as some jewelry made with the same polished stones.

Koi Pond at the Landscape Hotel
Koi Pond at the Landscape Hotel

An example of the wall art found at the Landscape Hotel, and all around Old Dali
An example of the wall art found at the Landscape Hotel, and all around Old Dali

And there were books. Along some of the walls around the central sitting areas were bookshelves containing all kinds of books. Of course, they were all in Chinese so I didn’t spend much time reading. But I definitely appreciated the fact that they just had a large selection of literature for anyone who just felt like lounging around and reading.

We didn’t do much in the way of events or activities that day. It took a while to get all our rooms sorted out and many of us were feeling rather frustrated by the time we finally got our rooms. After finally getting my room and dropping off my bag, I came back out and found a couple of guys in our group setting in one of the bench area’s with a beer, which was apparently available in the restaurant just a few feet away. So I grabbed one of my own – a large Dali beer that only cost about two and a half bucks – and joined them. It was good to just unwind and relax for a bit. A little while later my grandfather sat at the next bench area over to be interviewed by a movie producer who’s working on a production about flying the Hump. After a few minutes I moved over to their side to listen in.

A look down "Foreigner Street" in Dali
A look down “Foreigner Street” in Dali

Apparently there has been some confusion in the past about the urinal at the Yunnan Cafe...
Apparently there has been some confusion in the past about the urinal at the Yunnan Cafe…

Later we walked a few blocks into the central part of Old Dali to eat dinner at a place called “Yunnan Cafe”. There are no cars in this area, only scooters/bikes and foot traffic. It’s basically a shopping & eating district. The Yunnan Cafe is 2 stories and also has sidewalk seating, which is what I opted for. The food was good, and we sat around eating and chatting until after dark. After that, the group left sporadically and my grandfather & I went off on our own to go back to the hotel.

We got lost. It was not a complicated route but when we got to where we expected the hotel entrance to be, we didn’t find it. I ran up and down the block looking for it to no avail. Finally I turned on the location tracking on my phone and we navigated that way; later I realized that I actually had run into the parking lot early and just completely failed to recognize it in the dark!

The next day was full of activities. We toured the factory of a tobacco company that sponsored part of the trip, then went to a tea factory where we toured their tea museum and enjoyed a tea ceremony. After that we drove all the way across town to a government building where dinner was being hosted. This was not a very pleasant journey; it was pouring rain so the the drive was slow and when we finally got there, the parking lot was so small it was almost impossible to get the buses into it. Ten minutes of maneuvering later, we were in but had to wait another 10 minutes inside the bus for the rain to die down. Finally we got inside, where we were shown a presentation of their future city planning before finally getting a chance to eat.

Visiting the cigarette factory in Dali
Visiting the cigarette factory in Dali

The Mayor of Dali came to eat with us but because of the traffic and weather, we were already done eating when he arrived. So we just hung around for a few minutes so that he could meet people and all that; a lot of us were eager to leave, but we didn’t want to be rude to the Mayor who had just spent all that time driving to be with us.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost dark and the mood was not that great. But we were finally free; my grandfather decided to go to his room and call it a night so I went out and met up with some others in our group for a couple of beers. I ended up at a place called the Bad Monkey bar which was a pretty decent watering hole, and they actually brew their own beer (not on site though). I tried their IPA (it was good!) and bought a couple of their t-shirts before returning home a little after midnight and hitting the hay.

We were getting close to the end of our journey at this point. The next day we would fly back to Kunming for 1 night, then to Beijing for 1 night and then finally home.

A Bumpy Ride To & From Baoshan

After our second day in Kunming, we departed for Baoshan which is fairly close to the border between China and Myanmar. We had to leave very early and I was sleep deprived. We had been told to leave our main luggage in the hotel in Kunming because we would be returning there in a couple of days; so I re-packed some essentials into my backpack with the intention of just taking the one bag as carry on.

In the airport I realized I’d packed things they don’t let you take onto a plane these days – shaving cream, toothpaste etc. I didn’t want to have to throw all that out so I decided to check the bag at the last minute.

Moments later I was handed my ticket and realized that I had left my passport in my bag, which had already been checked through. This was a bit of a freakout – you need your passport for pretty much everything around here. After floundering around in a panic for a few minutes, we were able to work it out with the folks at the airport and they let me through along with another party that had forgotten their passport. I’m pretty sure this only happened because of the esteemed group that we were a part of – if I had just been another tourist, I would have been pretty screwed.

Ethnic Greeting in Baoshan (unfortunately this was the only picture I got of them)
Ethnic Greeting in Baoshan (unfortunately this was the only picture I got of them)
Marching Band Greeting Us in Baoshan
Marching Band Greeting Us in Baoshan

We landed in Baoshan, and were greated by a military marching band and girls in ethnic dress representing the different ethniticies of the region, of which there is a great variety in Yunnan. That was very nice. Then we piled into the busses and set immediately about the next activity which was a long ride through the rural mountains. Our destination was the site of Nujong River (I don’t think I’m spelling that correctly), which was known as the Sawleen river during WW2. There was a particular spot on this river where a key bride had been bombed during the war just barely in time to keep the Japanese from flooding into Kunming, which was a key point for supply drops being brought in by the Hump pilots from India. If the Japanese had made it across that bridge it probably would have been game over for China, so historically speaking it was a very significant event.

We spent several hours of driving along winding roads through the mountains. It was one of the highlights of the trip, for me at least. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, and many of the people living in this area live basically the same way that their ancestors did. We passed countless mountain side farms where people were harvesting corn, rice and tobacco by hand. Farmers were walking their oxen on the side of the road, and you could tell by the way they looked at our bus convoy that we were a very rare sight for them. We stopped at a lookout point that overlooks the Nujong river – the view was simply amazing. Some of our escorts had brought along a couple of drones and were flying them around taking video.

Breath Taking View of the Nujong River
Breath Taking View of the Nujong River
Farms on the Mountain Side
Farms on the Mountain Side

We made a stop in a small village called Mang Lin, where the local government had just installed brand new western style toilets specifically for our group. This was a very impression accomodation. It was far from the nicest bathrooms I’ve ever used, but still much better than a hole in the ground which is still pretty typical in that part of the world.

Once we got near the bridge site on the river, we stopped at a military checkpoint where a lunch had been prepared for us. We were not allowed to bring cameras inside. The meal was hosted in a makeshift courtyard covered by tarps. It was hot and not very windy because we were in the middle of a deep valley, but the food and the company was very good. Most of it was western style food, but in another area they were serving Chinese food for the employees and soldiers. I finished my course of western food and still had a bit of an appetite so I wandered over to the Chinese section and grabbed a bowl. I was the only non-Chinese person there, and they thought I had made a mistake and tried to steer me back to the western side. They gave me a doubtful look when they realized I actually intended to try the Chinese food. I was expecting some kind of crazy spicy stuff, but it was actually pretty tame and tasty.

After the meal we made our way down to the river site which was less than a mile down the road. The locals were out in numbers watching the spectacle we were creating – our guides told us this was probably the most interesting thing that had happened in that area since WW2 had ended, and I can believe it.

The Locals Checking Us Out, With the Re-Built Bridge in the Background
The Locals Checking Us Out, With the Re-Built Bridge in the Background

One crazy thing is that even in this most remote part of China, where many people are quite literally living hand to mouth, they still have smart phones! They were all taking pictures of course, which is something we’ve all grown quite used to by this point but it was still quite surprising all things considered.

The bridge that had been blown in WW2 had just been reconstructed in the last 3 weeks, and is to be the site of a new WW2 museum. I don’t know who is going to visit a museum that far out in the middle of nowhere, but that’s what they’re doing. Given how stoked the Chinese are about this particular bit of history, it may actually be quite successful.

Breaking Ground at the Huitong Bridge WW2 Museum
Breaking Ground at the Huitong Bridge WW2 Museum

We were all given chrysanthum flowers, which apparently represent the spirit of the dead or something like that, and on the count of 3 we threw them from the bridge into the river to kick off the ceremony. Then we took seats on the opposite side of the bridge and listened to speeches. This part of the journey pretty much sucked. Everybody was supposed to keep their speeches short, which they didn’t do. The speeches ran long while we all sat baking in the sun. Finally somebody got on stage and put an early end to the speeches, after which they officially broke ground for the new museum and had each veteran plant a tree at the site. This was all ceremonial – the trees were already in place. The veterans shoveled some dirt onto them and watered them, and then autographed the shovels. This probably would have been a lot more touching if we weren’t all worn out from sitting in the sun for so long.

Fortunately in the end, everyone came out okay. Then we rode the busses back down through the mountains, and made another stop along the way in a town called Yo Wan. There the veterans gave authographs and posed for more pictures, and there was a book signing as well. After that, we went to Baoshan and finally got to check into our hotel rooms.

Visiting Yo Wan
Visiting Yo Wan
Book Signin in Yo Wan
Book Signin in Yo Wan

Over all it was an awesome day, but also very long and exhausting. And I had been paranoid the whole time that my bag might have been lost, and my passport along with it which would have been a major problem. I was relieved to finally get my bag and passport back.

The hotel was supposed to be high end but… well, let’s just say it seemed they had built it very hastily. Random switches didn’t seem to work, the elevators would stop on random floors… the place had been very recently built so hopefully they will get those issues ironed out in the near future. It was also the only finished building in the immediate area, and surrounded by construction sites. The whole area is being developed very rapidly.

At any rate, we weren’t there very long – we checked out the next morning to head to Dali.

Day 2 in Kunming

It was a pretty busy day for us Kunming. We went to the Kunming Museum where I was amazed to see that there is an entire section of the museum dedicated to Flying Tigers & Hump Pilots complete with pictures and descriptions of all the veterans in our group, as well as plenty of displays with old uniforms and equipment.

Flying Tigers & Hump Pilots Display at the Kunming Museum
Flying Tigers & Hump Pilots Display at the Kunming Museum
Press Conference at the Kunming Museum
Press Conference at the Kunming Museum

After touring the museum, we settled into a room to conduct a press conference featuring a handful of the veterans. Once the Q&A session concluded we piled back into the buses and went to a nice restaraunt for dinner. The dishes were good and served on one of those tables with a rotating center. One of the dishes was a spicy soup that reminded me of Thai food. Apparently they really like their spicy food in Yunnan.

The next stop after the meal was a Sunday church service. This was a pretty unusual stop – religion is not practiced in China the way it is in the U.S. You actually have to get a special permit to open a church in the first place and can get into trouble for unauthorized religious practice.

When we arrived at the church we were greeted with much fanfare before the service began. Some aspects of the service were very familiar, others were pretty unique. They also gave each of us a bible printed in Chinese.

The service lasted for about 2 hours and then it was back to the hotel to rest for about an hour. Then came a formal banquet & honorary citizenship ceremony hosted in the hotel, with many representatives from the Kunming government present including the mayor of Kunming.

My Granddad Looking Dapper for the Ceremony
My Granddad Looking Dapper for the Ceremony
The Veterans Being Awarded Honorary Citizenship in Kunming
The Veterans Being Awarded Honorary Citizenship in Kunming

All of the veterans in our group were made honorary citizens of the city of Kunming. It was a very touching ceremony. After that, the banquet began. There was something like 8 courses, all of them were excellent – even the fish, which I’m not normally a fan of. The only thing I passed on completely was the shrimp. During the meal, the government representatives made their way around the room, meeting and toasting each of the veterans and their family members.

Once the ceremonies and banquet ended, it was time to get packed and get to sleep because we had another very early flight.

Farewell Beijing, Hello Kunming

This post is going to be without pictures because I’ve been up since 4am (it’s 10:40pm right now) and I just don’t feel like sifting through all those pics. But I’ll definitely post some more pictures later.

Yesterday was our last real day in Beijing. Our group went to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing where we got to meet Ambassador Max Baucus and many of the other Embassy staff. We were only there for an hour but it was a nice reception and a great time for the veterans. We all got a small gift bag and lapel pins with the U.S. and Chinese flags on them which was pretty neat 🙂

After that we had a bit of downtime and I joined part of the group on a shopping trip to the “Silk Market”, which is apparently a pretty well known shopping mall where you can haggle on prices. Unfortunately for me I spent a good bit of money before realizing just how hard you should haggle. In case you’re wondering, you should offer them 10% of their asking price and take it from there. If you pay half the asking price, you’re getting robbed.

After that we returned to the hotel, had dinner and then a final get together with our hosts, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. They sponsored the entire Beijing leg of our trip and treated us very well the hole time. The presented a very nice montage of photos and videos compiled during our visit, followed by a picture book of our visit and a DVD copy of the montage for everyone. It was really very cool, and surprisingly heart felt considering how brief our time was together. It really highlighted how much they valued our time together.

The next day (this morning) I awoke at 4am to get all my stuff together because we had to be out of the hotel shortly after 5am and on the plane by 7:30am. After a final round of photos with our CPAFFC friends at the airport we were off, and landed in Kunming in the Yunnan province shortly after 11am.

Kunming is not a very big city by China standards, with a population of just over 7 million. It is a very significant part of our journey because this was the primary location where the Hump Pilots delivered supplies and distrubuted them to the U.S. and Chinese forces during WW2. In many ways, this is where the future of China as we know it today was cemented, and the reception we recieved upon arrival was nothing short of amazing. There was music, dancing and people were lined up to take photos like we were celebreties straight out of Hollywood.

As usual we launched right into activities which included an elaborate welcoming ceremony with an impressive formal tea reception. To my shock, I was called to the stage along with my grandfather to talk about our experiences. I was totally unprepared for this but I handled it better than I had expected.

After that it was dinner and then, to my pleasant surprise, nothing was scheduled after that. So I got to spend a few hours wandering around the Green Lake area of downtown Kunming. I finally got to be a tourist.

It was amazing. Central Park is probably 10 times as big, but it has nothing on Green Lake. All over this beautiful park were people singing, dancing and generally having a good time. While Beijing felt very much to me like NYC, the scene around Kunming is very different and it made me feel for the first time like I really am in the China I’ve always wanted to see. I probably spent 2 solid hours just walking around and taking it all in before I dropped into a random pub and just relaxed and had a couple of beers. It was nice. More than nice – it was exquisite. I really like this place, and am glad that I will be spending a little more time here before we head back home.

I’m also glad that I will be getting more than 5 hours sleep tonight, so I’m going to call it a night now!

Day 3 – Military Parade, Grand Banquet & More

Today was a very memorable day. We woke up extra early to make it out to the Forbidden City from which we observed the military parade. It was pretty awesome to be in the Forbidden City under these circumstances – it was largley empty, and completely devoid of tourists.

Forbidden City, Sans Tourists
Forbidden City, Sans Tourists

My grandfather and I had some of the best seats in the house, literally front row. It was a strange feeling having all these Generals (from a variety of countries, not just Chinese) sitting behind me – there was an awkward moment where a Russian General (or at least some kind of high ranking, heavily decorated officer) sitting behind me had set his hat on my seat and I had to ask him to move it. Fortunately he didn’t seem too miffed about it.

My Grandfather & I Before the Parade
My Grandfather & I Before the Parade

The military parade was impressive, and I got a lot of amazing photos and videos… and that’s all I’m going to say about that for now.

Nukes on Parade
Nukes on Parade

Afterwords we went to the Great Hall of the People and enjoyed a fabulous meal in the most impressive dining room I’ve ever seen. The novelty was greatly enhanced by the presence of very high level politicians and world leaders, including Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin seated just a few tables away. At first there seemed to be a distinct lack of security personnel, until I realized that one of the people eating at my table was actually on security detail and there was one of them seated at nearly every table. Once the rest of the table caught wind of that, we had a nice chuckle.

Picture Perfect Meal
Picture Perfect Meal

The food was excellent, I lost count of how many courses there were. Unfortunately I stepped away from the table for a moment and when I returned my desert plate was gone – I didn’t even get to taste any of it :'(

After the banquet it was back to the hotel for a couple hours of rest, then back to the Great Hall for the Commemoration Preformance. This turned out to be a musical re-enactment of World War 2 (from the Chinese perspective, of course) and was one of the most elaborately produced and well performed stage shows I’ve ever seen. And that’s all I’m going to say about that for now.

All in all, it was a day I will never forget – there has been a lot of build up to this day and it certainly did not disappoint! I’ve also got several souveniours including a hat from the parade, a fancy menu from the banquet and several uber-official invitations to these functions. The invitations, aside from being fancy and elaborate, were also microchipped – I saw my face pop up on a screen as soon as I walked through the metal detectors. Hell of a security setup.

It’s been an eye opening experience, and I’m greatful for it. I’m also greatful that I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow 🙂

Day 2 in Beijing

J.V. Vinyard Giving His Inscription
J.V. Vinyard Giving His Inscription
So far it’s been a very eventful two days. We landed in Beijing at about 5:30am yesterday and went directly from the airplane to a bus that took us to a fancy room at the airport where we served drinks and posed for press photos while our passports were verified. I wish customs was always that friendly! I really wasn’t expecting it though, I still had bed hair from sleeping on the plane when we walked into this room full of photographers.

They also passed around a blank page book & marker so each veteran could write an entry – apparently this book will be on display at the airport in Beijing sometime in the near future.

The View From My Room at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing
The View From My Room at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing
After that it was off to the Grand Hyatt hotel in the center of Beijing. It’s a very nice place, definitely one of the fancier hotels I’ve been in. Security is very tight here, with police and military all over the place (not surprising considering that there are dozens of leaders of various countries in town right now). Just about everyone in the hotel is either hotel staff, government staff, WW2 vets & their family members, or photographers & reporters.

Interviewing with CCTV's Crossover
Interviewing with CCTV’s Crossover
Shortly after we arrived at the hotel, we were whisked away to the CCTV building (CCTVC produces most of the television in China) where my grandfather and 2 other veterans were interviewed for a show called “Crossover”. The interview went quite well, especially since each of the veterans being interviewed played a different role in the CBI theater – Hump Pilots like my grandfather J.V. Vinyard (center) flew over the so-called “death route” to get supplies such as gas & munitions into China, transport pilots like Leroy Parramore (left) distributed the supplies, and members of the 14th Air Force like David Hayward (right) used those supplies to carry out combat missions.

Outside of the Very Unique CCTV Building
Outside of the Very Unique CCTV Building
The CCTV buidling is architecturally unique, I had already snapped several pictures of it on the way to the hotel and was quite surprised to find myself inside the place a few hours later.

I did manage to get a brief nap in before lunch which helped a bit with the jet lag, but I was still kind of out of it yesterday. Aside from the interview with CCTV, there are also numerous other interviews taking place within the hotel. I’ve already lost count of how many times my grandfather has been interviewed in the last 36 hours or so. I had intended to write more about yesterdays events last night while my memory was still (kind of) fresh, but at the end I was too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

Today I woke up early to accompany my grandfather to a medal awarding ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. Of all the American veterans in our group, my grandfather was selected to be awarded a medal directly from President Xi Jinping on behalf of the American veterans, which is quite an honor. I got to witness my grandfather receive the medal along with about 30 other veterans from China and other countries including Russia and India. It was an impressive ceremony, and the Great Hall certainly lives up to it’s name. All of the veterans in our group later recieved the same medal in a separate ceremony.

Awarding Medals to the U.S. Veterans
Awarding Medals to the U.S. Veterans

Unfortunately I was not able to take my camera along for this event, but there was an army of photographers present so I’m sure I can come up with some photos sooner or later.

J.V. Vinyard Interviewing With CBS
J.V. Vinyard Interviewing With CBS
Upon our return, more photo sessions & interviews including one with CBS that should actually air in the U.S. (most of these interviews are being conducted by Chinese media and won’t be seen state side). After that we got a bit of time to relax and rest which is good, because we’re going to need to be well rested. Tomorrow is the BIG DAY – the actual anniversary with a huge military parade, banquets and more. We’ll be going all day from early morning until around 10pm.

So far this has been an amazing experience – and it’s far from over.

On a side note, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to ensure good air quality in Beijing for this event (including factory closures and restricting auto traffic) and it shows. You can see the mountains from central Beijing. It’s awesome.

Houston’s Airport is Nice

It’s got pretty comfy furniture, art displays and 10 foot chess and checker boards. Also free WiFi (unlike a certain Austin airport that I know).

WiFi on my laptop isn’t working, I’m stuck with posting from my phone for now. Hopefully I can get it sorted before the flight to Beijing, otherwise I’ll be limited to short posts with very few pictures :-/

Hey look, it’s the first post

Hi, I’m Micah Vinyard.  If you’re here you probably know me in person already but if not, that’s okay too. Welcome to MicahV.net. This is my first personal website since… well, my last one was hosted on Geocities if that tells you anything.

I’ve been sitting on the MicahV.net domain for a while now and not doing anything with it, but I’ll be traveling to China in a few days and figured that’s worth throwing a website together for.

The main impetus for this site was my Dad’s suggestion that I keep a journal of my trip.  I can’t promise this will become anything close to a journal, I’ve never managed to keep a journal going for more than a couple of days.  But I do hope to drop by to tell how it’s going and maybe share some pictures every few days or so.

I am traveling to China with my Grandfather J.V. Vinyard. J.V. served in World War 2 as a Hump Pilot, flying supplies over a very dangerous stretch of the Himalayas into China after the Japanese had cut off most of China’s supply lines. The Hump Pilots took big risks and terrible losses to keep China supplied, and the Chinese have not forgotten that. That’s why every few years they invite my Grandfather over to join them in celebrating the anniversary of the end WW2.

Next week, on September 3rd 2015, China is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of that war and I have the tremendous honor of going with my Grandfather to China to mark the occasion. I’m very excited – I’ve been fascinated with the far east since I can remember and have always wanted to go to China. It’s going to be amazing. I’m also quite nervous, because it is dawning on me more and more just how big of a deal this is. This is no casual vacation.

It’s not a small event, either. Beijing is making preparations similar to what I remember them doing for the Olympics, such as deploying hundreds of thousands of security personnel city wide and curbing factory production & traffic to ensure clear air. There’s going to be a huge military parade. Vladimir Putin is going to be there. In fact, China has declared a national holiday officially dubbed “The 70th Anniversary of Victories in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Against Fascism.”

And there will be other events to attend to, although I’m sure none will be as grand as the 70th Anniversary celebration on the 3rd. It’s going to be intense. But there will also be time to be a tourist and enjoy the trip. I’m going to be bouncing around China for about 2 weeks. I can’t wait.

Anyway, that’s the story behind this site!  Feel free to leave comments and stuff.