A short introduction: The dates for this trip run from September 19, 2002 until the first week in December, 2002. Why am I here? A "Sabbatical break", a time for intellectual renewal, an opportunity to experience another culture, to learn and to grow. Also to travel, see the world, and hopefully have some fun. My flight took me from Houston through Los Angeles to Guangzhou in Southern China (see the Real Video Animation of the travel map), where I changed planes and flew to the far northwest of China, Urumqi, in Xin Jiang, for at wo week stay. Visited there in four cities, Urumi, ChangQi, Hami, and Kelamayi City, spending time in several colleges, also sightseeing, including two train rides across the Gobi dfesert, a trip to the "heavenly lake" in the sky, the ghost village in the desert, and many adventures captured int he pictures. From there, a flight all the way across China to be in Beijing for National Day celebrations, and soon afterwards, a flight to Shanghai to finish the holiday week along the Bund, and on "Nanjing Lu" From there, a 90 mninute flight to the South, Wuhan, in Hubei Province, where a car took me to Huanggang, where I would be spending the bulk of my time, a kind of "base camp", my permanent location until the return to Texas in December. The series of photographs and video clips is presented in approximate time sequence, so it is farily easy to follow the sequence of my activities. Each weekend, I have been "away" from Huanggang, travelling to different parts of China, as many places as I could possibly manage within the available time and budget. These have included short trips into Wuhan by bus, to other nearby places by train, to the Wudang Mountains, to Wen Quan, to Liu zhou, Guilin, a float down the Li River, Yang Shuo, Xi An, a second trip to Beijing, and many bus rides back and forth to the three city complex of Wuhan. Also lots of walking in the Huanggang area itself. -- the trip is not over yet, remaining wording for this page will be posted soon