The year 2014 is the year of the Wood Horse according to the Tibetan lunar calendar that the grand pilgrimage will take place at Mount Kailash where is located in western Tibet.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off her 7th visit to China at the invite of Premier Li Keqiang from July 6 to 8 since she took office as Chancellor in 2005, with economic ties topping the agenda and a high-powered business delegation in tow.

I had just come back from a great trip with 7 friends to Sichuan. People keep asking me where I went and when I say Dao Cheng, Ya Ding, it all drew a blank on their faces. Only when I say it's one of the sites reputed to be Shangri La then they say "OHHHHH!!!". One of my friends commented that it's sad that they had to promote this place to tourists using this name which is being published in a Western book instead of using their Chinese name. I guess they felt that this was a faster way to promote this remote and beautiful place to the outside world. I'm really glad I came now instead of it being commercialised in the future.