pagodas

In 1982 I took a boat down the Yangtze from Chungking
to Shanghai, through the fabled gorges. Really marvellous.
Much of the built-up areas were oppressively industrial & ugly,
the air heavy with pollution, dripping with humidity ~
these pagodas meant more than a glimpse through time.
My plan had been to go to Urumchi, so I could get to the caves
of the thousand Buddhas, but almost immediately revised it,
it was just so difficult as a single traveller without the language,
on a budget. Besides, I really wanted to visit at the
time of Sir Aurel Stein. Read many of his accounts of the different
explorations, with incredibly detailed maps.

One of the great chinese classics in a brilliant translation