and the wall, hoping to spot a friendly monk who might let us in. We gaveup and turned back to the street, where a slim, smooth-facedyoung man with a BackDoor to bristly buzz cut was watching us. "Do /-1 ' you want to visit the temple?"he asked. \.-nongqrng "l can show you the back door." He led us off the main road and into a maze of narrow side streetslined with 1l I could do was glare at vendors hawking tangerines,steamed the heavy, locked gates of dumplings and medicinal powders. Our Luohan temple. It was broad impromptu guide introduced himself. daylight but the place was Lin-Lin was 24, loved soccer,worked closed tight, Iike much in this land of in a bank and was a devout Buddhist. great walls, where entrance does not Like many Chongqing residents, he always come with admission. My visited this temple travel partner and I had fought : -: often to pray and bum our way through the chaos of i incense. Chongqing to see this site, the i With the magic of only major temple in the city to insider access,the back survive the Japanesebombings i entrance swung open of World War II. But the impla- easily "Come with me," cable,1,000-year-old gates seemed fF he said. "I will show to proclaim meiyou, an often- you something verY heard word in China that basically wonderful." He led us through a stone means "forget it." courtyard filled with robed monks slurp- Disappointed, Julie and I peered ing their eveningnoodles; past a room through the crack between the gates filled with wailing chanrs, throbbing PIIOTOS TO TIIE EDITOR An intricate tapestry of stoneage cultures with diverse leg- ends and art forms. Where the mysterious and exotic abound. Expe- rience the mystery of jr,rnglefringed rivers, witness the colorful Highlands people. Dive in a spectacularunder- water paradise.Enjoy 5 sur wildemess lodges, a touch of luxury off the beaten path. Sail on the mysterior.rs Sepik River, known for primitive art and isolatedvillages. Treat yourself to a unique adventure... Mlnd Over Matten Frr a lrrrhurc. seeyour Truvel Agent <lr call: Gomukh, lndla. GREATDESTINATIONS MICHAEL JUSTICE 800-741-2178 headwaters FEEF AND RAINFOREST The of the Gangesare one of the holiest sites for Hindus. 800-794-9767 Located at nearly 13,000 feet, the sourceattracts a hardy brand ofpil- grim. This sadhu, though, wasn't visiting. He lives here in the ice and boulders. Barefootand shirtless,he performed his daily ritual in the tT"#;:"#i::piri shadow of the glacier that feedsthe river. For Hindus, one immersion in the sacredwater wipes a lifetime of sin. ^way t2 ESCAPE drums and the smoke of incense; and up to the locked door of an inner hall. Lin-Lin had a brief discussion with one of the monks, then came back with a large, rusty key and opened the door. It creaked inward to reveal row upon row of life-size terra-cotta figures-the 500 luohans to which the temple owes its name. Each luohan represents a follower of Buddha who has reached enlightenment.Seated on six-foot ledges, they loomed above us in the semidark- nessin. various lifelike poses.Some were fearsome,some bizarre-one was frozen forever in a contorted grimace of delight as he dug a delicate bamboo pick (the ISIANDSor Asian Q-tip) deepinto his ear. Others gazedpeacefully into the near MICRONESIA distance, untouched by time and our Postcard perftrt island paradisc. Urepoiled coral refs and azw lagooro. curious gaze."This is a holy place," Lin- Atolls tening with vibrant life and color. A lively population of mixed culturc, tradition, legends and history. Lin murmured as he guided us through Dive, Kayak & Golf Packageeetarting at $385 pp, CaU for rules/ the dim, hushed aisles-and into the restrictiore md chms from ou variety of Adventurc packages. Continental China I had come to experience.Some- (-lalltoll iree lor tlight and tour inlormation. Micronesia where beyond the dirt and the noise, l-800-900-7657 Fly with the warmth of Paradise the rubble and construction, the staring and spitting crowds and the constant bickering over pricesof fruit, a bus ticket, anything-I'd been waiting to catch a glimmer of the China I remembered from the stacks of novels I'd read. And here it was, hanging like a mist of ghosts in the halfJight around this departedbrigade. Out in the sunlight, Lin-Lin men- tioned the small apartment he shared with his parents, then asked, clearly excited, "Do you wish to come to my home tonight flor dinner?" Thrilled, we releasedabarrage of polite protestation, which confused him, then acceptedhis invitation. We left the temple, and Lin-Lin hailed a taxi with a practiced wave. We screeched off and joined the honking symphony.It seemedthat all 2.5 million of Chongqing's urban residents were weaving wildly around us, maneuvering cars, buses and trucks. At least there weren't the usual hordes of bicycles to dodge, since the city is unusually hilly. After careering through the city center and over a bridge, I was too dis- oriented to tell if we'd just crossedthe Yangtze or the Jialing, the two rivers that define the wedge of downtown Chongqing. Slowing to the beat of only occasionalhorn blares. we continued ESCAPE I3 down a narrow road lined with large pines and small, rickety houses clinging Ilargain f)u Jour to the hillsides. Our taxi took an abrupt turn-and squealed to a stop in front of (Rome, Venice). Florence, You can a dead-end dirt wall. "f for explore lreland a week for Lin-Lin spoke to the driver in rapid $579. Visit old Joyce haunts in Chinese and we pulled around, head- Dublin for $38 a night. ing back into the disorienting tangle rates Bargainhotel seemto be a of streets. Then we hesitated, stopped New Frontiers specialty. Rooms and backtracked again. Lin-Lin gave night range from $32 a in Paris us an embarrassed smile and a shrug. for budget travelers to $88 on the I glanced at Julie nervously. Where was Florence it's deluxe end; in $32 at this guy going? Was this some kind in the Hotel Ariston; Venice$49 at of scam? Where were we? Maybe we FRorrlrHr r-eNl of the Eiffel Tower Hotel the family-run Scandinavia- shouldn't have trusted him so completely. and the croissantand coffee- $10 Campo. There's more where that We sat tensely through five more with ambience, of course-comes came from in Rome, Nice, Lyons minutes of casting about, until Lin-Lin something new and quite remark- and and small towns villages all threw up his hands and declared, "It able: bargains. French travel firm in hotel over Europe the categories is very humorous-I cannot find my New Frontiers has rolled out a your of choice. own self's home!" Our worries turned rash deals worth investigat- of How do they do it? As one of into whoops of hilarity. Finally we came ing by anyone contemplating a France'slargest travel companies, across a familiar landmark-the bus European swing. Do an indepen- buys in New Frontiers volume to stop-and Lin-Lin got himself oriented. dent week by rail in Italy from low,low get thoseeveryday prices. He waved aside our money and paid including 7 nights of hotels (800) $439, Contact: 366-6387. the driver, and we went home his usual way, cutting through backyards, duck- ing under clotheslines, scrambling up muddy inclines and waving greetings to the neighbors as we went. THr UNNT,IATE Lin-Lin's mother, a short, stout, cheer- ful lady with red cheeks, greeted us WINTERESCAPE warmly with an outpouring in Chinese. We left our shoes at the entrance and walked in our socks through the tiny kitchen and into the main room, where Lin-Lin's father sat on a couch watch- ing the news. He nodded to us, a bit reserved-stunned was more like it- by his son's sudden popularity with foreign women. Squatting comfortably on the floor, Lin-Lin lit up a cigarette and gestured over to the couch, the only place to sit in the small, cluttered room. The conversa- tion was stiff at first. But when we asked about the history of the city, Lin-Lin's place palm father warmed up. A of warmsun and blue skies, trees We learned that Chongqing means andsparkling coral lagoons, wildlife galore "Double Good Fortune" in Chinese. Emperor Zhao Dun named the city J andendless photographic opportunities. E E about 800 years ago to celebrate his ts o Join an expertteam of naturalistsaboard the nimble being dubbed prince of the city and z and luxuriousexpedition vessel the MS CaledonianStar. succeeding to the imperial throne of the F Song Dynasty. In 1938, when Chiang D z o Kai-shek's vicious Kuomintang regime F 1414Dexter Ave N #327 Seattle,\VA 98109 tel: (206) 285-4000 set up its wartime government here, the z o fax, (206) )85-5037 website:wwwzeco.com e'mail' [email protected] residents didn't feel ouite so fortunate. F I4 ESCAPE After the war, the communists took con- drawers and arguing as they searched for phant, brandishing the opened bottle. He trol of the city. a tool to extract the unexpected obstacle. passedaround glassesand filled them. "Yes," Lin-Lin chimed in, "and in The ruckus died down and we Cork specks floated on the surface as school philosophy classes we studied peeked in. They were jabbing at the cork we toasted our remarkable new friend- only Marx.