- Christopher Morley 1890-1957

Visiting China is an amazing adventure. Unlike visiting Britain, France, and other western European countries, China’s history, culture and language is vastly different than my own Anglo Saxon history.

As I set to return to China for the fifth time, technology, in the form of an iPhone app will be at my side. I’m able to muddle through very basic French in order to find the Louvre in Paris, (albeit, not leaving a good impression!), but in China, its all about tone. One can easily offend or insult by mispronouncing a word which has multiple meanings depending on the tone delivered.

As featured in Travel+Leisure Magazine, July 2009: The Best iPhone Apps for Travelers

“Most iPhone language apps have an Achilles’ heel: they require an expensive data connection to work abroad. Lingolook, though, lives on your phone. Its clean, cartoonish flash cards of important words and phrases—more than 300, from “I’m allergic to nuts” to “speak slowly”—are said aloud if you tap your screen, delivering you from faux pas and pronunciation debacles.”

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

Speak Chinese Mandarin like a local with a tap of your Multi-Touch display using Lingolook Flashcards, an invaluable new travel phrasebook application for iPhone. Master perfect pronunciation of essential travel keywords and phrases from over 300 “talking translations” or flash your iPhone with the large type translations showcased on 75 cleverly designed flashcards.

FEATURES:

- No Internet connection required

- 500 essential words and phrases

- 300+ audio translations

- 75 illustrated flashcards

- Extra large type and phonetics

- Fast search by travel category or index

- Instant replay of audio translations

- Convenient “Favorites” menu

- Menu readers, travel facts and more!

AUDIO REQUIREMENTS:

iTouch: Ensure Sound Effects are on. In Settings, choose General > Sound Effects and select whether you want the audio to play over the internal speaker, through the headphones, or both.

iPhone: Ensure Ringer (located on upper left of device) is on; the audio will not play in silent mode.

Lingolook Publishing LLC Web Site Lingolook CHINA Support What’s New in Version 5.0

The latest version contains a packing checklist so that you never forget something important and always have with you the few things more crucial to a successful trip to China.

Hotan Farmer

HOTAN CHINA – It is like living a bible story, driving through the endless sands of the Taklamakan Desert. Heading west through the sand, I experience two divergent terrains. To my left run the impressive Kunlun Mountains of northern Tibet. Snow-covered and silently majestic, offering the life’s blood of water to the dotted-about oasis villages. Stretching out in an ocean of undulating dunes to my right are the sands of the Taklamakan.

Hugging this fragile, two-lane ribbon of asphalt are several oasis villages. After days of driving, we come to a small village just outside the city of Hotan. We stop for fuel and to stretch our legs. Walking about in this sun-bleached oasis was a welcome treat after hours cooped up in the fetid Land Cruiser.

As often happens with a westerner over six feet tall, an impromptu parade of children come running to surround you. Curiosity  and wonder abound on the faces of these children. My guide translates some of their questions: Who are you? Where are you from? Do you have children? How much money do you make? Understandable questions for the most part. As a man from a large North American city, Toronto, I immediately begin to scan the horizon of black haired boys and kerchief-wearing girls for signs of their parents. We bring so much baggage with us – it is wonderfully liberating to be with children without having to look apologetic. It was from the middle of the circle of children that I saw him smiling – an elegant man leaning against the wood frame of a shop doorway.

This is the Uyghur Autonomous Region, in Xinjiang Province, where men and women wear caps ranging from a simple cotton skull cap to vibrantly colourful, square-sided caps of velvet with richly detailed embroidery. Uyghur women generally wear a loose-style, long-sleeve tunic dress and a sleeveless waist coat and brightly colored scarves, while men have traditionally worn long tunic coats.

The smiling man begins to walk through the crowd toward me. Though we could not speak each other’s language, we greeted each other warmly and established where we were from and where I was headed. Appearing at his elbow, the man’s daughter clutched him proudly and listened as we speak. I am captivated by his face – expressive wrinkles born of long hours in the sun accentuate his welcoming smile. In this light, his gold-capped teeth and skull cap gleam. Knowing some day I would return to this area, I ask if I may take some photographs of him.

That was 2006. I’m not sure if he understood my gestures, but I told him I would try to find him the next time I drove through the village. I will be bringing him a glossy print of his portrait. This fall, when we tour China, road-testing a selection of Chinese vehicles, we will pass through the Hotan area again. This time, I will stay the night.

After months of planning, the final route

Buckle-up! LoseYourself is getting underway! After many months of planning and meeting, which is not exactly easy since we are Canadian, American and Chinese! We have developed a pretty tight route that will see us driving around the entire country of China. Look for the the map, (hover over it to se a larger version) there you’ll see the route. It is approximately 11,750 kilometres long and will depart from Beijing heading west.

We will take three months to travel this route, driving Chinese vehicles built in China and by Chinese auto makers. This will be the first time that Chinese cars have been put to this kind of road test. Through scorching desert heat & sand, over snow-covered mountain passes and the humid heat of southern China, these cars will be closely followed by readers and viewers in newspapers and on the internet – not to mention considerable local media interest!

In addition to writing about the vehicles, we will report daily on life in rural China and in busy urban centres. We will be visiting schools and hospitals and bring you stories of unique teaching and healing methods. We will take part in local festivals, markets and cultural events in order to report on important rituals and ceremonies.

Each time you return to this blog site, you will see the trip progress. You will be able to watch video and  you can view each day’s photos in the gallery section of the site. We have an odometer at the top of the page which will keep track of how far we have driven, as well, you can read each day what happened along the way.

The journey begins in September, so bookmark this page and follow along as we road-test China!