I can't believe this. One of the great protectors of forum etiquette and self appointed gatekeepers has hijacked this thread.

@Alien: What, pray tell, does the fuel consumption of an A380 have to do with riding in a jeep to Tengchong? Is it necessary you impose your environmental beliefs on others? If there are flights to Tengchong they are going with or without @okly78. The only additional pollution impact of flying there is the marginal weight of @okly78 and his stuff.

The link you provided is to poorly written website with misleading and irrelevant statements of non facts. For example "In late May, EPA is scheduled to release an endangerment finding that is expected to show that greenhouse gas emissions from aviation puts human health at risk." Anticipation of some undated announcement about risk to human health sounds like wishful thinking for true believers to me.

Your comparison of the A380, a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner capable of carrying 585, up to 853, people at 900 km/h for 15700 km, to a Jeep leaves me scratching my head.

Are you seriously suggesting A380's fly to Kunming to Tengchong?

in May 2006, there wasn't much water in the Yellow River near Lanzhou. We drove into Lanzhou from Ningxia on our way to Dunhuang.

It was very dry that year and road construction for hundreds of kilometers.

Keep a lookout for Great Wall remnants on north side of the highway. In some places you can see more than one wall.

@Alien: Are you in charge now?

Actually, I think she was quite correct. She is proposing to teach Chinese in exchange for English lessons. The is not 'free' as it is essentially a trade but she is not charging a monetary fee. So 'free of charge' is correct.

I think Scally does have the 20 Ministries all right.

Here is a more comprehensive list of government departments:

english.gov.cn/[...]