Sichuan Province

For climbers seeking unclaimed peaks, the newly opened Kham region of western China is a 700-mile smorgasbord

•Tommy John, Yankee pitcher, who has 270 career wins, making clear that he has no intention of sticking around until he wins 300: "I'm not a goal-oriented person. The only thing that burns inside me is Szechuan cooking."

If you want to know where we were, I'm not sure I can tell you. Maps weren't available, not even at a neighborhood yak station. "I doubt that they exist," said one of our leaders.

To most people 'Chinese cooking' means the great Cantonese cuisine, but several other regions have marvelous specialties