Blogs from Fujian, China, Asia - page 4

Geo: 24.4798, 118.082I only went to XiaMen to use it as a base to visit the Tulou (see previous entry) and I was not planning to spend any time here. Well, the good thing when you travel with no schedule is that you are very flexible and can adapt. So I spend about three days here (1.5 days before and after the Tulou) and I really enjoyed it. I could have probably spent one more day.Part 1: Sunday is a good day to visit a city because it is bustling with life. I like cities at the week-end. I went to NanPuTuo temple. The temple itself is nice but you can't see into the halls because there is too many tourists. That's a pity. But you can climb the mountain/hill behind it and get a good ... read more

Geo: 24.45, 118.0821h train journey but it could have been a good few hours less if we hadn't stopped so long for random reasons. The guy at the hostel recommended I book a seat and I agreed to it because it is much much much cheaper than a sleeper (and usually I don't sleep to bad on seats). However I was not prepared for that kind of seats...hard, at a 90°C angle and with no clear separation between people. So when I got on board I immediately regretted not getting a sleeper but by the end of the journey I thought it was a great experience. I don't regret it and I slept better then I first thought I would. The first few hours of the journey were rather chaotic. I sat more or less at ... read more

Winter is coming. This is the theme of our trip, that winter is coming. And this heralds two omens. 1st that it will get colder in the north, and 2nd that the Typhoons, monsoon rains and the burning heat of summer will temporarily subside like the red sea and give us an easy cycling passage to the south. When we left Fuzhou the temperature had been dropping quickly for a subtropical envirement. The days of 30-40 degress celcius were over and shorts and a shirt were becoming a thing of the past. By the time we made it to Xiamen and then Zhangzhou we had returned to conversations involving, "I don't think I'll need a jacket yet." And , "I'm just waiting a few days before I stop wearing my shorts." This was spoken by the ... read more

GoodDay To Everyone! Being on the road has been great. Some rough patches and feelings of apathy are sometimes discouraging but every time there are greater feelings of reward after every one. Here is our first week and section through China a long with our trials and tribulations. Fuzhou To Xiamen(One day by professional bikers, one hour by fast train, and 6 days for us slow-pokes) This is broken up into two parts, a fight with apathy and the escape of it on the road. Then a few dilemmas and simply fighting through them till they are solved. Apathy and Escape Day Two, the first real day I woke up with a crushing feeling in my head. Not a headache, it wasn't even the hangover I'd feel later in the afternoon, but a heavy feeling apathy. ... read more

"Go North West 60km." You return to Fuzhou. Your traveling companion is exhausted and shaking with hunger. On the way back you have picked up four Carls Jr. Burgers for 150RMB. You met a Finnish man named Henry in Carl's Jr and spoke briefly with him about chargers for phones. When you return home you are greeted by the pleasant smells of your apartment and the knowledge you still have many TV shows to watch. "Write Blog" --Expenses-- $10 for breakfast $25 for Carls Jr. BLOG Location : Fuzhou. So its a good thing we did this warm-up. While it unfortunate 50-60km is the limit for my traveling companion, it gives us a bit of time to train properly. Hopefully we can get up to 100km a day. We will try with biking early morning, and ... read more