Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 152

For those of you that don’t know, I have just arrived in the Peoples Republic of China where I will be teaching English at Shantou University in Guangdong province. I’ll be here for at least a year. The cross-country flight was a piece of cake but the Cathay Pacific flight from LA to Hong Kong was steerage. Do not fly unless you can upgrade or can drink heavily before boarding. I did the later and slept quite peacefully through most of the 14 hours and 45 minutes. The fellow sitting next to me was a substantial American guy who had to remain motionless in the confines of his seat area the entire time. Luckily, he was a champion sleeper. If I had been that physically constricted for that long, I'm afraid I would have gone berserk. ... read more

My last day in Shenzhen was spent lychee picking and lychee peeling and lychee eating ! Look at all the lychees! Lychees! Lychees Everywhere! Me = in tree, = munching lychees! Beats watermelon picking, that's for sure. The pictures of this joyful moment were captured on a friend's camera, and the pictures will go up when he sends them to me. (Me, to stop munching merely to take a picture? heh!) I'm off to Xiangtan! **edit** The pictures have arrived, courtesy of Cheng Pei and his dad! Thanks!!! *******... read more

Well, Here I am in Shenzhen, after a beautiful flight across Russia (yay JON!) I love how the clouds look from above, it's so pure and full of promise. Shenzhen is a huge metropolis, littered with futuristic skyscrapers -watching all that japanese anime, I sometimes forget that there are cities such as Shenzhen which are actually pretty close to what's depicted on screen. And the lychees here are the size of golf balls! First mountain: Lian Hua Shan Not much of a peak, hence a perfect warm-up. It's right in the centre of the city, how come the UK doesn't get any mountains as city parks?! Beautiful, just what i've been dreaming of, steps cut out of rock, and and lush foliage everywhere. The view was an incredible cityscape, therefore a different kind of inspiring. Check ... read more

27/03/05 It'd been a while...almost 8 months since I came back home From the India trip. tomorrow I will begin my exploration in China again. strange...no matter how many times I hit the road. I am still nervous. you know what I mean...! sometimes I got this guity feeling of leaving all the responsibilty that I should have taken with other of my family member at home. I was so lucky that they all understood me and I took it for granted. better not go into that much otherwise it will really spoil my traveling mood! anyway...get an early bus to catch tomorrow. just wait and see where I will end up this time. GuangDong 28/03/05 Took the direct bus from hk to Chaozhou, it was a boring 6 hours trip with not much change in ... read more

My eyes were sore, I couldnt move my back, but I was determined to finish the book 'Bringing down the house' written by one of the MIT students who killed Vegas by card counting. It hasnt been long since the cold darkness of the atmosphere above the North Pole was broken up by the first rays of lights 35000 feet above the ground. Flying over the pole made my body clock stop, but my relief was great when I got to the last pages of the novel I started reading 11 hours earlier. Five more hours and we would be in Hong Kong. The touch-down was a little 'sketchy' due to the thick layer of low-lying clouds and associated turbulances, but the modern and trendy airport made up for everything. It was 6:15pm local time. ... read more