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Blogs from Asia - page 13137
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February 7th 2006
So rats to Bikaner and we head off once again on to the unknown, or to be more precise, what’s unknown could be just around the corner... One thing you do see traveling this way is the absolute poverty of the smaller villages and I just can’t understand how they survive. One thing that amazes myself and Suzanne is that you'll see someone in the absolute middle of no where quite content either working away or walking somewhere - and there's nothing (and I mean nothing) for miles, so where are these people going or where have they been - mind blowing... A few villages later and quite a few hours later we arrive just outside Jaislemer for a camel safari which includes a ride into the desert as well as spending a night below the ... read more
February 7th 2006
In Jodhpur I stayed at the Heaven guesthouse run by a lovely Jain lady, Nisha, and her family. She welcomes visitors with a smile and makes sure their travels run smoothly. She is enterprising and has built up her guesthouse over the last few years and now is planning to convert the ground floor into a German coffee shop. I was invited to go with the family to meet Nisha's inpiration, a lady Jain monk who lives in Beawar and has developed a charitable hospital for people in the area. The Jains respect the life of all living things and their monks wear masks so that they do not even breathe in small insect life. I found the lady monk to radiate a peace and kindness. She is 85 and has been living in austerity for ... read more
February 7th 2006
Final night in Singapore. Went to Chinatown for a quick look. You always see the funniest stuff when you don't have your camera, but I swear the following is true. Most of the shops that lined one side of the road sold what looked like pork crackling in squares, right inbetween two of these was a shop called Condom Fantasy, complete with a size guide and a "help wanted" sign, help with what they didn't state. Had found the perfect snack - pork balls (no sniggering from the back) - yummy. sitting at the local cafe, two young boys danced past with their parents, all I could hear was them singing " Y, M C-A , da da da da da da da Y, M C-A!" Cute. After I landed yesterday afternoon, I got a cab ... read more
February 7th 2006
We only had a few days in Nanjing but managed to see some nice things (inluding England destroying Wales at rugby!) The nearby mountain Zijin Shan is home to some great parks and cultural sights. We saw the botanical gardens; which were made stunning by the twenty four hours of snow we had on our first day, and the Mausoleum in honour of Sun Yatsen who created Chinese democracy (didnt realise there was such a thing) back in the 1920's. As a precursor to the imminent great wall we caught the impressive remains of the city's Qing dynasty walls, which at 13 metres thick and 33 kilometres long reiterated ancient Chinas love of a good wall. We saw the Western gate which with its four garrisons provided nice chinese architecture and a glimps into the world ... read more
February 7th 2006
Alright, we made the border cross..after a week of planning and hearing horror stories about 15hr bus rides from hell, breakdowns, scams ect ect, we did it in a cool 4hrs. Border Crossing: Woke up early, got a tuk-tuk (threewheeler thing) to the border...got hassled by a bunch of people trying to "help" us with our visa's...stiff armed past them and made my break to the immigration office...blew past a bunch of Thai's waiting in the "thai" line...got our visa stamp and were off to Siem Reap in an air conditioned Toyota Camery..most people take a bus for 8$US...I recruited a couple of girls (whom I thought were dudes at first,) to split the cab with us 4 ways (10$ each) and we were off..intersesting girls, I think they may have ben thespians.... The Road: The ... read more
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February 7th 2006
Nanjing - 01.02.06 We arrived in Nanjing, a city 3 hours west of Shanghai, in style by travelling on our first double decker train! Choo Choo!! One of the first things we did was visit the PSB to extend our visas, unfortunately we discovered that it would take them almost a week to do this here (think there was a delay due to holidays for the Chinese New Year) so we found ourselves wth some time relax and get to know Nanjing a little better. We wandered for a few days, saw the city wall and visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall which is a monument to the invasion from the Japanese during the second world war. The city lost 300,000 civilians during months of brutal fighting and the photos and displays in the hall are ... read more
February 7th 2006
No change on the guts front, though I did look up "amoebic dysentery" on Google and it doesn't appear to be that. I decided to have another rest day, partly because it might help with the recovery and partly because there don't appear to be many major sights in Bangalore. The overnight train to Hospet was truly enormous - probably the longest train I've seen yet in India. Unfortunately this also meant there were two 2AC cars. I didn't realise this at first, having only been on trains with one, so when I saw the first one I naturally assumed that it was mine. After climbing into the upper berth and doing all my preparations for sleep (remove contacts, set alarm, etc), the ticket inspector came round, took one look at my ticket, and told me ... read more
February 7th 2006
We meet Roong at the Wok for an 8.30 start. I still can't believe that I got up at 7am this morning, breakfast was a lively affair and getting to the toaster was a feat in itself. Our first stop is Wat Chedi Lung (I'm sorry if I've got this bit wrong, we saw a lot of Wats today and I can't find my map!) it's original structure was hit by lightning and the ruin still stands (see pic), we move onto Wat Prah Singh, there is a large monastry here and also a school for the novices. Lots of boys come here to be educated and most Thai men spend three months being monks. The buildings are very beautiful and decorated with lots and lots of gold leaf. We move on to another Wat where ... read more
February 7th 2006
hey this is a note to mum and jack.. i dont have email addresses for either of you !! anyways... jack,my plane arrives on saturday morning 11th feb..at 7.30am. TG 985 if you can pick me up that would be great!!... what is jon up to with weekend?... i havnt been in contact with him for a while!!.. tell him i said hi and ill see him this weekend .... thanks see you soon...XOXO hey mum... just woundering about YA cause i thought you said it was worked out but i havnet recieved any payments yet?... suppose it doesnt really metter cause i can work it out next week! your not still at jacks are you?.... are you in albany? anyways love you lots alaya... read more
February 7th 2006
Vietnam is beautiful. I got on a boat on the Cambodian side of the Mekong. I never knew it was so wide, it looks different in Apocalypse Now! (Maybe cause it was shot in the Phillipines...) After we entered Vietnam, the river began to split up into smaller streams, and we went down one of them in order to get to the day's destination, Chau Doc. Now, a trip on this river really challenges your senses, there is soo much to see. Busy people are everywhere, kids bathe in the water waving and screaming hello, fishermen pull out their nets and throw them back in, boats fully loaded with all kinds of goods from bricks and stoves to rice and watermelons float by. The houses on the riverfront are usually very basic shacks standing on stilts, ... read more
