AndoChina

Just a quick note to catch you up to the present. In about 3 hours I get on a bus bound for Luang Prabang, Laos, which is a slight deviation from my original route plan. Originally I was going to stop in Jinghong, in the far south Xishuangbanna region of China, and in Luang Namtha, a town in northern Laos, but that was mostly because I wasn't sure about connection between Kunming (my last "real" stop in China) and Luang Prabang (my first "real" stop in Laos). Since I managed to get a direct bus, I decided to spend a few extra days in Kunming. Allegedly the bus will take 26 hours, but it is a sleeper bus with actual beds (I was worried about a direct bus being seats only, and I didn't want to ... read more

China is a country with 5000 years of history, but most of what I have done in Nanjing reflects events of the last 90 or so (apart from the Ming tomb). Tuesday's events focused on the middle of the 20th century. First was the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum. In December 1937, after a long campaign, the Japanese military finally captured Nanjing. What followed was an extremely bloody 6-week occupation during which hundreds of thousands of Chinese were murdered and thousands more were beaten or raped. The museum portion had many artifacts from the time, as well as some displays telling the story of what had happened, both generally and with specific examples. It was both interesting and disturbing, and reminded me of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. However, what separated this location from the Holocaust ... read more

I haven't really been doing that much in Suzhou, at least it would look that way if you made a list. And that was kind of the point. I used the time to just be in a familiar city in China, and take a break after the semester, before the month-long solo portion of the trip. Mike and I played a lot of Mario Kart, and a computer game called Deadlock, and mostly stayed around his neighborhood, occasionally meeting up with some of his friends/fellow teachers. We went to a lot of the same old restaurants he had introduced me to before, as well as a few new ones that had opened since I last was in town. It's been a good two weeks, and I'm sad to leave, even as I'm excited about the rest ... read more

I have arrived in China. My flight from Seoul ended up being about 90 minutes late, so I got to the Shanghai airport just in time to get the last bus out of the airport. After a quick stop at the train station so I could buy my ticket to Suzhou for later today, I took a cab to my hostel in the Putuo district, northwest of the Huangpu River cutting the city in half. Today I plan to see a few sights around Shanghai before heading to Suzhou to find Mike's new place, a few blocks from his old one. On the list: * China's pavilion at Expo 2010 - lines for this were 5+ hours long during Expo when I was here last, so I didn't bother trying to see it. Due to high ... read more

It's Friday morning and I'm proctoring my final exam. I have to finish grading them today because tomorrow I drive to Seattle, from where I will fly to Shanghai on Sunday! Hard to believe the trip is already upon me. When I returned last August I didn't think I would be traveling again this summer, but by October I knew that wasn't going to be an option. I actually bought my plane ticket in January this year, so I've had 4 whole months of counting down to the exact date and time of my departure. Less than 53 hours to go! If you're interested, here's my itinerary. It's pretty well decided down to the day, barring any transportation issues (which, if last year is any indication, will be plentiful...but no Expo this year makes me optimistic). ... read more