http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/BossManBing/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from BossManBing en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:26:26 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:26:26 +0000 I only stayed in KL for three days I should have planned to stay longer. It's a lot like Hong Kong only much friendlier. It's mainly Muslim yet cosmopolitan it has a bustling city centre but also a great Chinatown and Little India plus almost everyone speaks EnglishI visited the KL Tower for great views of the city and take the Skybridge tour at the twin Petronas Towers the latter look http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-327372.html I flew from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on a twinpropellered plane. It was a turblulent flight.I'd been really looking forward to this part of the trip as I'd so many pictures of Angkor Wat and loved the Khmer architecture. I wasn't disappointed. I watched the sun rise over the huge temple and strolled around the complex. The next day I visited a lot more temples in the area including the one used http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-327371.html I cross the VietnamCambodia border by bus and head straight for the Capital Phnom Penh. I only knew a little of Cambodian history of Pol Pot the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields. I was in for a shock.We visited S21. It used to be a school. In 1975 Pol Pot's army 'liberated' Phnom Penh the people cheered and waved. Within hours the entire population were ordered to leave the city being to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-327369.html I travel North again from Bangkok and headto Chiang Kong take a longtail boat boat across the Mekong and I'm in Laos I spend one night on Houay Sai a sleepy little village on the banks of the Mekong and sample my first Beer Lao. It's not bad. It's noticably more humid in Laos than Thailand.I board a riverboat for a two day cruise down the Mekong the scenery is tropical jungle and the river http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-327361.html I have my Birthday celebrations back in Bangkok and get riotously drunk on Chang Beer you're only 34 once you know...I travel South and spend two glorious days on a rafthouse in Khao Sok NP just chilling out sunbathing and swimming in the reservoir. The place was so beautiful I forgot to take any photographs From Khao Sok I go to Ko PhaNgan just North of Ko Samui. We stay in beach huts o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-327356.html I love Chiang Mai. It's the old capital of Northern Thailand but it's got much more of a small city feel to it than sprawling Bangkok.On my first day there I take an elephant trek through part of the jungle and get to sit on the elephant's head feeding it bananas. In the afternoon I pole a bamboo raft literally 10 bamboo poles lashed together down a river and over rapids. Everyone gets comple http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-327352.html I took a public bus to Kanchanaburi site of the infamous and tragic 'Bridge over the River Kwae' walking across the bridge at sunset. It was frighteningly picturesqueThe next day I went to Erawan National Park and hiked up the seven tiered waterfalls swimming in some of the pools climbing on the rocks under the falls themselves and getting nibbled at by fish. In the afternoon I take a kayak http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-327351.html I took to Thailand almost as soon as I entered Bangkok. They call it 'The Land of Smiles' and for good reason. After the relative unfriendliness of the Chinese the Thai people's attitude came as a breath of fresh air. The fact that most people spoke at least a little English and Thailand had some kind of tourist infrastructure also helpedI spent 6 days in Bangkok looking around the Wats templ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-327349.html I take the overnight train to Nanjing but still have no joy renewing my VISA so book a flight to Hong Kong for the following day my first flight of the tripWhat can I say about Hong Kong It's kind of 'New York meets Beijing'. All the affluence of a large Western city with all the hubbub street vendors and fake rolexes of East Asia. I liked it. The onyl problem was that unless you're makin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-327347.html After seven weeks in China my VISA had all but expired so I head for a small city called Kaifeng a four hour busride from Luoyang in hopes of getting an extension.Unfortunately because of the Olympics 2008 is China's 'Special Year' and VISAs are hard to come by. In Kaifeng they could only give me a 10 day extension from that day not much point when I still had 13 days left on the current http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Kaifeng/blog-297378.html I took a seven hour train ride to Zhenzhou arriving late and then a three and a half hour busride to the town of Luoyang.The next day I was up early to get the public bus out to the Longmen grottoes. They obviously didn't get too many foreign tourists on the bus as pretty much everyone stared at me for the 50 minute journey...It was worth it though as the Longmen carvings were brought to us b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Henan/Luoyang/blog-297377.html The bus into Beijing was smart and airconditioned but from inside you could see how polluted the city was. Can they really be hosting an Olympic games here in a little over a monthI take in the tourist sites of Beijing starting with the Forbidden City. I'd heard they'd built a Starbucks in the outer coutryard but must have since removed it thank GodAs you'd imagine for an attraction this http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-297376.html I made it I crossed a continentThe world's largest continent lays behind me but it takes a little while to sink in. Three and a half months of pretty constant movement through strange lands and cultures. I know I'll need to stop for a while at some point and filter through all the things that I've learned and experienced so far but my mind is saying What's next http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-297374.html I visit the Eastern Qing tombs where several members of the Qing dynasty 16441911 including the tomb of the Empress Dowager Cixi who controlled the country by using her very young relatives as puppet emporers. The underground palaces containing their coffins are dank and spooky places eerily lit with green halogen lamps.I begin my obsession with photographing chinese rubbish bins... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hebei/Qinhuangdao/blog-297371.html I pay my second visit to the Great Wall this time near the far Eastern end and to the more modern parts built of stone during the Ming dynasty.The plan is to do a 10km hike along a stretch of it thus accounting for 0.1 of it's original length. I set off at a brisk pace as we're being followed by women with big bags trying to seel us tourist tat. It's quite a hot and humid day and the wall i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hebei/Chengde/blog-297368.html I arrive in Chendge late in the evening and the town has been quite badly flooded. Fortunately most of the water has subsided by morning and the weather brightened a little but the streets are still covered in mud.I visit the Imperial Palace and Summer Villa and stroll around the very beautiful park and grounds. They have deer running wild that bite if you get too close take my word for it... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hebei/Chengde/blog-297365.html I travel to Datong passing through the huge industrial areas of Northern CHina. This is where much of the country's coal comes from and hence where many of the massive powerstations are. They're a blight on the landscape but in such a growing powerhungry country they've got to put them somewhere.Just West of Datong are the Yungang caves a huge site of over 51000 Buddhist carvings in a sand http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanxi/Datong/blog-297361.html I visit the Zhongwei Gao Temple near Shapatou to see the strange representations of the Buddhist heavena and hell. SpookyAlso near Shapatou on the banks of the Yellow River and surrounded by towering sanddunes I try out the Chinese equivalent of an adrenalin amusement park. There's rafting on the river on a raft made fom inflated sheepskins a zipwirefrom the top of one of the dunes across http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Ningxia/Yinchuan/blog-297357.html On to Xi'an which served as China's capital to 11 dynasties over a period of 4000 years. Best know for the Terracotta warriors it's position at the very Eastern end of the Silk Road turned it into a busy metropolis and merchant town.During my stay I visit the magnificent Drum and Bell towers present in all of the major ancient Chinese cities and watch performances on both instruments cycle http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi-an/blog-297353.html I stay a couple of nights at Pingliang possibly the world's most boring city but visit Mount Kongtong a Daoist monastery perched precariously on the top of a cliff. It's quite a walk up the mountain but absolutely worth it and looks just like you imagine China to look like with little temples and Pagodas clinging to the treelined slopes.When you see these stunning views it becomes immediat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Gansu/Lanzhou/blog-297351.html