Bangkok was a welcome respite from the chill of East Asia. We were eager to jump down to the beaches and sights of southern Thailand, so we crammed as much as we could see of Bangkok into two days. We spent a day on Bangkok's notorious tourist mecca, Kaosahn Road, where you can get just about anything a farang (foreigner) could want--except a t-shirt big enough for Chris. We helped ourselves to a small sampling of the many offers, picking up a (no doubt legal and totally above board) copy of Bossa and Roses, a CD of Bossa style Guns 'n [View Full Entry]

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We left Xi'an and headed to Shanghai to ring in the new year. Shanghai is, no doubt, the lively, interesting, dynamic town it's cracked up to be, but Chris and I kind of missed it all. Shanghai is so dynamic that in order to find the hot spots, you have to check the local English language magazines which can only be found at hot spots. So we hit the waterfront instead to await a fireworks show that never happened. We were told that because of the terrible snow storms that crippled the country, official fireworks shows were canceled. Even the skyline [View Full Entry]

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Xian was recovering from a snow storm when we arrived, and it showed. The streets were covered in ice and snow and mud and it was freezing cold. This ancient city is divided up into two halves; one side being very nice, new and well kept, and the other, is a dark, dirty, filthy pit of poverty... guess where we stayed. Our hotel was nice, but the area was horrible. We took our good friend Al's advice and got a car for the day. The man was very nice and we got a good deal. We first went to the terra [View Full Entry]

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Long gone are the days when only Nixon could go to China. We booked our tickets well in advance to avoid any Chinese New Year travel clogs, booked our hotels, and headed to China--first and third stops, Beijing. The first thing we did was head to our hotel after realizing that we didn't actually have the address. Our enthusiasm was slightly deflated. No problem. One hyper-expensive email check later, we were on our way to the Beijing Peaceful Service Apartments. The taxi dropped us off in the middle of a huge, intimidating housing block. Again, deflated. No worries, we found the [View Full Entry]

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We headed down to Kyoto by night bus after a few days in Tokyo. This was one horrible night. We we're cramped into two tiny seats in the front of the bus and didn't get much sleep at all. When we arrived it was raining and we walked around for forty-five minutes looking for our hostel. Once there we crashed on the couches until our rooms were ready. Kyoto's weather got better and we went out to see what was going on. Kyoto had more of a laid back feeling than Tokyo. We spent more time in quiet places and admiring [View Full Entry]

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It was finally time for us to leave familiar shores and head into the great wild yonder. We shouldered our packs, lost a hat each, and headed to Tokyo to relieve ourselves of some unwanted cash. Japan greeted us with a frosty welcome. There was no snow on the ground but it was close to freezing. We checked into our hostel and headed out to see the city. Tokyo amazed us with its ability to stay quiet, even at its most busy times. People were always very polite and we had little trouble getting around, the subways were particularly good. We [View Full Entry]

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Taiwan can make you chuckle, scream in frustration, or gasp from the beauty. You really never know what you might see. Colorful temples hide on small streets next to hip urban clothing stores. One cannot walk down the street without finding something amusing. Two older ladies chat while driving their little rascals down a narrow alley. Crepes are all the rage and come in little crepe carts. Sadly, betel nut will not release its hold on the men of Taiwan, and betel nut waste litters the streets. The most beautiful scenery, by far, is a few kilometers out of the city [View Full Entry]

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It's good to head home before any long journey, so we scheduled a trip to good ol' Chiayi, Taiwan. We were greeted by old friends both Chinese and expat. Needless to say, as soon as we hit the ground, we started eating. And eating. Nick and XieYun had opened their breakfast shop in March and Chinese hospitality demands that guests be stuffed, and stuffed we are. We have been enjoying an unending stream of old favorites. Fried chicken and egg breakfast sandwiches, danbings (take that Wynne), chicken rice, beef noodles, intestine hot pot soup, dragon fruit, tangerines, salty dried plums, [View Full Entry]

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The trip to Taiwan was mostly to see friends, and see friends we did. We stayed with Ty and Beth in exchange for taking care of their cat while they were on vacation. All our friends gave us a warm reception--and there was much rejoicing. Yay. Our Taiwanese friends Nick and XieYun fed us and stuffed us full of tea for the duration of our stay in Taiwan. They were also kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to ferry us around to some premier destinations. Though I'm not sure how well their sons liked being shoved in [View Full Entry]

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We said a teary good-bye to the cats as we sent them to America and left South Korea to begin our journey around the world. We capped off our year in Korea with food and shopping. Mrs. Hwang, our surrogate mother, made sure that no one left this Korean ribs place hungry. Galbi--Korean pork ribs, Kimchi, and Soju--mild Korean liquor, were never in short supply. We made one last trip out to Seoul's handicraft market in Insadong to pick up some memorable items. All in all, Korea was a nice place to live for a year. It's a beautiful, safe, clean [View Full Entry]

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