JDTG2003

Hi there ladies and gents! Sorry for always taking a long time to post a blog. This blog will describe my adventures in Phu Tho Province about 100K"m from Hanoi in the Highlands of the northwest. I spent over two weeks here in the highlands which is up in the mountains with Muong (ethnic minority) for my studies. I was grouped together with Brad and Valdis (both classmates) and we did some analysis of options for starting up a waste management program in the village we were studying - Chieng Mot (1). Our conclusions show that at present an organized system is not feasable... But apart from that we had a great time with the help of our interpreter Lien who was fluent in English to translate everything for us during our interviews with about 10 ... read more

Huangshan or the Yellow Mountains as they are called in English are named after an emperor who was called Huangdi (shan means mountain). Jingjing and I found a clean and small hotel at the bottom of the mountain in a town called Tengkou. We rose early and started our climb up the eastern flanks of the mountain around 7am, and after a harsh 3 hours of non stop climb to an elevation of 1800 meters we reached the plateau of the mountain chain which obviously led to more peaks and even more climbs! In total we hiked roughly 30K"m in a period of 10 hours, which enabled us to exit through the western trails. I am still partially in pain (over a week after the climb) which has led me to the conclusion that I will ... read more

I flew from Kota Kinabalu half stiff, and sore from climbing Mt. Kinabalu to the beautiful little island of Bali. This little paradise as discribed by many, is in fact a PARADISE! Karen and I started at Kuta which is the heart of Bali, well the modern party-beach-crazy find whatever you like town. We lazed around on the beach for a couple of days, went out to some bars and clubs, and did some fashion shopping for dirt cheap! From here we took a day trip to the southern tip of Bali to the most important and holy site for the Hindu island... of course a temple - located on the tip of the ocean on a cliff overlooking the inviting azure blue ocean. After a couple of nights in Bali we moved on to Ubud ... read more

Where to begin?! Stats: Yunnan borders Burma to the west, Vietnam to the South, Guangxi to the east and Tibet and Sichuan to the north. Constant elevation - above 9000 feet. I flew with Karen (the taller) and my best friend in China- Ivy for a 10 day trip to Yunnan Province not knowing really what to expect. But boy oh boy... This is by far my favorite location in China (thus far - I intend on returning within 2 years). The whole duration we were at an elevation of no less that 9000 feet, surrounded by mountains with snow covered peaks (this trip was in June), lakes, rivers, forests and rice paddies. Our trip was divided into three parts: Lijiang, Shangri-La, and Dali each home to a different ethnic minority (Naxi, Tibetan, and Bai respectively) ... read more

Sorry for taking such a long break from writing to you. Do not think that I have neglected you. Nor have I fallen of the face of the Earth. I am still alive and kicking! Since my return from my winter vacation trip I have become slightly lazy when it comes to work. Nonetheless you need not worry! I still show up to work and show off my white face to the crowds in order to make it the well established second most expensive private liberal arts college in China - United "International" College, where the students can interact with and experience the lo wai/gwei lo (Mandarin/Cantonese = foreigner/literal translation=white ghost). I had a great time on my birthday! Had 20 friends come out for Indian food and then we headed out to jo ba jie ... read more