Raymond

In this summer, I and my family had a trip going to Tibet and the Yangtze River (the Three Gorges). We had been to Lhasa and around, and Shigatse, after which flew to Chongqing to board a cruise ship all the way down to Yichang. This entry is about the first part of our travel in Tibet. Originally, our plan was to take a train from Xining to Lhasa. However, after some research and visiting a few travel agents in Shenzhen, we were convinced that getting a train ticket from Xining would be one of the most difficult tasks in the Chinese tour industry now. This is because people from all over the country flooded to try the new Qinghai-Tibet Railways which has just been operating for a year. As a result, we chose to fly ... read more

I spent the weekend of 31 Mar on a trip to a Leprosy village in Dongguan with a charity group who occasionally visits these villages and does some rennovation works. This time, I was mainly involved in helping paint a building where the Leprosy villagers live. Due to the nature of the disease, paitents of Leprosy were often placed in isolation because people were afraid of the transmission of the disease. Many still are today. As a result, in China, Leprosy villages were built in remote areas where patients are concentrated. The village I visited this time is located on an isolated island off Dongguan and the only access from the outside world is by local ferry. Indeed, the whole institution is named as a hospital, although nearly all of the patients have now recovered. ... read more

Last Night at Star Ferry's Central Pier, Hong Kong Asia » Hong Kong By Raymond November 12th 2006 RaymondMidnight, 11/12 November 2006 Sans Paroles... read more

Although I stayed in this small island country for only two days, it was a rewarding one. I was staying in downtown Manama, which is busy place with a souq selling gold. In day 2, I went to visit the excellent National Museum of Bahrain, which had a detailed introduction of the history of the country. Knowing only the minimal before I arrived, I was surprised to find that the island had a history of over 3000 years, starting from the ancient Dilmun civilisation, through the Tylos era, to the modern times. It is quite amazing because one could find such a small place to have its identiy through such a long time, especially when empires, nearby and far away, came and go. As in the other parts of the Gulf, many people I met or ... read more

The capital of Oman is Muscat, although the city is widely spread out and there are several townships in Greater Muscat. I stayed in one of the residential areas near Qurm, but the commercial district is in Ruwi. There is a fresh fish market and an amazing souq in Mutrah, where I could buy some souvinirs. The palace and the government is situated in a small area called Muscat, whose atmosphere is quite different from the others. As in Dubai, one can find a few palace-like hotels in the southern shore of Muscat. People in Muscat are generally friendly. I feel especially so because I just came from Dubai where money and time seemed to be more of a priority. Taxi drivers were keen to talk to me with their minimal English, although I believed they ... read more