Lucky to get a ticket out of Shanghai to ... anywhere. Lucky to end up where I did. Guilin and Yangshao is the undisputed area of backpackers in China, a touch of S.E.A. Back again; banana pancakes, cheap knockoff Cd's, lame slogan t-shirts, movie bars and dazed out looks. I'll take it, I have a dazed out look too. This area is crying for you to get on a mountain bike (they actually rent good ones) and take off in any direction you please. River trails to follow, hikes to find, villages to visit, its all within a few hours ride, unless you're in horrible shape. In four days I must have put over 250 ks on the bike, good weather, no people just what I needed. Living in a place as beautiful has to rub ... read more

Great Wall Wow, amazing in size, scale, terrain, conscripted labor effort and the fact that there was hardly anyone there, I could believe my luck, yeah for Tuesday. I was meant to take the tour (tour because the section I wanted to visit required several bus changes I wasn't motivated for) on Sunday but the late Beijing nights sort of messed it up. I'm told the tour operator came into my room and physically assaulted me, Monday morning, my four roommates were all up and laughing their asses off at me. The combination of no sleep, ear numbing music and a few beers put me in comatose. The section I choose was 3.5 hours from Beijing and allowed a through hike to another access point, just over 10km of hiking. Parts were restored, picture perfect, parts ... read more

Clouds abound on my way out of Vang Vieng, both in my head and in the sky. We have been racing the monsoon season for the last few weeks, a losing battle. The trip out of town left the group scattered, everyone peeling off at different times. The lack of sleep and lack of sense kept a few of us back. To Culture! Luang Prabang has over 30 temples and is a charming and romantic city surrounded by two rivers. French tourists are here in droves as direct flights from Bangkok allow the absence of road travel for the wealthy. With the ipod blaring Ron and I rode 70 Ks to the most spectacular waterfall I've seen yet and I've seen plenty so far. Still in a bit of a haze from my fall I chatted ... read more

For 6 days and around a 1000km I had the most memorable time of my trip so far. Since no one I'd been travelling with was keen to go kayaking in Halong Bay I rented a Russian motorcycle in Hanoi alone two and a half days behind a crew of five. The bike was a temperamental beast it ran pretty well until 40km outside of returning the bike when it completely took a crapper. Riding the bike through this type of country was easily the most disconnected I've felt from the travel scene since I've been in Asia. For the first 600 km I didn't see another person who wasn't a local. I might of had a taste of dog the first night though, I stopped at an out of the way town, my accommodation was ... read more

Of the 14 computers in this little café 13 are occupied by Vietnamese under the age of 16-18. As far as I can tell they are all on Yahoo IM flirting with each other, most in the same room. The guy next to me is lovelybabymuonyeu_139565 and he is making a girl behind me giggle. He types, 2 seconds later she giggles. Smoove. I guess that makes me an IM voyeur. Ahh, Hoi An, beautiful UNESCO Heritage Site untouched by war, old French style architecture, tiny passage ways, gorgeous trees, but for the motorbike sneaking up on you and then blasting the horn in your ear you would be in wandering bliss. And the girls here, I couldn’t figure out why so few Western girls were in Vietnam, they are here. Hoi An is the Rodeo ... read more