Hi, Since I had to return to China in the same way (only one border crossing between China and Laos) I did not want to travel too much. This is the reason that I have visited only few places. And also, I felt that I was in vacation from China, no need to rush, just relax and chill out. Almost all travellers in Laos, however, enter Laos from Thailand at one point, travel in Laos and then return to Thailand at another point. This is easy to do since Thailand and Laos have 6 border crossings. When I told people that [View Full Entry]

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Hi, Already in Vietnam, when I received my visa to China, I have realized that I might need to exit the country after, the most, 30 days. I applied for 1 enrty, 60 days and instead, the travel agent gave me 2 entries, 30 days each. The most reasonable country (China has a border with around 10 contries or so) to cross by land from Yunam province seemed to be Laos. At the beginning, when I first saw the visa mistake I was really annoyed because exiting China was not on my plan but when the time passed and after I [View Full Entry]

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Hi, Now I am sure that I am in nowhere: it does not exist in the drop down list above so I chose Guilin... Anyhow, I am in Guiang, the capital of Guinzou province. The last few days were full of Chinese people and very few western tourists. After visiting Longshi, where the rice teraces are, I have decided to continue up north and to explore some more minority villages in my way to Kunming, instead of returning to Guilin. In the Lonley Planet, this way is described as the 'back door' to Guinzou province where not many tourists do it. [View Full Entry]

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Hi, My next stop after Yangshu was the rice teraces in Longshi, about 2 hours north to Guilin. After the mingling failure at Yangshou (see last story), I was eager to try again to mingle. So I was so happy when on the bus to Logshi one of the those ladies with a towel on her head (belongs to the Zhuang minority people), offered me to sleep at her place. This conversation could have taked place thanks to the help of a Chinese guy who could speak English as well. I was dreaming about me sleeping with her, her husband, the [View Full Entry]

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Hi, Yesterday，the Dog year has started and the Chicken year ended. Happy new year! The Chinese new year is a holiday that lasts 1 week. Its other name is the 'Spring Festival' and indeed the last 3 days have beed shining and it does get warmer. It is an early spring. The street of the western tourists has the obvious name of 'West street'. But nowadays, during the holiday, its name does not hint its habitants, as it is filled with many more Chinese tourists then western ones. The main events in this holiday is fireworks, lots of firecrackers, all day [View Full Entry]

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Hi, My second day in China is very cold (as the first day). I am quite south (near Guilin) and I was thinking that south = warm / hot and north = cold. But it appears that all China is very cold except, maybe, south Yunan, near the border of Laos and Vietnam, so I might head there if it would be too cold. In order to fight back, I bought some warm cloths, very cheap ones, in Guilin. Guilin is a very modern city. I did my shopping in an underground market, similar to the one in Toronto. Today, on [View Full Entry]

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Hi, After 3 weeks in Vietnam, this is not my favourite country. Espically I did not like the sellers in the streets of Hanoi and Saigon that are really annoying and pushi. Their trials of making a living is not my cup of tea. The common taxi option is cyclo or a motorbike. Those drivers are horrible and very pushi as well. Sometimes they cheat as well, few dollars only, but still, very annoying. One other thing that I did not like is the way of travelling. Since Vietnam is very long and narrow, Saigon on the south and Hanoi on [View Full Entry]

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Hi, It appears that the most difficult daily task in Ho Chi Nin City (Saigon) is crossing the street. Much more difficult than doing this in a big city in India. Lots of scooter drivers that drive and drive and do not stop. At the beginning in our pathetic trials to cross the street, local people helped us and showed how to do it: you just cross, the scooter drivers will divert eventually and manage not to override us, somehow... Second difficult task is the language. Most of the people don't know English. But even when they know, their accent is [View Full Entry]

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Hi, After India, well, it is a very big change: very clean, very easy to get along, AC bus, America! Much more west then east. No atmosphere as in India, I really miss the cows, the monkeys, I even miss the harrestment of the men. Here, the Thai men don't care about me, they don't stare at me, I am insulted. It is much more expensive than in India, maybe double but still cheap comparing to Israel. The English of the simple people is much worse then in India. And taxi drivers: they never have change, just like in India. I [View Full Entry]

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Hi, The only reason to visit Madurai is the beutiful temple complex, combined of several towers, all covered with coloured statuses. The statutes are over-decorated and kitschy but still, very impressive. I have visited the temple very early, at around 6 AM and it was already full with pilgrims and lots of atmosphere, groups are chanting and praying, women dressed with their saries, men with their customs. All the scenary is very exciting. I'll let the pictures talk for themselfs. Sharon [View Full Entry]

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