WOW! Tibet was the most amazing place I have ever been. Its spiritually alive, culturally diverse, and beautiful. I got into Tibet by taking the highest train in the world into Lhasa. From Xi’an it was a 36 hour trip through the high plains and all the way up to 16,000 ft.! The train ride was spectacular. I zoomed by herds of Yaks, grand mountains, bright yellow grass and the occasional fox. There were oxygen outlets buy all of the beds in case the altitude was too much for anybody. The train into Tibet was an extremely large project taken on [View Full Entry]

---

---

A new world for a country kid…. My trip in China proper started with a 24 hour train ride from Hong Hom Station, Hong Kong to Shanghai where I would spend the next three days. In the modern city of Shanghai I walked around the Bund, an old British section of the city by the river, which was beautifully lit at night, I took a tunnel under the river, which doubled as a light show, and went up one of the highest towers in the city. As in all of China, Shanghai was quite polluted, full of bicycles, and busy as [View Full Entry]

---

---

On either end of my travels in China I spent a couple days in Hong Kong regrouping and getting ready for whatever came next. I was able to stay in an amazing apartment on The Peak over looking Hong Kong. I stayed with a family, for whom my dad built a house for in Wyoming. They were very nice to put me up and showed me a good time in Hong Kong. I ate some really good food, went to some fun bars with the kid, and was able to regroup, do some laundry and take some nice hot showers! The [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ahhh Australia!!! Two big cities, a hippie Surf town, and some crazy people. In the middle of October I landed in Melbourne and wandered around the city until I found the apartment of a friend (who I would latter find out was gay when his boyfriend came home) who I had met in New Zealand.I explored the artsy city for a couple of days, went to the zoo (incredible), and flew up to Brisbane. Melbourne was an alright city, but the animals were by far the best part. From Brisbane I bussed down to Byron Bay where I stayed with a [View Full Entry]

---

---

I landed in Auckland and wandered around the airport for a while until I left for my flight down to Christchurch. In Christchurch I sayed downtown in Base Backpackers. The next morning I took a bus up to Aurthers Pass and Hiked for two days Climbing Aicken Mountain and Avalanche Peak. From there I moved on up to Murchison via Graymouth. In Murchison I worked construction on a bed and breakfast trading time for kayak gear and a place to say. I stayed in an old shed with a someone who was working as a "boat slave" for the same kayak [View Full Entry]

---

---