I met Cameron, Paul, Ian and Lincoln (all from the Gold Coast of Australia) on the way over to the Kunming long-distance bus terminal. During the 3 minute ride, we decided to form a travel group for our stay in Lijiang. This came in handy within the hour. Upon arrival to our 'sleeper bus' our driver was intent on taking bags of rice and other cargo in the passenger compartment (under the bunks) while putting our bags below. Since there were going to be many stops during the 12 hour ride, none of us were keen on this and we had [View Full Entry]

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I took the morning train from Guilin to Kunming. It is a 22 hour train ride, so there is really nothing to be lost or gained from taking the AM or PM departure. But Lisa in Yangshou was able to get me the am one, which is 25% less. Aside from the usual chaos that ensues whenever a large group of Chinese people attempt to do something at the same time, the boarding process was not eventful. Each car has about 10 cabins in it, with six bunks per cabin. It was about freezing in the compartment, but there was no [View Full Entry]

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Those were words of advice for China given to me by a bodyguard I met in Hong Kong. seems to sum up the difference between China and Japan nicely. <P>After the helpful police officer helped me avoid getting overcharged, I ventured over to Lisa's guesthouse to bet a bed. I was first showed one that was 25 yuan a night, then after telling them I wanted something cheaper I got one for 15. Since this is about 1.75 a night, I was happy to chill and recover from Tokyo prices for a bit. I spent the first day just winding down [View Full Entry]

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After an overnight 10 hour bus ride from Guangzhou, which was an experience in and of itself. It was a nice bus, with a cabin attendant and snack service, but the road was really bad, and the bus slide off it once. We ended up in the gravel median, after which we just started going again. There were lots of concerned looks among the fellow passengers, but in the end, we just went back to sleep and hoped for the best. We arrived in Guilin at about 6:30am, and the city was still awakening. I swung by the station restroom on [View Full Entry]

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After clearing the passport control area between Hong Kong and the mainland (this is one very busy place) I made my way to find an ATM. None to be found. I ran into a friendly bus station attendant who spoke English, and he said that I needed to go to the Bank of China building. Hard be believe, but there was not a single ATM to be had right across from the Hong Kong border crossing. China and I were off to a bad start. Once I reached the building, having passed many offers for a 'massage', I found the bank. [View Full Entry]

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After arriving in Narita Airport, I was amazing at how formal everything was. This country loves white gloves. The customs officials wear them, the taxi drivers wear them. Even the train greeters wear them. Narita airport is amazing. Nice, new and of course, very clean. It is, however, not in Tokyo. They may call it 'Tokyo Narita Airport', but that would be the same as calling Portland Oregon's Airport 'Seattle Airport'. Depending on where in Tokyo one is, it can take 2.5 hrs to get to. That aside, it is great. My lodging for the two days was at the Tokyo [View Full Entry]

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Just after returning to the states, I was ready to head over to Eastern Washington and take my first peek at the new property and the cabin built on it. The cabin was located right outside a town with a population of 35, a museum, and 4 full time volunteers at this free museum. This was not, however, the only reason we were going up to the cabin. Luke and I were going up to see if the Federal government was going to grant a contract for the property in order to fund the cleanup of dead tree branches that served [View Full Entry]

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Once the program was over, before I could head back to Seattle, I had one day to kill. A classmate from mine was going to visit family outside of Brussels, invited me to stay with him, and thus solved the problem of what to do with the extra day. We shared a taxi with Aphrodite and Niccoleta (both from the Masters program in Portsmouth) and then took the train into North Brussels from the airport. After dropping off our bags, we headed into town and I was able to get the idea of the flavour for the capital of Europe. It [View Full Entry]

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A few days before my return to the states, I was able to sneak away from my program in Maastricht long enough to get over to Amsterdam for the day. I figured that it would be a shame to have studied in the country for so long without having had occasion to peak around the city, but it had always been something that seemed too pricey considering the complete lack of student discounts on Dutch Rail. However, a friend came though a few days before my last day off, and he gave me a 40% off voucher that expired the end [View Full Entry]

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Between the end of my British semester in Portsmouth and the IMPREST conference back in Maastricht, I was able to throw together a EU financed stopover in Dublin. Since the conference funding covered airfare for the participants, out of options for going between southern England and southeastern Holland, the routing through Dublin made the most sense. How lucky for me! In fitting fashion, the taxi ride from Bournemouth to the airport (after spending the same amount as the airplane ticket taking the train there from Portsmouth) cost 2/3 as much as the flight to Dublin. The reason that I ended u [View Full Entry]

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