http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/travelin-de/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from travelin de en-us Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:33:47 +0000 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:33:47 +0000 Stranded at the border of Vietnam and Laos. No Passport. A twelve hour bus ride to get to the border. A striking communist building surrounded by mountains and a thick fog. Short little men wearing green uniforms and tall hats with a star marching around. No one speaks English. This is how I got myself into this situationI was leaving Hanoi Vietnam with my three girl friends saying goodbye to t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-339914.html SEPT. 23 2008 The differences between mountain life and valley life are striking. Spending the morning at the Lukla Airport all bundled up with hats mitts and jackets then arriving in Kathmandu to the start of a 30 degree day. The race for the showers was intense after 15 days gone without. We also had to sort all our laundry to be put in for washing and what we would take with us to Chitwan Na http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Chitwan/blog-352378.html Sept. 9 2008 DAY 1Our guide picked us up at our hotel at the crack of dawn to head to airport in Kathmandu. It was chaos organized in it's own Nepali fashion. There were bags of trekking gear everywhere and people with their own packs. They threw our bags onto a massive retro scale and onto a tiny little cart that went out to our plane. The planes have an estimated time of departure we went betw http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Himalayas/blog-329689.html September 1 2008 My stomach began to hurt at breakfast and didnrsquot stop for the next couple days. Dale called me the zombie because every chance I had to sit down at the Mehrahgarh Fort I did. It cost 250Rs 5 to get in and included an audio tour. The tour was fantastic and really informative. It was a beautiful fort with amazing views of the blue city below. There were so many pilgrims http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-320444.html August 17 2008 The day of hassle begins at the Mumbai Airport. We arrived at 4 am my bag cover now has a rip in it a Chinese student latched on to us and began talking our ear off We needed a place to sleep for the day and hopefully grab a train that night to Goa. I called a place and we were going to get a taxi in to stay there. But I thought I would make a new friend at the AirTel counter http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Anjuna-Beach/blog-316847.html August 27 2008We arrived unscathed in Jaipur but we didnrsquot leave in much the same state. We were envying our 30 hours on the train compared to Jaipur We went to the old city nicknamed the Pink City. It turned out to be more orangebrown than anything I renamed Jaipur Indiarsquos Dust Pan. We were haggled from the moment we left the hotel Nonstop asking the whole day ldquoyou wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-319989.html Oman was an amazing break from India. It was clean sunny mosquito free... and did I mention clean This country is the best kept secret of the middle east hands down. The streets were lined with amazing white mansions that belong to ordinary middle class families and streets with beautiful new cars. Most of the men are in white traditional wear with a small cap and the women in long black ja http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-314258.html August 9 2008While we were eating breakfast in Jalgon we got approached by two Canadians wondering if we would like to share a hired car with them to the Ajanta Caves. Got into the jeep with them Aruna and Mike and took the hour drive to these caves. The Ajanta caves are more of a U shape and are quite close together. Some of the caves were pretty cool and interesting because they are really ol http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Aurangabad/blog-312175.html Through the rain maybe it was hard to tell sometimes that we are in India But then we would see someone urinating on the side of the road and then pass a stray dog and a bonethin cow and realize... actually we are in India It turned out that there was a car accident on the Nepal side of the Indian border stopping us from our original plan of going to Varanasi Quickly our plans changed and we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-312157.html August 1st 2008Waiting in queue to check in for our flight Bangkok to Kathmandu we had our first taste of Nepal. Every cart was loaded with at least 10 tiny bags or 3 oversized ones. Bags were created out of tape. I want a tape bag next time. Also no real line was formed Closest to the counter wins. Flying into Kathmandu was not what I was expecting. It was very flat even once we began our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-307401.html So as most of your know the reason that I came to South Korea was to teach English as a second language. The kids that I teach are mostly in elementary school with a few middle school classes and one or two students just entering high school. My school Lass Language Institute some days leaves a bit to be desired I never thought I'd be one to say this but the kids are what make me love it. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-246751.html A few days of Island life seemed to be just what we all needed after almost a year in a massive city like Seoul. Jeju Island is the Hawaii of Korea with beautiful beaches volcanic mountains palm trees and hot humid weather. Saturday JUNE 28 2008The weekend was great Although when we arrived there were monsoon rains So we got checked into our hotel and decided that we should be adventu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Jeju/blog-293743.html The question is Beijing are you ready yet and my answer is maybe not quite It seems like the city is in a bustle to finish but in the next three months they are going to need people working around the clock. Every corner you turn there is a construction site usually redoing run down buildings. The city beautification is great but what about the people that live in the areas that they http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-277548.html After six weeks back at work it was time for another vacation Sam Leesa and I were of to Shanghai China to see the sights relax and have lots of laughs. Why Shanghai you ask Well we got a cheap flight during the busiest travel time of the year in Korea. Decision made. Wednesday FEBRUARY 6 2008We were up at 500 to get ready to head for the airport Our flight wasn't until 1030 but as I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-277485.html Merry Christmas Can you move to a new apartment in four days I had movers arrive to move me to a new apartment two floors directly below my old one. It looks the exact same it feels the exact same but wait it isn't the same apartment I now live in 1116 The reasons for the move remain unknown except some detail about the owner wanting to sell and the buyer wanting to live there... oh well http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-251802.html DECEMBER 22 2007Sam Teacher and I were off to Tokyo for our Christmas Adventure nice and early We hauled our big back packs only half full of course for the anticipated shopping spree we would have through the subway station to Gimpo Airport. This is an international airport but mainly has domestic flights. We loved this airport because we saw no lines no hassle AND it has a subway station http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-249266.html well well well... six months laterHello everyone Greetings from the other side of the world I have found a new way to communicate with you all through this website and creating my own blog This is really one of the coolest websites for providing and obtaining first hand info about every corner of the world. I had a fantastic going away party in Halifax at the Split Crow Pub with so many of my f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-242903.html well... here I am after six months in South Korea I am still alive I think I've done everything you can possibly do in Seoul but hopefully the next six months will allow me to see more of the land of the morning calm Over the Christmas vacation I made it to Tokyo Japan and had an amazing time there a blog on Tokyo will follow shortly I also plan to write on living in Seoul what great http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-242314.html