http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/wheres kevin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from wheres kevin en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:00:27 BST Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:00:27 BST Heroes Tragic and ComicThis could be Rotterdam or anywhere chilling in a shopping mall coffee shop half the temperature that bathes the city outside its sliding glass doors guarded by a pair of goons in blue and white pressed uniforms until you take a closer look. The products and prices are western made in China Korea Japan western as itrsquos come to be known lipsticks yoga mats silk http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Indonesia/Java/Surabaya/blog-317452.html Saya Mau Sewa SepedaReports arrive of a washed out bridge along the TransSumatran forcing a circuitous detour connecting Lake Toba to regions south. Kay who speaks for her partner on all matters cringes at the though of a twentyfour hour busride. The Scotsman explains that he made the journey from Bukittingi in six hours first by road to Padang thence flying Air Asia to Medan where he caught http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Bukittinggi/blog-304609.html Medan English Lesson with a Happy EndingItrsquos a day faster and with Air Asia itrsquos actually cheaper to fly KL to Medan Indonesia's third largest city a quick hop across the Straights of Malaka but I need to reach it by sea want to relive bygone days of explorers and spice traders. The ship however is oblivious to any romantic notions a low aluminium hull tosses its cargo from port http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Medan/blog-286664.html Kuala LumpurThe closest I've ventured yet toward the equator. Magenta paints a wispy horizon of the broadest sunset I've ever seen as the plane skims over the orderly regiments of palm tree plantations. I lug a thirty kilo suitcase along the curbs of Chinatown to a relatively quiet and windowless guesthouse the far end of Central Market. My shirt smells of sweaty cheese. Asians find westerners sme http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Malaysia/Selangor/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-274909.html The same day stretches six weeks long waking sleeping itrsquos the same denying routine denying necessity progress change accepting sunlight escaping cold watching an apartment blockrsquos shadow creep up the block like a giant sundial tracking the dayrsquos journey. Ants pass aboard buses crowded into minivans on three wheeled bicycles laden with boxes. Measuring time with qu http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Kunming/blog-261097.html New Year's Unmet ResolutionsIt's not as I'd expected. The apartment is not yet finished the electricity unwired hot water tank and kitchen appliances missing. I remain with Joan in his old flat the rent contract now under Sergio's name. Joan has run into money problems. He paid the contractor the full cost for the kitchen appliances but the contractor put half that towards his employees' wages http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Yunnan/Kunming/blog-249576.html Uuuuh Joan moans as we enter the PSB office on Beijing Lu this guy's a prick he informs me under his breath. Within half a minute I've gathered as much. Standing across from him seperated by a desk the officer speaks as though to an assembly. I respond in a likewise trumpeted voice I plan to travel around Yunnan Guizhou and Guangzhou. He seems satisfied. I fill out the form and hand ove http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Yunnan/Ruili/blog-245862.html Two weeks to cross south China aboard a sleeper train from Kunming to Guilin an expected two hours later than listed in the time table. A bus parked in front of the station departs for Yangshuo an hour's drive down a highway resembling a long parking lot. I'm greeted by a pushy hostel staff member who quickly arranges my onward bus ticket to Shenzhen before booking me into an empty discount dor http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-244709.html There are rules in Kunming as in all towns in all societies but the young expats a tribe of drifters don't much adhere to them. One guy I forget his name remains behind bars caught with a large possession of drugs a few months ago. A girlfriend paid him a visit. I forget her name too. She invited Joan but he declined. Like most in Kunming he had distanced himself from the pusher told me in http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Yunnan/Kunming/blog-243074.html In Tibet's ShadowBefore six the following morning in a cold darkness after the moon sets and the sun rises four Brits a Czech and I stand at the depot awaiting a bus that does not come. Shortly past nine we pile into a minivan for the joureny south into Yunnan. We've been warned of a four hour section along an unmettled road and keep an anxious eye out. We climb into the mountains headed west fr http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Yunnan/Zhongdian/blog-241658.html SichuanTibet Highland Highway Kangding Litang XianchengSaturday October 20th I am thirty today a long day beginning at Xinnanmen boarding the coach for Kangding gateway to Tibet 2560m above sea level six grey hours drive west of Chengdu. The passengers are dressed in head to toe gortex and equipped with fancy cameras. I burry into a copy of Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad from which I le http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Sichuan/Litang/blog-236107.html Chengdu Sex Drugs and Hot PotBeyond Langmusi hemmed inside a narrow valley cutting south past sleepy villages the road weaves into north Sichuan. After Songpan the road climbs higher and higher into the western reaches of the Tibetan plateau a spectacular drive made all the more enjoyable by the enforced nosmoking policy. In fact one beligerent old man is booed off the coach for refusing t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Sichuan/blog-228189.html Tibet is on HolidayI should slow down. I should adventure hitch hike camp in the countryside wander out of town and off the maps for a while. I've merged onto the fast lane the tourist trail zipping along too fast to take the off ramps. South of Dunhuang I spy the sand dunes rearing up over the city's outskirts an ominous chain of wondrous shifting sculptures. A fence erected around their b http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Gansu/blog-218894.html Camping at Karakuli The Zen of Rubbish CollectingNo pictures commands a young officer in an olive green uniform and just out of diapers . I only want to photograph the mountains and they're on the Pakistani side anyways. No pictures Welcome to the People's Republic of China. One by one passing the officers we file into a shed to show our passports and have our bags searched. A busload http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-213833.html Welcome Back TeaGilgitNext day I leave town on the earliest minivan to Gilgit keeping in mind a list of places still to explore before the China tourist visa expires. I meet so many tourists on return visits to Pakistan and no wonder I could've easily spent another day in Skardu to explore the back roads putter about the market or climb up Karpochu for the splendid views of the valley and to i http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Pakistan/Northern-Areas/blog-210034.html The Natco ExpressShandur PassThe Daewoo bus pulls up nearly an hour late following a restless night in which the wind and rain lash the apple orchard releasing the fruit to drum on the tin roof. Leaving Mastuj I am the fourth passenger in a coaster that seats more than twenty. My rucksack is hoisted onto the roof rack and I take a seat up front to enjoy the vistas out the windshield. On the town' http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Pakistan/Northern-Areas/blog-205035.html DirI take a seat in the sweltering minivan's third bench next to the window. There is not the slightest breeze in the depot. Three men from Gudjarat a traditional community in the Punjab suffer the bench with me. Pakistanis from down country are darker and chubbier than those in the north who could easily pass for caucasians. They are four traveling together their older friend in the next bench http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Pakistan/North-West-Frontier-Province/blog-202328.html Mingora Saidu SharifThe Sound of One Hand ShakingThe third century Buddhist sites and museum's trove of Ghandaran stone capitals busts and architectural pieces occupy a few hours in the late afternoon. A hike into the hills of Saidu Sharif next morning is complicated by a lack of posted signs and easily rectified by a young boy who sees me poking around a rocky outcrop also the roof of his neig http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Pakistan/Swat-Valley/blog-202160.html The Chinqi Driver's Taxila tour with a bangThe Daewoo departs Fezopur Rd at half past two in the afternoon. I'm seated in the very back on a raised bench with no thought to leg room a last minute booking on a full coach. A half hour north of Lahore a movie starts. My ear phones work this trip but the small screen is blocked by the overhead compartments just out of view. A boy two seats to my lef http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Pakistan/Peshawar/blog-199761.html SORRY UNABLE TO UPLOAD PHOTOS AT THIS TIMEThe alarm screams at six o'clock. I have spent most of the night on the toilet. I pack my bag and fetch a hydration solution. Gabby my friend's driver pulls up in the BMW. I am lifted to Pir Wadhai a bus depot located in a slum midway between Pindi and Islamabad. Young children wake from mudbrick homes to a hazy morning sky. I find my seat at the front http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Pakistan/Lahore/blog-191274.html