wheresdave
dave donohue Joined: July 11th 2005
Logged in: November 19th 2010
Logged in: November 19th 2010
Cheers,
Dave
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” Mark Twain
“Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages" David Barry
Travel Blog Posts
stick girl and hat
It’s been over four months since my last blog, so those of you who thought I bought the ranch, well, I’m still kickin. I left China in mid July and returned to the states – Illinois to be exact. I’ve spent some time trying to gather my “stuff”, which was strewed across the USA. I have also been spending some time organizing and printing my photos, which brings me to this blog. Last Saturday my girlfriend hosted a “photo party” for me. A photo party is like a candle party except instead of selling candles you sell photos. We turned her dining room into a mini gallery and had photos hung on the walls as well as piles of prints on the dining room table. Her buffet was covered in various fabrics that I had collected ... read more
mongolia June 14, 2010 21173-2
This is the first of a multi part blog on Mongolia. Here’s some quick advice for those of you going there: Americans - visas are free and if you plan on staying more than 30 days you must register within the first 7 days in Mongolia otherwise if you stay more than 30 days without registering you are looking at a $100-$300 fine when you leave. Ulaanbaatar - a lot of pick pockets and thieves, be careful especially at the bus station. Golden Gobi guesthouse, Ulaanbaatar - good people and helpful. Now on to the blog - I took the 4:30pm bus from the Beijing bus station to erlian, china, the Chinese border town where you cross to go into Mongolia. The bus left on time and we drove for about 20 minutes and then we ... read more
phongsali May 19, 2010 16669
Happy Memorial weekend to those of you in the States. Well it's time for another travelblog. Some of you received a miniblog a few days ago (if you would like to be included on this list please let me know and I'll add you - mini blogs are sent via emails). It is time for me to be moving on so I wanted to write about a recent trip to Phongsoli, Laos. It had been a couple of years since I was in Phongsoli and I wanted to do a trek to an Akha village. phongsoli hasn't change much (if at all) in two years, still no ATM machines though "they" said there will be one in a few weeks. I think they said that last time. There is one decent guesthouse which is next to ... read more
mae sot April 30, 2010 11906
I recently went to Mae sot and took an unusual tour - of the garbage dump. Mae sot is a border town with Myanmar (Burma) and there are several "refugees" living there; Burmese, Nepalese, Indian .... I heard about a garbage dump near Mae sot where a few refugee families live on the dump and thought it would be interesting to visit them. I drove around for about 3 hours trying to find the dump and by the time I found it the sun was setting. There were a few kids and their parents going through some garbage when I arrived. The situation seemed pretty grim - kids covered in flies eating food they found. In hind sight I should have hired a Burmese speaking guide so I could ask the people at the dump some ... read more
laos-8539
As always, I hope you and yours are well. I'm going to jump around a bit (more) in this travel blog and start in the middle of the story with my latest trip to Kwainge tung, Myanmar (Burma) for those of you who are searching for info on this city. It starts when I met Logan from Oregon in a line to buy bus tickets from Chiang Mai to Mai Sai (border town with Myanmar). He mentioned that he was going to Kwainge tong and I said so was I. We shared a room in Mai Sai and crossed to Burma early the next morning. The folks at the tourist information office informed us that there is a new little rule to go to Kwainge Tong when going from Techilik (not when flying from Yangoon). The ... read more
taphin-6530
AS always, I hope you and yours are well! Well it has been a while since my last travel blog so I thought I would let you guys know what I'm up to (as if I know). My plans have changed and I will be leaving Sapa, Vietnam very soon (less than 36 hours) and will start to head for China via Thailand. Chinese new year is the 14th of february this year and I don't want to be "traveling" through China during this time period. besides, I don't have a visa for China yet. When I leave Sapa I am going to go to Thailand for a couple of weeks via laos. I am hoping to go back to Burma for a few weeks before going to China to teach "Chinglish". The weather in Sapa ... read more
hekuoDecember 24, 20092699
Merry Christmas to all. I hope this blog fines you all doing well. I left China yesterday and I am back in Sapa, Vietnam right now. China was an interesting trip. It is such a large country that I barely saw any of it yet I spent a lot of time “traveling”. I spent 36 hours taking two train rides and about let see, hmm, 50 hours in buses and I a very small part of China. The people in China seem genuinely nice and they don’t appear to try to rip off tourists (Vietnam should take note). The weather was cool and at times cold. For you who know china I went from Hekou (a borer town with Vietnam) to Yuanyang ( known for rice terraces and minority groups) to Jianshui (for a night) and ... read more
vietnamNovember 23, 20091937
I'm off to China after I finish this blog and I wanted to get a quick blog off in case travelblog.org is blocked by the great Chinese firewall dragon. I've been back in Sapa, Vietnam now for about 9 days. The weather the first week was typical of this time of the year - cold, cloudy, foggy, drizzly ... The last two days though have been stellar - clear and "warm". One thing that amazes me is how many people remember you when you come back to Sapa. They must meet hundreds if not thousands of tourists a year and yet they remember details about your last trip that you don't. There were even people who recognized me when I was wearing sunglasses and a hat! It's kind of nice when you see someone smiling and ... read more
new-0006
I'd like to welcome my new subscribers who are receiving their first "travelblog". I promise in the future to have fewer words and a lot more photos. To all my friends in Latin America, feliz dia del muerto. Yesterday was Halloween which meant only one thing - Big bob’s annual Halloween party which is always a good time. Terry always does a great job of decorating the house and puts out a delicious spread. Speaking of a good time, today was Mark T’s annual Minnesota Vikings vs. Greenbay Packers party - (American Football). We’ll keep last names out of the blogs incase our employers are searching the net. There were so many people there that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Can it really be 17 years since I left the big A? It was ... read more
asia 090709 2313
Well, I thought I should get a blog out to let those of you who don't know - I'm back in the states :( I think I "left" too soon but I was a bit concerned that I was going to lose my return flight. I went to Asia on a frequent flier ticket and my return ticket was from Sydney. I tried to change my ticket to Asia and for weeks I was told that no seats were available. I had a month before I would lose the ticket but decided to go to Bangkok. When I arrived in Bangkok I called the airline and they told me there were no seats (this after they checked for 30 minutes). Once, while I was still in Chiang Mai, Thailand, there was a flight the next day ... read more
