Blogs from Guilin, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 35

It was an overnight train to Guilin in the Guangxi Province. We were in the hard (lower) class sleeping car and it put any class of any Indian train to shame. Soft thick comforters with clean white duvets on them. Very cosy. Compare that to the superstarched wool blankets that India provided and this was a whole new ballgame. On arrival, we met Richard (a fellow traveller from Canada) when we arrived and proceeded to the hotel. It was old and grimy but some nice amenities were included such as toothbrush, soap, shampoo and slippers; this is what we get excited about these days. Throughout China and Taiwan, these freebies are basic. The slippers are new to us but the basic culture is that you use your shoes to walk outside and your slippers to walk ... read more

There is a difference in visiting China as a member of a pre-planed tour-group, in a luxurious Mercedes Bus, while enjoying the comfort of Western-style hotels, and visiting China independently, contracted to teach for a year. The challenges are beginning to give me some thought. Having observed the extreme differences between Western life and Western customs from that of China, some observations and questions might be in order: Knowing only a few words of Chinese will envelop a whole host of challenges, especially in a smaller city like Taizhou. Unlike Shanghai or Hong Kong, only Chinese-characters and sounds provide information outside these large cities. From searching out transportation to the selection of daily meals, everyday chores should provide a host of new journal material. Unfortunately, it also conveys limitations, and it challenges personal independ... read more

Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao, yaaaaaaaaayaaaaaaaaaaaayaaaaaaaaaaaa. Arrived in Beijing this morning at 6am. Yip it was snowing. So it is literally freezing here. A cool negative 3 celcius. Ryan and I deliberated for a good three days on where to head next after Yangshou we went to Guilin for the day which was quite pleasant. Met this stalker lady who was nice and showed us around, crashed in on some art classes, people laughed. And then we decided to go to Nanchang. Gees, we got off at the train station not anyone could mutter a word resembling English. My mastery of the Chinese language was far better than anyones english. We wondered around looking for a hotel. SO cold. Ended up saying screw it and caught a bus to what we thought was the small town of ... read more

Hi, Now I am sure that I am in nowhere: it does not exist in the drop down list above so I chose Guilin... Anyhow, I am in Guiang, the capital of Guinzou province. The last few days were full of Chinese people and very few western tourists. After visiting Longshi, where the rice teraces are, I have decided to continue up north and to explore some more minority villages in my way to Kunming, instead of returning to Guilin. In the Lonley Planet, this way is described as the 'back door' to Guinzou province where not many tourists do it. And indeed, I met very few western tourists but those few were very interesting (following). In the bus journey from Sanjiang to Kaili, I had the 'chance' to watch the bad manners of the Chinese ... read more

This will become the adventure of my life-time. Retirement commences this New Year. I have loved my job as a Foreign Language Teacher for the past 38 years, but the time has come for me to decide the direction of my life's journey, and perhaps it will develop as the journey of my life. This past year has brought me to this point of preparations: 1. Voyage as a passenger on a Freighter from the Port of Miami to N.Y. to Kingston on through the Panama Canal to Korea and ending in Shanghai/Hong Kong, a journey of 35 days. (June 2006) 2. Travel from Hong Kong via train to Guilin to meet Principal of Even Int. Lang. Schools (Ms. Liz Lee) and spend 4 weeks, helping train her English teachers. (July 2006) 3. In August ... read more