Blogs from Liaoning, China, Asia - page 16

This Blast from the Past is being written 18 months after the fact based on notes I made at the time. I have tried to make the comments reflect what we were thinking at the time. Of course, we are now so much more familiar with China that some of the events seem quite different in hind sight. But then what doesn’t? The start of the journey I have mentioned previously that the wife of one of the teachers is Chinese and runs a travel agency. Dianne had picked out a bunch of places she (I mean, we) wanted to see and went to visit Fairy to arrange transportation and accommodation. She introduced us to the concept of hiring a driver. She recommended “Jack” who speaks almost no English but is a very safe driver. For ... read more

With Harbin immensely enjoyed, it was on to the final destination of our little vacation, Dandong, before returning to teaching life. I like to research a location before visiting and Dandong was no different. I knew there were good views to be had into North Korea and also a sparsely visited stretch of the Great Wall of China. I’d also read several accounts from other travellers who had found a very thin stretch of the Yalu River that separates the two countries and had waded across. Hearing of the recent trouble several American citizens had found themselves in when crossing illegally in to North Korea, I wasn’t so sure I’d be willing to risk wasting several months of my life in a North Korean prison just to put foot on this secretive country’s soil. With a ... read more

If Christmas felt like a normal day, the lead up to Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) had that special holiday feeling. As people hurried along the streets with enough provisions to survive the apocalypse, I could sense this was one Chinese festival not to be missed. Spring Festival not only signifies the start of the Chinese lunar calendar, but more importantly, it also indicated my first holiday and first chance to leave Benxi since arriving in China. Many locals had warned of the hassle of travelling over this festive period, but with no other holiday on the horizon, I was willing to take the risk. Travelling during what many people call the world’s biggest annual migration does have it’s drawbacks. Buying train tickets is one of these. With half of China wanting a precious train ticket, ... read more

We arrived in Bangkok on a Thursday and were immediately hit by the heat and humidity. Must have been in the high 30's everyday that we were there. Going on recommendations of friends in China, we had booked a hotel on Rambutri Street for two days. We did not realize that we were in the absolute center of twenty-something backpacker heaven - one short block from Khoa San Road - the Mecca of all backpackers. New experience for us- we kept thinking of Chris and his trip a couple of years ago - wondering if he had gone here, stayed there, eaten here or done this! As it turns out, he has and he did! Our first order of business was Rick’s appointment, which turned out great. The Bangkok Nursing Hospital is used by many Maple ... read more

On Sunday we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket, Thailand on our $18 tickets (thank you Air Asia). We were not sure what to expect as Chris had not been too impressed with the city of Phuket, so we only booked 2 nights at a place that Rick had found on-line. We figured that we could move someplace else if it was not suitable. Much to our amazement it was one of the ‘wows’ of our holiday so far. The Kata Lucky Villa was a wonderful oasis in the middle of a busy tourist area-a total hidden gem. Not even the cab driver from the airport new where it was, and he came in to take a business card when he saw it. Although a bit more than we had budgeted for, we decided to ... read more