Blogs from Asia - page 14774

Hi all, Spent yesterday having a "rest", all the walking and sight seeing has battered our feet into a smelly mess! Ended up having a few beers in the bar with an Irish couple from Dublin who had just spent a year teaching English in Japan. They are travelling roughly the same path as us through Asia before heading to India and then back to Ireland! Got up this morning and headed over to Pudong on the eastern bank of the river. Decided to take the local transport again and hopped onto the river boat ferry for about 3p! It was interesting to mingle with the locals and smile politely as they all stare at you. I got the impression that not many Western people get the public ferry, which isn't really surprising as it would ... read more

The Forbidden City lies at the center of the ancient city of Beijing. It was home to 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Today, the Forbidden City is a public museum and World Heritage site, attracting millions of tourists from around the world. Through chance we left the Forbidden City as our last site to see in China, on our last full day. What a mistake! It was hot, and the place is HUUUGGGEE. Granted, there are plenty of seating areas around, and many of those in shaded areas, it is just that my bad knee could not keep up with all there is to see in this place. Another bad thing with this visit is that there were many closed off places due to renovations in preparation for the Olympics. One regret ... read more

I am back in Delhi, and the summer has started! Each day this week has been 40-43 C. I have never before experienced such temperatures, but I have to say it is not as bad as I had anticipated. Delhi is dry and dusty, and the humidity is low, which makes it more tolerable. And also I am happy to have this experience as Delhi is this hot for about half the year -- and how could I say I've lived in Delhi (for I do feel I live here now!) if I had not experienced the famous Delhi heat? (Ajay corrected me and say it is very hot for only part of the year; but Rebecca told me it is fully half. Which just goes to show you, if you don't already know, that perspective ... read more

Since the last entry, I have been receiving some extra-ordinary commentary from an Australian teacher of 30 years, who is presently teaching at the same college, Taizhou Teachers College in Jiangsu Province of China, where, so it seems, I will become her colleague in only a few weeks. If there have been any lingering doubts or concerns about my time teaching in China, her encouraging and kind words have settled these apprehensions. She shared with me, that she had been a teacher in Australia for 30 years and semi-retired, and upon contracting with the College this past semester, made these observations about her experiences: "...I have been a teacher in many "guises" for over 30 years in Australia, and I can honestly say this (teaching "communicative" English at Taizhou College) is probably the most satisfying teaching ... read more

It will seem to you that the only thing that I can do in this blog is to complain. Indulge me, please. Kuala Lumpur is a city of contradictions as almost any other city in the world. It has a very useful monorail, underground, comprehensive bus service, the second tallest sky-scrapper, the Petronas Towers, as Ade puts it the first monument of love to Petrol. So how is it possible that a city with such modern standards can lack in the most obvious city planning design? I mean Traffic lights where our friends the green man and the red man can show us the way to go. Crossing roads is a nightmare, today e.g. a high speed bus blaring its horn almost takes out around 10 pedestrians crossing the road, Why? very simple, if you ... read more