Blogs from Asia - page 14832

Whether China is Buddhish, Taoist or Confucian, it’s Easter Sunday and I’m 6000 miles from home, alone, eating a complimentary Easter bunny in a five-star hotel room and watching traffic. It’s surprisingly stressful surveying the scene as suicidal scooters weave between coaches and taxis and the occasional roar of a Ferrari V8 splits the air - what do I do if I see an accident? Ignore it, or go and explain in Portuguese that the whole thing was laid out in plan view for me and I still have no idea who was at fault? I give up and watch the concrete mountain of Fisherman’s Wharf belch flame (and particulate - not even Gordon Brown has worked out how to tax artificial volcanoes yet). The financial background of the city is impressive too - the latest ... read more

It wasn't until we got to Beijing that we realised how accustomed to India we had become. As more people mentioned the dirt, the noise, the pollution….(what dirt - you could eat of the floor here, noise? we can’t hear a thing), we began remember what it was like to be in a clean country. I think seeing Starbucks as soon we came into arrivals clinched it for us. This Aussie guy attached himself to us, so we went to Starbucks to chill for a while, soak in the Chinese atmosphere!! Eventually we left the safety of Starbucks and got a taxi to Leo's - the Aussie dude also decided to stay in Leos - why not?! It’s not extremely easy to navigate taxis in China - unlike the Indians who want to rip you off, ... read more

Wow, what a day! Today I joined the Hyderabad Sai Young Adult group to do grama seva (service to villages) in a small hamlet called Pitalagudem. Pitalagudem is made up of several half built brick homes, thatched huts, and homes built out of plastic and bamboo sticks. The people here live in abject poverty, work as day laborers in a near by village, and get by on eating a watery rice mixture called "Kangi." Apparently two to three years ago, the Indian government made a pact with the village chief (referred to as the Sarpanch) that if the villagers paid a minimum sum to construct the basic foundation of the homes, the Indian government with subsidize the remainder of the cost to construct the homes. Somewhere along the way, this deal fell through leaving the villagers ... read more

The one and only and the last destination in the World to see the majestic Asiatic Lions... Shortforms used in here & the album: GIZ : Gir Interpretation zone (its basically an Animal Hospital/ care centre) GBL : Gir Birding Lodge (our regular place of stay) reaching Gir is simple , Mumbai - Rajkot - Gir. Situated about 65km SE of Junagarh district in the state of Gujarat in South West India, the National Park was established as a Forest Reserve, primarily to conserve the Asiatic lion-classified as one of the World's most threatened species. Now Gir National Park is the only remaining place in the world, where one is likely to see the Asiatic Lion. The sanctuary covers a total area of 1,412 sq. km of which 258 sq.km at the core forms the National ... read more

We made it to take Melinda and her boyfriend to go with us to Kaifeng. The train was sick. It was sooo crowded. I don’t know how but we had to stand about 2 hours before we get to the destination station. It’s the city with the Legendary Judge Bao. The city has more cultural ambience than most developing cities in China. We went around the town then had a lunch at a crowded restaurat. We had to wait a long time to get our seats then shared it with other guests, but for my first time taste of xiao long bao, it was definitely worth it. We went to this tallest pagoda tower. They said it’s the tallest, but I don’t know if the tower was the tallest in the world, in asia, in china, ... read more