Blogs from Asia - page 15624

So I lied, this will be my last one. I just had to relate to everyone a recent loss I had. In Bangkok just 1 day after I arrived I bought a pair of white slipper shoes with a print of shoes on them. Beautiful. All over Asia you must remove your shoes before stepping into a store and they were perfect for slipping on and off. I loved them. Every time they would get dirty I would lovingly scrub them clean in our hotel sinks with soapy water. With me I also have two other pairs of shoes. My runners, and my flip flops. I hate wearing running shoes in this heat. Flip flops cut up the area between my toes and are thus labeled ''devil shoes'' Very recently a jackass knocked just one out ... read more

Another quick update... Last night we had a student/teacher “party” at a nearby hotel… we all walked over around 6:30 and it was set up pretty much as a big publicity event… all on tape. All of the foreign teachers had to introduce themselves, so I threw in “Hi, my name is Laura and I’m from Canada, eh?” hehe. I had to. There were all kinds of games… karaoke (some in English, some in Chinese), a play that Peter organized… a tug of war (teachers won! I got rope burn on my arm!) and my game of music chairs that I WON! Haha. But there were some prizes given out at the end too, and one of them was a big stuffed bear that I had been eyeing all night.. and it went to the person ... read more

One of the hot spots now is Nam Tso Lake, about 200km north of Lhasa, an organized tour circuit or public buses and some thumbing. I took the latter. It wasn't as easy as in other countries, and i ended up paying for a ride from point B to the lake. Coming down, however, i was extremely lucky and got picked up by a busload of tourists. The lake: it is about 4700m and is quite beautiful. It holds sacred value, as one of the 3 GREAT lakes in T, and so has become one spot on a list of many. Consequently, you have the one or two day tours, the independent travellers, and the hilarious busloads that leave from Lhasa at 2am, arrive at the lake just pre-dawn, take some Yak and water shots (before ... read more

For some reason I popped up around 7:30pm and figured I’d try the hostel’s free breakfast for the first time. It was inside the Poacher’s bar where I’d been only a few hours earlier, and you could smell the beer on the walls still. I sat down with an Italian couple and chatted briefly. Then since I was still hungry I went to my daily breakfast café for my regular tofu soup. Then I went back for a nap and woke up a few hours later. After I organized my stuff I cabbed over to the internet café where the shit had flowed a few days earlier. As I walked in I met a friendly French Canadian girl named Sarah. We chatted only briefly and then she left only to return a few minutes later to ... read more

Day 6 (30 July 2005) Reached Taipei in the afternoon & checked into Delight Hotel after much difficulty in navigating the confusing maze. Apparently, the room seems like a refrigerator, far too cold and the water heater was not working most of the time. We took a train to Shilin Official Residence. Reminds me of Istana back home though. Strangely, the building itself is unattractive & seems very rundown. But thumbs up for the landscaping - impressive. We took an idyllic rest at the Bear Restaurant next to the MRT station. Love the place and highly recommended. Night falls at Ximenting and we chose to dine at the Cola Restaurant. As a kid, was always fascinated by cola collectibles, so the place suits me despite the typical American foods and seemingly lack luster service. The ... read more