Blogs from Asia - page 15628

Well folks, I've been in India now two weeks and I have two weeks to go (actually it was two weeks yesterday, but close enough). I started woodcarving today, and it's great. I'm making a lotus flower. I find that I'm staying well after my class is over to get parts of it finnished. I'm really excited about being able to bring back some samples of my woodcarving. My ayurvedic massage yesterday was quite an experience. Modesty went out the window. The massage is given on a wooden table with no sheet or anything. On top of that, there don't seem to be many places that are off-limits for massaging. All in all, though, it was a really nice experience. Yesterday I also washed my clothes. This involves pouring water and detergent into a bucket and ... read more

If you were discouraged about the state of Tibetan culture in Lhasa while reading my last Postcard, I am happy to report that rural Tibet remains distinctly Tibetan, for now. To see rural Tibet, in fact to just leave the two largest cities Lhasa or Shigatse, requires an Alien Travel Permit (in addition to the Alien Entry Permit required to come to Lhasa) and a way to get around since public transport is often non-existent. Most people get together into groups of 4 or 5, chose an itinerary and rent a 4x4 with Tibetan driver. Four-wheel drive is an absolute necessity. I was joined by Martijn from Belgium and a Chinese couple who also spoke English. This worked out well since our driver spoke Tibetan and Chinese but no English. Our 6-day itinerary took us from ... read more

Back in Bangkok again, sitting in a bar on Khao San Road with a gin and tonic... ahh. (free internet too! bonus!) I left gorgeous Ko Pha Ngan yesterday along with my gorgeous bungalow and gorgeous girl... (for more info, please enquire within ;) Today i Bang-ed around the dreaded Kok again on various errands - including getting my docs back! Which I DID!! Woohoo! I managed to change my flight again as well, so now I don't leave until the 22nd of August which means I'm GOING TO LAOS! It's well exciting, and I'm going with a couple of friends from Pha Ngan as well which will be good. I've heard Laos is Beeeautiful and extremely cheap (which is a releif, seeing as my hotel bill for the last week came to 7000 Baht!!! -about ... read more

Here are some of Lisa's roomates. Lisa is studying in Penang for 5 months, here last semester of university. There over 60 international students. Lisa and a girl from Sweeden (Matilda) have rented a furnished apartment! ... read more

Day 3 (27 July 2005) The MRT train from our hostel to Beitou took about 30 minutes. We met a fellow Singaporean on our way to the Hotspring Museum as we took the same flight with him two days ago. He was coming to Beitou to experience the outdoor hotsprings under the scorching 35 degrees summer heat. We didn't have the chance as they were closed for maintenance. What luck! After a quick lunch, we took bus 260 to bring us to Yangmingshan National Park at the outskirts. Armed with a pair of scandals I bought at Giant, we decided to hike our way to Cising Park. I had forgotten how long we took but I guessed it was really tough as the steps seemed endless. That evening, we finally made our way to Ximenting. (The ... read more

Hotel: EuroStar Hotel (Akhalkalaki, Georgia) $40 This morning we planned on visiting the town of Echmiadzin, the Armenian Vatican, home to the Armenian Orthodox church. We planned to take a minibus there, and taxi back. The minibus depot was about 10 blocks away and so we climbed into a taxi for the short ride. Once we were at the depot, the taxi driver started getting animated, I think he wanted us to take the taxi instead of the minibus; it would have been cheaper to take the minibus of course. We finally decided to take the taxi there and back, as it would only be $12.50 for all 4 of us. The town of Echmiadzin lies about 20 minutes west of Yerevan, past the airport. On the way out of town, we passed several brandy companies, ... read more