Jordan Wilkins

Junga

Jordan Wilkins

I've been mistaken to be many things… the other day a Chinese woman thought I was a Uyghur, which is an ethic Turkic minority of western China. I took it as a compliment, I think. Unfortunately I'm only fluent in English and capable in Chinese but I'm looking to change that. I've lived in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Taiwan, China, and now England. I have trouble sitting still and honestly believe travel is the most true form of education!

T.S Eliot summed up why I love to travel and what it does to you:

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"

Best thing to do is read my blog if you're interested, and leave a comment if you have a minute to spare.

Mui Ne

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast November 10th 2013

Junga

Thought of doing something a little different.... the video pretty much summed up what we did everyday. It was pretty exhausting but someone had to do it. Enjoy the vid :)... read more

JB and Jordan go to Vietnam 1

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City October 8th 2013

Pool time

Junga

I was spending the first week of September in Vietnam with JB, my old friend from back home in Beijing. Opps, I just realized that neither of us live there anymore so I cant really say ‘back home’ as we’re homeless international people…. Sigh, poor us. The living accommodation JB and I had found ourselves in were not very backpackery. Thanks to Stella (JBs mums friend from back in the day) who had put us up in her villa, I had a poolside room, free food, a pool, and was smack bang in the middle of SAIGON…. by no means roughing it. Stella herself was one of those women whos age you could never put your thumb on, if it wasn’t for the gauge of the fact that she went to university with JB’s mum I ... read more

HK Week 1

Asia » Hong Kong » Hong Kong Island » Wan Chai May 6th 2011

Junga

The last time that I came to HK, there was this terrible tragedy where some lunatic in the Philippines took hostage a bus full of Hong Kong tourists. And so it was only appropriate that this time round another world event took place on my first day in HK; yes Mr. Bin-Laden was found. I’ll include more about my actual internship in another post, but I can say that I have a feeling it is going to be much better then my one in Beijing. I suppose it’s easier for a foreigner to slip into the already paved way of working in HK. What stood out most to me when looking in retrospect is that I have a variety of work in HK and there are no daily doubts of my sanity and counting down the ... read more

North to South/HK First Impressions

Asia » Hong Kong May 1st 2011

Junga

Feeling a little nostalgic, and I’d like to say excited, but mainly it was the dreading feeling you get just before you start a long day of travelling. Beijing to Shenzhen (China-HK border), then HK (Hong Kong) and the definite hour search for my speck of a room. My journey starts as I get in the car after overly romanticizing my farewell to my room, dogs, and comforts of home…. All to come back 5 mins later to print out my e-ticket, then rush out like a schoolboy who woke up late. Hmm sounds familiar. This was accompanied by the check in lady soullessly telling me that my bags were overweight, which lead to a giant 麻烦 ma fan (hassle) which included me annoyingly waiting in about 5 lines before I could get my boarding pass. ... read more

2nd Last Week in Beijing

Asia April 22nd 2011

Migrant Workers

Junga

Usually I wait until the end of the week to write up a post, but the accumulation of events spanning across this colourful Tuesday are meaty enough to serve a post I'm excited to write about. So it's my last Tuesday in the office, and was a pretty routine morning. I was in a good mood though, as I just got back my reference letter my supervisor had done, and in the midst of this good moodiness boldness on my behalf was fed. The first occurrence of this was during the time of my mid-morning cup of tea... I'm not a big tea drinker but it was free so obviously I had to score some. It was your standard office tea set; paper cup, Lipton tea bag, lukewarm water, however an essential element was missing and ... read more

Tibet - Day 5.

Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa April 10th 2011

Seconds before the camera died

Junga

Today was our last full day in Tibet, and was labeled as a ‘rest’ day under our tour, so obviously there wasn’t much expectation, but its days like these that one gets the richest of experiences. So the day started off having breakfast at midday at one of the Tibetan touristy outback style restaurants. I had a good curry. Prior to this trip, I heard that there was only one place that had good food in Lhasa, but evidently due to the large investment from the Chinese government, more tourist friendly places are popping up. Just a thought… Following this, we met our guide and discussed where and what we would do on this ‘rest’ day as according to the tour organization you had to obviously do something on rest days. I kept poking at the ... read more

Tibet - Day 2

Asia » China » Xining April 10th 2011

Just another snow capped mountain

Junga

I woke up gasping for breath in the middle of the night, as the train went through a pass at about 5,500 meters high. Why couldn’t I have gone to a beach I chanted to myself a few times before I slipped off my rails of consciousness. Not much happened today… as most of it was spent on the train. We got out at the main train station in the afternoon, met our guide and headed for the hotel. Attempted to walk around, but the lack of oxygen was really getting to me and to my head. So I did what was most appropriate, and slept. However, there were two things that caught my attention in between arriving and heading for bed, all the while fighting for the most basic of human privileges… breathing. Firstly, witnessing ... read more

Tibet - Day 4

Asia » China » Xining April 4th 2011

I'm on a Yak...

Junga

The plan was, take a 5-hour car ride to a lake, walk around for a bit, then another 5 hours back. There’s not too much to report on, besides being in a car for 10 hours. After the first few snow capped mountains and herds of sheep, it started getting repetitive. Human interaction included, someone trying to charge me 2 RMB because I urinated ‘next’ to the bathroom, which was essentially a large concrete box. And also when we arrived at the lake, swarms of young people and children tried to get the tourists to ride a horse or a yak. I did manage to get on a yak. It was nice, but not a whole lot I can remember or want to remember, as I had a cold, and when your nose, ears, and sinus ... read more

Tibet - Day 3

Asia » China » Xining April 4th 2011

Potala Palace

Junga

I woke up at least 5 times last night, with a feeling in-between jet lag and what I’d imagine being choked to death is like. So not the most pleasant of starts to my day. I must mention that I heard as an urban myth by my Beijing pengyou’s that Tibetans don’t shower…. I rubbished these suggestions until to my surprise had full confirmation from a Tibetan that they can go a week without showering, and even highly recommended I don’t shower. I had a nice bath that morning. Tibet has this rule that any foreign tourist needs to have a guide to accompany them ‘everywhere’. Not really my style…. But was fine. Anyhow, we headed to the Potala palace this morning. To my understanding it’s this palace where all these kings and Dali Lamas used ... read more

Tibet - Day 1

Asia » China » Xining April 2nd 2011

Museum Sign

Junga

It started with a 2.5-hour flight from Beijing to Xining airport. Xining meant western peaceful… Chinese names of cities always interested me, probably because the root of those names derived so much from the ones I was used to. Take Sydney, London, and Toronto for example, I might be wrong but to me they all sound like… sounds. Unlike this, Chinese city names have more of a Narnia feel to them if I must compare it to anything. Anyways back to what I was saying. Our 5-hour stop off at this transit point was the opening gates to the Tibetan Plateau, and was nothing but a dreamy and mystical experience. It was like I was there, but at the same time my body felt detracted from my mind. No I was not being spiritual nor ‘feeling ... read more

Joined	March 2nd 2011	Trips	2
Last Login	December 8th 2013	Followers	0
Status	BLOGGER	Follows	0
Blogs	14	Guestbook	11
Photos	18	Forum Posts	0