johannes

frisian traveler

johannes

After having been back in Inner Mongolia for 2.5 years as an English teacher and a great two month trip in South East Asia late 2014, I am now back in Holland for two months. Early March I will be coming back to China, Nanning in Guangxi this time, to finally start my one year study of the Chines language at Guangxi University.

Don't hesitate to contact me! (or recommend my blog 😉)

''Every day is a day to learn, learn about yourself, others and the world we live in''.










Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu March 1st 2014

(Delayed blog) Oh, how time flies... and how things change... This was a New Years trip in over 2013-2014 with my the Chinese partner. It's too long ago now to write anything good about it, so I'll leave it with just the pictures...... read more
Wuhou temple detail
Beautiful alleyway
Wuhou temple food street

Asia » China » Inner Mongolia » Ordos January 11th 2014

(Delayed blog) As I haven't been writing this blog for a while, I don't have much to write about this stopover in Ordos, Iner Mongolia on our way to Chengdu. I'll just leave you with two links to an article about the city, known as one of the 'ghost cities' of China. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17390729 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordos_City... read more
DSC00043
DSC00044
DSC00045

Asia » China » Liaoning » Shenyang May 30th 2013

(delayed blog) My Spring of 2013 trip to Shenyang, Liaoning province. As I haven't been updating this blog for a long time, I simply can not remember the trip well enough to write a story so I'll stick to just a few pics...... read more
Beijing Station at dawn
Beijing station in morning light
Shenyang Skyline

Asia » China » Inner Mongolia » Baotou May 5th 2013

#1: Meiligeng Meiligeng (link) is a natural park located in the Yinshan mountain range (a.k.a. Daqingshan mountains) some 30 km's west of Baotou. To get there we took a small (and slow) bus from the 公共汽车站 in Kunqu which took us across the Kundulun river right into the industrial heart of Baotou. Mainly subsidiaries belonging to the Baogang group http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baotou_Steel and other factories line the coal-blackened streets with their chimneys belching various-coloured fumes. A grim place if you ask me, and I didn't bother to take pictures from the bus window. The bus dropped us off just under an hour later on the highway where a car and driver waited for us, warned by the busticket puncher. With the 5 of us, it was a bit cramp but since the drive into the mountains was only ... read more
Meiligeng chairlift
Lipsticked pig
Meiligeng

Asia » China » Beijing May 1st 2013

I flew early morning from Baotou to Beijing Nanyuan from where I had planned to take a taxi to the nearest subway station. That seemed to be closed due to construction so I stayed in the taxi instead and took it just south of Tiananmen square where I knew there was a 7 days inn. This particular one was very overpriced, but as I wanted to make the most of my time, I checked in for the night. I took the subway to Dongzhimen station and another bus from there to take me to the 798 arts district. It was sunny out, so I had a nice stroll around the old factory and even had a beer on an outside terrace.. Oh how the simple things can be missed so much when you don't have them... ... read more
Forbidden city
Forbidden city
769 art district

Asia » China » Ningxia » Yinchuan April 26th 2013

(Delayed blog) At the earliest possible time (in this case it was 18 days beforehand I believe) I bought my train tickets without any help from a Chinese from the ticket booth on the Baobeibuxingjie in Baotou. Perhaps it would have been wise to ask for help, since I found out later that the train there was the lowest quality train available. Explained why the 7 hour train only cost ¥19 !!! I boarded early morning at 9 am. This train had NO HEATING (!) which I felt straight away. This being February, temperatures are far below comfortable. My feet were frozen when I got on the train and never warmed up again, during the whole 8 hours I was on it. (1 hour delay). I arrived at the Wuhai west station to be met by ... read more
Movie park entrance
@ the movie park
@ movie park

Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an April 25th 2013

(Delayed blog) We took off from Baotou Erliban airport on the evening of january 1st on 'Lucky airlines', a flight that took us to Xi'an Xianyang airport in an hour and 20 minutes. Due to the late night arrival we (I traveled with a colleague from London) opted for a taxi into the city. He dropped us off at the bell tower where we checked into the hostel named after it. After dropping our bags we walked into the city where we found a hotpot and ate until we were stuffed, while having beers to cool our tongues down from the spices. We decided it would be best to check out Xi'an's nightlife since we were there and so we did. We soon found a club where ordering a drink seemed a long and arduous process ... read more
Xi'an city wall
Xi'an muslim quarter
Wild Goose pagoda

Asia » China » Inner Mongolia » Baotou April 24th 2013

Looking at all the blogs about Baotou, Inner Mongolia on TB, I realised that out of the 14 blogs, 8 are mine! Wow... I flew back into Baotou on July 2! 2012 after not having been in China for a year and 7 months. Initially back for a 3 months contract, I was very excited about seeing my old students again and to visit the city that I know so well, eat all the amazing (and cheap) food and the weather too! (3 months of 30-40 degrees... Yeay!) It had been a little short of time to get my visa sorted out and it was just 4 days before flying cheaply via Moscow to Beijing that I got my passport back in the mail. I had spend the night at Dusseldorf airport due to my early ... read more
Playing cards
Off the Gang Tie Da Jie bridge
Off the Gang Tie Da Jie bridge

North America » Canada » Quebec » Montréal April 24th 2013

Although I left Montreal more than a year ago (I have not been working on my blog for a long time, now hope to pick it up again) I do still want to publish this blog as its got some good photo's. I won't write much this time, just wanna say I had an awesome 9 months in Montreal, and I miss the city a lot! Photo's are of the student demonstrations and a Toronto vs. Montreal football match.... read more
Nuit Blanche @ Place des Arts
Police at the ready 4 demonstrations
Sunlife building


The flight from Boston Logan airport to Icelands Kevlavik airport took a mere 4.5 hours! As goes with the prices of these kinda flights, food costs money but since it was in the middle of the night, I didn't mind. They had a good deal for an Icelandic beer and a Jagermeister combo, so bought that with my last Dollars and actually had a bit of a nap while the plane skirted the most southern tip of Greenland on our way to Iceland where the sun was trying hard to push through the grey and dull skies. I managed to catch a glimpse of some mountains outside the airport, but mostly it seemed like a barren, rocky landscape to me. After a few hours of walking about the award-winning but free-wifi-less airport looking for the less ... read more
Departure to Manchester
Rapeseed fields
Spot the titanic!




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