Airlines, routes, availability, prices of course and I think just the countless possibilities of the combinations of aforementioned factors that contribute to the decision how you're flying to your next destination make me that much interested in this part of travel that I can spend hours surfing the web, looking for the cheapest but also most original and exciting way to fly. Options I had to get to Central America, a route that doesn't see any real low prices due to a lack of competition and low budget flights at least on direct routes, included flying with Condor (Germany) via the Dominican Republic to Panama city (€400+), an AA flight from Brussels, connecting in NY JFK with a TACA flight to El Salvador / Cancun or a number of Air Berlin and other airlines combinations. When ... read more

''Johan Lao shi, you are ugly!'' Something I had to hear often during my two years and three months teaching English in the north of China. This phrase was very popular with my young students, kids aged 6 to 10. It didn't bother me the slightest though, in fact, I liked it! Grammatically correct, and it proved they had remembered at least one of the adjectives I had taught them. The fact that the unit which included this particular adjective was about pet animals and not about people proved they were able to use the learned vocabulary in a broader spectrum of language than I had taught them. Other adjectives or nouns popular with the kids to describe me were 'fat', 'monster', 'gorilla' and the less frequent 'Johan is a girl!'. Teaching in China really is ... read more

Remember the news reports on rare earth exports from China at the end of 2010? Most of this rare earth is from the city of Baotou, Inner Mongolia province. (or in fact, from the huge Bayan Obo mine north of the city. Famed for its natural resources and minerals, the city of Baotou was built by the Russians first, later by the Chinese. It is one of China's great industrial cities, mainly thanks to iron ore and coal. To the south lies Ordos, the 6th richest city in China. The people from this small city have suddenly turned rich, sold out by the government for the land rich with coal. Another big income is the Kashmir trade. Baotou is divided in 3 large districts and a few smaller ones. From west to east lies; Kunqu, with ... read more

(Delayed blog) After arrival at Busan train station, looking towards the green hill that is Gubongsan peak, I dragged myself plus luggage by subway to Jungang station where I checked in at a guest house. For 30.000 Won I had a double bed and bathroom in a creaky old room with views on the local 7-11 corner store and in spitting distance of the subway station. Of course I headed straight to the beach after dropping my bags, as temperatures were around the 30-ies those days. I opted for Gwangalli beach as my first beach, a wide and moon shaped beach with towering office blocks and hotels behind it, and a view of the Gwangan bridge in front. I spent the afternoon staring at this mini- zeppelin that wasn't tethered to anything, instead it seemed to ... read more

Oh yeah... HOLIDAY!!! My last class finished at 21:00, so in order to catch my 23:20 flight to Beijing, I had to hurry home and grab the last things before jumping into a taxi to Baotou airport. Flying with Air China, I arrived at terminal 3 while my China Southern flight was going to leave from terminal 2 the next morning. Shuttle buses drove throughout the night I was assured, so with facilities better at terminal 3, I decided it was better to hang out there for the night. Of course with my holiday then having officially started, I settled in with a few beers and chatted to some other guys, from Wuhan and Shijiazhuang respectively. It was a mild evening so hung out outside the terminal for most of the evening, only disturbed by an ... read more