Some hapless turtle

Surfacing out of a blur

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October 4th 2010
The last couple of days have been a blur. My body clock is upside and needs new batteries. I landed, was met at the airport and transported in a new, mid-sized Nissan to the small town of Yutai, which is south of Jining, Shandong. Try and find it on a map. Go on, I dare you. My apartment is shared and dumpy, which is fitting. It's a three bedroom on the second floor of a dusty apartment badly i ... read more

Asia » China » Shandong » Jining

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For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more