Traveling Adventures

More More More Pics

Linda — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:28:23 +0000

So it turns out finding a place to live in TO with only 2 weeks notice in September is a rather difficult task. However, after a week of stressful viewing we have finally decided on a place to live. Yay, so now we are back to working on this blog…somewhat.

Here are the pics from the last leg of our trip!

Home Again

Linda — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:14:20 +0000

Oops, it seems like our last month has been rather undocumented. All in all, we had quite the blast. We arrived back to TO today. In the next couple of days we will be looking for a new place to live and hopefully updating the blog with the remaining thoughts of our adventures. If we’re really good we’ll even put up more pictures.

China Pictures!

Linda — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:23:58 +0000

So on the heels of more blogs is more pictures! Here are a big chunk of our chinese pictures courtesy of Yao.

Day 2:Su He

Linda — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:15:23 +0000

After seeing Gordon off in Dali, we headed to Li Jian on another 3 hour trek. The bus ride itself was quite interesting. We ended up winding up the mountain than down the valley and 3 hours later and many sketchy maneuvers by the bus driver itself we landed in one of Li Jian’s bus stations. Somewhere along the trip, my ipod lost the number of the hostel we had planned to stay at. Luckily, Janahlee was able to recommend another hostel on a very short notice. K2 (the hostel we ended up staying at) turned out to be in Su He, a city very close to Li Jian, and in my opinion an even better city than Li Jian itself. By the time we got to K2, we were hungry and tired and my butt was particularly sore from all that jostling in the bus (I ended up in the very back of the bus dead center, where if the bus stopped abruptly I’d surely have went straight through the van). So once we dropped off our stuff, we went off in search of food. We came across this restaurant called little paris that was selling 16 yuan spaghetti, and thought: “hey! A not expensive western restaurant. SWEET!” went in and promptly found out that the 16 yuan spaghetti was in fact the only thing that didn’t cost an arm and a leg on the item. The prices were on par with european prices!!!! But since we were still very hungry and tired we decided might as well just try their stuff. Brit got a sandwich, Yao got some fried rice and I got the cheap spaghetti. Unfortunately for us, the food was super super salted, in fact it was pretty much inedible in terms of how horrific it turned out to be.

Despite our poor choice of lunch venues, our Su He experience was in fact quite nice. The most memorable thing about the town was the streams/rivers that run through that town. It was very very clear and not only that, people put beers/yogurts into the stream to cool it down instead putting it into fridges. There was a lot of places selling knick knacks but it still maintained an air of old town charm, and you didn’t feel like people were trying to rip you off around every corner. In fact I was able to get some really nice earrings and bracelet there. The next day, we headed off to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Dali

Britain — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:05:43 +0000

With my friend Gordon coming over from Thailand and Linda’s cousin Yao coming over from Guangzhou we decided to go travelling to the famous places in Yunan province. The four of us headed to Dali. The town itself is very much a tourist town. We walked one street for twenty minutes and all we found we’re nicknack shops. Well that and some beautiful caramel candies shaped like a phoenix. Those were rather cool looking although a little too sweet for my liking. Our hostel was very pretty with comfy beds, good coffee and over friendly dogs. We actually spent very little time in the town. Our first day we spent on a trek to the lake. We opted to walk through the fields to get there and ended up really enjoying it. We walked through tons of rice and corn fields and asked the farmers for directions. I enjoyed being able to see a real chinese country side. How else would I get to see women wearing rice hats and what appeared to be ghost buster backpacks spraying pesticide on their crops? We got a little tired and opted for a horse carriage trip to the lake. This turned out to be a highlight. We went to what appeared to be a fishing area in the middle of nowhere. Along the way we got to see Chinese farmers going about their daily lives. Somehow this was much more interesting than tourist sites. Gordon and I agreed that if it weren’t for our chinese speaking travelling partners we would have been to afraid to get on that horse buggy. As it was, sometimes sketchy things are the most interestings.

The next day we went up the local mountain. After taking the chairlift up we went for some chinese hiking. This involves walking on a flat stone path past beautiful scenery. In this case it was mountains peeking out of the clouds and fog. Throw in the odd waterfall and phoenix looking rock face that we saw and you get an idea of what chinese landscape art is depicting. We were going to go into some phoenix cave but the fact that rocks from a landslide blocked the entrance made us reconsider. There are some things that are in fact too sketchy to do. [Linda's sidenote: Gordon had wanted to go up despite the fact it was raining and the rocks were slippery and no way to save oneself if he were to slip. So telling him: "I don't want to explain your parents how stupid a way you died" worked in nipping that in the butt. Yao has claimed that was the best quote on this trip]

All in all I enjoyed Dali very much. Hey, maybe I’ll even get to writing the Lijiang post sometime soon.

Lost in Kunming

Britain — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:27:34 +0000

So the afternoon started off with a pretty simple plan: since I was already downtown I’d meet my chinese tutor at a cafe instead of my apartment. After the lesson I was to take the 96 bus home. But when I arrived at the bus stop there was no 96 bus and i didn’t recognize any of the bus stops listed for the buses that did stop there. I confirmed with a stranger that the 96 bus did not stop there. It was in this conversation that I came to realize I didn’t know the name of the place I wanted to go (I only knew how to recognize the characters). I also realized I had no cell phone. I also realised I had no map. All I knew was I wanted to go basically northish. Without knowing the name of where I wanted to go even a taxi wouldn’t help. I remembered those famous words from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Don’t Panic”. I went to search for a place that sold maps. First store said that there was a store up that way that sold maps. They also said something about lights and “do you see it?” but I didn’t quite understand it all. After asking a few store clerks along the way I got to the map store and bought myself a map with bus routes on it. I had my current location pointed out to me on the map and asked them the best way to get to Beijing Lu (a major street that leads to my apartment). They suggested I take the 85 bus and that the bus stop was just a little bit that way. Well I must have missed the stop while walking or misunderstood them or both because after about 10 minutes walking I realised I was about a 10 minute walk away from the map store in the direction opposite to where I wanted to go. So a 10 minute walk back and a 10 minute wait for the bus and and a short bus ride later I arrived at Beijing Lu. There I was able to recognize my stop on multiple bus routes and went home. I think it is worth noting that despite the fact that I basically wondered around aimlessly for at least an hour more than was necessary I was pleased as punch at being able to succeed in this adventure. When I spoke Chinese, people understood! So I got back to the apartment complex only to realise I couldn’t remember which room I was in. I guessed building number 7, dan number 2, room number 201. Alas, I now realise that the it is building number 7, dan number 1, room number 202. After an awkward conversation with the residents of the wrong apartment number, I headed to the nearest internet cafe and checked emails to find the real address. See, having a terrible sense of direction and a poor memory will make you resourceful. Anyway, the minimum time you can buy is 1 hour so I’m spending this time writing this blog. Hope you enjoy it.

-Brit

Perfect Weather in Kunming

Linda — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:39:22 +0000

After enduring a week of humidity and heat in Guangzhou, we decided to move Kunming up our schedule in order to escape the smoldering heat! It was definitely one of the best ideas I’ve had all trip. The weather here in Kunming is amazing, everyday it’s been a balmy 23-25C, and although it’s rainy season here, this past week there’s only really been 2 crazy rain storms.

Another thing that I like about Kunming is how inexpensive their flowers are. Back in Canada I never let Brit buy me flowers because I found them really expensive for something that would last only a few days. Here in Kunming at 3 yuan for 9 roses, and the most gorgeous lily’s I’ve ever seen was 7yuan for 3 stalks (also totaling 9 buds). That’s a little over 1 CAD for a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I’m happy to say I now have very pretty flowers at my current place. (Pictures soon to follow)

Speaking of lodging, our current diggs are fantastic! We’re currently paying 100 yuan a night for the both of us, and we are living in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom completely furnished room. Complete with a washing machine, oven (which is VERY rare in China) and a flat screen tv, dvd and digital cable. Unfortunately, we will be moving out tomorrow morning due to new tenants moving in (one of the downfalls of not planning in advance). Fortunately, my dear friend Janahlee has hooked us up with a even sweeter deal, we’ll be living at her friends house for the next few weeks rent free! And his place is just as nice, although we will be gaining a new roommate. We’ll see how that pans out.

In other exciting news: Our friend Gordon from Canada will be joining us in Kunming in a few days. Technically, he was suppose to join us today, but only found out last minute he in fact required a visa to enter China (apparently he planned even less than us). So for the time being he’ll be stuck in Thailand for a few more days!

That’s all the news I have for now. I’m hoping having easier access to Internets once we move will mean more blogging.

Waffles and Fries

Linda — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:27:37 +0000

I love Brussels! Brussels happens to be where the headquarters of the EU resides and because of this something particular happens with their hotel system: weekends are 1/2 price because all the bureaucrats go home on weekends. Which is really really lucky for us as we went on a weekend so we got to sleep in a four star hotel (a very nice one my I add) for less than the hostel in Amsterdam. We even had our own kitchen! Location was great too, we were right across from the EU building as well as near a beautiful park.

Another nice coincidence was we went right on the weekend that they had the jazz festival. They had free concerts in their grand market, this big square surrounded by beautiful buildings. It was quite the view, we pretty much spent most of our time there.

In terms of food Brussels also had some of the best we’ve had so far. Their specialties are: waffles, mussels, and fries. All of which I enjoyed very much!

Hot and Humid in China

Linda — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:44:06 +0000

I’m currently in Guangzhou, it was quite an ordeal to get here. I’ve written a post in my iPod just for you guys but I haven’t had a chance to post it up. To make a long story short our flight was delayed.

Linda is getting a massage now so I (Brit) will hijack this post…

This time in China is very different than last time. I understand a lot more of what is said but still don’t always understand what’s going on. For example I went to get my haircut amd they started ‘massaging’ my arms. I haven’t been in that much pain since my last massage in Kunming. Was offered another chinese massage but fool me thrice shame on me. I also thought my bathroom stories were done with. I’ve made peace with the eastern squat toilet. But no. When staying at Linda’s uncle place I was confronted with a problem. I knew that you aren’t supposed to flush toilet paper down the toilet but after wiping I couldn’t find the trash can. What to do? I decided to keep the paper in my hand and try to ask. Holding toilet paper on the edges made it difficult to pull up my shorts, particularly with the open window right in front of me. With my shorts on I tried to flush but there was no button, just a bucket of water. I tried pouring water to flush but it didn’t work that well. Anyway, my excellent chinese skills solved all. I yelled “help me” then ”toilet paper where put?” “second question: how use water go?” Amazingly both questions were understood and I learned private toilets can deal with toilet paper and that to flush takes a big bucket of water not a small one. Having fun in China. We’ll see if we post more in China or Europe.

Our Epic Journey Into the East

Linda — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:53:29 +0000

Over the years I’ve had my fair share of travelling misadventures especially when it comes to air travel. We started out the day pretty alright in London, it was a lovely day, we packed up our stuff went and got some last minute presents for friends and family and were well on our way to China: our next leg of the trip. We even got to have a great Indian meal in London before heading to the airport.

I suppose the scheduled tube closures somewhat set the tone of the next 20 so hours of travel. Taking detours was simple enough although more time consuming than I would have liked. Next we boarded the plane, and headed towards our new destination: Beijing. The time difference and fighting for the armrest with my neighbour made sleeping rather difficult, but the movies kept me entertained ( I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at how funny the Pink Panther 2 was; I did not enjoy pink panther 1!).

We landed in Beijing in pretty good time despite a late start due to runway conflicts. Taking my dads advice we proceeded to go find ourselves some tickets to Guangzhou. Unfortunately, unlike what my dad had promised I’d find, there were no discount tickets available ( it was rather expensive, 3500¥ for Brit and myself) nor was there a place to find/purchase SIM cards. No worries I thought, I got money on us and pay phones shouldn’t be hard to find. Both of the above statements are true, unfortunately to use the pay phones in the airport you need to first purchase a phone card. Cheapest one: 50¥. After asking to pay people to use their cellphones and getting rejected I was getting dejected. So after some fustrating moments Brit convinced me to pay the crazy overpriced 50¥ to call the GZ family. So I went to the machine to purchase the calling card only to be told it was broken! At this point, I was definitely getting pissed off. Is there really no way for people to call without a cellphone? And no way to purchase one either? (Brit notes: collect calls and using our caliing card from London also did not work) Luckily after some more tries some guy was nice enough to lend us a phone. So I proceeded to call the number my dad gave us, first number: no answer; second number: doesn’t exist. Damn, this is not working at all! Luckily I had my aunts number and it worked, alright! Our arrival time: 5pm. Only 7 hours after we landed in Beijing, not ideal but at least we can still make it back in time for afternoon dim sum and then catch up on some serious Zzzs.

As we are waiting we noticed that we were to have a delay in boarding, then a delay in taking off. And 15 minutes before we were supposed to land an announcement came on: “Due to poor weather conditions we are unable to land the plane. We will now divert the plane to Shen Zhen.” Gah! We ended up staying in Shen Zhen for 3 hours sitting in the plane waiting for clearance to go back to our original destination. A lot of people complained of hunger seeing as we left at 2 and did not get any food on the plane, in fact there were no food on the plane at all. The guy sitting behind us complained very loudly, we gave him some pita and he turned it down asking us for cookies! How rude! If he was so hungry he should be grateful for whatever is offered to him!

Anyway here is the story of our entrance in china. Hopefully things will smoother in Guangzhou.