Trip Photos

I'm currently in Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia, which has cheaper (but not necessarily faster) internet, so I'm trying to upload some of my pictures. I'm putting them into a new album on the picasa site, but I can'olny uplaod 5 at a time, so it will be limited for a while. Here's the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ShawofChina/SEAsia2009?feat=directlink
It's definitely warmer here in the south; I'm starting to have heat rash and I've packed away my sweatshirt. So far PP seems like a pleasant city but isn't too exciting. We're currently waiting for our visas to Vietnam and we'll go there in a few days. I am getting to see my brother David a little, which is a treat. He's here for work.

Random musings - things I've seen/learned so far.
I thought I had seen poverty before, but I realized I've enever seen anything like the widespread poverty of Laos and Cambodia. Everywhere I looked in Laos, people were living in wood huts in tiny villages. I saw several wells that World Vision had provided. It's been a good challenge to my thinking and expectations and a reminder to support organizations likeWorld Vision and World Relief!
National habits and customs can be odd/different. In Laos, most women wear a shirt and a sarong; in Cambodia, some women wear this, but many other wear what appears to be two piece pajama sets - printed top and bottom.
The Father provides. The past three weeks have been an amazing lesson in this. We've gotten buses and trains and guesthouse rooms all along the way. Every night I needed tonic water for my restlesss legs, I've found it. He's provided appropriate places to stay, even though a group of three guys and a girl can be more difficult. All of this is on top of the money, time, and opportunity to take this trip!

Trip Update #4

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post; we have been in places where internet access is very limited and/or expensive.
When I last updated you, I was in Luang Prabang, Laos. From there we traveled south to Vang Vieng, a town along the river known for its beautiful scenery and the tubing. I didn't go tubing, but we did rent bikes and ride out to a large cave that was fun to walk through. I actually took an afternoon to sit in a hammock in a "cabana"by the river and drink a mango shake and read. However, I ate something bad and ended up having pretty bad food posoning, but I'm better now.
From Vang Vieng we traveled south through the capitol Vientiane to an area called 4000 Islands on Mekong River at the border between Laos and Cambodia. We spent a few days there relaxing and spying the rare freshwater Irriwaddy dolphins. The trip from the border to Siem Reap, the town near Angkor Wat, is only a few hundred kilometers, but it took 1 1/2 days on the Cambodian road system, which is paved but not direct. Currently we're here, enjoying the temples and trying out Cambodian cuisine. We started going around Angkor Wat today and it's amazing.
This is a rather bland update, but it's taken a while to type on a slow connection. I'll be in touch again soon with more.

(Brief) trip update #3

Hello from Luang Prabang, the former capital of Laos!
Since I last posted, we took an overnight bus from Kunming, China, to the China Laos border and then an all day bus from the border to a small town in northern Laos. It was only a few hundred kilometers, but it took several hours because of the mountains. We spent the night in Nang Khieuw (sp) where I had a lovely bungalow. Then we went to a nearby village only accessible by foot or boat. We rode the boat. It was lovely and we took a day trek through the area. Today we came back on the boat and then took a local bus to Luang Prabang. We'll be here for a few days before continuing south through Laos. I'm having a great time and the countryside is beautiful!! I'm taking ltos of pics I will upload when the connection is cheaper. However, traveling makes me think of everyone at home and how they are and what they would think of this new place and I miss you all!

Trip #2

Monday morning, like I told you, I arrived in Lijiang. I spent the day sightseeing, mostly walking around the old town, which is very beautiful. I met back up with Susanna and Peter and we went to a park north of the old town and climbed a mountain for a great view of the city. Yesterday I went to Tiger Leaping Gorge. I slept in and took a minibus, which took about 2 hours. It was an adventure to get the bus, as the tourist information person alternated between saying I had missed the only bus for Qiaotou, where the trail starts, and saying that yes, there were lots of buses to a further city that I could take as far as Qiaotou. When I got off the bus I had some trouble finding the trail head, but with the help of a nice woman carrying a huge basket on her back, I found the trail I wanted. Two "guides" followed me for a while but finally gave up; I understand this is standard and they can be much more persistent. Althought Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the top tourist sights in the area, it was very quiet and I only saw 3 other hikers the whole day. Many people hike the whole gorge for 2-5 days, but since my time was limited and I'm only a moderate hiker, I hiked in for a few hours, stopped at a guesthouse for some fried rice, and hiked back. The scenery was beautiful! (Don't worry, I took pictures.) I was disapointed not to be able to take a bus farther in to see the falls and teh famous rock from which the tiger supposedly leapt, but it was getting late, so I took a bus back to Lijiang. The bus from Lijiang was a fancy new bus; the bus back was not! I spent the time listening to RC Sproul and reflecting on Chinese traffic. I think I've figured out some of the basic traffic laws:
1. The place of all other vehicles is behind mine. (mwwwhahaha)
2. The pretty lines on the road are just for decoration.
3. The middle of the road is the best place to drive. (see above)
4. Bright headlights are wonderful and should be used as much as possible.
5. Don't waste too much money on shocks or tire treads or brakes.
6. There are no rules, only suggestions.
Today I'm going to ride a bike to some nearby villages then take another night bus back to Kunming to meet up with the guys from the other school and we're going to take ANOTHER night bus to a town near the Laos border. I'm so excited to go to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam!!
Update - it's Thursday now. The village was nice, but the bike trip was tiring - it was longer than the book said! However, I neither hit anyone nor was hit by anyone, so I'm pretty excited.
I had a good time, but was glad to get back on the overnight bus back to Kunming. Then I realized the bus was full of college students on their way home for winter break and was less thrilled. Those bunks are tiny! I met up with Bobby, Mike, and Tim as planned (ELT teachers from another school in QHD), and we're getting back onto another overnight bus tonight that will take us almost to the border. Given last night's experience, I may have to be coaxed onto the bus with promises of French food or Asian silks or something. Laos is first!!!

New Year's Trip Part 1

As many of you know, the Chinese school winter break has begun, so I'm off on my big trip of the year - the one I've been waiting for! I'll go to Yunnan (a SW province), Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and up the Chinese coast ... if I can still walk at that point. For Chinese university students, winter break is almost as long as summer break, so I won't be teaching again until March 2. As possible, I'm going to try to keep you updated as we go along. I will try to post pictures occasionally, too.
I left Sunday at 5:30 am. I took a taxi to a train to a subway to a plane to a city bus to an overnight bus, starting in QHD and ending up in Lijiang, which is in the province of Yunnan in the SW. It's warmer here than up north, but still cool. The trip was long, about 27 hours total, but I made it with only one casualty; someone stole my cell phone in Kunming while I was waiting for the bus to Lijiang. I'm not thrilled, but I was being a little careless because I had a headache, and it could have been much worse. I watch my wallet, camera, etc. much more closely, but I didn't think anyone would want a cheap cell phone. The upside is that in the aftermath, I met some nice Americans, Susanna and Peter, who were taking the same bus I was to Lijiang. The bus is about 10 hours overnight; there are tiny little beds in three rows to sleep in. I got some sleep, but I also learned some interesting facts - the Chinese don't seem to snore very much, but the bus does stop for bathroom breaks every few hours in the middle of the night. Also, if you much over 5 feet tall, that's your own fault and you'll have to figure out how to fit in the bed. The high headrests made me think a little of those wooden ancient Egyptian ones you see. Susanna and Peter and I hungout this morning and walked around the old town a while looking for my hostel and got breakfast - best toast and coffee I've had in a long time! The town is very old and cute and has great architecture. It's beautiful and has lots of little canals. I'm off now to explore for a while. It's supposed to be packed with tourists, but apparently this is the off season and the town's almost empty. If the weather's good tomorrow I'm going to hike part of Tiger Leaping Gorge, then I might cycle around to some neighboring villages, then back to Kunming to meet up with my travel buddies and we'll head for Laos!

Brief Update

Sorry I haven't been posting! Life's been hectic and a little different recently, and I got behind blogging. This is partly due to the fact that I like to post long, interesting (I hope) posts, so sometimes I just don't post anything because I don't have the time or motivation to write what I'd like. Also, I'm giving up on the whole "it has to be in chronological order" thing.
With that out of the way ...
Thanksgiving was great! I had a really nice day, though I hadn't been sure what to expect ahead of time. I thought it might be really hard to be away from my family, but the Father took care of me. I really will try to blog more about it soon.
The semester is winding down. I have finals left to give and grade, but that's all.
I just got back from a trip tonight. Recently, dad emailed me about getting together because he had a meeting in Japan this week. Originally, he wanted to come to Beijing, but the logistics worked out better for me to go see him because we could spend longer together. We weren't sure it would work out, but it did, so last Friday I took the train to Beijing to fly to Tokyo. I did some sightseeing on Saturday and dad arrived that evening. We traveled around Tokyo sightseeing Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I flew to Shanghai on Wednesday and back to Beijing today because my direct flight to Beijing was cancelled. It was a fast, busy trip, but it was great to see dad. I'm not going home for Christmas, so getting to see someone from my family this week was like Christmas (and only partly becuase he brought me lots of things from the US). I also really enjoyed seeing Japan, which is very different from China in many ways. It was a fascinating contrast.
Christmas is coming quickly and in January I'll be leaving to travel around Southeast Asia with some other teachers. Before that happens, I'll try to fill you in on life in QHD (and Tokyo) and I'll post some pictures.

I'm Back!

You may have noticed it's been rather silent here for a while. We lost internet access for over a week. Apparently, the university decided to change companies for our building. Later they told us tat they sent people around to tell everyone on Saturday, but we were all at our Saturday class. Also, none of us have enough Chinese to talk about internet connectivity. Therefore, on Monday, the internet just disapeared. After a day or so, we started trying to find out what the problem was, and after another few days, we managed to find out the problem. Yesterday, while I was in Beijing, they started restoring access. Currently, I'm the first and only team member to be back online. I'm so happy to have internet access back again!!
I need to go finish prepping for class, but I'll post about our Thanksgiving soon. We had a great time!