july mystery picture

Here it is folks. Send me a reply with the meaning of these characters, and you'll receive a homemade postcard. Give me the pinyin equivalent for extra credit (I'm not sure what the extra credit gets you).

guilin, nanning, shanghai, in 5 pictures

Just for you, John.


Cycling through the rice paddies in Guilin was
definitely a highlight.

On occasion of the intense midday sun, I wanted
to go for a swim in this stream. Probably wasn't
very sanitary.

Delicious fried dough with a spicy sauce. Food
was the only good thing about Changsha.

Our train from Changsha to Shanghai. On the
straight stretches between towns we cruised at
200 kmph. 1200km in just 10 hours.

Shanghai's skyline is alright, I guess.

nanning, china

Note: If you read Aaron's comment (thanks a lot!) and went to Lance's blog and read the rest of the story, this might be boring. Hopefully I'm not writing this in vain.

When we arrived at the border between Vietnam and China, everything went smoothly for Lance and I, and although they were very thorough on the Chinese side (even rooting through all our bags), we were through in very little time. As we waited on the bus to Nanning, there were no signs of Phil. After at least 45 minutes, the bus began to move. We frantically tried to get it to stop and wait, or at least let us off to wait for Phil, but they would have none (I'm still not sure what the problem with leaving us there was). We were told that Phil could take a bus leaving two hours later and that we could meet him in Nanning. Sure enough, after waiting in the station, we found Phil, who claimed he had been detained because he didn't look much like his passport picture, and his signature had changed. I don't buy it considering both of those stipulations apply to me as well. Regardless, we had now lost two hours, and were faced with finding our way around in the dark. Arriving in Nanning was similar to the experience we encountered traveling from Singapore to Indonesia: overwhelming. In Indonesia it was because of excessive touts. In Nanning, it was because we suddenly realized that we had no Chinese currency, no knowledge of Mandarin or concept of how in the world to read characters, and no one who could speak English to us. In a way, it was refreshing. During our two day stay in Nanning, we only sighted two tourists, uruguayos. Unfortunately the refreshment quickly turned to utter frustration. After recreating the tiny characters for "ATM" and our hostel's address to a more legible (?) size, we set off, hoping the driver had understood. Sure enough, we passed an ATM and then stopped, and Lance set off through the crowds (the Chinese sure know how to make a crowd!) to get enough money for the taxi and hostel. 20 minutes later (in which Phil and I suffered the wrath of an antsy taxi driver yelling in an indecipherable tonal gibberish) Lance showed up, with no cash. After trying at least 5 machines, we finally got my card to work, and we were able to pay the driver and get a triple room in a hospital-like hotel. What else can be said about Nanning, China? Good noodles. Good, homemade noodles. Thick and delicious. At this point, we were still at the "pointing at pictures" stage, but we happily chanced on a Muslim-run noodle jo'nt with plenty of pictures. Perfect.

one day warning

Since there was such a strong response to the first mystery picture, I thought I would give a warning that the next one will probably show up Wednesday morning (my time). This one will be slightly more involved. By the way, the first responder will definitely get a sweet postcard, the following will increase there chances depending on how many postcards I can make.

To Evan: I bought that pychedelic Arsenal kit in Kuala Lumpur for about $12. Couldn't resist, plus I was the first sale of the day, and it would've been bad luck for the seller if I had ditched. Adebayor and Hleb? Are you kidding me? What's next, Fabregas, Toure, and Van Persie?

hanoi & ha long

Hanoi and northern Vietnam were both a good and bad experience. Upon arrival, we were excited to find (or rather, be taken to) a room with three beds, a nice shower, free breakfast, and air conditioning for only U$13, but the hotel that offered us such cheap lodging turned out to be a disaster in the tours category. After we had settled in, we entrusted our hosts to book us a tour to Ha Long Bay (about three hours bus ride away) and also bus tickets to Nanning, China, where we would continue our journey north. For an all day tour which was supposed to include bus, boat ride, guide, caves, kayaking, and a delicious meal we paid U$22. Not bad, right? Little did we know that our meal consisted primarily of octopus (very chewy), the kayaking (which we paid an extra $4 for) never panned out, our gauranteed group of no more than 16 persons turned out to be more like 50, and the guide hardly spoke any English. What a ripoff. Then, the next day, we found other tour agencies selling two day trips for only U$23. Next time I guess we'll shop around a little. Despite the extremely annoying scamming that grew more and more frustrating as the day went by, Ha Long bay is beautiful. It would be absolutely stunning if it weren't overrun by fake-looking Chinese Junk filled to the brim with tourists of every country imaginable. Hanoi had it's charms, mainly in the form of food, and despite our discontent with the hosts of "Asia Queen Hotel", we enjoyed plenty of phó, lichee (of which I have now consumed over 20 lbs), and pastries. Everything seemed to be on the up and up until the morning of our departure. Having been told that the bus would pick us up at the hotel at 7:30, we were calmly waiting at 7:20. Then 7:30 passed. Then 7:40. 7:50. Buses are often late picking up travelers at the hotel, so we weren't to concerned, but we decided to ask anyways. And I quote, "Bus leave 7:30! You go now! Now 8:00!" "But it will pick us up at the hotel, right?" "No, no, no. Go now!" At this point we already disliked our scam artist hosts. Now there was nothing but hate between us. Thankfully, rushing off to the bus station on foot proved to be a good stop for any violence that might have erupted. Although we missed the 7:30 bus, we were able to catch the 9:30 bus, and felt relieved. Little did we know it was to be only the beginning of the most stressful and frustrating day so far.

cambodia, belated

In the interest of being fair to Cambodia, I thought I would add a late post honoring the two days we spent there. I guess the time was so short that I almost forgot . . . Arriving in Siem Reap from Kuala Lumpur after busing is from Singapore the night before probably wasn't the best precursor to a day at Angkor Wat, but despite our drooping eyes, we managed to enjoy the impressive ruins for more than 4 hours. The following day we headed straight for Saigon. Here are a couple of pictures of the temples I managed to take before my camera ran out of battery.

to china

I am ashamed. We relaxed all day yesterday in Hanoi, haciendo casi nada, and yet no post. We occupied our time with more important things?? Perhaps not . . . Sent "The Name of the Rose" to myself because I finished it, did some laundry, ate lots of pho and pastries, played scrabble, watched "Shaun the Sheep" (from the creators of Wallace and Gromit?), and practiced speaking German with, you guessed it, some Germans.

Today we head for China. In fact, we'll be there in about four hours. Expect posts soon.

phó

I commented to Phil and Lance a day or so ago that I liked the vibe in Vietnam. I think a good vibe for me has a lot to do with delicious and inexpensive food. Probably the highlight of my Vietnamese culinary experience has been phó: beef and rice noodle soup. This morning we all went separate ways to find breakfast. I had taken a wrong turn in Hoi An looking for our hostel last night and noticed a phó stall, so I naturally took advantage of the detour by passing by again this morning. For one dollar I was served a delicious bowl of phó which is made up of a savory broth, beef, noodles, bean sprouts, and various greens including spicy basil, mint, and cilantro. Yum. I even got complimentary jasmine tea afterwards. Another delicacy we have enjoyed is fried chicken wantons with a sweet and sour sauce that I would describe as "pico de gallo asiano". Lance's favorite fare is the french style baguette sandwich with tomato, cheese, cucumber, greens, and chili sauce. And of course there is still the lichee - I think my running total has reached about 8 kilos.

On a side note, check out Phil's blog and Lance's blog for another perspective on our trip. He even has a sweet map that shows our route (and although I was tempted to steal the idea, I haven't given in to temptation yet).

lao pics

A Wat in Luang Prabang, Lao.


Lance pointing out that the limit was 45 persons, not 60.


Our handy log jammed above the strut on the rear axel.

palau bintan

Indonesia. I'm sitting in an absolutely stunning location. The only sounds are an occasional moto passing by and our host chopping wood for today's barbecue fires. The 7:00AM sun smashes into the blue water, the wooden bungalows, the sandy beach shoreline, making the palm trees turn an almost flourescent green. A fisherman glides gently through the swath of glimering sunlight that widens as it nears the horizon. A place like this, like Palau Bintan, like and island untouched by the hurry of the world; a place like this, where the savory sea air ruffles the thatch on your roof, where the nearest suypermarket is 50km of shimmering water away; a place like this makes me feel poetic, reflective, spritual, and altogether alive.