Nov 21-23, 2009 Halong Bay if you believe the Vietnamese, is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It has a UNESCO stamp to back it up, plus there is nary a soul anywhere who will tell you that its overblown and overrated. The 2000 drop-dead gorgeous limestone pinnacles rise from the emerald […]
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Asia
Presidential Palace Temple of Literature Hanoi, Nov 14-21 and 24 Well before one lands in Vietnam, you are forewarned and buried with redflags and alerts about touts, scams, thieves, annoyances, dangers and cheats. Indeed we saw evidence of this immediately after hitting the arrivals area when teams of young men plied us with questionable offers. […]
(NOTE: THIS ENTRY SHOULD PRECEDE “THE ROAD OUT OF CHINA…..PRAGUE”) Nov 5-7, 2009 Kunming as capital of the province of Yunnan, and our last major city, is the gateway to our last region of China. It’s hardly worth noting except for the pix that show some of the seemingly wanton destruction of the past and […]
Oct 25-Nov 1, 2009 Now in Yangshuo, the land of surreal, karst-like limestone peaks rising out of nowhere and everywhere. Our digs (River Retreat) are set in idyllic rural and poor China, outside of the town, overlooking the […]
Hong Kong Oct 19-24, 2009 For Wayne, Hong Kong is like that first kiss, or staring down that bully in grade 1. It’s filled with romance and larger than life dreams that have been upsized with each telling. He didn’t tell you that it took 25 hours to get there from Huangshan, involving a […]
Oct 19-24, 2009 Objective: Ascertain viability of long term living in HK Risks: Pollution, poverty, Trish killing me The best way to see HK is either after or in between China. Having done this now twice, I (Wayne, here) am deluded with romantic notions of it. I crossed into it after the Tiananmen Sq massacre, […]
For those such as Carlee who’ve accused us of animal cruelty, I’d like you to think of this as a cross cultural exchange. Wayne’s done the guinea pig, snake eating thing in previous travels, this time he was determined to try turtle. Here you can buy turtles as big as fry pans on the street. […]
Oct 14-18, 2009 Stayed at the Old Street Youth Hostel in the old town. Located on the narrow, stone pedestrian tourist street, it’s lined […]
Wayne here. Had a strange dream the other night. The principal dancer at a major dance company took ill and the rest of the cast and crew beckoned me to step in and take over. I stated that I had no real (or imaginary) skill at this, but they insisted. Then I woke up, not […]
Suzhou (6mill), just west of Shanghai, is one of those legendary cities with 2500yrs of history. It was said that in heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Suzhou and Huangzhou. Even Marco Polo said it was the most beautiful city in China, with its tree lined canals, fantastic gardens, silk and art epicentres, […]