Month: May 2010

From Shanghai, an overnight train took us to Beijing. Robin and I spent a week there, taking a much-needed break from moving around every day or two. I also had quite a bit to prepare for my upcoming bike and train trips, especially buying a bike and getting some riding in! We went for Peking…

From Lijiang, we took an early day train to Dali. This train left an hour earlier than we thought.. the schedule had changed about 2 days before our trip! We made it though. The train ride was uneventful but it was neat to look out the window.. everything was new. The track from Dali to…

I’m on a “hexie” (He Xie Hao CRH3 EMU), the world’s fastest intercity train, from Beijing to Tianjin: 120 km in 30 minutes, at a top speed of 350 km/h (supposedly… but I didn’t see it go above 320 km/h.) Impressive numbers, but not really an impressive train network… because this service is all there…

Tiger Leaping Gorge Day 1: an early start to the day.. we left Mama Naxi’s Guesthouse in Lijiang at 7:30 in a minivan shared with 5 other hikers after one of Mama’s huge breakfast sandwiches. We arrived at Jane’s Guesthouse in Qiaotou just after 10, ready to start our hike. Unfortunately, Robin slipped on some…

We left Hanoi on a complicated trip to Cat Ba Town: bus, bus, boat, bus. Fortunately, this was all supplied on one ticket from one company, and wasn’t any more expensive than arranging it ourselves. Cat Ba Town is on one end of Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay. It’s mostly a destination for…

I’m currently in Lhasa.. I arrived 2 nights ago on the train from Xining. There’s much less Internet access here than in the rest of China, and I expect it to be even worse when I’m on my bike trip. Cell phone coverage is also likely to be poor. So expect delays if you send…

Robin and I arrived in Kunming on May 2 after an exhausting overnight bus journey just in time to miss the one day train to Lijiang. Not to worry, there was just enough to see in Kunming for a pleasant day sightseeing before the night train. We visited the east and west pagodas, wandered around…

Toyota pretty well owns the market for saloon cars (almost always Camry) and pickup trucks. Hyundai is the brand of choice for minivans. Honda is doing well too: they have a huge share of the small (100-125cc) motorcycle market, which is a popular way to get around in most places, and the dominant vehicle choice…

The first bicycle I ever bought was a Giant Sedona ATX back in 1994. It was a rigid frame mountain bike with STX (slightly above today’s Alivio) components. I rode it all over the trails of St. John’s, took it to university in Kingston, put it on a train to Vancouver, then rode it back…

Robin and I spent the last week in Beijing.. I needed to do some planning, book some tickets, get a visa… and Beijing is a great city anyway (apart from the pollution.) We’re now on a train from Beijing to Xining. We left the hostel at about the same time but by different routes: she…

From Saigon, I headed to Hoi An. This is a beautiful heritage town filled with old buildings, most of which now house custom tailors! These are places that will make you any sort of garment, usually overnight. Prices are good but sadly quality isn’t, so I didn’t get anything made. Instead, I wandered around the…

Robin and I entered Vietnam on a boat from Phnom Penh to the Mekong Delta and spent a few days there. The delta is one of the regions that feeds Vietnam (and probably other parts of the world too..) I didn’t see much rice growing, but the evidence was all along the river: random floes…

Robin and I are in Beijing, taking a much needed break from moving every few days. Also I’m still getting ready for the rest of my trip… cycling in Tibet and the Trans-Siberian. So… how we got here, in brief: from Dali, we took the bus to Kunming, the train to Guilin, then a short…

Things I’ve had to deal with lately: Getting a Russian visa. Apparently this can only be done at home, or in a country where you have permission to stay for 90 days or more. For me, this means Hong Kong. I had to buy an "invitation" online for 45 USD, print it at a business…

I’ve uploaded my photos from the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap, Cambodia. We spent a very full day visiting the temples. We got up at 4:30 and got on our tuktuk for a ride through complete darkness to the ticketing station. Then, up to Sras Srang, a small reservoir, for sunrise. After that, we…

We entered China on May 1 after a bit of a misadventure coming down the mountain from Sapa: I realized about halfway down that I’d left my passport at the hotel :( We were in a full van of people which obviously couldn’t turn back just for me, so Robin and I continued to the…