| A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travel |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|02:08 am] |
Welcome to Wanderlist!
I've made this journal specifically for the purposes of documenting travel and showcasing photography while I am oversea's in China. If you want to look at the collected photographs I've taken you can find all of them dumped and mostly unsorted in my flickr account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kekeke/
I wrote this essay early in my trip to Inner Mongolia during the summer program. I feel it's a good introduction. I'll post my new apartment address when I get it.
July 15, 2006 12:52am
Our train is passing through a number of industrial towns in the North. I was expecting to see completely rural countryside and am quite surprised to see such numerous factories. The journey to Inner Mongolia is enjoyable. Our group is taking what’s known as a “hard sleeper.” There are six beds arranged in two columns, a lower bunk, a middle bunk, and an upper bunk. This is my first experience with rail travel over three hours and I have to say it’s a delight. It is memorizing sitting here and watching the landscape pass, even if one wouldn’t typically consider it scenic. I was earlier discussing the joys of travel with another EAP student and its set my mind to writing. I will never tire of travel. Though I may not have appreciated it as much when I was younger, I feel this experience has matured me into a much better traveler. I think it was my family’s history of frequent travel that’s given me this passion for learning and history that defines much of who I am today. As I pass through these industrial towns, I can’t help but wonder the stories, the histories, the details of the daily lives, of the people and places seen within. Each brick, cement house and factory has significance to certain groups of people. Locally these fixtures and locations are the elements and backdrop of peoples entire lives. Yet these places do not exist solely in this vacuum, and you can witness the role they play both in China’s economic growth and ultimately the world. Coming from Los Angeles only furthers this connection, as the vitality of my home city is closely connected to the dramatic changes in this country. To see a place I will most likely never see again, whip by me at 40 miles an hours for just a moment, and to appreciate this significance on a number of different levels, this feels like the good life . Understanding, exploring, connecting, thinking, viewing, these are things that make my life feel as if it‘s on the right path and that I am approaching it in the best way possible. Suddenly our train has stopped and no doubt people are disembarking to visit or return to their areas of significance. My itch to simply step off and explore is unbearable, but I am kept in place by the curiosity surrounding my destination. Sure I can see this hill, but what’s over it? It’s a story that never ends until all the hills, rivers, and mountains of the world have been walked, crossed, and climbed. And that constant movement feels divine. The trains whistle howls into the quiet night. I love that jolt that accompanies it as the giant machine rouses to continue its journey. It is the sudden jolt of travel, excitement, and bursting energy, it is wanderlust. |
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[Aug. 3rd, 2007|10:37 pm] |
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Wanderlist is active again! Starting tomorrow I'll be landing in Ecuador and staying for two weeks. I can't say what exactly I'll be photographing, but I can promise you all it will be interesting. Stay tuned! |
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[Dec. 12th, 2006|01:58 am] |
In ten days I’ll be returning home.
This entry is really hard to type. It’s discussing my daily experience which is inherently going to be about how I feel returning home, and I hope maybe in hearing about the little aspects of my life you will understand the beauty they contribute. Perhaps in reading some of this you won’t understand how I could consider these things as such, but I’m confident you will at least find them interesting.( Read more... ) |
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[Nov. 26th, 2006|02:50 pm] |
Beijing has an interesting expat community compared to those of Shanghai and Hong Kong. It’s smaller and as such the feel within it is much more tight nit. As a result, the already useful gains of connections (or guanxi 关系) seem amplified as everybody knows everybody around here.
Then of course there is the “China Factor”. My name for the seemingly bizarre situations one can find themselves inexplicably in. Wither its drinking with two Mongolians at 2am in a yurt, attending a Chinese banquet, or being pulled into a police station without any idea why, the China Factor has a tendency to pop up with frequent randomness.
So when I get a call from my friend asking me if I want to join him on a weekend all expenses paid vacation to Jiangxi in order to masquerade as the American fishing team in the Jiangxi International fishing contest, I think its appropriate to caulk it up to both Guanxi and the China Factor. My answer was a definite hell yes.
( Read more... ) |
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[Oct. 25th, 2006|04:36 pm] |
“Why is he suddenly updating often?”
I’ll give you a small clue, it has something to do with the rapid drop in temperature this week.
Fall is here in full force. Though only a few trees have begun to change, the air is quite chilly. I don’t mind however, as I get a chance to make use of my numerous scarves. It isn’t cold enough to be uncomfortable, just enough to look fashionable.( Read more... ) |
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[Oct. 23rd, 2006|12:55 pm] |
This may be old news for many of you, but Wikipedia www.wikipedia.com was unblocked about a week ago. As of now the Chinese language version remains blocked, but with this, and the recent unblocking of Blogspot, its lead many to further wonder about the seemingly unknowable minds of the Chinese internet censors. Based on the regional difference in when Wikipedia was unblocked, it seemed clear that Chinese internet censorship was managed at the provincial level. In Beijing, Wikipedia was back before it was in Shanghai.
For some odd reason, they just blocked Facebook www.facebook.com, a popular social networking site originally designed for college students. For a number of days back in the summer facebook was sporadically blocked, but had up until now remained accessible. Of course, everything is only speculation, but my guess is it might have something to do with facebook's recent move to allow completely open user registration. I've been noticing a number of users with "China" as their regional network, whereas for normal college student's, your network is defined by College.
I'm part of a political discussion group that meets near 北大 every Tuesday and the topics we have been covering recently have been quite fascinating. I don't want to go into many details, but the level of corruption in this country is far greater than I ever initially imagined. Simply the direct observation of some things gives me the impression that a person like me is only witnessing the tip of the iceberg. The PRC government is a fascinating entity, even more so due to its opaqueness. It’s interesting watching the recent anti-corruption purges going on in the government. Almost all my news about Chinese political events are blog-derived. It’s amazing to see how developed internet culture is in this country. Online communities are far larger and active than in the U.S., and I’m positive it simply isn’t due to a greater population. The internet, despite PRC attempts at censorship, remains a significant forum for Chinese political discussion. Chinese internet culture is remarkably fascinating and I feel like the Chinese populace is really taking full advantage of the social possibilities, at least much more so than can be said in America.
There are so many different things I’d love to discuss with many of you when I return which is just about two months from now.
/edit
Well looks like facebook is back again. How odd. |
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[Oct. 22nd, 2006|11:19 am] |
峨眉山
The inspiration to climb Emei Shan came in a hotel in Kaili 凯里. I was sitting in bed reading my guidebook and thinking about what to do after Zunyi 遵义, as after that point I had no concrete plans. I was trying to decide between Yunnan 云南 and Sichuan 四川 when I came across an entry on a sacred Buddhist mountain with a number of temples and monasteries lining it’s sides that was something of a pilgrimage spot since the Song Dynasty. I had been hoping for a chance to spend a few days outdoors and walking, and had also recently been inspired by a section of Wanderlust concerning the idea of a pilgrimage. I decided to climb to the summit temple as a sort of way of thanking Ms. Wang and wishing her well. It seemed like a good reason to climb a mountain.
My train from Zunyi arrived in Chengdu 成都 quite early in the morning and I found an incredible youth hostel in a Qing Dynasty building that I forgot to take any pictures of for some equally incredible reason. I spent the day exploring the city and found it to be quiet remarkable. The attitude of the people and the general cleanliness was nice. Chengdu reflects on the relative wealth of the Sichuan province. Zhao Ziyang’s governorship of the province was quite successful in its agricultural and economic reforms and turning Sichuan into a model for the nation.
I was on a tighter schedule now than before, and If I wanted to give myself enough time to climb Emei Shan and get back to Beijing in time, I had to leave the next morning. The Chengdu bus station was quite fancy, a noticeable departure from what there usually was in Guizhou. I arrived in Emei after two hours and then hailed a cab to the town near the base of the mountain. After checking into a popular place known as the Teddy Bear Hostel, I started to repack my bag with only things I would need for the next three days on the mountain. It’s fun to take stock of your things and I made it a challenge to get my backpack as light as reasonably possible.
( Read more... ) |
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[Sep. 26th, 2006|06:29 pm] |
Ahh Zunyi, a city put on the map by the Long March. When I got there I was expecting a large town where I could take a 2 day breather and enjoy some history, but I soon found out there would be none of this relaxing goings ons.
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[Sep. 14th, 2006|12:46 am] |
Ah my poor Sambas. I’ve had these faithful shoes for over two years now. I bought them the summer of 2004 right before leaving for school and they’ve been my favorite to date. Unfortunately, China has a habit of destroying my already old shoes and these oldies just couldn’t keep up anymore. They were still functional, but I had bought boots and dragging around another pair of shoes this old when I already had limited backpack space just didn’t make sense. I left them in Guiyang as both a practical necessity and as a marker between really hitting solo travel. Departing with a pair of shoes that have seen so much these past two years, one of my utilized possessions felt unusually emotional for me. I have a tendency to affix emotional attachment to objects, but that slightly rainy day I left Guiyang felt as if I were bidding a permanent farewell to a friend. So long Sambas, these Chinese boots are nearly as comfortable, stylish, and friendly as you were.
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| 贵州 |
[Sep. 5th, 2006|04:58 pm] |
Before this entry starts I want to include a couple of pictures from Shanghai as I feel the last entry was really lacking in any decent Shanghai pictures.
A shopping district in the closing hours of day. The whole area seems to be under major rennovation.
( Read more... ) |
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[Aug. 28th, 2006|12:35 am] |
Boy I'm never going to finish that Great Wall update, even though the photographs and stories really deserve it. In the interest of providing you all the wonderful details of traveling through China, I'm going to skip over it for now and drop some huge updates on you that were written when I was away from the internet.
Without further delay, here's Shanghai!
( Read more... ) |
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[Aug. 3rd, 2006|04:13 pm] |
Inner Mongolia Part Deux.
We arrived at the grasslands later in the afternoon. The grasslands of Inner Mongolia are at a higher elevation than the plains you saw in earlier pictures, hence the concept of steppes. We drove through a number of small towns before driving through the mountains. Upon emerging the scenery is as the rest of the photos in this updated. Short grass, rolling hills, and blue skies. At one point our bus was greated by these guys.
( Read more... ) |
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[Jul. 30th, 2006|09:14 pm] |
Inner Mongolia
Boy is this update late. I'm doing this one now so I can write up this weekends update tomorrow.
We left for Hohot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia at around 9:00pm at night. In China, most travel over long distances is done by rail. You have around four designations of train cars. Soft Sleeper, Soft Seater, Hard Sleeper, and Hard Seater. A Soft sleeper is like a private room with comfortable beds whereas a soft seater is similar to the regular amtrack style of seats. A hard sleeper, the car we took, had around 6 beds to a section and around 10 sections in a car. A hard seater is the cheapest option available and tends to be quiet the experience. Here is a shot of our rather nice hard sleeper. My guess is that this is the higher end of quality as far as these go.
![](http://static.flickr.com/54/191667710_8549c099ae.jpg?v=0")
( Read more... ) |
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[Jul. 13th, 2006|05:13 pm] |
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I'll be in Inner Mongolia till monday so assume I'm not contactable untill then. 再见! |
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[Jul. 11th, 2006|11:37 pm] |
Through the Gate of Heavenly Peace!
This is the park right through the gate. It's a public park and you don't have to pay to enjoy some time around here.
( Read more... ) |
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[Jul. 10th, 2006|11:50 pm] |
Boy do I have a huge update for you. In the interest of getting to bed tonight before 12:30am I'm going to break it into two parts so it won't be a ton of pictures with no captions. You can get that on my flickr page easily.
To begin with, I've been horribly sick this weekend. Why didn't I mention this earlier? I didn't want any of you to worry about me of course, but in all honestly I did enough worrying for myself. This was a full blown flu and I'm still feeling the effects. Somehow I managed to find the energy to get up on Saturday to pay a visit to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. It must have been the spirit of the Chairman gloriously pushing me forwards in some revolutionary fervor.
Revolutionary fever is more like it. Let's begin shall we?
Oh sup Chairman. I swear to god when they repaint his picture every year they age him a little bit.
( Read more... ) |
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[Jul. 6th, 2006|05:31 am] |
Around an hour after I updated last night, I noticed it was an unusually clear night and the moon was out, so I figured I'd take a few long exposure photographs.
( Read more... ) |
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[Jul. 5th, 2006|08:56 pm] |
Updates are going to come slowly both in part to the absolutely unreliable internet over here. It seems all the times I'm at my computer, which I try to keep at a minimum, the internet isnt running.
So expect these things ever 3-4 days or so now. Anyway, this entry details our trip to one of the most famous symbols of Beijing, the Temple of Heaven or 天坛.
( Read more... ) |
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[Jun. 30th, 2006|02:44 pm] |
We are almost caught up. I intentionally only took a single picture yesterday and haven’t taken any today as we just started classes. Again, this is going to be a super short update since I’m really tired right now. I thought I had gotten over jet lag but I find myself getting tired at weird times during the day.
These pictures were taken in a section of the city known as Old Beijing. It’s yet another tourista area EAP has taken us too but I’m not really complaining. The only thing that really made me feel lame was the rickshaw ride. I already feel awkward simple because my purchasing power is vastly higher than many people around me, but being biked around in a rickshaw like vehicle was painfully embarrassing, especially since there were actual people living in the Hutong we visited.
This is part of a massive complex which was built during the Qing dynasty. It served as a home for a prince latter in its history, and was confiscated once the Communists came to power. It was restored to public viewing in the 80’s and has become a big tourist destination.
We had a nice little introduction to the tea ceremony.( Read more... ) |
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