Spring festival break to Xishuangbanna - Yunnan. Christopher ate a dried ox tail. Had a horrible overnight bus ride from Kunming to Jinghong. Spent the day biking around the surrounding countryside (top left). Then took a few buses and made our way to Hongxing village (top right), where we would begin our hike. Stopped a few times to rest and have a beer (bottom left). The only places to stay were in the local's homes, where they treated us with great hospitality (bottom right). Walked into Burma/Myanmar. (Not really, but we like to think we did.) Got a little lost and ran out of water. Scotty with his water pump! "I have to throw up!" - David. Middle of the night. Pitch black. Found a bucket!
Sofitel for a Valentine's Day dinner (left). Spontaneous rice eating contest one night at dinner (video). More typical nights at Weiwei's. Lots of beer that night (bottom).
Party at Lori's. Lots of Flipcup played that night. The neighbors got pissed!
Big dinner at Lao Zhuan Cun to celebrate the end of the term. For some reason, there were a lot of flowers and kissing going on that night, and another rice eating contest which I did not win.
Then the four month break started. Hit the road with Christopher and Nick. First stop - Ningxia. Possibly the best chuarn in China. In between card games, we went a few places. Old section of The Great Wall on the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia border (top left). Tombs from the Western Xia dynasty (top right). Crazy sandstorms at that time of the year (bottom left). Fun on the outskirts of the Tengger desert (bottom right).
Then down to Xiahe to see Labrang Monestary, again.
Then made our way to Langmusi, located on the border of Gansu and Sichuan provinces. Nick burned a hole in his shoe trying to warm his feet. Christopher conquered the "Big Yak Attack", a 2 lbs. yak sandwich, at Leisha's Cafe. His name should be posted on the wall. Nick wanted to ditch us and stay an extra night because he "liked the scenery". In reality though, he just wanted to call his woman.
Next stop was Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan (left). Stayed overnight in the park, despite being told several times by the entrance staff that we couldn't. Then a stop in Songpan before reaching Chengdu. Really felt as if no one actually works in that city. Chongqing. Xijiang (middle) in Guizhou province. Guiyang. Kunming. Shilin (right).
Dali. Lijiang (left). Tiger Leaping Gorge (middle). Took us an extra day to get there. Took a local bus that went through a tourist park. They tried to make us pay the entrance fee, but of course, we made a fuss. Eventually tried walking through the entrance gate, and soon after, the police came. Got a free ride back to Lijiang at least! Made it the next day and treated ourselves to some special pancakes (right). Headed back to Chengdu after finding out it would be difficult for us to enter Tibet from Yunnan.
Got our plane tickets and had to pay extra for a "Tibet travel permit" that we never actually got to see. Off to Lhasa after the flight was delayed for one day due to bad weather. Spent a few days in Lhasa checking out some monasteries and acclimatizing. Pilgrims prostrating in front of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa (video, right). Monks debating at the Sera Monastery located right outside of Lhasa (video, bottom).
Found two other travellers and a driver who would take us to Everest. Got there after 2 days on the road, with several stops in the middle. Spent the night at the Rongphu Monastery, located at almost 5,000 meters above sea level. Woke up, went outside, and there in front of us was Everest (middle, right).
Left the smells of yak butter and crossed into Nepal. Headed to Kathmandu first after having a quick meal (top row, right). On the way, we passed by a truck that had been torched by the Maoist rebels. Spent a few days exploring the city and the surrounding areas. Then off to Pokhara. After a few days, left for Chitwan National Park (middle row, right) to try and spot a rare Bengal Tiger. Didn't get to see one, but saw some cool elephants, rhinos, deer, monkeys, and a wicked huge spider. Back to Kathmandu to chill for a few more days. Explored Patan and Bhaktapur. Happened to visit Bhaktapur during a festival (video).
Flew to Hong Kong (below) from Kathmandu. Then went up to Shanghai to spend a week with Anny. Finally, we headed back to Jinan to rest up.
Hit the road again in May. First stop: Jiangxi province. Last province/municipality/autonomous region on the list. #33 out of 33. It's not 34, if you think I've counted wrong. Checked out some beautiful villages (below) and also went to Jingdezhen, which produces the best porcelain in China. Then headed down to Guangzhou to get visas for Vietnam. Took a train to Nanning in Guangxi. Stay for a few hours and then hopped on another train down to Pingxiang to cross into Vietnam.
Biked around Hanoi for a day. Then headed to Halong Bay (top row, right), which was like Guilin but on the water. Went back to Hanoi and then hopped on a train heading south. Stopped in Hui, Hoian, and then Nha Trang for the beach and some sun (bottom row, right).
Made it to Siagon (Ho Chi Min City). Passed by a Caodai Temple (left) and the Cuchi Tunnels on our way to Cambodia.
Got to Phnom Penh. Had almost no cash left and found out there were no ATMs in all of Cambodia! Then went to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat (middle) and the surrounding temples (right), which has to be one of the coolest places in the world.
Off to Bangkok (top row, left). Saw Burger King a few hours after arriving and could not pass that up! Stay near Khao San Road (top row, right). Met up with a buddy from college - Raj - who took us for a day trip to Pattaya (bottom row, left). Back to Bangkok. Down to Koh Samui to relax for a few days (bottom row, right). Was puking and had a fever though, which sucked bit though. Went back to Bangkok and then flew to Hong Kong. Stayed for a few days to hang out with a friend. Then crossed over the border and went to Guangzhou. Spoiled myself with a soft sleeper on the train back to Jinan.
Finally, back to work in July. Micheal and Aimie had the 10 mile race out near Red Leaf Valley. Had a great time playing cards and drinking beer while watching them run! Dan and Toufa tackled the 100 chuarn and 10 zhapi challenge, then somehow managed to ride their bikes back to the apartments. Check out the two videos below. Made it to the Qingdao Beer Festival again (bottom row, left and middle). Then a final bye bye to the kids. End of the term party, which started off at Luna with some bbq. Hopped on a party bus which took us around town, then stopped in the end at Lan Gui Fang to finish off the night.
Finally moved down to Shanghai. Been here ever since. No more travel adventures. Instead, I get to sit in a cubicle Monday thru Friday!
THE FRIENDLY FACES FROM 2004
Aimie, Alan, Alex, Alice...
Andie, Anita, Arriana, Ben...
Betty, Brian, Bruce, Cherry...
Christopher, Dan, David, Diana...
Eliza, Jack, James, Kelly...
Kevin, Lee, Lori, Matthew, Matthew...
May, Micheal, Mi Le, Mirror...
Mr. Zhang, Nick, Nick, Paola...
Rebecca, Rebecca, Sabrina, Sally...
Scott, Sophia, Stephen, Steven...
Steven, Tom, Weiwei, Wendy, Will...
Will, Xinxin.
I know I've left out a few familiar faces from 2004. It's not because I don't/didn't like you. I simply don't have a photo of you that was taken that year. Help me out by sending a picture (preferably embarassing) and I'll put it up.
The previous posts (Flashback to 2002 and 2003) are still on http://chinamaninchina.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, blogspot is once again blocked in China. To access it from within China, you'll have to go through a proxy.
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