Month: May 2008

Lijiang

Wake up and creep out of the room, so the Irish boys can sleep.  They didn’t get in until quite late.  I go to my usual place – it’s cold, so I have some porridge.  Quite tasty.  I wander around the old town for a bit, then head back to the guesthouse

The Irish guys (Alan, Wolfy and Aidan) are up, and heading to Lijiang this morning, so I find out where they booked their tickets, to see if I can tag along.  I head down to the ticket office, and manage to get the last ticket on the bus.  I have just enough time to head back to the hostel, grab my bag, and get back to the ticket office to catch the bus.

IMG_8052

Bus ride isn’t too bad for me, despite the Chinese guy that spends most of his time sleeping on me.  The Irish guys, along with Stephanie from Germany, are in the back row – and tell me later that they were pretty cramped.  The driver is terrible, and goes way too fast, and takes too many risks, but we manage to make it  alive.  In Lijiang, we phone Mama Naxi, to pick us up and bring us to her guesthouse.  The van can’t go into the old town, so we have to walk a bit, but it’s not too outrageous.

We check in to a 6 bed dorm at Mama Naxi (along with Bill, an American guy we met at the bus station), then head down to the common area for her dinner.  Word of mouth is pretty important when you’re travelling, and the dinner at Mama Naxi’s had been recommended to me a few times – most recently by the Dutch couple in Kunming.

IMG_8066

Dinner was quite good – a buffet style Chinese spread.  Quite nice, and plenty of it, for less than $2.  After dinner we walk around old town, then Bill, the Irish guys, and myself check out an Irish pub.  It’s not too great, but has a nice view of the city, and plays some decent music, so it might be worth coming back to.  The sun sets, and I wish I had a tripod to get a nice photo of the lit up hill in Lijiang at night.

Everything That I Remember I Remember Wrong

Got up quite early.  The Irish boys in my room were off to visit some villages, so they were up early too.  I told Aidan I planned on chilling most of the day and he joked that it was a good thing I was up early so I’d have the whole day to chill, not just part of the day.

IMG_7928

I grabbed my cds (not really sure why), and headed to Lost Angel.  Jessie, the owner, was playing some good music, so I asked who the artist was.  She wasn’t sure, but went on to say I could download any of her music if I wanted to.  I pulled out my cds and said she could take any of mine, too.  She was interested in a few, so I copied them over to her computer.

Wandered around Dali, then headed to the guesthouse and moved some music over to my ipod.  In the evening I went and grabbed a book, then headed back to Lost Angel to put some more music on Jessie’s computer, and get some dinner.

After dinner I headed back to an unusually quiet guesthouse.  The tv/dvd was free, so I threw in Jumper.  I’d read the book before, but the movie was pretty different.  Not entirely bad, but not too good either.

IMG_7933

The  guesthouse seems overrun with Koreans, so I spent some time talking to them.  Nice group of people, and they all seem to be heading towards Lijiang as well, so I might be seeing them around for a few days, at least.

North of the Lake

Got up and headed to the Lost Angel cafe for breakfast.  Dave, the owner of the guesthouse had recommended it, so I figured I’d give it a shot.  Breakfast was pretty tasty, and every table had a laptop, so I managed to get a bit of internet stuff in as well.

IMG_7938

I’d rented a bike from the guesthouse, so from the cafe, I headed north on the main road.  Dave suggested I check out the north of the island, so I figured I’d give it a go.   The ride there was pretty good – with some nice scenery, as Dali is wedged between Erhai Lake and a mountain (which also has a name, I am sure).  There were plenty of kids on the road, and a lot of them were pretty excited to see a foreigner, it seemed.  I exchanged hellos, but the language barrier was pretty tough to break after that.

I was pretty beat on the way back, a combination of a lack of fitness and a lack of food, I think.  Had a shower in the guesthouse, and then did a bit of reading in the common area.

IMG_7971

Wanted to stay up later, but sleep grabbed me at about 10pm, and I didn’t put up much of a fight.

IMG_7954

Dali

After an uneventful bus ride, I arrive in Dali.  In Kunming, I’d asked a girl at the hostel to write down the Chinese directions to my next destination, Jade Emu Guesthouse – so I showed that to a taxi driver, and was on my way.

IMG_8048

It was too early to check in, so I grabbed a coffee, and jumped on the internet for a little while.  The place is brand new, and run by an Australian guy – the best thing had to be the power chargers in the security lockers – perfect if you want to charge an ipod, or phone, and not watch it all the time.

I wandered around old town – it’s quite touristy, but doesn’t seem so bad, because 99% of them are Chinese.  China has made acquiring Visas a little tougher of late, because of Tibet and the olympics, so I think a lot of people have decided to skip it as a destination.  But the Chinese are in full force.

IMG_8038

Had dinner downtown, then headed back to the hostel to relax, read, and chat a little.

IMG_8028

Not Around To Hear It Fall

Gabriella’s Birthday! Andrew’s too. Got up and got ready to visit the Stone Forest. By the time I made it to the bus stop, it was 11:15am, and the next bus would be at 11:30. I contemplated for a bit, and decided against going to the Stone Forest, as it was 2.5 hours away, and the last return bus to Kunming would be at 4. It was also expensive, so I might save it for a return trip to Kunming – as I most likely have to head back this way on my way to Hong Kong.

IMG_7878

Decided to head north through Kunming (I was at the Southern Bus terminal), making a few stops on my way to the lake. Had some Across The Bridge Noodles, a Yunnan province specialty. I was given about 10 plates with different things on them, then a bowl of noodles and a giant bowl of broth. I assumed the idea was to add everything to the bowl of broth, and did so.

IMG_7901

Nice park by the lake, which I wandered through for a bit. Stopping to read on occasion. It seems very dry here compared to the humid south, so I headed to the Chinese Wal-mart, to get some lip balm. Pretty much the same as our Wal-Mart, although poorly organized. Wasn’t hit by any falling prices, thankfully. I managed to find the checkouts and pay for my balm, then made my way back to the hostel to work on this journal, and upload some pictures. “Into The Wild” was playing next to the computer lounge, so I watched a bit of that too.

Bed seemed like a good idea, so I tried that next.

Kunming

I managed to book a flight to Kunming, China before heading to see Indy the night previous, so in the morning I packed my things and caught a cab to the airport.  I was very early, so I went through a number of shops, but didn’t see anything worth buying – most higher-end stuff is cheaper in Canada.

IMG_7862

The flight went pretty well, I mostly read the Economist magazine that was complimentary on the way onto the plane.  In Kunming I collected my bag, and asked at information if there was bus to the hostel, or at least downtown Kunming.  They wanted to charge me 90rmb for a minibus, which seemed a little high, so I took a cab for 20. 

Checked into the hostel, then did some roaming around the city.  Took a lot of twists and turns, but managed not to get lost, which was surprising. Back at the hostel, I watched some of “Forrest Gump” and did some reading.  Low key night.

IMG_7868

Crystal Skull

Not satisfied with his purchases, thus far, we headed to Pantip Plaza, which is a huge electronics store in Bangkok.  We were more keen on seeing the place, then actually making any purchases.  Although Philipp walked away with a handful of more software.  I wasn’t as overwhelmed by what they had available, although the prices for a few things were good.  Ran into Lucy, from the trek and cooking class in Chiang Mai, who was looking for the Apple store.  She fell in a well (happens to the best of us), and her ipod didn’t survive the bath. 

It was noon, so we headed to Lumphini, but much to our dismay it wasn’t open.  We figured the person we’d asked must have thought we were asking when the market was closing, and said twelve as in midnight, not noon.  Alas.  Philipp still needed some souvenirs, so we headed to the Nana area (near where I stayed my first time in Bangkok).  Philipp managed to anger more vendors than acquire any purchases, so we decided to head back to the MBK.  Sadly the skytrain was closed, but we managed to get a pretty cheap taxi.  Philipp grabbed a bunch of t-shirts, and then we headed back to the hostel so he could be packed and ready for the airport.

After saying our goodbyes, I headed to Siam Paragon, and bought a ticket to see Indiana Jones 4.  I had some time to kill, so I wandered through the mall, and grabbed some food.  The movie was okay – and we had to stand up in honour of the king beforehand.  Very nice theatre, to boot.  I had inquired beforehand to make sure the movie finished before the skytrain closed, but I was lied to, it seems.  I had to walk home, but then noticed the buses were still running so I hopped on one that I hoped would get me close enough to my destination.

Bloodsport

Up early, first we had to switch rooms for some reason, then we too the skytrain to the JJ market.  As I suspected, I’d missed a bunch the first time, and with a map at our disposal this time we faired a little better.  I bought a CD that Josh in Laos had recommended, but that was it.  Philipp faired a little better, buying a few things for himself, and for others.  He’s on his way home, so the extra weight won’t be a burden for long.

Visited the MBK next, so Philipp could get some software, and look for a watch for his dad.  He wasn’t impressed with the mobile prices, so he didn’t bother getting one.  I ended up getting an ipod charger, for a pretty good price.  Checked out the Billabong store at Discovery Centre Mall, to see if I could find a shirt to replace the one I bought in Australia and had stolen in Laos.  No luck – I really liked that shirt, too. 

Headed back to the hostel to nap/relax and shower, then made our way to Lumphini Night Bazaar.  Wandered around there – Philipp buying some shoes, me buying more cds.  Philipp wanted to see more of the market, so we asked if it would be open tomorrow afternoon, and were told it was open at twelve.  We decided to return the next day, and made our way to the Muay Thai kickboxing stadium next to the market.

As we were walking there, a security guy (or someone dressed as such), asked if we were heading to the stadium.  We said yes, and he told us to follow him.  He lead us to a co-ordinator for the stadium who arranged to get us our tickets.  Prices were about double the already expensive price we were expecting to pay, so we contemplated for a bit on whether we wanted to bother.  In the end, we decided it would be worthwhile.  We met two other Canadians, Kevin and Kyle, who were having the same dilemna, and they gave in as well.

The kickboxing was pretty fun, with some fairly even matches (except two very young fighters – where one really dominated over the others).  We even got to see some blood, which is important.

After the fighting, we figured we’d head to the Patpong district.  It’s essentially the red-light district, but it didn’t seem as crazy as I thought it might be.  We had picked up some fighting moves at the kickboxing, anyhow, so we were prepared if things got rough.  We had a couple of drinks at a couple of different bars, then finished off the night with a beer on the steps – which seemed to be the thing to do. 

After a long day, we headed back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.

Back to BKK

A travel day, which is pretty much second nature at this point.  Wandered around in the morning, and did a bit of reading in various cafes and parks.  In the afternoon I headed back to the hostle, and caught a cab to the airport with an Irish guy who was also heading to Bangkok (but on a different flight).  He’d been travelling for 364 days, and was heading home from Bangkok.

Didn’t do much at the airport in Saigon.  Roamed the duty free shops for a bit, then eventually got on my Air Asia flight to Bangkok, although it was delayed about one hour.  First come first serve seating, but it wasn’t too crowded anyhow. 

IMG_7848

In Bangkok, I grabbed an express bus into town.  Took a long time, considering it was an express bus, so I was about an hour late for meeting up with Philipp at the hostel.

It was late, but we decided to go grab a drink, and get me some dinner (no food on the plane).   We hit a local restaurant but the prices were outrageous, so we just grabbed something to drink from the 7-11, and drank in our room.

Remnants

My plan was to have breakfast then get a motorcycle to take me to the War Remnants Museum – figuring I could walk home from there. Since it was still cool, I decided instead to walk to the museum, and then see about getting a motorcycle back.

IMG_7804

On the way I stopped at a few computer stores to see what they offered. Prices seem a little good, but I’m more inclined to wait until I get home to get anything. Apparently my computer at home is no longer working, but I don’t know that the problem is yet.

I visited the War Remnants Museum, which was pretty sobering. Mostly photos – of the war, and people who’d been affected by it afterwards (thanks to Agent Orange, mostly). I bought some postcards from a living remnant, a fellow with arms that stopped at the elbows, and a damaged right eye. He told me he’d been unlucky, and stepped on a landmine when he was young. Unlucky, indeed.

IMG_7815

Headed towards Independence Hall (or Reunification Palace, as it is also called). It was closed, so I just took a photo, and moved on. Didn’t sound like there was much to see there, but if I am bored tomorrow, I have time to check it out. Walked around for a good while after that. Grabbed a coffee, and wrote a few postcards. Most likely the last batch before I head home – otherwise I may as well just personally deliver them, as it’ll be quicker. Checked out the theatre, and the town hall after my coffee, then headed back to the guesthouse and got some lunch nearby.

It was hot, so I had a shower to cool down, then hopped onto the internet. Not too surprised to see the Americans again. If I’m lucky I can shake them in Bangkok, but they seem to find me wherever I go.

Checked out Semi-Pro at the theatre in the evening.  Mildly amusing, but not recommended.  Killed some time, in a nice air-conditioned room, on a comfy couch.  Did a bit of reading, but not really getting into my book.

IMG_7820