Travel Plans

Well, I've finished my teaching work at Longre - Xi'an, and im planning out the rest of my trip. More details later but for now...

Xi'an to Kunming (warm sunshine, stone forest)
Kunming to Guilin (someone famous said something about the most beautiful scenery under heaven)
Guilin to Hong Kong (that place)
Hong Kong to Manila (Philippines)
back to Hong Kong
Hong Kong to Xiamen (port town)


Xiamen to Shanghai, Wuxi, Huangshan in Anhui province (all close.. well ish)
Shanghai to Seoul (Korea)
Seoul to Hiroshima (Japan)
to Kyoto
to Tokyo
Home

see you then!

China's low budget Titanic

Listen out of your window during the day in south Xi'an and you could be forgiven for thinking an out of season Ice-cream van was plying its trade.

In fact, what you are hearing is the warning cry of a truck of doom. Spraying water over the road and any hapless pedestrian not moving out of the way fast enough, it slowly progresses up and down the streets, blaring out a mobile phone ringtone version of Celine Dion's "My heart will go on" with each high note ever so slightly out of tune.

Alternatively and slightly less painfully a similar sounding "Happy Birthday" repeating endlessly is the tune of preference for a second truck driver.

Chinese DVDs

So you can walk into any number of stores and hand over 10 yuan (66pence) and receive in exchange, a very nicely boxed DVD with one or multiple films hidden on its shinny surface.

Many of the covers are excellently designed, though occasionally the films description on the back of the box can leave a lot to be desired. This is NOT the case with the DVD box for the film "Material Girls". What else could you possibly want from a DVD box than an honest and open review of the contents? On the other hand, it might be better to get someone who can read english to copy paste the review from the internet next time. (the image on the right... go on have a click)

There's Ink Everywhere

Proped up against the Xi'an city wall and tucked around the corner from the south gate you will find art street. There are numerous shops selling paint brushes, inks, paper, carvings, paintings, musical instruments... you get the idea. After I finish my volunteer work in 2 weeks time I am planning to stay in a hostel on art street for a few days to get used to living on my own in China, and because it looks like a cool place to stay.


And I haven't yet mentioned you can get a big plate of pork or beef dumplings for 66pence here.
Or that the hostel is 2pounds a night for a bed, or 4 pounds for your own room.