This summer (2013) I visited 7 countries in Asia (China (+Tibet), Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand). Rather than a public blog I sent emails to anyone who requested them. Each mail had a few pictures taken with my low quality ipod camera. I decided to re-publish all my messages in online blog form (with only a few minor edits). The ipod doesn't always rotate the pictures properly and I just copied and pasted into these posts, I'll fix them when I have the time.
Also I uploaded them in reverse order compared to a regular blog so you can just scroll through them rather than reading through it all backwards.
Through China I met up with my sister, dad, uncle, and in Japan my cousin, aunt, and uncle. The rest of the trip was solo, meeting people as I go.
Enjoy!
Brendan
Sunday 30 June 2013
Greetings!
Greetings friends and welcome to the Brendan Ferguson Asia (BFA) update. I'm on the bus to the airport right now! I'll be in shanghai in about 17 hours give or take. I'll be joined by my dad, sister, and uncle starting April 7, and the plan initially is shanghai, hangzhou, Beijing, tibet (pending our visas are approved), chengdu, chongqing and then fly to Hiroshima Japan. That's all for now!
Arrival
Made it to china just fine. I've been awake almost 27 hours now (minus a semi-conscious scattered hour on the flight) but I'm running good off adrenaline and excitement! Its my fault though for going straight to nanjing instead of shanghai. Wifi here seems to be more scarce than last time, or maybe my iPod is just outdated...
I had to order my train ticket to nanjing from the Chinese speaking teller(i wrongly thought the automated tellers would work but they need to see a passport). I was able to ask questions with ease and and and..... Understand the answers! I think my light practice over the past years has helped (I went through units 2 and 3 of the pimsleur audio program)
The pic is from the massive shanghai hongqiao railway waiting area. Oh and I will never get tired of riding the 430 km/hr maglev train from the airport. I wonder how many birds get vaporized from that train every year.
Changzhou
Today I tried to go to xixigu, it's a video game theme park(think world of Warcraft and Starcraft) in changzhou(a city a couple hours from shanghai) but the day didn't quite work out. I got the train ticket from nanjing quite late, for 1:30 pm, and then didn't realize the woman gave me a ticket for the nanjing railway station, instead of the nanjing south railway station where I was at the time. I noticed 40 minutes before it left, which is exactly the time it took to take the metro to the other station, but not through security and to the platform. So I missed it and changed to the next train and arrived in changzhou about 3:30. Not knowing what bus would take me to xixigu I went for a taxi, but there was a long line and a woman convinced me to pay her ~$20 to drive there. In the car there were three university students who asked where I was going, then told me it was too late, since xixigu closed at 5 and it was 4. So they invited me to see their school, and took me out for dinner!
They showed me around and took me to a market and rode the bus with me back to the train station. Maybe it's only cause I'm a funny looking tall guy, but many Chinese people leave a very good impression on me with their helpfulness and generosity.
I've also been enjoying some of the local chip flavors....
Hangzhou
Today we went to hangzhou and saw most of the famous west lake (西湖). It was a beautiful cloudless day and it really showed off why this is one of the most beautiful places in china. The lake filled with small boats and forest covered mountains in the background is the perfect place to sit and drink longjin tea, which we did.
There weren't too many tourists, and since its spring there were lots of flowers and most areas smelled kinda like incense.In other news, our Tibet permit was finally approved! We arrive April 16th!
Wuzhen and Shanghai
Today we went to wuzhen(pictured), an ancient town 2 hours from shanghai. We saw a bed museum and wine distillery. It was quite touristy, with many chinese tour groups, and I found out I'm not the only popular one. Amy and dad got asked for pictures as much as I did.
Yesterday we went up the orient pearl tower in shanghai, and to yu garden. Randomly, we found our touring relatives from Winnipeg in the garden! The ones we weren't planning on meeting for another 2 days. So we went to dinner and hopped on their tour bus for wuzhen today.
I think I'm getting sick, lets hope it's not the bird flu.
Nanjing to Beijing
Yesterday we took the high speed train from shanghai to nanjing, then looked around xuanwu lake and Confucius temple. Then took the overnight train to Beijing. So many power plants on the way! Energy hungry china.
In Beijing so far we have seen Tiananmen Square, forbidden city, and that hill behind forbidden city where the emperor of the Ming dynasty hung himself when Beijing was invaded.
New chip flavors we have seen and/or tried-
Cucumber
Spicy hotpot
Little tomato
Garden tomato
Italian tomato
Tomato
Prawns
Cheesy lobster
Oreo flavors -
Grape/peach
Blueberry/raspberry
Birthday cake
Green tea ice cream
Thats all for now! Pictured is a statue in xuanwu lake.
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