Mike's Awesome Adventures (Of Doom)

Myanmar in 10 pictures

2009-07-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

Shwedagon Paya, Yangon. Pictures don't do this place justice. Contains more gold than the bank of England, is tipped with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies and the very top, like the icing on the cake, is a 76 carat (15g) diamond.

Street scene, Mandalay.

Human-powered pottery wheel, Sagaing.

Produce seller at the old market, Monywa.

Human-powered ferris wheel, Pakkoku.

Late-day soccer, Bagan.

Sunset over Bagan.

Sunrise over Bagan

Sule Paya, Yangon. A traffic circle pagoda.

Par Par Lay

2009-06-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

This is Par Par Lay. He told a joke so good it should have put him in jail: "You used to call a thief a thief; now you call him a government servant." Which it did. For 5 years. For that very joke. Read more here.

Once I get my web development skills going I'm starting my own company. I'm calling it Chit Tee Web Solutions. I'm going to make millions.

Some photos from the Land of the Thunder Dragon.

2009-06-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

Monastery close to the first camp of my trek.

Trees along the way.

Horse carrying gear.

Camp 2.

This is what happens when you have a 30 second timer and a fire. Camp 2.

Yak yak yak!

Not too sure what this place was called, but it was my host's wife's grandmother's house, now used for special events such as entertaining dignitaries and world leaders.

Prayer Wheels, Cheri Goempa

Taktsang Monastery.

Taktsang Monastery - The Tiger's Nest. Said to be secured to the cliff by the hairs of angels.

Protective penis. These are painted on the sides of houses and buildings to ward off evil spirits.

Burgers In Bhutan

2009-05-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Word up from Thimpu, Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon. I've been here for the past week, exploring goempa's and dzong's and completed a 4 day trek into the wild. For those of you unfamiliar with Bhutan, here are some interesting facts about the country:

- There are no traffic lights in the country.
- Gross National Happiness is measured according to a set of criteria that rates development projects against its benefit to Bhutanese society.
- Plastic is banned (officially, but it is loosely enforced)
- The national animal is the Takin, which was created by Lama Drukpa Kunley, who put a goat's head on a cow's body and brought it to life.
- There is only 1 Muslim in the country.
- There is only one golf course in the country.
- There are no McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc. at all
- The Bhutanese Yeti is protected in the Sakten Wildlife Sanctuary in the east of the country. The Yeti eludes detection by having the power to become invisible and by having backwards facing feet.

***

The Bhutanese Basketball Federation is having its National Championships at the moment, and I've been to quite a few games as my guide/friend Tshokey plays in one of the teams, the Unicorns. Other names include Squall, Unfold (which would be great names for a shitty metal band), The Usual's, Hunk, Medi-Ocres, Aspen and Shadow's. The Crown Prince plays in Jachung, which looks to be the favourite.

***

Apparently I look like James Blunt

***

"Night Hunting" is a game played by young rural Bhutanese, where males will follow a female back to their house, only to return later on at night and slip through the window into their room. And do it. All in good fun apparently unless you get caught by the father, in which case you will have to marry the girl (By the way, I'm totally bringing 'Night Hunting' to Whistler as the next best thing since hot tub poaching. I can see the headline now: "A 28 year old male was arrested last night after entering a female's bedroom through her window. When asked about the matter he said he was 'night hunting' and that since he was caught he would have to marry her. The male is currently pending a psychiatric evaluation.").

***

Joke from Bhutan: Why do cow's have bells? Because they don't know how to use their horns.

Skillz to pay the billz

2009-05-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Life skills learnt from 15 years in Bangkok:
- The ability to spot a lady-boy a mile away (can I put this under 'qualifications' on my resume?)

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble

2009-05-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Word up from Bangkok, Thailand, where it is wet wet wet. I arrived late at night after a brief stop at Tokyo's Narita airport (or Gnarita for all you Whistlerites), where they quarantined my plane for about 20 minutes until they thermal scanned every passenger for swine flu. My checked in bag looked like it had exploded once it arrived in Thailand. Something had been spilled on it, which seemed to dissolve all the thread holding it together. It's being fixed my the airline, but the way the tailor was talking its going to look like a franken-bag.

First day in the 'kok was good. Stayed at a hotel the first night which was typically Thai: half the reception staff were asleep at the desk and the showerhead was level with my chin. The next morning I was up early for breakfast to find that the majority of the hotel guests were foreigners with their Thai girlfriends/one-night-stands/future wives. Welcome to Bangkok.

Took it easy on the street food yesterday but dove right in today for breakfast: fried egg, rice and mystery meat. All for a buck. Hopefully it won't backfire on me (and yes, using the word 'backfire' is making me giggle).

Wandering around today and meeting some friends for beers tonight at the Londoner. It's a hard life.

Uzbekistan: Epic Islamic architecture, asshead police officers, bikers and more vodka.

2007-07-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

"I love going to new countries and trying out the McDonald’s." - Mandy Moore, on the essence of traveling.

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - John Eldridge

*****

TASHKENT
It took about 6 hours in a share taxi to get from Osh to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. After numerous checkpoints and demands of 'passport please' and our driver stopping on the outskirts of the city and trying to extort more money from us to take us to the center, (and after we threatened to get out and flag down a marshrutnoe (minibus) and the lady traveling with us giving him some lip), we arrived at our B&B, a nice, small place run by a woman named Gulnara. Tashkent is a leafy city, with tree-lined boulevards, wide avenues, and even a metro system. I've mentioned before that all the stations are themed, although it is forbidden to take photos in them as they were designed as nuclear shelters (note to self: when the nuclear threat becomes a real possibility, take the next flight to Tashkent and camp out in the metro). Although Tashkent has a very rich history behind it, it is largely of Soviet design as an earthquake in 1966 leveled it and the city was rebuilt. It is quite a relaxing city, with lots of parks, fountains, and places to eat, serving both Western and local fare.

$100 in Sum.

Continuing the theme of weirdness on our Central Asian adventure, the Uzbek monetary unit is called the Sum and its highest denomination is 1,000. With the exchange being 1,200 Sum to the dollar, you can imagine the wads of cash we received when we changed $100, especially when the money changer we used only had notes of 200 Sum denominations. The above photo gives you an idea.

Statue of Amir Timur, Uzbekistan's version of Genghis Khan. His statues are littered throughout the country.

A beer. In the park. With fountains all around.

SAMARKAND
On the advice of a traveler we met in Tashkent, we stayed at Bahodir's B&B, an extremely welcoming place that offered communal dinners for a dollar extra. It was at these dinners where we met other travelers, and slowly realised that of the 10 or so people staying there, only three of us were not bikers. There was a group of Germans on motorbikes, and a number of individual pedal bikers, including a Japanese fellow who started his journey in Portugal. Perhaps the most interesting was Rob Lilwall, who started his journey two and a half years ago in the Siberian winter with his friend Al Humphreys. Another biker we met in Tashkent, Lindsay Hill, just had his bag stolen in Bishkek, with his passport, camera, mp3 player, credit cards and a little cash gone with it. Lovely.

Samarkand is famous for its epic Islamic architecture, most notably the Registan and Bibi-Khanym Mosque, once the biggest Mosque in the world.

The Bibi-Khanym Mosque from outside.

The Bibi-Khanym Mosque from inside.

BUKHARA
The highlight of our trip to Uzbekistan in my opinion, Bukhara really feels like an old silk road town. Narrow, dusty alleys wind their way throughout the city, and just when you thought you were lost you would walk out right in front of a huge Medressa. Bukhara was a major part of The Great Game (a book by Peter Hopkirk that I've recommended before and I'll recommend again. And again. And again.), and to see landmarks such as the infamous 'bug pit' that two British officers called their home before they were beheaded in front of the Ark. Nowadays to be a 'whitey' in Bukhara isn't as perilous as it was back then. Carpet shops are everywhere, and artisans ply their trade outside their shops, interrupting work when someone goes inside to take a look at their wares.

The entrance to the Ark.

Inside the Kalon Mosque.

Inside the Kalon Mosque looking out, with the Kalon Minaret in the background. They used to throw people to their death from the minaret in the old days.

The entrance to the Kalon Mosque.

The Kukeldash Medressa, and the Taqi-Sarrafon Bazaar in the background.

View of the Mir-i-Arab Medressa from the Kalon Minaret. And yes, I will be framing this one.

Another view of the medressa from the minaret, with some of the town in the background.

KHIVA
We had heard that Khiva was a squeaky clean museum town now catering to bus-loads of tourists on day trips from nearby Urgench, but I didn't care. Khiva was the most notorious town in the Great Game (the Khan's favourite method of torture: impalement, where victims would take up to two days to die), and I had to go there. No exceptions. And I did enjoy it. We managed to avoid the $10 entrance fee to get into the old town from some advice given to us by a German cyclist we met in Samarkand, staying with a nice family in their home, which had excellent views of the Juma Minaret. When all the buses had left and it was dark, I liked to wander around the old town, with the historic old buildings looking both sinister and grand in the moonlight, and the town itself full of activity with kids running around and families sitting and conversing to each other. I would put my hand over my heart, give a slight bow and say 'salam aleykum' to all the elders, which never failed to bring a smile to their faces.

The next day I began my journey 'home'.

The Juma Minaret with the colourful Islom-Huja Minaret in the background.

A view through the doors of the Mohammed Rakhim Khan Medressa.

Peek-a-boo.

Kalta Minor Minaret and Mohammed Amin Khan Medressa (now Hotel Khiva).

Another view of the Islom-Huja Minaret.

The Last Boast - Part 1: China

2007-07-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

"Your major is traveling." - Marjory, my friend Wayne's cousin.

*****

BEIJING
Beijing is pretty much the city built around the center of the Universe: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The whole city is based around these monuments. And for a city with half the population of Canada (and this is 2005 statistics), it is remarkably spread out. Wide avenues, giant buildings, and grandness on every scale. And it is all currently under construction (estimated date of completion: the 2008 Olympic Games, which I guarantee will be spectacular).

Lazy day in the park.

Beijing breakfast: steamed dumplings and warm soy milk, all for $0.50.

The Temple Of Heaven was under renovation last year (but we still paid full price). Now its open to the public (and we still paid full price).

XI'AN
For a city firmly on the tourist trail (Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai are the Big 3 of China), it still feels quite quaint. I knew this place would be awesome when I stepped out of the train station at 5am and was greeted by a massive wall and its North gate, which surrounds the 'old city'. This year, though, we arrived at the more civilised time of 8am. Because I had been here before, I spent time trying to find the friends I made on my last visit. One of them was Bill, my Muslim homie, whom I had befriended when his mother asked me to help her son practice his english. Bill is 10 year old, and is quite a genius for his age. I bought him a Vancouver t-shirt, which he politely declined until he had his mother's approval. I managed to find his mother's store, which has since halved its original size (one side convenience store, the other a bubble tea shop - delicious). He took us to the local park where we played catch on the jungle gym and had races down the slide (yes, two 26 year olds playing catch and racing down a slide with a 10 year old kid). His mother then treated us to the best dumplings we had on our trip, made fresh in front of our eyes.

Bill was not the only friend I made last year. I also met a number of university students more my age when I found myself stuck in Xi'an for an extra night because the train I wanted to Shanghai was full. Alex, Daniel, Jack and Helen befriended me on the bus to Hua Shan mountain, and we climbed it together from 11:00pm to make it for sunrise. We meet them again at their university, which is quite impressive. They treated us to kebab with all sorts of weird yet wonderful meats, before taking us to the 'musical fountain,' which as wussy as it sounds is actually wet, chaotic and loads of fun (Rayner Recommended).

Biking around the wall of the old city. This is one of the gates of entry.

Bill, The Yone and myself in the park. And yes, corrupting the innocents with my Flatbed t-shirt.

XIAHE
Xiahe is the most important place of pilgrimage for Tibetans outside of Tibet. It is also major stop for nomads wishing to stock up on supplies. It is an interesting contrast between three distinct groups of people: the Han Chinese, who look, well, Chinese; the hardy Tibetans, who live on a windswept plateau at 16,000 feet and the nomads. It wasn't an uncommon site to see Tibetans prostrate themselves around the monastery, which took me about an hour or so to walk, which is a testament to their religious beliefs. We did a day trip to the grasslands, seeing a few small sites along the way (and yes, all of them did have entrance fees). The highlight was a monastery, which we didn't actually see, instead being invited by a monk into his quarters for tea and tsampa, a Tibetan delicacy made out of barley flour, yak cheese, yak butter, and hot water.

Outside our guesthouse: shoesmiths apply their trade.

Tibetan doors. Mikey likey.

The monastery.

Goats hanging out.

LANZHOU
This was more a place where we found ourselves for 8 hours before our train left later in the day. It is a strange place, located in the center of a valley, and spread out thin throughout it. We bid our time by walking around it, seeing the famous Yellow River (tick), taking in a few performances in a park, and playing a few games of pool on the street, and finally settling into a beer garden right in front of the train station. It is also worthy to note that the people here were extremely friendly.

Pool on the street, with some young fans.

JIAYUGUAN
A lonely outpost that marks the Westernmost point of the Great Wall, Jiayuguan is truly in the middle of nowhere. Just desert and mountains.

Lets play a game called 'Shoot the Mogul invader.' I'm 2 for 3 so you better watch out.

Jiayuguan fort.

DUNHUANG
A prosperous tourist town where my first impressions were that it looked like a Chinese Las Vegas (more for all the lights than casinos, of which there were none), we entered late in the night after our bus broke down on the way over. It is most famous for its caves, which showcase the development of Buddhist art from the 3rd century onwards (if you received a postcard from me, this is where the paintings on it originated from). The caves, impressive as they were, wasn't the only reason we went to Dunhuang. Just outside the small city there is another attraction just as impressive:

Fricking Huge Dunes Of Doom

Hell yeah!

My little friend.

"Hello. My name is Yonatan and I am a turd. Look at me. Weee!"

Going down a dune - easy work.

Going up a dune - two steps forward, one step back.

TURPAN
The center of grape production in China, Turpan was the first stop where we didn't feel like we were in China anymore. We were constantly tormented by a Mr Arkin Mehmet, who wanted us to go on one of his tours and seemed to find us whenever we were eating. How many times do we have to say no!?!?!?! We ended up hiring a taxi for a fraction of the cost, and he was extremely happy to take us, shaking our hands afterwards with a big grin on his face. We bought some local wine and tried the soft icecream sold by vendors on the street.

Jiaohe ruins. Planet Of The Apes set?

The Yone tries a new desert swimming technique.

URUMQI
The furthest point from the sea on earth, Urumqi is the last real Chinese city we visited. It is big, pulsing and like any other Chinese city, constantly under construction. In this case, the main artery through the city was all but closed off, ripped up and being reconstructed. Its like if Sukhumvit in Thailand or Georgia Street in Vancouver were closed off in their entirety. We used Urumqi as a base to see Tian Chi, or Heavenly Lake, staying at the Xinjiang Fruit Group's flagship hotel.

Yoni gets down and dirty with his ice cream sundae.

The furthest place on earth from the sea.

Heavenly Lake. Looks like Banff.

The Temple at Heavenly Lake. Yoni likes stairs.

KASHGAR
After a 24 hour train ride we arrived in Kashgar, in time to see its world famous Sunday Market. This place does not look like China, and there has been an active separatist movement to make Xinjiang province into its own separate entity (much like Quebec in Canada). But the Chinese government no likey, and for a place as far West as you can get from Beijing, it has one of the few remaining Mao statues standing loud and proud upon its pedestal. We sampled pigeon kebab, wandered around the Sunday Market and old town, and watched all the activity outside of the mosque at sunset, with children running everywhere with blow-up balls, playing catch , and generally living life.

The Mosque - the center of Kashgar.

The Sunday animal market. Apparently a goat goes for $20.

The daily Sunday Market, not to be confused with the weekly Sunday Animal Market.

Taking a donkey taxi through the old town.

The Chairman Mao, ridiculously out of place in Kashgar.

Found In Translation

2007-06-28T02:58:00.000-07:00

What I Learned In Tashkent That Should Be Applied Everywhere, Part Deux:

- Less assheads in police uniforms (guess who was sent to the backroom of the Tashkent International Airport).
- More fountains in parks with beer gardens.

*****

Beijing English Menu (from the Welcome The Foreign Friend Come cafe:

Roast duck of Beijing
Rinse the meat of Beijing
Wheat Joss-stick Cow Willow
Fried peanut
Korean Form Dog meat
The temple explodes the chicken cube
The meat mixs the bean curd
Fragrant and hot soil bean silk
The meat fries the mushroom
Mountain wild vegetable
The beef braises the persimmon
The dry fries Huang's flower fish
Dumpling
Fried rice
Fried noodles

Tashkent Party!

2007-06-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

What I propose to do if elected Mayor of Vancouver (or 'What I learned in Tashkent that should be applied to everywhere'):

More themed metro stops: Really, what is better than pulling up to a Yuri Gagarin space station metro stop, or one that looks like a medieval dungeon? If it were up to me, I'd have the guy that designed the set of the Alien movies and the guy that designed the set of Killer Klowns From Outer Space design stations in our supposed 'first world' countries.

More beer gardens in parks. Enough said.

More parks for beer gardens.

More statues of guys on speeding horses. The world needs more of these.

More Uzbekistani girls.

Kyrgyzstan Vodka Party!

2007-06-15T04:51:00.000-07:00

Word up from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where the internet is unbelievably slow. We are recovering from our Kyrgyzstan Horse Trek Yurt Vodka Party. Photos can be seen here.

*****

For a country that I didn't know existed before I started to planning this trip a few months ago, it possesses a scenic beauty that surpasses Canada. By, like, infinity. It was definately weird arriving here - the people speak Russian, the text is in Cyrillic, they have a washing detergent called Barf, old men wear felt hats and the drivers are worse than in China. Vodka is distributed for any occasion ever imagined, like breakfast, and the local drink kymys (fermented mares milk) is downed faster than water. And yes, kymys does taste as bad as it sounds.

We met up with Yassi, who went out with a friend of mine in high school and moved to Bishkek a few years ago. She gave us a royal tour of the city, showing us all the expat haunts, including the Maple Leaf Golf Club on the outskirts of the city, and eventually ending up at someone's house downing vodka shot after vodka shot with American Marines. Definately the cultural experience.

We are off to Uzbekistan on Sunday. Hopefully the internet will be working better there.

KYRGYZSTAN PARTY!

2007-06-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

Y: I'm really liking Kyrgyzstan's vowel to consonant ratio (10:1). Respect.

*****

We were wondering how a 700km journey would take 24 hours on a bus from Kashgar to Osh, but as we found out yesterday, the Chinese have it sussed out impeccably. We arrived at the station in time for our 9pm bus, but the driver needed a further 2 hours to get his documents in order. Then we were off! For maybe 10 minutes. We pulled into the side of a gas station and spent another hour and a half doing something or the other. Tire problems? Engine falling apart? Who knew, but we were off again to the border, arriving 5 hours later through some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen: red and black mountains, green valleys and winding rivers, sheep and horses, it had it all. Definately ranks in the top 3 bus trips of all time. Then we arrived at the border.

We spent 5 hours at the border, unloading and then reloading the bus, passing through three unneccessary checkpoints (out of the bus, tick us off the list - again, proceed to next checkpoint, repeat), and finally passing through the Kyrgyz border post after several rumours that it was closed and that we would be spending the night in no-mans-land between China and Kyrgyzstan. Nevertheless, after a bumpy ride in a too-small-for-whitey berth (by about 2 feet) and a dinner of half a bag of raisins I arrived in Osh 24 hours after leaving Kashgar. Awesome.

*****

These are all the countries I have visited (the only criteria is that I must have stayed for at least 24 hours), which works out to only 14% of the world. I have a lot of travelling left to do...

Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang Rock!

2007-06-02T03:33:00.000-07:00

"Don't make a career out of your childhood!" - Fatherly advice from the book Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel, which rang especially true after posing like monkeys and pretending to be birthed out of a hole in the ruins of Jiahe, which Yonatan said looked like the set to the original Planet Of The Apes movie.

Poo poo pee pee ka ka.

*****

Word up from Kashgar, our final stop in China and home to the greatest market of all time - the Sunday Market (Of Doom). People come from all over Central Asia to this weekly event, trading and haggling for everything under the sun. Awesomeness. Then on Monday its a 24 hour sleeper bus into Kyrgyzstan. I can't wait.

Since the Fricking Huge Dunes Of Doom, we travelled north to Turpan, which is famous for its valley of the grapes. I bought some wine for $2, and some better wine for $5. The $2 wine tasted like grape juice with a hint of alcohol (it was only 8%), and didn't really give me a buzz so I think I was hosed. The $5 wine remains to be tasted. So far the verdict is: not as bad as I originally thought. Frenchmen and Italians will be rioting in the streets of Paris and Rome.

Just a short hop north of Turpan is Urumqi, which holds the distinction of being the furthest place from the ocean on earth. It is the last real 'Chinese' city, and quite cosmopolitan for a place right in the middle of nowhere. We visited a place called Heavenly Lake, which looks like Lake Louise, but then again I'm sure every Chinese who visits Lake Louise would say that it looks like Heavenly Lake.

I was mistaken for a Kazakh by three Chinese businessmen, which I am quite proud of. My beard has reached its former glory, and I've got one month of travelling left for it to reach new heights.

The internet has given me further gas, with both journals being down for the count in Urumqi. Now the computer won't recognise my camera. Yonatan has managed to get his working though, and there are many good shots you can look at on his Flickr site here.

Mike: Out. See you in Kyrgyzstan (and pray for the blogs).

Fricking Huge Dunes Of Doom

2007-05-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

There are few things that make me giddy with excitement:
- Good metal shows
- Powder days
- Fricking huge dunes of doom

The requisite 'jumping in the air in the dunes' shot. Yoni attempts air splits.

I love the dunes.

Local wildlife.

Hello little guy.

Flaunting the latest in Chinese fashion.

2007-05-26T00:37:00.000-07:00

Yoni's Flickr Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yoniholmes/
135 photos including some with yours truely.

*****

Quotes from the road:
Y: "I would love to see a museum about utensils. I think it would be fascinating."
M: "You are strange, but then again I wanted to see the International Toilet Museum in New Delhi, so that puts us at about the same page."

2007-05-23T23:55:00.000-07:00

Quotes from the road

Yoni's bus observations:
"We just overtook a car that was overtaking another car."
"I figure we spend 1/5 of our time on the wrong side of the road."

On crossing the road:
M: "Shall we cross the civilised Western way when the little man turns green, or the suicidal Chinese way?"
Y: "The civilised way."
M: "Civilisation is boring."

*****

The Old Man.

The old man walked up to Yoni and began to engage in conversation with him. Unable to understand what he was talking about, Yoni smiled and repeated what little Chinese he knew: Ting bu dong, ting bu dong (I don't understand). The man was persistant, and grabbed Yoni's hand, tracing out Chinese characters with his fingers across Yoni's palm. I grabbed my pen and gave it to the old man. He scribbled over Yoni's hand. Still unable to understand each other, we parted ways. Yoni walked up to a tour guide who was leading a group of tourists and asked her to translate the scribblings on his hand. "It say 'Are you Russian?"

We found the old man later on and told him we were from Canada and Australia respectively. Still excited, he signalled for the pen, and scribbled on my hand this time. I showed him postcards of Canada and my family, and gave him one with our names on it. He did the same in return. We shook hands in farewell, and just as we were about to part ways he opened up his arms and gave us each a giant bear hug.

Still curious about what he had written on my hand, we asked some of the ticket agents at the exit of the park. They directed us to the gift shop, where a helpful lady rummaged through some CD's. "It is a song" she said as she looked at the titles of the CD. Running her fingers down the track titles she stopped at one and pointed it out to me. "It is this one."

Track 9. Think of Chairman Mao.

Needlesstosay I bought the CD.

Phots from the Greatest of China

2007-05-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

Morning dumplings and Mr Yonatan Holmes (Turd Premier)

The Labrang Monastery, Xiahe, China.

Goats hanging out.

Interior of a monastery.

Yaks grazing in the grassland.

Pinching the nipple.

2007-05-23T02:58:00.001-07:00

Word up from Xi'an in the Greatest China, home to one of the wonders of the world - a clay army guarding a dead Emperor. I've been retracing my steps from my last visit to China. Beijing is still under construction, crews working dilligently to demolish the old and build the new to shock and awe the masses during the Olympic games next year. I spent my days wondering around aimlessly, meeting old friends, laughing at Engrish signs (best hotel name ever: "Wash The Bath Hotel") and working off my jetlag.

*****

I'm travelling with my old high school friend Yonatan, who lived in Bangkok for 3 years before graduating and going off to Uni in Australia. He joined me on my previous travels in France, as it was only a short hop over from England, where he had been working since Uni. He also has a blog, which he has been able to access and has been updating frequently: http://yonistravels.blogspot.com/. Check it out. He is attempting to travel for a year as well, and has already been to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bhutan and now China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Bhutan, in particular, is on the road less travelled, given that all visitors are required to spend a minimum of about $300 a day (not too sure on the real number, but it is high) when in the country. Yoni was fortunate as his sister is good friends with the Princess of Bhutan, who went to high school with her in Bangkok (and also myself), and was granted a royal pardon to spend 50% of the foreign requirement, while staying in the Royal Compound. He nearly played a friendly game of basketball with the King of Bhutan, whose name is Jimmy, but other commitments prevented him from doing so.

Mr Turd Grande - Yonatan Holmes

Old men, Russian brothers, and Chairman Mao. I'll explain later.

Biking along the city wall of Xi'an.

Getting down with my Muslim homie Bill.