Luxu Hotel Wujiang

... my itinerary, which included Pingyao, one of the best examples of beautifully preserved ancient architecture in the country. Their response invariably was: "why would you go there?...it's so old!"

Good question. While us Canadians, accostomed to shiny objects, crave exposure to a past we've never had, the Chinese seem to prefer the modernity that reflects their recent success, opting instead for the glimmering cities of Shanghai or Hong Kong.

... inside. The hotel doesn't look so bad from the outside and indeed it was quite nice. Hah, at Shanghai airport I was wandering around thinking 'ah yes, the bookshop will be over there..', then I remembered that I'd never been at this airport before. But of course the bookshop was there. Shows ...

... travel was waiting with maps of the city and tourist attractions. The terminal itself was a giant high-rise mall: several floors of high-end shopping, restaurants, and attractions that could keep even the least interested passerby busy for a long time. It was the perfect marketing strategy: take a boatload of tourists ¡V rich ones, more than likely ¡V who have been at sea for who knows how long and must be aching for a taste of civilization by now no matter how luxurious the cruise ...

... was the best thing Nikki could have done to diffuse the energy and make it easier to process in the next few days. Oh, and process we did. But it was good not to have to worry about it right now. After dinner we had a nice, long, leisurely walk back to the ship through the nightlife of Shanghai. Nanjing Road is the center for shopping, we were told, at least tourist shopping, because the street vendors are everywhere. The repeated "Hello, lady..." made me think of the movie The ...

Well hello! Well, I've been pretty busy since the last post. . . Except Saturday during the day. I did nothing. Nothing at all. Woops, I was tired. Before I go any further, I need peoples addresses so I can mail some post cards! If you want a post card, holler at me with your address! The more the merrier. So we've been going out a decent amount, to clubs and bars and the likes. Last night we found a bar very reminiscent of a ...

... was never too worried about anything and didn't really think I was doing anything too brave or uncommon. That's all changed now. I'm on my own from here on out. I'm going to go from never having stayed in a hostel before to living in nothing but. I'm going to hope I can get the right money to pay for said hostels - 16,453 Vietnamese Dong to 1 U.S. Dollar? What does that even mean? I'll be honest. I'm a little...I guess you could call it ...

... and as you exit it it will be right in front of you. The cheapy costs 40 Yuan for a one hour cruise. A bus will collect you out front of the ticket booth and take you across the Walbaiou Bridge. From there it's a thirty minute cruise down river to the Nanpu Bridge and then a thirty minute cruise back. Simply grab a seat on the side of the boat and watch one side one way and ...

... I pass over some money, I get a bag full of stuff, and there, it's all done. I really wanted a jacket. I haven't worn one in six weeks, but it's about 15 degrees out and for walking around all day, a T shirt doesn't suffice. I found a shop selling an interesting jacket for $18, but I wanted to know what exactly it was made from. I pulled out the dictionary. It is a bit difficult to use. To decipher a Chinese word, I need to find ...

... there to meet us as we didn't know which station we were coming in to but land ho! We literally just bumped in to him as we were walking towards the phone booths to call him. He said we loked like we were in the Amazing Race with our bacpacks on. Pity there's no prize money at the end of it! And in true mal styel he had organised a surprise/impromptu engagement party for us that evening. Luckily for us ...

I had a very long plane ride over it was from Chicago to Shangai and took about 14 hrs. We stayed in Shanghai for a couple days before heading down to Jingdezhen by train. We came in at about 4:50 in the middle of the night. Then we stated getting moved in to our dorm rooms and started our orientation that same morning. Our rooms are great we have wood for beds (but ...