TravelStream™ news feed for member jef_smi on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jef_smi en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:11:14 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1245383113/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1245383113/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1245383113/tpod.html Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:11:14 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Back to Canada. The land of over-the-top politeness and double-doubles. Where people apologize when you bump into them. First impressions (can you call them that?): It is drab here. Nothing is really green. Not green like it is in Southeast Asia and Southern China; places where snow and cold don't strangle all plant life for over half the year. And... there is no one here! Where are all the people? Why is everyone driving so slowly, with so much space between cars, if there is no one around? Why is no one going up to the service counter? Why is everyone just standing here? Fine, I'll go next. Oh, that was a line-up? Oh, I see. No, please don't apologize; it's my fault.

Well, we are home, and adjusting. Thanks for following along with us. We hope you have enjoyed this account of our travels. I hope to have a reason to write a travel blog again sometime.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244363720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244363720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244363720/tpod.html Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:44:38 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beijing, China

One last hoorah in the Northern Capital before heading home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244018067/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244018067/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244018067/tpod.html Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:26:40 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Xiamen, Fujian, China

One last visit to our "Introduction to China."
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243758743/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243758743/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243758743/tpod.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:30:30 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Kunming, Yunnan, China

No entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243645200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243645200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243645200/tpod.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:29:53 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Dali, Yunnan, China

No entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243065660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243065660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243065660/tpod.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:29:15 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Lijiang, Yunnan, China

No entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243465200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243465200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243465200/tpod.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:27:46 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Lijiang, Yunnan, China

Today we hiked down to the Middle Tiger Leaping Stone via the Ray of Sunshine, a delicately-named path maintained by a local family. We ascended back to the main road using the Skyladder, another family-kept trail that had more than a few nerve-wracking sketchy stretches, including the twenty-metre-high, completely vertical Skyladder itself. It was probably better that we came up this way instead of down.
We thought we could easily catch a minibus back to Lijiang, but we were mistaken: eleven kilometres along the only road out of the Gorge a landslide had occurred, preventing us from going all the way. We caught a shuttle to the landslide and then ran as carefully as possible along the still-active (small rocks were still rolling down) landslide to a waiting minivan on the other side. We shared it with a British journalist based in Hong Kong and a Japanese lumberjack (!) and his girlfriend. I put the Japanese couple into certifiable hysterics with my explanation of the different tones in Mandarin Chinese and they never quite recovered enough to give us their names.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244104217/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244104217/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1244104217/tpod.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:26:32 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Daju, Yunnan Province, China

Today we passed the Middle Tiger Leaping Stone, from which the Gorge gets its name. Legend has it that a hunter was chasing a tiger down to the bank of the Jinsha River, when the tiger leapt across the chasm with the help of a stone in the middle of the river.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243239796/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243239796/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1243239796/tpod.html Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:25:50 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Xiaqiaotou, Yunnan Province, China

Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the deepest gorges in thew orld with adjacent mountains as high as 5600 metres above sea level slpoing down to the Jinsha (one of the headwaters of the Yangtze) River 3900 metres below. Guesthouses dot a superb hiking trail along the west side of the gorge, making this hike quite easy to plan. Our first day of hiking here included a climb up the grueling "28 Bends." We had a boisterous evening with Mahlee and Frank, the Dutch couple with whom we have been casually traveling for the past week, and a fun bunch Americans we met along the way.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1242954000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1242954000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jef_smi/1/1242954000/tpod.html Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:21:09 -0400 Bo and Jeff's Trip Around (Part of) the World

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Lugu Lake, China

The 2700-metre-high area around Lugu Lake, straddling the border between Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, is home to what is considered the last functional matriarchal society on earth: the Mosuo. Mosuo women practice what are known as "walking marriages," whereby the women remain with their birth families all their lives and their sexual partners visit them at home at night, but return to their own homes in the morning. The huge trapezoidal headdresses of the elderly women in the village clearly mark them as important heads of their families.

On our bus ride here, I shared a seat with Joze and his pet snake. Joze works on hydroelectric projects in a nearby construction camp, building one of the dozen dams along the numerous rivers in the area.
]]>