Showing 1-25 of 25 results
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Trans-Siberia Episode 04: Xi’an Train Station
Blog: Flying Coach - 29 March 2011
www.youtube.com/watch?v=daG9ufus83I Our first train in China commenced from the Xi’an Train Station. Over 6000 miles later, we still had not found a crazier station (although Beijing was close). What a way to break into the mass-transit experience. While this is not on the Trans-Siberian route, it marked the beginning of our train trip across Asia, [...]
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Xi’an: So Much History!
Blog: Flying Coach - 18 March 2011
The ancient legend, passed down from generation to generation, told of the first Chinese emperor who was so afraid of the afterlife that he arranged to bring thousands of warriors to guard him when he passed on. It was not important that they had not yet died. They were buried alive with him when he [...]
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Trans-Siberia Video 03 – Xian
Blog: Flying Coach - 28 February 2011
Xian, the most famous and historic of China’s ancient capitals, is home of the terracotta warriors, a beautiful city wall and the start of the silk road. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZvJBojmtsA
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crazy politicians: the terracotta army
Blog: The Road Forks - 11 November 2010
crazy politicians November 10, 2010 the terracotta army
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Trans-Siberian Railway: Trip Overview
Blog: Flying Coach - 6 October 2010
Sara and I have just returned from our 36-day Trans-Siberia trip and we had planned on it being an epic adventure, so our expectations were high. The actual journey far surpassed anything I could have imagined. I had very high hopes and not only was I not let down, but my hopes were blown out [...]
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The Vagobond Files : Undiscovered Countries
Blog: Vagobond.com - 29 September 2010
Travel is about the undiscovered countries of the mind as well as the hidden nations of the soul. The Vagobond Files reveals some of the secret places I have discovered in my journeys.
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Chinese Taxi Fail
Blog: Living the Dream: RTW - 23 September 2010
For a country with 1.4 billion people, certain concessions are to be made. You'll be crammed in the subway, locals are only allowed one child, every tourist and public space will be packed. But so far in China there is one feature that is completely lacking and seems to ruin my bliss for
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2010-08-07 | Terracotta warrior museum | Day 707
Blog: 2 Wheels - 1 World - 0 Money - 7 August 2010
The early morning sun made me forget the hassles of the past night and I decided to go and visit the terracotta warrior museum right from where I arrived, Xian's central train station. I was one of the first visitors of the day and the merchants were just setting up shop when I purchased the ticket for the equivalent of 10 Euros. I would say it was definitely worth it, although I believe I would have thought otherwise when I had arrived a few hours later with all the other thousands of tourists that came towards me when I was ready to leave.
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2010-08-02 | Lights on! | Day 702
Blog: 2 Wheels - 1 World - 0 Money - 2 August 2010
Who came up with the idea to mount tens of thousands of lights – as far as I know, charged by solar panels during the day – on the surrounding mountains of this small town? (Image above) It is deceiving; strangers that arrive at night might think: Am I seeing the stars … ? It must have been some effort to set this up, but to me seems perfectly normal for the Chinese who always try hard to impress.
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2010-07-26 | Adjusted quality | Day 695
Blog: 2 Wheels - 1 World - 0 Money - 26 July 2010
iPhones are way cheaper here and, if you look closely, they look a tiny bit different. And if you switch them on, you'll immediately know, Apple hasn't got anything to do with them. But things need to be adjusted for the Asian market. So had to be the flavours of these potato chips (image above). Or are there 'cheesy cheese', 'sea weed' and 'grilled shrimps' flavoured potato chips back home? I wonder if Mr. Pringles knows about the extension of their variety.
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2010-07-25 | Self-awareness 2 | Day 694
Blog: 2 Wheels - 1 World - 0 Money - 25 July 2010
I thought hard about whether I should post the above image or not. I don't want to offend anyone here, but I would be lying if I said, this is something I have witnessed only once. Not only small kids, but people in general seem to relieve themselves in places that seem inappropriate to me and defecate on the street or in the front yard. And it doesn't seem to be important whether one is seen or not. I guess it's ok if you do it, not wearing a pyjama.
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2010-07-24 | Self-awareness | Day 693
Blog: 2 Wheels - 1 World - 0 Money - 24 July 2010
Observing the behaviour of the urban Chinese, it appears to me that prestige, status and how one is perceived by others has a high priority with them. In a greater scale, it also seems to be that way with the government. I mentioned on this here platform before, that seeing people in their pyjamas, outside, in broad daylight, is a very common picture in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. China is no exception.
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2010-07-23 | Beer garden in China | Day 692
Blog: 2 Wheels - 1 World - 0 Money - 23 July 2010
First night out in Xian, China: Friends of my cousin, him and I went out to enjoy dinner together. We also introduced the concept of a 'beer garden' to the Chinese afterwards. Of course my cousin figured out where to buy German beer a long time ago. We bought a small tin barrel of beer for all of us in the only shop that sells it and asked the owner to provide table and chairs, which we cheekily placed on the sidewalk in front of the shop. We have been the only ones to do this and it was fun.
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First-time in Xi’an
Blog: First-time Traveler - 21 July 2010
China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Xi’an is one of the early capitals of this great nation for several dynasties. The first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was known as an effective general who later united the whole of China. He ruled in Xi’an. Apart from its glorious history, Xi’an was also [...]
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Encounters in China
Blog: First-time Traveler - 20 July 2010
One of the good things I enjoy in traveling is meeting new people along the way. May they be local residents or fellow travelers on the road, these persons I encounter in my journeys make my travels more colorful and memorable. I recently had a nine-day tour of China, from Shanghai to Xian to Beijing [...]
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Smoggy with a Chance of Clouds
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 11 July 2010
Pretty much every day in China began with us asking, “Is it sunny?” No, we weren’t in a dark room asking someone who had just come in from outdoors. We would ask this question to each other while standing in the street staring up at the sky. Such is the smog in China. (The glaring [...]
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World Cup Chronicles: Tibet to Xi’an
Blog: Passed Ports: images and anecdotes from our travels - 25 June 2010
My favorite thing about South Africa 2010: Paraguay’s uniform looks remarkably like a Where’s Waldo costume. I had forgotten that Where’s Waldo ever existed, but upon seeing Paraguay’s uniform, I remembered that Waldo’s escapades were one of the earliest influences of my travel obsession. (My second favorite thing is that allegedly, North Korea will not [...]
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Xian, China: Guided Tour of the Terracotta Warriors
Blog: Dotted Route - 8 June 2010
One of the first things that needed to be done when we arrived in Xian was to get signed up for a tour of the Terracotta Warriors.
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Xian, China: Exploring the OLD Capital
Blog: Dotted Route - 2 June 2010
During my time working in China, we had several three day weekends that were part of our vacation days. One of these weekends happened to fall during the first weekend of June.
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Snapshot: Xi’an’s Little-Known Hanyangling
Blog: To China... and Beyond! - 30 April 2010
Han Yangling is Xi’an’s peacetime complement to the Terracotta Warriors. Instead of soldiers, the tomb contains models of pigs, goats and baskets of grain meant to feed the emperor in the afterlife — plus thousands of small dolls to represent his servants.
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Roly-Poly Pandas (Warning: Much Heart Melting May Occur)
Blog: No Hurry Curry - 8 February 2010
1/27/10: Xian, China I’ve been to China at least four or five times since moving to the States as a wee little Zhou, but I can’t ever recall seeing pandas, so when I saw that our Xian hostel had a “Lovely Panda Tour,” I excitedly pointed it out to Kevin. “Let’s go see pandas!” I said. [...]
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Terracotta and Lady Jia Jia
Blog: No Hurry Curry - 6 February 2010
1/26/10: Xian, China Like most budget travelers, Zhou and I are usually do-it-yourself-ers. We book as much long-distance transportation as possible without the help of travel agents. We’ll walk an hour to avoid a small taxi fare. We chew our own food instead of asking for the butler’s help. Today, whether out of respect or laziness [...]
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I Can’t Read Chinese. Really.
Blog: No Hurry Curry - 5 February 2010
1/25/10: Xian, China Last night’s overnight train ride was everything Kevin dreamed it would be (and more). So we were actually pretty well rested when we arrived in Xian this morning, which was a nice change of pace. We checked into our hostel (Han Tang Inn, which wins my vote for Nicest Hostel Bathroom EVER!) and [...]
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Slideshow: Terracotta Warriors
Blog: To China... and Beyond! - 11 December 2009
When I first came to China in 2007, Xi’an’s Terracotta Warriors were the thing I was most excited to see. And by most excited, I mean “jumping up and down squealing from the moment I saw that they were on the itinerary.” I had wanted to visit the site ever since I first read about [...]
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Xian: Melting in the middle of China
Blog: 12FOOT3 - 15 September 2009
I can still remember the first time I heard of the Army of Terra Cotta Warriors: it was in one of my Dad’s 1980’s-era issue of National Geographic. The image of all those soldiers, each one with his own unique facial hair, clothing, and even shoe tread, stayed with me through the years, so I [...]
Showing 1-25 of 25 results
