Dynamic Tourism, China, Business

The Year in Review: 2009

January started out with a New Year’s Day flight from Phoenix to San Francisco, which included watching the USC Rose Bowl game as soon as I got off the plane in San Fran.  Then more game watching downtown with my awesome cousin Kelly and her friends.  The next day I grabbed my passport from Alec who I hadn’t seen since 2006, many thanks to him for getting my Indian visa.  That same day I caught my 1st transpacific flight of the year and headed back to Shanghai.

Back to work in Shanghai for a week, then birthday celebrations galore start.  I’m not sure how its possible but I managed to have 3 celebrations during the week of my 25th bday: dinner on the 13th with a few girlfriends, then co-party night with Sian, Sherry, and Yi, and finally birthday brunch.  Thanks for organizing that brunch, and every other one, Sherry!  This is was also the first time in 2.5 years in China that I really got on a work permit.

Late January, at the start of Chinese New Year, Sian and I headed off to India for a whirlwind 10-day trip around Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, and Jaipur.  India is an immensely fascinating country.

From February, as everyone got back to Shanghai from CNY, we started having more tweetups, including Twestival, where I met a lot of the people I’d only ‘met’ online, including @IrisJumbe and @PDKay.  At the SXSW Shanghai party at M1NT in late February I got to meet a lot more of my twitter friends, including those who don’t live in China and make better connections with them.  To round out February, I changed the theme on my blog to center around life-streaming, (which I’m now coming to hate…)

In March we had our first !talk! Chatfest and finally launched the open beta of the teaching platform.  Despite this, the !talk! situation was in somewhat of a flux, so after awhile I decided to work less hours there and spend more time on my multitude of other activities.  Since November of the previous year I was already teaching English a few nights per week.

With the start of spring, I still didn’t feel that my health had completely recovered from all the illnesses of the winter, so I decided I needed to take drastic actions (haha). For Qing Ming festival, I booked myself a week at a cleanse resort in Thailand.  It was a much needed flushing out of the system that kept me much healthier in the ensuing 8 months, especially compared to the previous 8.  Besides meeting some like-minded people during the detox, I also met some other awesome people at the #BangkokTweetup, some of whom have become really helpful to me recently.  This spring, I also got to connect with fellow Shanghai transplant Arizonan @Mark_E_Evans and another China-interested tweeter @lparsons, whose dream is to move to China–good luck to him.

By late April / early May, when the Dragon Boat festival rolled around, Jai, Allison and I headed to Seoul for a 4-day weekend.  They say Seoul is a city with no soul, but I loved it and think that’s in large part due to our excellent tour guide, my long time friend, Irene.  Check out the DMZ tour, really interesting, including a step into North Korea.  Literally the day after I got back from Korea, I did my first set of factories tours in 2009.  It’s amazing all the crap that gets produced in China!

In Late May, I spent a weekend in Hangzhou with Al & Jane, when they generously took me around to all their favorite sites and restaurants.  Tea plantations, China’s Grand Canal, Pagodas, and spicy wings, the spiciest food imaginable.  I was crying, literally.

As June rolled around I was just starting planning tech events for the Shanghai community and welcoming 妹妹 (little sister) for her summer in Shanghai.  Eliana arrived on June 3 to spend 5 weeks with me and exactly the day after she arrived, we set off to see the ‘real’ China.  The real manufacturing China, that is.  This was my second factory tripping of 2009.  It’s amazing all the crap that’s produced in China!

Around mid-June the Geeks on a Plane tour rolled through town to attend Shanghai Barcamp on June 14, and then celebrated the end of the trip with the Geeks and Glamour afterparty at M1NT.  It was awesome to meet entrepreneurs, VCs, and other twitter friends from the States including @DanMartell.

Throughout June and early July, Eliana and I went revisiting or exploring new parts of Shanghai.  And of course, we went to Beijing and saw the not-to-be-missed, Great Wall of China, Tiananmen, Forbidden City, and she went swimming in the Olympic Watercube.   I also got to see to see Ian, Leslie, Jeremy, and Jenny, and join yet another Tweetup to meet twitter friends in Beijing.  To check another place off my list, we took the train to the old walled city of Pingyao. At nearly the end of the trip, on the bus ride to the airport, my cosmetics case got stolen from my backpack A very sad day.  In this case, Eliana was the rock–thank you girl, I love you!

Just around the 3 year anniversary of my life in China, the internet went on lockdown in China and ever since then Twitter, Facebook, Twitpic, and since even earlier Youtube have been inaccessible, seriously hindering multimedia communication with the outside world.  Mid-July Eliana went home and I took my 2nd transpacific flight, this time to Vancouver.

On the bus from Vancouver to Seattle there was free wifi! And unrestricted access to twitter, facebook, youtube, which was like heaven until my laptop battery died and I realized my power cord didn’t work in N America… A busy 3 days in Seattle with my Dad and friends, Burt and Dawn: food festival, hiking Mt. Rainier, and the 4am launch of !talk! Marketplace for companies, but the weather was gorgeous, the food good and fresh, and the air clean and refreshing.

Next it was time to fly up to Alaska for my grandparents 60th Anniversary.  We went ATV-ing near Denali National Park, watched the sunset at 11pm, pet huskies, took the Denail Express train to Whittier, cruised on the Diamond Princess, went to Glacier Bay National Park, sea-kayaked in Ketchikan, went Geocaching, and had a good week of family time.

For the first week in August, I reconnected with friends from China now living in Victoria and Vancouver, including Heike, Brook, Scales, KK, and Danielle, and made other new friends through them, include Mariska.  The Pacific Northwest from Seattle, to Vancouver and the Island, all the way up to Alaska has truly spectacular natural beauty, clear blue skies, snow covered peaks, stunningly colored flowers, green trees and grass, fresh healthy foods, all enough to satisfy me with what often seems lacking in the grimy urban grey of Shanghai.  Catching up with friends from China who are no longer living there really helped me to get perspective on life there and what is most important.  Getting on my 3rd and last transpacific flight of the year to head back to Shanghai, I was feeling very refreshed and refocused with resolutions for my life in China.

Back in Shanghai, I jumped head first back into activities related to tech, work, events, and, from all my discussions with friends who formerly lived in China, recommitted myself to learning Chinese.  I found a private tutor to work with 2 times per week, started reading Chinese magazines and newspapers, listening to ChinesePod again, decided to more actively seek out opportunities to practice Chinese including looking for new Chinese friends, and eventually more Chinese shows and movies.  I am listening to countless podcasts on entrepreneurship, as well as lectures on world history and geopolitics to start brushing up my knowledge for the foreign service exam.

With my September trip to Hong Kong to see Coni, Brenda, Amjad, Daniel, Stanley, etc, and Stephanie (who I hadn’t seen in 5 years, since USC), I finally gave into pressure and got an iPhone.  Podcasts, apps, Chinese dictionary with handwriting, plus GPRS allowing me to be chatting to someone through Skype while walking down Nanjing Road, I can’t believe I waited so long.  iPhone convert, admitted.

By the time October holiday rolled around, my work permit was expiring, and still reeling from all the traveling I’d already done this year, with additional complications, I was compelled to spend China’s 60th Anniversary National Day in Shanghai, much to my chagrin.  (Randomly, I just realized the CCP was founded the same year my grandparents got married).  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I got to reconnect with another friend who used to live in Shanghai and was back for a visit: Matthias.  October and November were spent with friends who were in town visiting, including a week with that friend from Germany, Ian down from Beijing and his friend from USC, then in November Sean came back for a visit and the HSBC Golf Tournament, followed by Luke from Toronto (I met but hadn’t seen since 2006), who came to visit family and attend his sister’s wedding

In late October, USC opened their first office in Mainland China.  Also in late-October, I went to yet another manufacturing town, this one specializing in textiles for the Keqiao Tradeshow and also saw the canal town of Shaoxing.  A month later, Bryan, Vivianne, and I were off for a day trip to the Commodity City: Yiwu.  It’s amazing all the crap that’s produced in China! Since getting back to SH in August, my Chinese slowly showed signs of improvement after months of stagnation, I signed up to an internet dating site (thinking about it now, am I that desperate?), and I continued to spread myself over many different involvements.

For Thanksgiving, I met mom in the Philippines for my last international trip of 2009, bringing the total to 50 countries in 25 years.  Ten days in the Philippines renewed my health (after 2 brutal days of facing the Chinese hospital system just before the trip) and helped me to realize I was stretching myself in too many different directions.  This feeling was further brought home by another conversation in early December that’s been forcing me to take stock of where I am, where I’m going, recognize my passions, and figure out what I want out of life.  As 2009 draws to a close and I face yet another round of visa applications, I’m reading Think and Grow Rich (again) and Getting Things Done, and most importantly I’m reflecting on those issues and what they mean for me in 2010.  The most influential and memorable book I finished in ‘09 was The Go Giver–great book, go read it, especially if you do business or work in social!

Happy New Year!

Writing this made me realize there were a lot of photos from this year, I hadn’t yet put on Flickr, so if you didn’t click on any of the links above, go look at my photostream now, its been updated: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tofflerann/

Don’t forget, 2010 is the Shanghai Expo and among other reasons, a great opportunity to come visit me in Shanghai! I’d love to host you if you’re coming this way.

I love cities, and I especially love them at night when they’re lit up and sparkling, dazzling my eye with their flickering lights and myriad of shapes.  So whenever I’m in one of those spectacular cities with the amazing view, I make a point to find the best vantage point in the city and go up there at night.  Some of my favorites are listed below:

Shanghai: Hyatt on the Bund, Vue Bar, 33rd Floor.  This hotel sits north of downtown and due to a particularly well placed bend in the HuangPu River, both new Shanghai (Pudong) and historic Shanghai (the Bund) are . Watch my video to see what I mean.

Bangkok: Banyan Tree Hotel, Moon Bar, Rooftop. From the Banyan Tree website, “The Moon Bar is one of the highest al-fresco rooftop bars in the Asia Pacific, offering a stunning venue with panoramic views” and I have to agree.

Hong Kong: 1 Peking Building, Aqua Bar, 29th Floor. This bar has a great angle and nice height from which to view Hong Kong Island.  The view from here is one of the most memorable and recognizable anywhere in the world.  Make sure you get there before they start turning off all the lights.

NYC: Arthur’s Landing, Weehawken, NJ.  The best view of New York City is actually from New Jersey.  Yes, that means you have to cross the river but the view is well worth it.

Where are your favorite city views? Do you have any for London? Paris? Dubai? Rio de Janeiro? Singapore?

The list of my cruises thus far…

July 99 :: Alaska :: Celebrity Mercury
July 00 :: Greece :: Royal Olympic
July 02 :: Baltic :: Celebrity Constellation
December 02 :: L.A. - Mexico :: Carnival
July 04 :: Mediterranean :: Celebrity Millennium
December 05 - January 06 :: Mexican Riviera :: Celebrity Mercury
May 06 :: NYC - Canada :: Carnival
December 06 :: Caribbean :: Star Princess
December 07 :: Antarctica :: Antarctic Dream
December 07 - January 08 :: Panama Canal :: Azamara Quest
July 09 :: Alaska :: Diamond Princess

And that doesn’t even include Yangtze River cruises or other minor river trips.

I have done a fair bit of cruising, especially for my age.  And I thoroughly enjoy it, not to say their couldn’t be improvements, but it’s an all-in-one vacation that keeps the whole family together and yet the flexibility that allows us to do our own thing. I look forward to pursuing the rumors of a summer river cruise for our next family vacation.

Pingyao 平遥, located in Shanxi 山西 Province (not Shaanxi 陕西, where Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors are), has been on my list of ‘must-see’ places in China ever since the list began. (Haerbin Ice Festival & Huangshan-Yellow Mountain are still on it).  So with a ready traveling companion and I already making the trip to Beijing, I decided to add in a stop over in Pingyao.

Pingyao is one of China’s many UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was the first banking center of China, with its heyday in the 19th Century.  The town quickly fell into poverty and therefore escaped modernization and development, which helped to preserve the city’s original structures.  Pingyao boasts its the only city with the original city wall still intact, and the only remaining original example of traditional Han Chinese architecture from the 18 and 19th Centuries.  (Compare Lijiang, which was built by Naxi Minority of China, and has been largely reconstructed–and expanded.)  While I won’t pretend to believe that Pingyao is all the original or that none has been ‘restored’, Pingyao still maintains its charm.  While we were there it was quiet, peaceful, picturesque, and often times we could be walking all alone down an ancient alleyway–something unheard of in China’s metropolises.

We took the 1163 overnight train from Beijing directly to Pingyao and we had pickup service waiting for us, provided by our hostel, Pingyao Zhengjia Int’l Youth Hostel (an HI Hostel, but no card required).  This hostel was excellent: very friendly staff (but almost no English spoken), set in a traditional courtyard house, exceptionally clean, social atmosphere, great value, and all around nice place to stay–it was rated 2nd Best Hostel in Asia on Hostelworld.com.

The nearest airport is in Taiyuan, provincial capital of Shanxi, which is 2-hour bus ride away.  To return to Shanghai, we took the bus to Taiyuan, then took a taxi to the airport.  If you arrive at the Taiyuan Jinan Bus station, the bus to the airport stops directly across the road.  If you go by taxi, put on the meter, then add 10kuai to the final fare, it should be about 30RMB.  Be careful, be careful, be careful on the bus.  There are some buses operating illegally around that region, and there are a gang of thieves who work the buses (and seem to have an agreement with the operators to turn a blind eye).  I was a victim of this.  This is now twice in <9 months I’ve had stuff stolen on a bus in China.  Take good care of your stuff no matter how large, small, or worthless–you’ll miss it when its gone, and it will be, if you don’t watch out.

Then entrance ticket to Pingyao Ancient Town is 120RMB and includes entrance to more than 19 different attractions, including walking on top of the city wall.  After about the first handful or so, most the attractions begin to look very similar.  Except for the wall, the temples, and the church, most of the attractions are courtyard compounds used for different purposes: long front wall, 1 gate, opens into small entryway followed by a courtyard with rooms on each side and a large room at the back, with another courtyard behind that and on each side. This pattern then repeats for the depth of the property and at each place.  It was a good method to prevent attackers and to maintain the inner sanctum of the business or family household.  Both businesses and residential compounds had this layout.

Perhaps the highlight for me was chatting with an elderly couple who had been married for 45 years and who were eager to chat and show us their courtyard house.  They were very proud of the fact that they had so many children who were now office workers in the modern city and had kids of their own–they had a grandson that was Eliana’s age.  They also insisted on showing us that they had modernized their house to have indoor plumbing, including a washing machine!

In the day and a half Eliana and I were in Pingyao, we saw a number of the Ancient Town attractions:

Residence of Lei Lutai
Yingxun Gate (End of South Street to climb the wall)
Qinhan Gate (End of East Street to get off the wall)
1st Armed Escort Ageny in North China
China Chamber of Commerce Museum
Ri Sheng Chang
Then lunch at DeJuYuan Hotel/Restaurant
Ancient Government Building
Fengyi Gate (West Street Gate)
Ancient City Building (at night)
Chenghuang Miao (Daoist Temple)
Bai Chuang Tong
Yong Long Hao Lacquerware Shop
and others…

Full collection of pictures from the Pingyao & Beijing trip on Flickr

Went to Hangzhou last weekend and had a late evening arrival Friday

Saturday morning started off with walks in the hills around the Longjing Tea Village.  Longjing is special kind of green tea that is grown in Hangzhou, of which the West Lake variety is said to be the best.  It is famous as a tea of the Chinese emperors, and it also has many health properties. To continue our study of tea we went to the China International Tea Museum, which has 2 floors explaining the history and preparation and proper drinking methods of every imaginable variety of tea. Tea did, in fact, originate in China where it was initially ground up, made into cakes prior to the development of the drinking style of tea. From China, drinking tea spread to Japan, Korea, India, and from India to Britain.

The afternoon took us back downtown to the incredibly expansive Grand Canal Museum.  The Grand Canal connected Hangzhou (south of Shanghai) to Beijing by water during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. While I didn’t get to see all of the museum, which doesn’t have much in English anyway, I did get to ride on the Grand Canal under old(-looking) bridges and past modern highrises and imagine when this was the most important N-S transportation way in China.

Late afternoon brought Al and I to a blind massage place, followed by a walk around the night market and dinner at Crazy Barbecue, where I had the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten, and I can handle spicy. I had tears streaming down my face 2 bites in, mouth on fire and blindly numb, drank 3 bottles of refreshments and was still dying. Eventually coconut milk eased the burden, but it wasn’t until much much later in the evening I recovered full feeling in my mouth.

Sunday morning the first stop was the 6 Harmonies Pagoda (六和塔), where I climbed all 13 storeys of the Pagoda and was rewarded with expansive views of the city. Then back down and climbing the hills behind the pagoda are lots of replicas of pagodas from all over China. While the Chinese claim the invention and/or discovery of many things, they admit that pagodas originated from India where stupas were a common facet of Buddhist architecture.   After wandering through the hillsides, we went and had a very sweet, very gooey, but very good donut–all the calories burned from climbing the hills, replenished.

After another massage, this time a surprisingly affordable Thai massage (yes, it was a very indulgent weekend), we went for Muslim food.  Amazing that you can eat such great hummus in a place like Hangzhou, along with Greek salad, mutton, and pita bread. While for us the Muslim food was certainly the appeal of the place, all the Chinese diners were eating Chinese food or spaghetti.  Even though  right after lunch has got to be the worst time for going clothes shopping, I wanted to go back to a store I’d bought a couple dresses at on my year before’s trip to Hangzhou.  Can you believe it–the store still existed and was still in the same place! So after doing a little shopping on HeFang Pedestrian Street, we decided to test our luck with the bewitching hour, the time between 4-6pm when its nearly impossible to get a cab in Hangzhou.

And with that, it was the end of my 2nd, 2-day trip to Hangzhou and yet I still haven’t seen everything worth noting in this historically rich city of China.

For the May 1st International Labour Day holiday, myself and 2 friends traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to a friend from college who lives there and another friend who came up for the weekend from Hong Kong.  It was also a nice escape from a holiday weekend in China.  Seoul is a clean, quiet alternative to Shanghai, with much better service, polite people and drivers, and excellent food.  While there’s nothing particularly spectacular or noteworthy about Seoul, its a good contrast to, and reflief from, Shanghai.  Seoul is somewhat expensive even with a depressed currency (K.Won), but it has many things that would be familiar to Americans: Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme Donuts (seriously how do the Koreans stay so slim?!?), Forever 21, American military, sports bars named Texas, etc.

We stayed at a place called Open Guest House near Hanseng University. It was very clean and affordable and Danny was most helpful.  It was very convenient to 2 subway stops and we could get a 3-person room, so this place was a good choice.

Since we didn’t arrive til mid-afternoon the first day, we wandered around Hanseng University area, the figured out how to take the subway and wandered around some more before we met Irene, my friend from college for dinner.  She took us to SoSonJae - Herb-Flower Season’s Korean Cuisine.  It was excellent, with really unique dishes, unlike any other we had in Korea. The owner clearly took pride in his menu with explaining the history and uniqueness of the foods and which the royal family used to eat.  After dinner we wandered down through Instadong which is a popular tourist shopping area, snacking on waffles and other traditional desserts, then walked along the canal-river.  This was apparently a very romantic spot in the city as we saw countless couples sitting down by the river.  We finished the evening with a nightcap of Sochu-juice blend in a bar near our guesthouse.

The next morning the 3 of us got up earlyish and started on our way to Camp Kim - USO office, ie the starting point for the USO day tour to the Demilitarized Zone - the demarkation between Communist North and Democratic South Korea. This was one of the most interesting day trips I’ve been on and for many Americans a highlight of their trip to Korea.  More on this in a separate post.

Returning to town to clean up after walking climbing through North Korean spy/invasion tunnels, we stopped at a Korean barbeque restaurant, where they spoke no English.  Yet, we managed to have a good filling meal of grilled meat wrapped in lettuces with spicy sauces, various kimchees, soup, and beer.

For the evening, Irene had in mind for us to go clubbing at a popular club in Itaewon; however not realizing the dress code we were too casually dressed.  So we wandered around Itaewon-a popular nightlife spot for foreigners-for awhile and I came to understand why the US military was so disliked in Korea.  Later we sat in a bar that was about 80% American military.  About 11pm, it was curfew time for the military so a uniformed US patrol came in and took the active duty out of the bar. Interestingly, it was all girls who were trying to break curfew.

The next morning (Saturday) we took it easy before going shopping in Myeong-Dong to help my other 2 friends find nicer shoes and clothes that they could go clubbing in.  Then we got ready for out big evening. First, dinner at Zen Hideaway a trendy fusion restaurant in Seoul popular for its long leisurely meals and beautiful garden settings. We ate at the location in the even trendier Apgujeong-Dong area, known for its highend boutiques and popular cafes. Then we went to meet my friend from Hong Kong at the Jazz Bar at the Park Hyatt.  After 2 bottles of wine at dinner, sochu and other cocktails at the jazz bar, we were ready to go clubbing!

Well we thought we were ready, until the club in the Ritz-Carlton told my friend at 34 he was too old!  After laughing to no end about that we decided it was also probably the fact that he was an American male (and because of the bad reputation of the military all American men are perceived to be the same). So we went back to Itaewon, the foreigner friendly district to try our luck at Club Volume, where Irene had hopped to take us the previous night.  After arguing with the bouncer for a few minutes about my friend’s age, nationality, occupation, etc we were allowed to pay about $30 to get into this club. Woah! I haven’t seen a cover charge that high since Singapore or Europe. It was a techno-trance club with most people dancing, a few standing around or lounging around tables. There’s a video on my Flickr stream if you want to know what a club is like in Korea.

For our last day, we had to do something cultural so we went to the Gyeong-Buk Palace, National Folk Museum of Korea, and Korean History museum. By contrast to the expensiveness of everything else in Seoul, we paid $3 to get into the Palace, while the museums were free.  The cultural and traditional architecture of Korea is largely similar to China’s.

For lunch we wanted street food, fresh pressed juices, Korean rice cake, deep fried stuff on a stick, dumplings, the whole lot.  We walked and ate and looked at the outdoor fair before ending our day in a ritzy grocery store owned by the family conglomerate Lotte, and having our best waffles of the trip.   It was a very nice way to end 4days in Seoul.

Many thanks to Irene for all the planning and tour-guiding; you really made the trip! Thanks to Sian, @DianaKuan, and @Seungyonce for all the advice on what to see, where to eat, and what to buy.

Around the World: A Visual Representation

While I’m by no means an expert on Thailand, my 3 trips there, including most recently in April, seem to make me the chosen person to ask about where to go, where to say, what to see, and where to shop.  I’ve decided to make my life more efficient and type up the info one more time so I can just link back to it, instead of retyping my impressions each time.  So without further ado, here’s my very brief analysis…

About islands - depends what interests you

Diving: Koh Tao

Full-moon party, backpackers-style: Koh Phangan. For nice, cheaper places head to Haad Yao Beach or places along north, NE, or NW coast of Koh Phangan, which are supposed to be among the nicest and the best value, least developed, and also least party atmosphere

Yoga, health & esoteric stuff: Koh Phangan or Samui

Choice of upscale resorts and flexibility to move around and gourmet dining: Samui or Phuket

All around most gorgeous place: Koh Phiphi, but check on the status of Phiphi as it was completely destroyed in the tsunami

About Samui: There’s a lot more to do: shopping, partying, site seeing, resort hopping on Samui than on Phangan.  2 out of 3 trips I’ve stayed at least 1 night on Samui. Most recently I stayed there in 2007, but I did a little driving tour this time and it continues to be more and more developed and becoming more of a destination for families.  But theres multiple beaches/towns on the island, so you can choose which scene you want. Its like mexico: great beaches and great place for families but the nightlife is there if you want and plenty of drugs to go around. Its also fairly easy to get to, which is nice.  Samui is no longer a very good place for diving or snorkleing because the water is becoming cloudier due to development.

My Flight Connections
For people coming from Shanghai, PVG - BKK on Thai Airways but booked on AirIndia.com, then stayed overnight in BKK.

The next day I flew from BKK to Samui on Bangkok Air.

To return I flew from Surat Thani (Thailand’s peninsula across from the islands) back to BKK on Air Asia.  My flight on Air Asia was less than $22, which is less than the price of the overnight train, including luggage fee (75 baht).

If you’re going to Koh Phangan, you will need to take the ferry to and from. You can fly to Koh Samui then take the boat from there. But I reckon its much cheaper and just about as time consuming to fly to Surat Thani and then take the boat from there.

In Koh Phangan, I’ve stayed at Ananda Resort, but I wouldn’t recommend it (but deserves props for reasonable accessibility, decent detox program, free wifi, and esoteric classes on yoga & tantra).  Ive also stayed at The Sanctuary, but don’t really recommend that either unless you’re going to do a Detox, and at a very small resort on the long strip of beach between Haad Rin and Thongsala, but that was 2005 so not sure it still exists.

And if you’re looking for tips on Bangkok, read my previous post, basically all of which is still accurate.  Listed there is the place I usually stay.  If you’re willing to spend more money, here’s a very nice boutique hotel recommended by a friend: Phranakorn-Nornlen Hotel in Bangkok.  And if you like healthy food, I have to add Rasayana’s Raw Vegetarian restaurant; it was one of the most amazing meals I’ve had, and there’s a lot of brilliant food in Thailand.

Thailand is one of my favorite countries and each time it gets increasingly hard to leave (especially after I met so many great friends at the #bangkok tweetup), so go, enjoy it!

True to form, I’m going out of town again, this Thursday!  Many people already tell me I travel too much, with my November trip to Guangxi and Vietnam, Christmas/New Years trip back to the States, Chinese New Year’s trip to India, and all the traveling I did in 2007 and into early 2008.  Hey, I’m not the only one in my family that travels so much–my cousin just got back from spring break in South Africa and Namibia and before that was in Burkina Faso. Seriously, read her blog, she writes in an entertaining and casual manner and has loads of interesting stories from Ghana.

This Thursday I’m heading off to Koh Phangan Thailand for my 3rd time.  This time will be similar to my 2nd, when I did a detox at the Sanctuary Retreat in Haad Thien Bay, Koh Phangan.  Given my ambivalent feelings towards the Sanctuary from last time and my constant urge to seek out new territory, I’ve opted for a cheaper place called Ananda Yoga Resort where I will do a 7.5-day detox this time. This will be 4 days longer than last time and I plan to post both on twitter and perhaps on here about my current state and the effects of the fast.

Besides getting the Thailand trip organized, I’ve also been thinking about and trying to plan trips to

• Seoul, South Korea (April/May)
• Pingyao, Shanxi, China (April/May)
• Hangzhou (2nd time), China (April/May)
• Huangshan, China (April/May)
• Vancouver & Victoria, Canada (July/August)
• Ankorage, Alasaka, USA (July)

If anyone has any advice on what to see, where to stay, or how to get cheap tickets to those places, I’d love to hear them.  More details of travels to come through twitter, flickr, etc. And I may even sign up for Dopplr or TripIt, which would show up in the left-hand column blog as well.

Now if only there were some way I could make money from all this traveling…

The first video was shot in Varanasi, a Hindu Holy city situated along the Ganges in UP province.  It was taken during the 7pm Arti festival which celebrates the life-giving river.  You can see the production that’s put on and the crowd it attracts.

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The second video was shot (somewhat illegally) inside the grounds of the Taj Mahal overlooking the Varuna River.  You can see how the Taj just glows in the early morning light.

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The third and fourth videos are from a dance performance put on by the Indian NGO called Vatsalya, which helps get kids off the street and educates them, shows them love, and teaches them life skills.  The performance was part of a fundraiser event that included dinner to raise money for the NGO.

The children are wearing traditional Indian/Rajasthani clothes and dancing to popular Bollywood songs.  Themes of men and women and romance are wide-spread in Indian pop-culture, and are being played to in these videos.

(Guess I better hurry up and finish my Vietnam posts since I will soon be heading to India and then will be recounting stories from there.)

Looking at a map of Asia you will notice a decent-sized land border between China and Vietnam.  Many backpackers through Asia take advantage of this and go overland from China into Vietnam or vice-versa.  I decided to go overland as well; however, I decided to take one of the less common routes…

Guangxi 广西 and Yunnan云南 are the 2 Chinese provinces sharing the borders with Vietnam越南, and both are popular with backpackers in China中国.  So let’s begin the story in Nanning, provincial capital of Guangxi, a 3 hour flight southwest of  Shanghai上海.  (Yes, China is large.)

From Nanning 南宁, I took a 3-hour bus ride (67元) to Beihai 北海, famed in China for its “Silver Beach” 银滩.  Beihai, obviously lies on the coast and is geographically southeast of the border to Vietnam.  From Beihai to Dongxing, its another 3-hour bus ride (57元).  Dongxing is the Chinese border town and arriving there already feels much more laidback Southeast Asia style compared to the bustling metropolises of Nanning and Beihai.  To get from the long-distance bus station to the border, I took an open air taxi, though really more like a golf cart (10元, I think I overpaid).

I knew I was taking the less common route, when at the border I was nearly the only person crossing, and the only white person I saw in more than 24hours.  This is not the case of the express Nanning-Hanoi route where all the travelers get up and catch the 8am bus from Nanning to Hanoi together.  At the border I had to pay a 10元 departure tax, something I’ve certainly never done when leaving China before.  And I was grilled at the border–do you come here often? uh, no… What do you do in China? Why are you coming here? … Wait, let me ask you a question, why did I have to pay 10kuai to come upstairs and get cross-examined by you at the exit border?

Finally escaping China, I walked across the no-man’s land bridge and almost walked straight into Vietnam with no one looking at my passport.  Since there weren’t any signs, I figured it was full steam ahead…not quite.  Filling in some forms, going to multiple windows to have my passport looked at, stamped, etc and then finally I set foot in Mong Cai, Vietnam.

Considering I was spitting distance away from China, and at a border crossing, I (naively) figured someone would speak Chinese or maybe English.  The closest I found to someone who spoke either language I knew was a scamalicous(!) cab driver who spoke to me in broken Chinese-Vietnamese.  While he was helpful, and I avoided his first trap of trying to scam me out of $10 while changing money, I found he did siphon off 80,000VND ($5) and buy me a bus ticket on the slowest possible local bus from Mong Cai to Hanoi.  While I’m not pleased about the lost money, I was even more displeased about wasting my time by putting me on a 10-hour bus ride (120,000VND) from Mong Cai into Hanoi.  I later realized there is an express bus that plies that route in about half the time, maybe less.  The local bus was an interesting experience as it was most definitely local.  People brought their furniture and bedding, and their fruit and other food onto the bus. No one spoke a single word of English or Chinese, even gestures like pointing at my watch didn’t seem to translate.  The girls behind me acted like they’d never seen another non-Asian before as they got a kick out of touching and later pulling my hair, and stealing my sunglasses to try on.  Between the taxi driver taking his service fee and the bus ride, I sure had a swift introduction to Vietnam.

Arriving in Hanoi, I needed to take another taxi to the hotel (VND50,000, which I believe I overpaid on again).

So in summary, in 13 hours of travel time, I’d taken these forms of transport to get from my hotel in Beihai, China to my hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam: walking - bus - taxi - walk acorss the bridge - taxi - bus - taxi.

Would I recommend this route to others?  It depends on your goals and how much time you have.  I wanted to see Beihai, which was actually disappoininting as it was not even as nice as beaches around Los Angeles–so many sand crabs!  And this is the most direct route to Vietnam from Beihai, but it is time consuming and as a solo traveler, very isolating.  It is a good way to see the countryside and interact with local people during the trip.  Just don’t drink too much water, lest you have to use ‘toilets’ which are comparable to rural China’s worst excuse for a ‘toilet.’  

Alls well that ends well.  Most of the people were friendly and nothing was stolen (on that part of the journey) and I arrived safely and easily met up with Jeni and her parents.

Here are a few notes on northern Vietnam, namely Sapa (Lao Cai), Hanoi, & Halong Bay.

Halong Bay

We really enjoyed our 3day/2night tour of Halong Bay with Bai Tu Long Bay company.  We wanted to get out of the well-known and therefore crowded Halong Bay, so we chose the less famous Bai Tu Long Bay area.  Incidentally this meant, also traveling with Bai Tu Long Bay boat company on their ship called the White Dolphin.  The first and third day we were a bit crowded in with other boats, but the second day we (the 4 of us) had the whole boat as well as the whole area to ourselves, which was very peaceful and relaxing.  We were able to enjoy the scenery without feeling we were just one of many out see the same thing.  Obviously tourism has taken off here and its possible to get away from other tourists, but not easy.

Our boat (White Dolphin) was very nice and the food was excellent.  They even tried to cater to the non-fish eaters among us.  The staff’s English was limited and they didn’t do a very good job of telling us the plan or preparing us for what was to come next.  Nonetheless, we had an excellent tour of Bai Tu Long (Halong) Bay.  Cost (3D/2N) including roundtrip transport and all meals (but not drinks): $195/person, which was rather on the expensive side, which I attribute to the deluxe boat.

Travel agent

ET Pumpkin
89 Ma May Street
04.926 0739
www.et-pumpkin.com
We booked both our Lao Cai - Hanoi return train tickets and our Halong Bay tour with ET Pumpkin and were overall very satisfied with their services.  They were thoughtful and willing to help us with confirming other reservations and offering other services as necessary.  They were also cheaper than some of the other places we looked at.  They accept credit cards.  Funny name, good company.

Hotels

Hanoi Holiday Hotel - Old Quarter, Hanoi - This place was a good value, with breakfast included and airport pickup for $10.  The rooms were nice and well-cleaned.  However, the water heater in the bathroom was so noisy that it woke me up throughout the night.

Phu Do Hotel
68 Hang Bo Steet, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
+84.04.3828 1324
www.phudohotel.com
This hotel was nicer and a little more deluxe than some of the others we stayed in, and the price reflected it, as it was about $10 more than the other hotels we stayed in.  This was the only hotel we were at that had a bathroom that was properly designed and executed such that the entire bathroom wasn’t covered in water after taking a shower.  That was a plus.  The breakfast was mediocre.  The staff was a bit awkward at times and didn’t seem to offer the best rates/deals or be completely honest with us.  Their hotel car service was $15, more than the Holiday Hotel and more than ET-Pumpkin’s ($12) so we opted for Pumpkin.

Cat Cat Viet Hotel
046 Cat Cat Road - Sapa
020 871 946
www.catcathotel.com
Excellent Hotel! Stunning views from the terrace.  Some of the most affordable and best food we found in Sapa.  Friendly, helpful staff, including a Westerner.  Able to organize tours to markets & villages as well as do laundry very affordably and pickup/drop-off from the train station in Lao Cai.  The hotel sent a driver to pick us up at the train station and he was there waiting for us when we got off the train.  Then when we arrived at the hotel, the hotel was expecting us (though the rooms weren’t ready).  This was reassuring after the driver tried to charge us for the ride, but we insisted on being taken to the hotel first so we could check whether we were supposed to pay through the hotel or pay the driver (the hotel did in fact pay, then bill us with the rooms).  This hotel is a little off the main strip but this makes for lower prices and a more relaxed enjoyment of Sapa.

Restaurants

Ladybird Restaurant
57 Hang Buom Street, Hanoi
84-4 926 1863
www.handintravel.com
I think this restaurant was all of our favorite restaurant during the trip.  The food was flavorful, but not over powering.  An excellent selection and some of the best prices we found on the trip.

Baguette & Chocolat
Hanoi - Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
84-4 243 1116
Sapa - Thac Bac Street
84-20 871 766 (I could never get this phone number to work; it said it had been changed)
hoasuaschoolsp@hn.vnn.vn
Baguette & Chocolat is run by the Hoa Sua School for disadvantaged youth.  Their pastries were absolutely scrumptious, some of the best I’ve had in Asia.  I highly recommend, particularly their Sapa location when the chocolate is pure indulgence after a long trek.

Taxis in Vietnam

In Vietnam, unlike in mainland China, its most of the time better to bargain for a taxi, assuming you know what a good rate is.  Both of the times, that I got scammed in Vietnam were due to taxis. A good rule of thumb is to offer them about 30-40% of their starting price when bargaining.  For example, a metered taxis from the Old Quarter to the Museum of Ethnology might run anywhere from 100,000VND to 210,000VND, but a bargained taxi should less than 70,000VND.
In Hanoi, there are a number of taxi companies some more reputable than others.  It seems they can all set their own rates.  Airport Taxi seems to be on the cheaper side, whereas Hanoi TourisTaxi was much more expensive per kilometer and the driver drove us around to run up the meter.  (Although when we arrived we paid him less than 3/4 of the meter price).  Anyway, be wary of taxis.

Other notes on Hanoi

The shopping is amazing! The chocolate croissants are so good.  I highly recommend the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, especially if you’re visiting any of Vietnam’s minorities.  Watch out for the traffic.  In only 8 days in Vietnam, 3 times (three!) the mini-bus I was in  hit a motor scooter.  If you don’t get hit by monsoons, November has the perfect temperature for this region, but not really warm enough to go swimming in Halong Bay.

There’s lots to see and take in in Vietnam, including comparing and contrasting it to China and other Southeast Asian countries.  Vietnam seems very up and coming, though its largely still less developed than China.  Overall, I’d say Vietnam is a great place for travelers, particularly backpackers, as it very affordable and very interesting; however, don’t expect a high level of English and make sure you come prepared to bargain and keep a little wary of locals trying to take advantage of your tourism dollars.

(Since my blog just ate the nice post I had written up about this and I don’t have the patience to rewrite it, I’m just going to give the links.)

Domestic Flight ticket search aggregator - Qunar

International Flight ticket search aggregator - Momondo

Cheapest China domestic airline - China Spring Airlines

Cheapest China - International routes - China Southern (Guangzhou)

Hong Kong Mainland Connections - Hong Kong Express

Despite my doubts whether Beijing would pull off a successful Olympics and the controversy over free press, human rights, the Opening Ceremony, and other issues, in my opinion, China hosted an amazing Olympics. The skies were blue, there were large tracks of greenery, the Olympic Green was very attractive, traffic was not a problem, the volunteers were helpful and spoke English, security was present (most of the time, until you hear my friend’s story) but not imposing, the city was clean (almost sterile), the new subway is sleek and modern, and people were friendly and helpful. Everything was very well done, with a few exceptions. Visitors who didn’t speak Chinese were still at a loss when trying to communicate with taxi drivers and average folk. The buses shuttling spectators between venues were overcrowded and no one knew how else to get between venues. But my biggest complaint is the re-sale ticket market. There were a few scalped tickets available but nothing to justify the many half (or more) empty events. Where were all the other tickets? Where were the tickets to the Water Cube?  Nonetheless, those who know Beijing, I believe, were all similarly impressed with how well Beijing pulled off the Olympics.

Unfortunately, those changes were not lasting.  Despite the fact that the Paralympics are currently going on, the skies have already greyed over, the pollution has returned, and the streets are jammed again.  Some of the changes will remain, though: the renovated airport (now one of the largest in the world), the modern, extensive subway lines, the unique venues of the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, and Beijingers pride in having hosted such an unrivaled Olympic games.

If you’re curious for more insight into China and reading the blogs of China-based expats isn’t enough for you, also check out NBC’s lessons in Chinese Culture 101.  I can’t say I wholly agree with the portrayal, as many are far from complete and give only positive snippets of Chinese culture, but what makes them interesting is NBC’s take on Chinese culture.

I expect that with the upcoming election, China’s continued phenomenal growth, the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the 2010 Guangzhou Pan Asia games, and everything else, we’ll continue to hear a lot about and from China.