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This Strange Land

July 29, 2009 – Day 216 – Kunming, China

So we tried to go to the Bird & Flower Market but could not get to it. Then we tried to find a large outdoor outlet store but could not get to it. What is the trouble, you might ask? The trouble is that all maps in China are, hmm, how to put it—WRONG!

Entrance to the city park

Entrance to the city park


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Slime Green

July 28, 2009 – Day 215 – Kunming, China

Grabbed a bus this morning to the supposedly beautiful Dianchi lake park. While the park itself was very nice, the lake was suffering from a large algae bloom that turned the whole lake toxic sludge green.

Just waiting for "Swamp Thing" to crawl out

Just waiting for "Swamp Thing" to crawl out

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The Real Death Train

July 26-27, 2009 – Day 213-214 – Guilin, China

This was a very bad day because we had to leave today and forgot to book ahead of time for our night train to Kunming. The 18 hours it was scheduled to last turned into 25 hours due to a landslide in this rather unpleasant seasonal weather (humid, hot, rainy, and generally shitty summer).

Yeah...thats ramen soup

Yeah...thats ramen soup

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The Chinese Way

July 25, 2009 – Day 212 – Guilin, China

As if we didn’t have enough self-inflicted punishment on one tour yesterday, we took another one again today. This time our destination was to the Longji Rice Terraces.

Dog in the village

Dog in the village

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Down to the river

July 24, 2009 – Day 211 – Guilin, China

Well, it was not a good start to the day: up at 7:30AM to get breakfast but the shop was closed, followed by a cramped, sweaty 2 hour minibus ride to the river. We shared the bus and boat with a family of 3 who spoke no English (we are discovering that there are tons and tons…and tons of Chinese tourists in China), a bit awkward at times on a tiny boat but not bad.

View down the river

View down the river

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Starvation Diet, Round One

July 23, 2009 – Day 210 – Guilin, China

One thing you will notice about China is the absence of breakfast. Well, at least as you are probably used to it. Here, a typical Chinese breakfast is noodles, maybe in soup, maybe with vegetables, maybe with a sticky bun, but noodles.

Boatmen on the river

Boatman on the river

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We don’t serve your kind

July 22, 2009 – Day 209 – Guilin, China

There is something inherently wrong with a place that refuses to serve a person after they have already made one order. And especially when that person being refused service is me.

Fishing in the river

Fishing in the river

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A World of Difference

July 20-21, 2009 – Day 207 – Shenzhen, China

Due to the impracticalities of crossing the border needlessly, we arrived in Shenzhen via metro to the train station (direct train to LuWu Station from Kowloon, very nice) to find that there are no open spots available on the train to Guilin for today.

In the station

In the station

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Jetlagged and full of lame

July 18-19, 2009 – Day 205-206 – Hong Kong

Well, we slept most of the day away due to our apparent aversion to fixing our jetlagged bobyclocks. Otherwise, we regret to report a rather dull day of rain and also planning our first month in China and little else. More eating and sleeping…Hmm… pretty typical stuff. But hey—we leave for mainland on Monday!

Just a rainy workday/night

Just a rainy workday/night

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