Last Day in Asia

Grrrr, I'd intended to send this missive from the airport in Mumbai.
I'd read that they had free wifi hear as they do in many airports.
But, no. They have expensive wifi, that I can't buy because I don't
have a cell phone. That, in a nutshell, is India. Nothing is easy or
predictable.

So, I went on a tour of Asia's largest slum today. There's a small
company, Reality Tours, that gives tours of Dhivarty. It's got more
than a million people stuffed in it, has several industries including,
plastic recycling, aluminium recycling, soap making, plastic molding
and pottery to name few. It was one of the best things I've done on
the trip. They even make and export the plastic shredding machines. It
was pretty amazing to see how efficient the are with their space and
industries.

So here I sit at the airport at and about 26 hours from my writting
this, I'll be home.

I had lots of reasons for this trip. From recovering from work stress
to self discovery and adventure. At this point I'm not sure I can
articulate what I've gained from my journey. I'm sure that something
has changed, it's hard to travel like this and not be changed by it. I
suppose that all will be revealled. Or something.

Goodbye Asia!

Close to the end of India

So, I've been back in India for 9ish days.  I spent a good part of the first 56 either trying to get money or traveling.  There was a 36 hour train journey and 4 hours one day spent on the phone talking with 8 people from my bank.  None of them could help me.  I was told that my card had been blocked, three times, that I had an expiration date mismatch, twice, and that my pin had been deleted from my account, once.  This wonderful day took place in Jaisalmer, a desert town, not far from the Pakistan border.  My financial odyssey started in Lucknow at a Citibank, my bank, when I couldn't get cash from their machine.  It ended with a Western Union moneygram sent by my girlfriend.  Thanks sweetheart!  I was down to about 650 rupies or a little under $15.  With a hotel bill and a camel "safari" to pay for.  I now hate Citibank and plan to look for a credit union upon my return.

Camels.  Who would ride one on purpose?  I took a short ride on one in Mongolia and it was enough.  I tried to find a trip going to the desert by jeep, but I'd have to book a solo one, which would have cost too much.  So off on a camel I went, four hours that first day. It was a two hour walk back to the jeep which would take us home the next day, so I just walked.  I still have abrasions on my butt.  Just say no to camels. 

So now I've been to the Gobi desert and the Ragisthani desert, to more under my belt.  Other than some really cool ruins, being in the Rajisthani desert was no different from being in CA deserts, well except for the camels, goats, sheep and the occasional nomad.

McDonalds is very strange here.  They don't have no burger, and the big mac is a mahrasha mac, a couple of circular pieces of grilled chicken in stead of two whole beef patties (as per the big mac song).  Also, both times I've ventured into one, I've been metal detected and searched.  The fries were exactly the same.

Kathmandu

I mean just the name sounds like a place you have to visit right?  I stayed in the Thamel district, which it turns out is a tourist shit hole. Once I got out side of it, the city was, well a historic city in a developing country, run down but full of character. I was only there for two nights as my math was off and I had a ticket to Rajistan waiting for me in Lucknow.  I'd planned on spending 4 days here and after spending one, I really wish I had. 

They don't get an overabundance of tourists here and once I got over my melt down of this morning and afternoon, I had a great time.  I took a pedicab out to the Residence, which is the remains of a British Raj. area the was attacked during the revolution.  I didn't see much of it because people kept coming up to say hello and have conversations.  People in the street would stop me to say hello and ask where I'm from.  It was a very nice day, once I decided to have fun again.  That's India for you, complex, rich, and at time incomprehensible. 

I came close to ending my trip short this morning, but I'm glad I didn't.  I'm expecting to have a few chill days in the desert in Jaisalmer.  I'm staying in a 500 year old Haveli, basically a castle cut out of sandstone. 

Travel Day From Hell

I'll get to my adventures in Nepal, but for the moment, I'm going out or order.  This post starts with the end of Kathmandu.  I was trying to find a bus to the border, the southern border this time insead of the eastern one.  The travel agencies were screwing me around, giving me bad info and trying to rip me off. I found a post on the net about booking a shared jeep, which I did, it was cheaper, faster and safer than a bus. 

 

We get to about 4 kilometers from the border and the guy tells me this is it, I need to take a tuk tuk to the border, I inform him that no, I paid for a ride to the border. At this point, I'm the last passenger and the guy's lazy and I'm not having it, so we go back and forth and he takes me to the border.

 

Your supposed to be able to get a shared jeep or a bus to the closest place with a train or take a bus to father locations.  I was completly discombobulated.  I first jumped into a jeep, but they wanted me to ride with my bag on my lap and I jumped out.  Then I got on the bus that would take me to the town with a train station, but it wasn't leaving soon enough so I got off.

 

I went to the only place you can book buses at the border and decided to book a bus to my destination, Lucknow, instead of taking the very real chance of not getting a train.  I get on the bus and just as it's leaving the guy who sold me the ticket comes and sits next to me, another guys walks up and asks for my ticket and demands double of what I've already paid, an extra 10 bucks. I say no, ask for a refund and to get off the bus.  The bus is speeding away at this point and these two guys are blocking me it.  I ask again for a refund and to get off the bus, they come down to about an extra $2 bucks, I say no, let me off.  The second guy starts getting angry and rips up my ticket.  He tells me I can get off the bus, but without my bag.  So I get up, pull my bag out from under him and start saying in a very loud voice, "Please let me off the bus, your being very rude!" over and over again, eventually they let me through and I get to the front of the bus, which has gone about a kilometer by now and ask the bus driver loudly to stop the bus.  He does.

 

I get off the bus and start walking back towards the border town, the second guy jumps off the bus and begs me to come back.  I go back and get on the bus, but I'm paranoid as hell at this point.  People come over and sit next to me, telling me that they are on my side.  One guys says, "Don't get off the bus, at any stops it's not safe for you."  I travel agent from Lucknow comes over to offer any help I'd like.  I don't trust any of them.  I decide that I'll get off at the train station with the travel agent.  We get off the bus at the train station.  Arun, my new travel agent freind, you can find him at www.tornosindia.com, helps me get a general ticket and talks the ticket guy into letting me stay in a sleeper birth.  It all works out, we get to Lucknow with my spirits restored.

 

Until I figure out that sometime during all the mayhem, I lost my camera and 2 months worth of pictues.   Grrrrr.

How Do You Get To Kathmandu?

So, I was supposed to go to Lucknow today, but I bought a train ticket for the wrong date, 12/30, instead of 11/30 and there's a strike today, not a union strike but a political party strike.  Apparently the transportation industry is aligned with the party that's striking.  So no buses, no trains, no cabs...at least in theory.  I found a ride to the border at three times the normal cost, still that's under $5 for an hour ride.  Though the driver had to take the long way to avoid road blocks of strikers, we almost ran into a group of them as they spanned the road ahead, but were warned off and took some back streets. 

I could have walked right across the border, no one checked anything, but getting back into India would not have been fun.  So, I stamped out of India in a little grass hut and went into customs to get my Nepal vista, which costs $25 plus 100 Rupes "tip."

Normally there are 15 buses a day leaving here for Kathmandu, I'm in the border town of Karkarvitta.  Today there are 3 because of the strike.  I was hanging out at the travel agency where I bought my ticket and the owner confessed to me that no one here would take the bus.  It's about $10 to take the bus and $100 to fly, the flights about an hour the bus can take 17 hours.  I figure the bus will make for a better story. 

I'll report in on the trip after I recover, if and when I make it.

Thanksgiving?

I had no idea.  I just walked into an internet cafe to make some travel plans and someone mentioned it.  So happy Turkey Day!  I generally ignore the holiday season as much as is possible, I suppose it was a subconscious reason for the timing of my trip.  No turkey for me, i had a Northern Indian Thali, like a sampler platter, for lunch, but it was vegetarian.  Besides I haven't seen a turkey anywhere in Asia. 

Had a some interesting interactions with the locals today.  While I was in the Lloyd Botanical Gardens some middle school kids adopted me for an couple of hours. On the way out I happened to walk by some teenagers as they were singing happy birthday to one of their friends for his 18th, I joined in and the insisted I have some cake.  It was a very good day.  Though the internet kept going in and out as well as the power, so here I am still trying to get things done. 

I hope ya'll have fun with those turkeys, hams, lambs or whatever it is ya'll are eating today, oh and with your peoples as well.

Next Stop...Darjeeling

So, I made peace with Kolkata before I left, actually I wanted to stick around for a few more days but the die had been cast.

I took an overnight train, 11.5 hours, then hopped on the Darjeeling "Toy Train," a narrow gauge railway that winds it's way up the mountains using switchbacks and whatnot until 8 hours later, I arrived in Darjeeling.  The train will feel more at home in a childrens park, but it sure is fun to ride.  The Toy Train is hands down my favorite train trip of all time.  I didn't pick up a book once, it was so much fun.  So lets give a Holy Fucking Shit to the Darjeeling Toy Train!!!!

As you might have figured out, India and I are now on speaking terms.  I plan to be here for 4 or 5 nights and then head into Nepal, then  to Rajistan, it has a big desert so I kind of half to go.  Then to Mumbai and home.  Only 20 days left.

Normally I don't make plans in advance like this but the train system here sort or requires it as the tickets sell out early.

So, I'm digging India and life is good!

It really is indescribable...

So, all the guide books, websites and whatnot say that India can't be described...and they are correct.  I hate to admit it, but I was a bit shaken last night when I arrived.  I needed to find a cash machine.  It took me more than an hour, I had no map and no idea where to go.  The hotel gave me directions to one that didn't like my card, so off I went.  I had to walk through New Market at prime time.  Think of it as a very dirty swap meet with really pushy sellers, mix in some beggars, no street signs, cook fires...see here comes the indescribable part.  Lets just say it was less than pleasant. 

Anyway, it's been almost 30 hours and I'm adjusting.  I can't say Kolkata is my favorite city, but I'm not so intimidated.  I actually smiled at a couple of people.  The thing is almost everyone is trying to rip you off here, so letting your guard down isn't really an option.  It should get better out in the country.  We shall see.

Your intrepid traveler.

Namaste?!

Holey Frakin India!

I'm in Kolkata and it's not quite what I expected.  The place has the feel of decay, mixed with lots of hope.  I was expecting to see some more modern buildings mixed in, but not so much.  I sort of miss South East Asia.  Laos, at least it's city's, was more upscale.

Short of my super crappy room there's no place to escape to read a book or whatnot. 

I'm headed north tomorrow and will be in Darjeeling within a couple of days.  We'll see how that goes.  Might head up to Nepal.

Two Days on the Slowboat

Ok, so I've about had my fill of SE Asia. I was thinking about heading
to the islands in ThIland to get some snorkeling in but it's costy
down there and costy to get there. I'm in a very tourist place in
Laos, Luang Prabang. It took two days on the slowboat to get here and
it's costy. Planning an excurtion to a waterfall tomorrow and the next
day it's a 10 hour bus ride to Vientiane.

After that I'm making my way to India via Bangkok.

Did I mention that the girl flew home? She had to go back to work. So
I'm solo again.

Laos

We spent the night in Huay Xai, a border town. I'm on a slowboat going
down the Mekong. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be in Luang Pranang. There
was a small mutiny on the boar this morning as several pasengers
though there were too many people on the boat. So after much drama and
theatrics, they loaded up another boat. I could really care less if
the boat sinks. I can swim.

Uncle Ho's Revenge

So, I've had Mao's revenge, Khan's revenge Uncle Ho's revenge as well
as similar chalenges in Cambodia and Thailand. Normally, I have no
problems like this when visiting strange lands. Finally, after having
to deal with a week or so of the trots I took the antibiotics I
brought along for just this purpose and all was well.

I've eaten so much weird stuff in so many places, there's no way I
could narrow it down. Last night would we a good example. We had this
tasty hot pot / korean BBQ. It came with raw pork and chicken. If
you've seen the way meat is handled here, that alone would give you
pause. Now the dicey bit. You use the same pair of chopsticks to pick
up the raw meat as you do to eat the rest of your food. Then there's
all the fresh veggies. A text book example of what your not supposed
to eat if you don't want to get sick. Well it was one of the best
meals I've had in Asia and I felt just fine and still do.

So it's worth some discomfort to have a cultural experience.

Chiang Mai and the North

When we got back to Bangkok, it was lousy with tourists. High season
had begun. We lucked out and got a bed in a decent place. But there
our luck ended. The sleeper train to Chaing Mai was sold out. So we
took what we though was a sleeper bus. Turns out they booked us on an
old piece of crap and charged us more than double the normal cost.
Such is life.

Once in Chaing Mai, I went on a trekk in the jungle for three days and
the girl when to cooking school. Cooking school was great, I'm told.
Trekking was not so much. I had a crap guide and the trails are way
over touristed. Though I did get to have a nice walk in the jungle.

Then we were off to Chiang Dao, to a place called the Nest. It was a
somewhat ritzy kind of place with great food, a place for a mini
retreat at the foot of a mountain, near some famous caves.

Then on to Chiang Khong for a night before crossing the Laos border.

Koh Maak

Yikes!
It's been a while since I posted a blog entry! We traveled to south
east Thialand after leaving Cambodia and spent 4 days on a small
island. The first 2 days were perfect. The second 2 were very windy.
We didn't get any snorkling in and the snorkling trip we signed up for
was cancelled.

The sand and the water were fantastic. The seas were still rough when
we left and it made for a very bumpy speedboat ride.

From there we planed to go to south western Thailand and go to a
couple of remote islands for snorkling. But the weather down there was
shit and since the girlfriends time was running out, we went to the
north where the sun was shining.

Siem Reap

Is in Cambodia for those of you who don't know. It's the place you
stay if you want to see Angkor Wat and the other temple complexes. The
town itself is a bit of a tourist hell. It was not nearly so bad when
my girlfriend was here 4 years ago.

Some of the areas that were open four years ago are closed now,
including the third tier of Angkor Wat.

This is our last day and then it's off to remote islands in Thailand.

The food here is ok, but not as good as Vietnam or Thailand. Though we
did have an excellent brick oven pizza last night.

Ho Chi Minh City

Is what used to be Saigon. In general Vietnam was a much nicer place
than some other visitors had reported, that goes for HCMC as well.
Among other things we went to the War Remnants Musem. Which catalogs
Americas war crimes in Vietnam.

The food was good and the people were friendly. We spent a half an
hour with some college students practicing English. It's the first
time it wasn't a scam.

Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

So, North Vietnam. The weather has been great along with the food. The
trip to Ha Long Bay was beautiful. It's super touristy, but what can
you do. Many of the cool destinations are.

Today it's hanging out and more street food. Hopefully none of it will
seek revenge. Tonight: Ho Chi Min City (Saigon).

Shanghai'd in Bangkok

After more than a mo th of avoided tourist scams. We were finally
taken in. We were steps away from the Grand Palace when this guy steps
out from behind a guard shack. We were looking confused and had just
had a couple of other guys try to "help" us. This dude told us the
palace was closed for lunch and that we should go see some other
sights and come back. The long and short of it is we wasted a couple
hours while various peole tried to get us to buy things from vacations
to jewelry while being driven around in a tuk tuk. At least all we
lost was money.

Scams lime this work so well in Thailand because 90% of the people you
meet are trying to be helpful.

Mmmm, Thailand!

Let's see tasty food for a day for two with a one hour Thai massage
thrown in costs...$17. Life sure is difficult here. I don't how how we
cope. One more day in Bangkok and then to Vietnam for a week and few
days in Cambodia. Then back the islands in Thailand. I'm glad foe
seeing Mongolia and China, but I'm much happier here. I suppose the
fact that my girlfriend is here may have something to do with it, but
it's better here.

I'm a Bad, Bad, Bad Internationally Traveling Food Eater

I spend about two weeks in China and managed not to have tea at a tea house.  No Dim Sum in Hong Kong.  I did eat lots of mutton in Mongolia (like I had a choice), and various street food in China to include deep fried scorpions.  My last day in Hong Kong I ate at KFC (for the first time in years) and McDonald's.  That tide, I believe has changed.  There are to primary contributing factors.  Thai food kicks ass, the girlfriend, who will be here in minutes, yes minutes, will insist. 

Counting the Hours!

My girlfriend will be here by around midnight.  I arrived in Thailand today, so far it's pretty cool.  I've only been here a handful of hours and already had a couple of conversations with complete strangers who were not trying to rip me off.  Tic toc, tic toc.....we've not seen each other in a month and will spend the next month in South East Asia together.

HAPPY!

Hong Kong

Was too short.  I really like Hong Kong, it's familiar, it's multicultural and there's no shortage of things to do.  I stayed in Kowloon, in TST at the Chung King Mansions, which is an experience in itself.  Went up to Victoria Peak via tram, rode all over on the metro and took a ferry ride too.  It's the most expensive stop on my trip, but it was fun. 

Shanghai...

Is not my favorite place in China. I grow weary of the offers of pot,
hash, girls and watches. There are a lot more "practice english" scams
here as well.
(Whoops, I hit send before I was done and can't edit in China)
I did eat excellent street food and the Shanghai museum kicked ass. It's a world class museum. The bronze, ceramic and special gold exhibits were wonderful.

Damn, I'm Organized...

So, I have organized a train trip, two plane trips and two hostel bookings to get me to Bangkok on 10/15.  It's the most organizing I've done at once on the whole trip.  The train trip was handled at a local ticket window the plan to Shenzhen was arranged by the hostel I'm at now, it's cheaper flying there then to HK.  I was going to take a train, but it would only give me 24 hours in HK, the trains run every other day from Shanghai.  The plane ride to Bangkok was done via internet. 

 

So, I'm one night, one overnight train ride, then three nights, one plan ride, then two nights and one plane ride from seeing my girlfriend! 

 

Today is a day of rest. 

 

I might try to upload some photos.  If I get around to it I'll post a link.

 

 

Out of Mongolia, Back in China

The rest of the gobi trip was mainly lots of driving. Though we did
ride Mongolian horses for 30 minutes on the last day. Then it was 30
hours by train, back to Beijing.

My girlfriend booked me a night at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing! Best
after Mongolian adventure present ever! It has the best pool I've
ever seen in a hotel and a nifgt of comfort and privacy was spot on.

I'm in Xi'an now, here for one more night. Then off to Shanghai for a
few days.

Yesterday I went up on top of the city wall and rented a bike. It's
the only intact fully surrounding city wall in the world. It's 13.7 km
long. 3/4 of the way through it started raining. It's probably the
only safe, relaxing bike ride in any city in china. Was much fun.

Today I went out to see the Terracotta warriors! Holy fucking shit!
That first emporer dude was out of his freaking mind. And aren't we
glad... They have 3 pits, turned museums that have thousands of life
size warriors in them. It's a you have to see it kind of thing. Though
I did buy the newly updated picture book. They find new cool stuff all
the time. Talk about an archeologist's wet dream.

Apparently there are more amazing things hurried out there including
an underground city that's a model of China. Complete with mercury
rivers the emperor's tomb floats arround on, visiting his country.

In fairness, he was smart as well as crazy. Did lots off good stuff.
Esablished common caligraphy, money, weights and measures.

Another week and I'll meet up with my girlfriend in Bangkok! Hi
sweetheart!

First Day in the Gobi

We stopped and had lunch in Zorgol Khairkhan Mountain. Stopped to see a camle herd and saw what was left of a monastery that was destroyed during the Stalin purge.

We are staying with a nomad family for the night in Baga Gazaryn Chuluu. I'm standing here in the last of the days light writing. Waiting for the sunset.

More From the Gobi

Today we arrived at the Khongoryn Els sand dunes. The largest dunes in the Gobi and the largest I've ever seen. After we arrived we rode camels for a couple of hours. It was sort of meditative. Then I climbed the highest dune nearby. It was about 900 meters tall. The view was spectacular. It's the most fun I've had on the trip so far. The Gobi is freaking ginormous. We spend most of the day driving and a couple of hours at a destination. Yesterday we were at Yoln Am where there is usually a glacier, but not this time of year. We went on a 6 kilometre hike.

The day before we were at Ulaan Suvraga, the painted desert. It was quite pretty but we arrived at sunset. Time enough for some quick photos before speeding off to a small town to spend the night.

We've slept in a family ger, two tourist ger and a "hotel."

We have a driver and a guide/cook with us. The food has been good. Lots of mutton, but it's pretty tasty.

There's nothing much to do at night, mostly I read or watch video on my iPod. We've slept on the floor of a ger the first night. It was cold cramped and hard. We've had different variations of beds since then. Tonight's being the most comfortable.

I've eaten differt kinds of dried curds, milk tea, fermented mares milk and other weird milk stuff. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. But not very tasty. 

Gobi Trip Booked

I'm heading out to the Gobi and surrounding area for eight days starting on 9/26. Had to buy some warmer close so I don't freeze my ass off.


Synopsis:
Gobi desert, Orkhon waterfall,and Khar-Khorin monastery
7/8 dyas trip by jeep or minivan
You can see Gobi Desert, Bayanzag (unique shaped trees), Temeen shavar (place where dinosours lived million of years ago), and Moltsog sand dunes then leave Gobi to Kharhorin Monastery and visit Mongolian nomad herders family. Horse riding included
Day 1.Start from UB at 9 o'clock. Have lunch in Morin tsohio ger restaurant then drive to Bagagazariin chuluu.
Day 2. Drive to the Bayanzag and Temeenshavar. It's a place with trees and Dino fossils. Ride camel in short time. .
Day 3. Drive to the Khongor sand dune.
Day 4. Drive to the Arvaikheer and overnight near Arvaikheer.
Day 5. Orkhon water fall.
Day 6. Drive to Kharhorin Monastery.
Day 7. Drive to the area of Lun and visit in a Mongolian nomad herder's family. Ride horse, make horhog and fishing.
Day 8. After lunch back to UB.

In Mongolia

No luck finding a Gobi trip yet.  Today, I'm headed to the Black Market.  It's not really a "Black" market, but that's what they call it.  Then maybe some museums and a Monastery. 

Trans-Mongolian Railway

The train pulled out a 7:45 am. It's my home until sometime on Tuesday afternoon. I'm sharing a compartment with a German girl, Steph, who is doing 4 day stopover in Mongolia and continuing on to Moscow.

The train is fairly empty, if Steph had not bought a ticket a few days ago, I'd have the compartment to myself. Though I'm quite happy to have the company.

UB had heavy snow, which I'm not ready for. I bought some long
underwear yesterday and will buy more warm clothes and maybe some boots in UB. It depends on what kind of trip I can put together. I really want to go to the Gobi or at least I did until it got so cold. The cold came early this year I think.

I've not done a train trip like this since I backpacked through
Europe, eastern Europe and Turkey in the late '90s.

Bye Bye Beijing

I left Beijing this morning, bright and early. It's a great city. I
hadn't planned on being ther so long or liking it so much. I'm not
sure what I expected, but certainly my expectations were exceeded.

It's a very clean city, the people seem happy and I found some
pleasant suprises. I may be back after Mongolia.

New China Museum of Science And Technology

Today was the opening day. I went, the line was hell, a good hour
long. It was worth it! It rivals most any other science museum I've
been to. Lots of interactive stuff, lots of cool stuff. Picts to be
posted.

The Other Great Wall

I can't get to facebook, blogger, youtube and other stuff. China is
serious about sensorship. It's annoying. Finding proxys is a bitch as.

The Traveler's Blues

It happens sooner or later on every long trip. You have crap day and don't really want to be traveling. It happened to me two daya ago.

Everything went wrong for most of the day and after a while it got me down. Then... I went to see the Chinese Acrobats and was restored to harmony. Wow, was that a great show. It was there experimental show for up and coming stars and we had third row seats.

Smog!

My first two days were smog free. Today it's so smoggy, I can't see things farther than 100 feet here at the Olympic green. I'm trying to find the new science and tech museum.

Today's adventure

I picked up my train tickets for Ulanbaator this morning. The hostel recomended a taxi, but I wanted an adventure. It was only a 3 kl walk, well more like 4 with the getting lost.

I also had 4 different propositions from "art students" to see caligraphy. I accepted one, it was nice work with a hard sell, but no scam. Sort of the Chinese Turkish carpet.

Walked through Tianamen sq. and by the forbiden city, but didn't go in. I'm going to see it on a tour in a couple of days.

By the way, dinner was deep fried not grilled. Was not super tasty.

Dinner?!

Yikes! So I'm completely clueless. It's not like ordering food in Europe. Where I can squeek by and order shit without knowing much of the language. I think I just ordered spicy squid. At least I managed to get a beer. Did I mention that I'm sleepy? Staying up to reset my
clock.

From Beijing

I'm in China! Sleep deprived. Hungry and checked in. Staying at the downtown backpackers hostel. They had someone meet me at the airport. Everything has been super easy so far.

Arrived in Vancouver

Just waiting for my flight to Beijing to board. It's a 767. The
flight is 11hours. I've gotten about 6 hours sleep in the last two days.

One more night in the US

After that it's Beijing for a week, then Ulaanbaatar for a couple of weeks.

Packing and Stuff

My Ipod 3g just arrived this morning.  I'm gonna put skype on it.  That in addition to email, Facebook and Google Voice should keep in in contact with the world.  Back to packing....

Facebook Intergration?

Well?  I think I figured it out.  If this post makes it to facebook, then all is good. 

I have a train ticket to Mongolia

We confirm the booking

Sept 21
train No.23 Beijing to Ulanbator 1 hard sleeper carrige 5 berth 9