April 2012
36 posts
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Beijing Birthday
So a couple weeks ago, I got to celebrate my 21st birthday in Shanghai. Absolutely fantastic. This easily was the best birthday ever. First, Wednesday, we went out and grabbed free margaritas and went clubbing.
After that we woke up, went to class, and then got on a 15 hour train to Beijing for the weekend. We will never do that again. First of all, when you buy trains to different...
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Off to Jiangxi!
Today we climbed over 6 km of stairs at Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain. The peaks and views were absolutely stunning - and we are all wiped. For the next two nights, we will be making our home on trains.
Tonight we take a 12 hour overnight train to the remote province of Jiangxi to do some more hiking. After a day of trekking around Sanqingshan (Mountain of The Three Pure Ones) we will...
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Springbreaking!
I’m off tonight for Anhui, then we’re making our way over to Guilin through Jiangxi! Woohoo, come at me southern China!
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“I love travel because you may be uncomfortable, hungry, hot and sweaty, cold and...”
– Tony Wheeler
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Awesome Blog On Shanghai Life →
My fellow tongxue (classmate) Dev writes an awesome blog on Shanghai/China life for his school…check out his post on street food!
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“Like skiing with bent knees makes the moguls fun, you need to take risks, get...”
– Rick Steves
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Anthony Bourdain Interview on Bootsnall →
My favorite traveler has an interview with my favorite travel website! Eek!
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“Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.”
– Frank Herbert
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Spring Break Plans!
I thought I’d share with you my itinerary for spring break! In accordance with Chinese labor day, we get a week off at the end of April to go and do some personal traveling. Me, my room mate Andrea, and our friend Brooke are planning on backpacking through southern China and hitting some of the “must-see” sights along the way.
Itinerary (So far…):
First, an...
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“The open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose...”
– William Least Heat Moon
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“Travel, like writing, is a way to dream yourself into the Other and in fact, to...”
– Pico Iyer
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A Foreigner's Guide to Sichuan Cuisine
So most of us Westerners know Sichuan province to be famous for spicy food. Like knock your pants off spicy. It’s all true - this is some of the hottest food you can find around.
Sichuan spice is a little different than the peppers of Western cuisine. An authentic Sichuan dish incorporates a distinctive type of peppercorn, the huājiāo (花椒). This peppercorn is incredibly hot, and it...
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Lovely Lovely Sichuan
Last week, our study abroad program (CIEE) took us on a mandatory weeklong trip to see more of China. We went here —>
Sichuan! Famous for spicy food, face changing and fire breathing performances, and pandas. For you guys back in America, you probably know of Sichuan because of the food. And trust me, this food is intense.
We went first to the countryside, to a little village...
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“Wanderlust (n) - a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.”
– http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wanderlust
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March 2012
17 posts
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No Sichuan Countryside Photos
So, iPhoto is essentially the world’s worst photo storage and transfer software ever. Today as I was uploading pics from Sichuan, iPhoto decided to freeze and dump half of my photos from the album into the abyss of computer nothingness. So, no pictures of the beautiful countryside, Habitat for Humanity build, or ancient street visit in Chengdu.
Sad panda.
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“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples...”
– Maya Angelou 