After being refused a room by six or seven other places, I finally gave up and checked into Leo’s Youth Hostel last night. It was nearly midnight when I arrived, but the street was still festive outside, and dozens of people were in the common room just inside the hostel. I went up [...]

Towards the end of my long train ride, a middle aged man boarded the train and sat down next to me. He was thin, and of about an average height. Wearing a polo shirt, Adidas soccer shorts, black socks, and dress shoes, he was instantly recognizable as some sort of business man. [...]

I just got of the longest and most uncomfortable train ride of my life. I’d been warned. When I messaged John from the train station on Thursday, saying I’d bought a 普快 ticket, he told me it would suck. He told me that the train would stop and every insignificant little town [...]

Yesterday was my first whole day in Shanghai, and it was awesome. After showing late the night before and crashing at John’s place, I was psyched enough about finally being here that I was still able to get up pretty early. John had a final in the morning, but after he got back [...]

Right now, I’m on my way to Shanghai, on a stop over in Macau. I’m blogging this from a free internet kiosk in the airport because I can! I love technology… excecpt when it sucks. The ATM ate my debit card. But still, I’m blogging from the airport!

Arrival in MacauHosted on [...]

I guess it isn’t as easy to go to China as I’d thought. On Thursday, my travel agent told me that Americans can’t get landing visas in China. In the interests of being “reciprocal”, we also have to pay more than anybody else does, and take our visa application forms to the embassy [...]

People who have known me for a few years in Taiwan will have no doubt recognized a common theme. I was going to visit mainland China last summer, but I just didn’t get the chance. I hope I can make it this next time. I must have said those two sentences once [...]