Sunday, April 1, 2007

Finally some photos...











The third photo is of our lovely guide in Suopuo, the town outside of Danba with ancient towers. We were walking up to the town and she was going the other way. She stopped and started talking with us in English. She is studying in a university in Kangding.
We decided, one day while hiking up a mountainside, that we should put a letter in a bottle. Since in Sichuan there are no oceans around, it seemed like a good idea to shove it into a crevice in the rocks and see what happens.
Here are some of the beautiful Tibetan prayer flags strung everywhere.









The third photo is of the Tibetan village of Jiaju where we stayed a night. I really like the way they have their homes set up. There are often four stories, three of which have balconies where you can view the town.
The man in this photo makes the best Jiazi (dumplings) in Danba, along with his wife. We went there for four nights straight!
On the way to Jiaju we found a traveler who didn't make it.










Our Tibetan host looks on as we leave. She spoke neither English nor Mandarin and our Tibetan phrasebook was useless, so we relied mostly on hand gestures. There would be moments where we just couldn't communicate and we would all just break out laughing.
The second photo was taken on the Maglev train into Shanghai from the airport. That's right, I was going 431 km/h on land.
The French Connection: This is Pauline, our French artist friend who we met in Chengdu and ended up spending three days together, two of which were on horseback.









Here are some kids in Songpan. The boy with the red shirt was running to meet who I presume was his brother, who had just gotten off our bus.










This is John, our intrepid horse trekking guide. The second shot is of Austin overlooking the Jiaju village. The third picture is of a monk near Maerkang with the kindest face. I think he was laughing at me though...










In Hong Kong, I visited a bunch of old WW2 pillboxes. During the intense fighting on December 19th, a Canadian soldier by the name of John Robert Osborn threw himself on a grenade, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross. As I was walking through Queens Road Central, there was an immigration protest going on. They weren't very organized though. Often members of the group would be singing out of sync and didn't sound convincing.





In Singapore I visited the National Museum of Singapore, which I highly recommend. It was interactive and informative. You are given a little computer companion that you wear around your neck. It comes with headphones and when you walk into a certain room you simply punch in the number on the floor and you are given an introduction to the exhibit. Near my hostel in Little India there was this man, sleeping the day away with his Walkman.











Ahhh, finally we're in the tropics. We were awoken yesterday by a spectacular Batam sunrise. Here are all of us eating dinner. On the far right is Roel, then Angeline, myself, Ted and Austin. Angeline is always smiling and laughing.
- Will

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello again, loved the pic's, I see you got your hair cut...I am tossed I Kind of like you with longer hair...lol Oma would kill me if she heard me say that...lol... How long will you be staying in Batam?
Love
Aunt Sue

Anonymous said...

Sorry one more question...did you feel the earthquake in Batam?
susan

Anonymous said...

Haha finally some pictures. I love hearing stories of the valour and courage of our soldiers. It makes me so proud to be Canadian. Such self-sacrifice! Damn, they were amazing.

Everyone you're staying with seem so lovely!

As for the Sulawesi vs. Sumatra issue...are you not able to do both? If you're there for 30 days, that seems to me (if my math is right) that you'd potentially have two weeks in each place...or is that not enough?

Mike S. said...

Hey again,

The photos look amazing man. Looks like you could possibly be having the "time" of your life! You should definately start your own art gallery when you come home and put some of those pictures up in it!
Oh hey are you walking around with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in indonesian money? Haha... currencie are a fnny thing...

Later,

- Mike

Art said...

Nice photos. I think you will have lots of memories when you come back home. Perhaps you are having too much fun to come back home...

Anonymous said...

Happy Easter Will and Austin

Love
sue

Anonymous said...

Hey WILL!
I'm bqck from Tobago!
I just returned last night at around 6:30.
The pictures are awesome.
I can't wait to see more!
I wish i could help you on your decision to go but both places look great.
Couldn't you go to one place for 15 days and the other place for 15 days?
Your VISA would be fine:)
Alright, talk to you later,
Julie

Will said...

Hey Everyone,

Finally I can respond to your comments. Sorry it took so long.

Aunty Sue,
The hair is a contentious issue. I am not sure about it myself. Short hair means better visibility but long hair increases overall awesomeness. As for the earthquake, we didn't feel it in Batam. Happy Easter to you too!

Hey Diane,
The stories certainly fill me with national pride as well. We are staying with some pretty top-notch people around the world. You can thank my mom for that! She's the one who knows people everywhere, probably because she's such a sweety-pie. Sulawesi and Sumatra was a difficult choice but Sumatra won us over. It would be really difficult to experience both in 30 days. The government really ought to change the visa length. 30 days is hardly long enough to see anything in this vast and diverse country.

Hey Mike,
As a matter of fact I am currently carrying in my pocket 360,000 Rupiah, which really isn't much. Earlier I was a millionaire with 2.5 million Rupiah. Currencies are funny...I wonder in what currency do you need the largest amount to buy a pop. I don't understand why they don't just knock off a few zeros here in Indonesia.

Hey Art,
I will have lots of photos to show you when I get back. As much as I am enjoying traveling I am looking forward to coming back home. I can say definitely that this won't be the last time I go abroad though...As one traveler I met put it, "Traveling is a terrible disease, once you get it you can never be the same."

Hey Julie,
I expect lots of photos when I return!!! Email me when you read this!

-Will

Jacksonville Furniture Removal said...

Thanks for thhis blog post