March 2010: Bangkok, Thailand to Thanaleng, Laos

"Why not go all the way to China?" -- Alice, Alice in Wonderland, 3D...IMAX

Does it get curiouser than this. So here I was, with the sleeper ticket from Bangkok to Nong Khai in northeast Thailand, and an afternoon to while away in Bangkok. The plan was to get to Nong Khai the next morning, cross over the border to Laos, and onward overland to Yunnan in China.
It was a hot afternoon, and Alice in Wonderland was openning. Slipping into the theatre sounds like a plan. So, the theatre darkens, and the show starts with Alice's father suggesting the setting up of trading posts in Bangkok to his biz associates. By the end of the movie, Alice, with a map of Asia rolled open, was suggesting to her late father's asociate: "why not go all the way to China?"
Thailand to Laos (or, more precisely, Nong Khai to Thanaleng, all 3.5km of it) is a small step for a trip from BKK all the way to China.














Starts by taking the northeastern line of Thailand railway all the way to the border town of Nong
Khai. A weeks from now, masses of 'red-shirts' would travel the opposite direction to BKK.
The Mekong River serves as the border between Laos and Thailand. The Friendship Bridge crosses the river and the railway runs on it. In the middle of the bridge, as the train crosses, there you will find the Laos and Thai flag on either sides. But forget about the "Mighty" Mekong. Hot weather and (prossibly) Chinese dams upstream means the river don't look that mighty this year.
The train arrived at Nong Khai late the next morning. But the Laos train, scheduled to have left, was waiting on the track. That's seems reasonable, since it looks like the sole purpose of the Laos railway (still in its 'infancy') was to pick up passengers from the Thai train to Thanaleng (currently the only station.)
But at least it is a start, a good start. Especially when it doesn't look like the Thai-Cambodia railway is going nowhere.
The Laos immigration at Thanaleng looks 'easy', there isn't even a baggage check machine.
Onwards to Vietienne, on the pickup taxi.

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Sept, 2009: BKK -> Dec, 2009: TPE -> Jan, 2010: BKK

And so, it seems, everything has come full circle......







BKK



















TPE



















TPE



















BKK

August, 2009: Beijing, China

One Night in




I was going around the Beijing "bird nest" stadium, hoping to get all the alphabet to make up the word Beijing. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Curiously, there are no gates "I" (maybe to avoid getting mixed up with gate "1", one) and "N" (maybe to avoid mix-up with the similar-sounding "M").




I have been in Beijing previously, so only spent one night at a friend's place. In the day time, I went visiting the Olympics site, which wasn't built during my previous trip.

Other than that, the most fun was checking out the 'English" menu at a resturant while waitng for dinner to be ready. Obviously, the Englisg language police checking out English roadsign in the capital before the 2008 Olympics missed out on THIS restaurant:

August 2009, QingDao to Beijing on the China High Speed Railway

The China high speed rail is the equivalent of the Japanese Shinkasen. It even looks like one, with it sleek aerodynamic design. A Japanese friend actually call it an "i-mi-ta-shi-on shinkasen": imitation Shinkasen (I sense some north Asia rivalry here, friendly or otherwise.)


The He Xie, Harmony (or Concorde, I don't have the official translation) train takes one from Qingdao to JiNan, although the high speed track is only between Qingdaon and JiNan (the capital of Shangdong province.)
You can feel the speed as the train zip out of Qingdao city and out into its rural county. But after JiNan, it noticeably slows down.
Inside the train, it looks similar to a Shinkasen train. The seats, the toilets, taps and even the cloth-hanger by the window all reminds one of a Shinkasen interior. But that's, more or less, where the similarity ends.

I was booked into a no-seat train. That means there were no more seat available on that trip. I am looking at six hours or so standing on the aisle. I manage to find a place near the doors between two carriage. There was a family of four (returning from a Qingdao seaside holiday) share that space with me. They manage to get some stackable plastic chairs and was having a pretty comfortable. So comfortable that before long that space was littered with their fruit peeling, melon seed shells and plastic cups. The chief conductor, a big matron-like lady, came a few times on her rounds, making half-hearted attempt to get them to not block the passage between two carriage. She sometimes ask the train service guys and gals to clean up the floor. The guy and gal made equally half-hearted attempt to sweep up the floor, spending most of the time taking a nap on the floor. By the time the train pulled into Beijing South station, there was a pool a water on one of the carriage from a bottle spill.

I made a mistake of sending my heavier luggage ahead of me by China railway. There was actually big enough space on the train for heavy luggage, even for one with no seating ticket. The luggage ended up in the old Beijing Station. To collect it, you need to go down to the dark basement below the platforms.

July, 2009: Qing Dao, China

I have been warned about QingDao. My friend from Beijing had told me that in the middle of summer, Qingdao is a hot destination. It is not so much the temperature I need to worry about, but the crowd. The signs before I arrive wasn't good either, most of the hotel cheap and good enough was fully booked for the weekend I was there. When I arrive, there was indeed quite a crowd in the city centre and on the beach.

Fortunately, I was able to get a hotel right on the step of the ferry terminal and then move out later to one opposite the railway station.

However, my luck ran out with the train to Beijing. The High-speed train was fully booked on Sunday. There weren't even standing ticket. All the trains leaving on Saturday for Beijing have only standing tickets. I booked the standing tix and hope that someone would vacate their seats along the way. That means I have only a full day to take in as much sight as possible.

Even late in the evening, the beaches in Qingdao was crowded. The tourists, many whom may have came from further inland, took full advantage of their seaside vacation. Even when it is getting dark at sea, many can still be seen bopping up and down in the water.

The beaches were still busy with snack kiosks, souvenir (sea shell, corals, etc) sellers. One Chinese guy was sitting beside his own scrawling on the seaside broadwalk, complaining about police persecution. Of course he attracted the crowd...and the local police.
Well, if the beaches are that crowded at night, it should be more so when the hot summer sun comes up.

Qingdao reminds me of another Cinese seaside city: Xiamen. It is not just the sea and the blamy breeze, but also because the local folks in both places seems to operate at a more relaxed pace than the rest of China. I assume the relax-looking folks are locals, since the tourists would be busy shopping/eating/doing as much as they can cram in.

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