May 17th, 2010 at 10:30AM: Picture a quiet room that smells of essential oils, maybe tea tree or lavender. The lights are dim, and there's a candle or two flickering in the corner. The background noise is either a small burbling fountain or a CD of monks chanting. A masseuse expertly spreads warm, fragrant oil across your bare back while you accidentally fall asleep....
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farwestinthefareast posts
Relaxing in China part 1: Massage
May 17th, 2010 at 10:30AM: Picture a quiet room that smells of essential oils, maybe tea tree or lavender. The lights are dim, and there's a candle or two flickering in the corner. The background noise is either a small burbling fountain or a CD of monks chanting. A masseuse expertly spreads warm, fragrant oil across your bare back while you accidentally fall asleep....
Cue needle-ripping-off-of-record sound -- this is ...Far West in the Far East: My Chinese apartment
Dec 28th, 2009 at 10:30AM: In mid-November I set up camp in Kunming, China, in order to study Mandarin. I didn't want to live at a hostel for several months, so I perused the classifieds at GoKunming (no Craigslist here) and found a room. Following is a highlight of all the quirks of my apartment, but I want to stress that this post isn't a complaint -- my apartment is luxurious by Chinese standards and I'm very grateful ...Far West in the Far East: Twenty-four hours in Xiding
Dec 26th, 2009 at 10:00AM: On my trip to Xishuangbanna a couple of weeks ago, I was able to time a trip to Xiding with its weekly Thursday market. A vibrant, colorful affair filled with photogenic Hani women, various animal parts, string tobacco, and pretty much everything else under the bright morning sun, the market was an obvious draw to the town. But Xiding is also a great place to hike around the rolling hills, as ...Far West in the Far East: Christmas in Kunming
Dec 25th, 2009 at 9:30AM: It's Christmas day here in China, but only Christmas Eve back home. I know the rhythms my friends and family are settling into in the States: the quiet streets, busy homes, smells of spices and baking, and the building anticipation of opening piles of colorful presents. Just writing that makes me feel a bit homesick, but thankfully Christmas is not a big deal in China so I don't feel as lonely as ...Far West in the Far East: On learning Chinese characters
Dec 24th, 2009 at 8:30AM: Ostensibly, I'm in China to learn the language. There are many other reasons for being here, but learning Mandarin gives me both a focus and a distraction, and I've found the most mental stimulation and solace in learning the characters.
Right now, I know about 150 of them. In order to read a newspaper, I'll need to know between two and three thousand, so I've a ways to go. However, I'm ...Five reasons why life on the road can really suck
Dec 16th, 2009 at 12:30PM: Whenever I tell people my latest travel plans, I usually get the same response: "Oh, you're so lucky - I wish I could do that." What they don't realize is that they can do that -- I've made travel a priority and set my life up around it. I could have made a nice down payment on a house in my late twenties, but I chose to spend the money on a round-the-world-trip, for example. But despite the ...Far West in the Far East: Eating banana roti
Dec 14th, 2009 at 9:30AM: You'll find banana roti all across the banana pancake trail in Asia. A backpacker favorite, banana roti is a cheap, almost-Western treat - the Asian version of a sweet crepe. I don't know much about the migration of the banana roti to Thailand, Laos, and Southwest China, but I'm assuming that because it's a roti, it originated in the Indian subcontinent. Now, however, you can find a banana roti ...Far West in the Far East: Eating hand-pulled noodles
Dec 13th, 2009 at 11:30AM: Italian pizza-dough tossers get all the glory. While there's no doubt talent involved in spinning and tossing dough in the air, I'd like to introduce another form of dough-related art: the hand-pulled noodle. Part skill, part magic (as far as I'm concerned, anyway), the hand-pulled noodle is a carbohydrate-filled thrill. There are numerous noodle stalls here in Kunming; when searching for the ...Five ways Wal-mart in China is way different (and way more intense) than at home
Nov 20th, 2009 at 10:00AM: Faced with errands for unrelated items – body lotion, slippers, yogurt – I decided that today I needed some one-stop shopping. Visiting individual shops and bargaining down the price of each item would take me an afternoon.
So where do you head for one-stop shopping in Kunming, China? Wal-mart, of course. digg_url = ...Lost? Phone a friend (or get an iPhone)
Nov 19th, 2009 at 9:30AM: I'm new in town. There are no mountains to establish my location. Roads don't follow a tidy grid. Pedestrian and motorbike thoroughfares duck under highway overpasses, with nearly a dozen outlets – or so it seems.
So, walking back to my hostel one night I got lost. Since it was late I jumped into a cab, thinking I could let the driver know when and where to turn. That was a good idea, until ...Burping and slurping: All the stuff you can do in China that you can't do back home
Nov 13th, 2009 at 8:30AM: It doesn't take long for me to adjust to the manners of China - the spitting, the ear-cleaning, the belching. While some folks are aghast at the bodily -function decibels reached (and indeed, the Chinese government is trying to curb some of the habits, with a campaign -- in Shanghai, at least -- encouraging citizens to "be more civilized"), I view the experience as complete and utter freedom. ...Forty-two hours on a train in China
Nov 12th, 2009 at 10:00AM: Amtrak it ain't. On a budget, with time to spare and feeling guilty about my carbon footprint, I decided to brave the train from Shanghai to Kunming. A soft-sleeper (equivalent to first class) wasn't any less expensive than the plane, so I opted for the hard sleeper class - three bunks to a wall, two walls to a "nook." It was definitely an adventure: following is a rundown of the 42 hours it took ...
