Monthly Archives: April 2008

My time is running out in China. My visa is valid until April 29. Recently, the government has made it difficult to get visa extensions due to the Olympics coming up. I’ve heard the prices for visas have gone up … Continue reading →

For the first few hours of the train ride, a Chinese woman near me was spitting onto the floor of the train. Well, fairly typical in China and I’m not too surprised by now. After some time some people left … Continue reading →

It was another early start, waking up at 5:30AM or so. I was running low on money, so I tried an ATM, but it didn’t work (I tried last night too). I didn’t want to take any chances so I … Continue reading →

The train ride last night was not very pleasant. I didn’t have a bed, only a seat. And it was crowded too. The seats in Chinese trains face each other. They are in groups of 4 or 6 seats, with … Continue reading →

Today I made my second attempt at seeing one of the largest caves in China. I woke up at 5:30 after not getting much sleep at all the night before. Then I rushed to check out of my room and … Continue reading →

My goal of coming to this province was to see Zhijin Cave, which is one of the biggest caves in China. I got some information that there was a bus leaving at 7AM from the bus station. I woke up … Continue reading →

I took the 10:10AM bus from Chongqing south to Guizhou province and it’s capital of Guiyang. There must have been 100 bridges and tunnels on the 5.5 hour stretch of new highway between the two cities. It was quite impressive. … Continue reading →

Today I did a organized tour to the Dazu Rock Carvings. Since it was a Chinese tour, the first stop was at a rundown temple where they would try to charge big money for good wishes and the like. After … Continue reading →

After a simple free breakfast at the hostel and after I washed my clothes, I went into the center of the city. Actually I was planning on going to the Three Gorges Museum, but there was no direct bus there. … Continue reading →

With some help, I was able to recharge my prepaid SIM card in my phone today. I ran out of credit a couple days ago. I took the 8:30 morning bus for a 7 hour trip to Chongqing, one of … Continue reading →