The travels of Justin

After a great day of exploring yesterday today represented a day of transition from a vacation-type of exploration and language learning to school and classes. Our day really started when we arrived at the Beijing-West train station to catch the commuter train to Tianjin. For RMB$30 the train will take you through the peaceful countryside [...]

This morning, Ryan and I cought a tour bus to the Great Wall at Badaling. Words just can’t describe it, but I’ve uploaded more photos to my flickr photostream that you can see for yourself; I must warn you, it’s really something to see for yourself. The bus continued to the Ming Tomb. On the [...]

Our second day in Beijing and Ryan and I are just having a fantastic time. Not sure how far we walked, but we were walking for 9 hours today. Determined to get our train tickets for our upcoming trip to Tianjin, we set off for the train station. Only a couple hundred meters from the [...]

11 hours in the air later, Ryan and I are enjoyed a Tsing Tao beer (~CAD$1.50) in the sub-basement of our hostel, the Far East International Hostel. Beijing is big. Really big. Traffic was almost as thick as the air. We could have easily reached out the window and touched many cars, bikes, etc. I [...]

Here I am in the airport lounge. Plane leaves in 40 minutes. Without the help of my friends, I don’t think I could have made it here. There’s simply no way for me to express my gratitude, nor name everyone.
Thank you.
Next stop: Beijing!

It’s 2 AM and I should be in bed. I have two more sleep’s until I fly to Beijing. I’ve just had a great time visiting with so many great people. Even the pronounciation of my Chinese name has been corrected by someone in line at the consulate; it may be good to be able [...]

Before I moved to Kamloops, a friend who does catering there kept talking about summer events and big weddings at the Sportmart. Being familiar with Sportmart, the sport’s equipment retailer, I just couldn’t come to terms with the idea of pushing a rack of athletic supporters and hockey sticks aside while the bride marches down [...]

Kao San Road
Last summer, I wrote about meeting a couple in Thailand. When we arrived in Bangkok after the drive from the island, I toured the building they owned and were turning into a guesthouse.
I got word that the Asha Guesthouse is open. After spending such a great day with them and touring the building [...]