The travels of Justin

A smooth and comfortable train ride has landed me in the centre of Shanhai. I’ve just checked into the Captain Hostel and the first order of business is to say hi. The pace of this city is clearly a fast one. The streets are packed with bicycles as people commute and street vendors everywhere [...]

January 12th, 2006 is also the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar marking the Chinese Lantern Festival. I had heard that we could see the lion dance, like the parades I’ve grown up watching in Vancouver’s Chinatown and have considered seeing this festival while living in China to be one of the things I’ve [...]

I think winter in Tianjin is on the decline. The cockroaches in my dorm are peeking out more and more often. One just poped out and reminded me to mention it. 不好

I was just having a discussion with a friend about those email messages that claim if you don’t forward them on to everyone you know that you are a horrible person and will forever have bad luck… yada yada… Suddenly I’ve got quite the conundrum. The email I received begins with this:
DELETE THIS IF WE [...]

A few days ago Ryan was fortunate enough to receive a very special visitor: his mom! Lucky guy!
Winter is off-season for tourism in Beijing, but landing on the first day of a real Beijing snowfall (nothing like the 4-foot snow drifts of Halifax this winter) which made sightseeing a tad more difficult. Not about to [...]

I’m a bit late in blogging, due the unexpected and sudden disconnection of my internet connection in my dorm. Happy Chinese New Year!

Fireworks light up above the streets of Tianjin, China
January 29th marked the first day of the traditional Chinese Lunar Calendar. The skies over Tianjin lit up with the most spectacular fireworks I have [...]