Manuel Librodo

Over at TrekEarth there is a guy who manages to post the amazing photos I've ever seen. I don't think he's a known photographer but just today I came across another site with his photos (TrekLens, oddly enough ;) and I was blown away (again).

Check out his stuff at:
http://www.trekearth.com/members/manny/photos/
http://www.treklens.com/members/manny/photos/
and http://www.pbase.com/manny_librodo

He's using a D70s for most of his shots... just shows what a great camera this really is in the right hands!

Photography

Woo woo! A new photo gallery!

Probably the most empty one I've got (well, not probably, definitely) is now available. It's what I'm going to consider my best stuff that I really want people to see (which is why it's at the top of the Gallery page).

You can get to it easily by clicking the Gallery link at the top of the page. Right now there are just two photos but I'll add at least three or four more over the course of the next few days. It might be possible to sign up to my website and then receive an email notification when I add new images... I don't really know, to be honest.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

No Direction Home

Whatever you were planning to do this evening, don't. Well, unless you were planning to sit down in front of the television and watch BBC2 as they broadcast the first part of Martin Scorsese's Arena: No Direction Home, a Bob Dylan biography.

It's on at 9pm and finishes at 10:55pm. I don't want to say too much but this is probably the biggest thing to be on TV for quite some time. So far all reviews are excellent and I don't think it requires any real prior knowledge of Dylan himself.

TrekEarth

For the past couple of weeks I've been uploading a select few of my photos to a travel photography website called TrekEarth. You can check out my current "portfolio" at http://www.trekearth.com/members/lewiz/photos/

Changes

For some reason my body has turned against me. I used to be able to go for days without shaving, thanks to the wonders of, well, having slow-growing facial hair. But no longer! It has turned against me and begun to grow at a rapid pace... the way this is going I might have to shave twice in one week(!)

Feeling generally fairly dazed and confused recently (well, ever since I got back from holiday, really) I have found a new friend and ally to assist me... Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish. Mmm. I'm not sure what's coming over me; I recall trying it last year and being disgusted.

Batman Begins

Yesterday I watched Batman Begins for the third time at the cinema. Not usually my sort of thing but there was a reason. First time I watched it with Xiaoxiao in China, then the second time with YUJiaYu, Xiaoxiao's younger brother, who wanted to see it. Just yesterday Kirk offered free tickets (he works at thefilmworks in Manchester) to see it on the IMAX screen. Not an offer I'm going to refuse ;)

I can't really be bothered to talk about it too much, though. If you've not seen it already -- go and do so. Some great special effects and that Christian Bale chap is really good (although I think he was better (when a lot younger) in Empire of the Sun). He reminds me a bit of Marlon Brando in The Godfather, what with the funny-sounding voice... I wonder if he did use balls of cotton wool to play Batman?

Anyway, that's enough for now. I'm thinking about heading outside with my camera now. Not sure if that will come to pass though ;)

New Medlock House

I'm still here... just.

The past week has been absolutely amazing. The pace has been fairly impressive, although setting aside the early morning and late evening train journies too/from Manchester it has been fairly relaxed compared to some of the days over the previous three months.

While I was away kicking about in South-East Asia I wasn't in Manchester sorting out somewhere to live for the duration of my third, and final, year at the University of Manchester. Big problem. I'm currently in Freshers' Week, which is supposed to be laid back and relaxed, but for some reason my department seems to have gone flat out and arranged plenty of pointless lectures as well as assignments due in yesterday and the day before that contribute toward the final mark for my third year project. Genius.

Somehow or another I managed to complete both of the assigned tasks and hand them in on time. What's more, I attended two days of lectures and located a private student hall with a free room -- not an easy task. This place isn't the cheapest available (when you pull your finger out), nor is it the biggest. But it is clean with a nice desk, shelves and decent-enough bed. I'm happy with it but the poor (overpriced) Internet connection lets it down a little -- but still, it's a damn sight better than some of the other places I've seen over the course of the past week.

I only finished sorting and then tidying my room this evening, a process not helped by interruptions from a group of five girls from a flat on the lower floor (I didn't say the interruptions weren't unwelcome!), of which I "know" one; finally bothering to meet the guy next door (he's great -- called Nan (Chinese for "South", a fairly cool name) and he's into computers, games and other stuff; he also has an Internet connection already and has let me snag it for free via wireless!) and chatting to Xiaoxiao for a bit. But it's done now. Until I mess it up again.

Oddly enough tomorrow is a free* day. And I'm looking forward to it. Ever since I arrived in Manchester I've been eyeing the weather, the light and the things to take photos of. I almost didn't manage to resist getting my camera out and taking photos while I was looking for somewhere to live. But tomorrow I'll have a scout around for some nice spots and maybe re-visit them closer to six or seven P.M. (when the light is nice). Who knows? I might even take a decent photo!

On the topic of photos -- I was happy to hear from Vlad that "you should get a lot of these printed" and "you've got a lot of good photos". Vlad is a bit like me -- a little slow to praise stuff that could do with some praise, but when he does, you know it must be damn good and very deserving of it. So, I guess it's official -- Vlad thinks (some (a lot) of) my photos are good... so they must be.

Today I had an interview with Alvaro AA Fernandes (cool name, cool guy), who will be my project tutor (and tutor in general, really) for the next n months. As long as it takes me to finish my project. I'm really happy with how it went -- he seems a really helpful and friendly guy. I didn't really know what my project was about (the title "On Querying an RSS Feed" doesn't really mean much) but I have a fairly reasonable idea now (which I'll go into at a later date), as well as some relevant reading material and a good, if general, timetable suggestion. I have a good feeling about how this will go. On the programming side it almost sounds straightforward (as in, I can almost picture most of the parts now), which means that there is hopefully a lot of potential for taking the project further and gaining myself some extra bonus marks. I hope.

But for now, it's late and I might head to bed. Or I might browse through some more of my photos for a little longer. At some point I will bother to mess with them and upload a few.

Visited countries

I came across a website that allows you to quickly create a map of visited countries. Here's mine. It doesn't look quite as impressive as I'd've hoped, but you can't have everything.



Anyway, in case you're Geography isn't up to much, the countries hilighted are: England, Wales, Scotland, France, Spain, China, Japan, Laos, Thailand and Japan.

If you want to create your own map you can check out the website at http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries.

Clean at last!

It's now the morning (well, afternoon, but for me, that's pretty much the same thing) after my return to Great Britain. For what feels like the first time in three months... *I'M CLEAN*!

I had the most wonderful hot shower this morning, but the best thing was when I got out of the shower and dried myself off... I wasn't all hot and sweating again three seconds later! It seems in England I can be clean for longer than the duration of my shower. What a revelation.

Just this morning it struck me how close my birthday is. It is (counts) a mere 20 days away. Then I'll be the grand old age of 21. My recent holiday has been something of an enlightenment for me... I've learned so many new things, re-realised old things and pieced together many things to make more sense. One of those is that age means nothing. I guess almost being 21 is a good time to realise this... but I suspect a better time would be, say, 39 years old with 20 days to go to my 40th birthday. Well, like I say... I rediscovered many things while I was away, so I'll have to make a note to take another holiday shortly before I turn 40 ;)

I'm going to make a list of things I'd like for my birthday. Mainly because I've just logged into Amazon and there appear to be a million new things that have been released (or soon to be released) while I've been away. It seems I want all of them and I know there is no way I can possibly afford to buy them on my own. So stand by, I'll whip something up as soon as I've sorted out the deposit on my flat and had a gander at somewhere to live for the next year.

It's good to be back (and this two computer screens is a great thing).

Home sweet home

I'm half-way through my Virgin Atlantic flight VS251 from Shanghai to London Heathrow. While sat in the departure lounge my name was called out, which got me pretty worried. I am carrying four bottles of Tsinghua beer while the limit is just two bottles in hand luggage -- they picked up on this during the personal security checks, but let it pass. I got to the entry gate and was asked for my boarding pass. At this point I was pretty worried, thinking they might have overbooked the flight and I would end up staying another day... not quite, instead I was given a free upgrade to Premium Economy class, which they had tried to sell to me for 1000RMB (about GBP80) as I checked in. I was immediately returned my boarding pass and allowed then to skip the boarding queue. What a stroke of luck!

I'm carrying some cash for Xiaoxiao, my laptop and camera. I carefully filled in the customs declaration form to state the amount of Sterling but did not write down the laptop or camera... these items were under the "Individual items over 5,000RMB that you will bring when you return to the country". Well, I wasn't planning on returning in the way they meant, so I figured this didn't apply. Then, queued up in the "Items to declare" line I was called over to a "Nothing to declare" desk that was free. The girl looked at the form and said "One laptop?"... err, no? I said "cash" and she asked if I had a laptop so I replied yes, a laptop, a camera and cash. This seemed to confuse her quite a lot but after glancing again at my declaration form she probably figured it wasn't worth the effort, so waved me on through.

I've spent the last six hours of my flight playing Super Mario World (the SNES game) and I've also watched the remake of The Longest Yard. This was with Adam Sandler, who I actually quite like. I know there are plenty of people about who can't stand him... but not me. It was a "good guys against bad guys" film, where they were competing in a game of American Football. I don't really think it needs any more explanation.

The on-board computer system seems a little wonky today... the films advertised aren't the films on show. I'll probably watch Sin City next but that won't be for an hour or so. I'm going to give Virgin Funny 1 a go now, it looks like it might be Little Britain, which is well worth a go.

The sleeper bus Xiaoxiao and I caught from Taizhou, Zhejiang province, to Shanghai late yesterday evening went fairly well. It was pretty expensive though at 150RMB (just over GBP12) for only six hours. Back in Yunnan province I paid less than that for an 18-hour sleeper between Jianghong and Dali. It wasn't the most comfortable bus, but it was better than being seated. I think I ended up sat on top of the engine, which didn't help keep me cool, or afford me any sleep.

I got a few hours of rest at Xiaoxiao's aunty's flat before getting some McDonald's and then catching my flight. Surprisingly I'm not tired and I can't see myself falling asleep any time soon. Thinking about it now I will arrive in London in six hours time, which will be 17:30 (BST). My train *should* be two hours after that, which will last about three hours, bringing it to 22:00. Around that time I'll be able to get some food, say hello and then go to bed.

Seems like a plan to me ;)

Hmm... now what time is it now? From what I can tell I'm somewhere over West Russia... I'll just use BST for the hell of it.

Continued...

I'm sat on the 21:30 train from London King's Cross to Doncaster now (where they helpfully provide a power socket for laptops, mobile 'phones and the like). I missed the train I had hoped for because there were some troubles with the underground. I got off near Piccadilly Square and wandered around for ages trying to find a Pizza Express. In the end I stumbled upon the most famous Pizza Express of all -- the Soho Jazz Club restaurant. It was much like any other, although I did very briefly see the jazz section downstairs, which looked pretty cool. It's official though -- Pizza Express definitely make he best pizzas in the world!

I ate up quickly and then caught the bus to London King's Cross. Not much else to tell, really... apart from the London public transport system, which is absolutely diabolical. How is it legal for bus ticket machines to accept *only coins* and provide *no change*? In the end my GBP1.20 bus fair (flat rate, I might add, which I bet is a real pain for people with short journies) cost GBP1.50... but that was already too much as I'd paid to go all the way to LKX on the Underground. All I can say is that I'm glad I don't live there.

But now, it's time for me to sit back and relax. I might have a leaf through some of my photos now, but I reckon that will get boring pretty quickly ;)

Continued...

I'm now sat in my own comfy bed. The Internet here is very fast too, which is nothing but a good thing ;)

Have you ever...

Thanks very much to the typhoon raging outside (and distinct lack of electricity and water at Xiaoxiao's house) I'm sat in a hotel room with Xiaoxiao, her brother, father and mother. They must have a big generator to power a hotel.

But, anyway, I saw this on Paul's website and figured I'd give it a go.

1. *smoked a cigarette* -- Yes, when I was very young and asked if I could try one of my Mum's... never again!


2. *smoked a cigar* -- No


3. *smoked anything else* -- Surprisingly, yes


4. *made out with a member of the same sex* -- No


5. *crashed a friend’s car* -- Nope


6. *been in love* -- Yes


7. *been dumped* -- Yes


8. *shoplifted* -- Probably half-inched a pencil or two when I was a lot younger


9. *been fired* -- No


10. *been in a fist fight* -- I don't think so... although when I was younger there were many times it came close to a fight


11. *snuck out of your parents' house* -- Don't think so


12. *had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back* -- More than once ;)


13. *made out with a stranger* -- Suppose that depends how you define stranger...


14. *gone on a blind date* -- No


15. *lied to a friend* -- Probably, but nothing particular springs to mind. I really don't like to lie


16. *had a crush on a teacher* -- Not really


17. *skipped school* -- Does school include university lectures? If not, then no... although I did pretend I was sick once or twice (didn't everyone?)


18. *slept with a co-worker* -- Er, no... I work at PA...


19. *seen someone die* -- No; I've seen what's left floating down the Mekong though


20. *had/have a crush on one of your friends* -- "Yes (hasn't everyone?)"


21. *been to Canada* -- Nah


22. *been to Mexico* -- Nah... looks interesting though. Next up for me is Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. There's far more South East to explore yet!


23. *been on a plane* -- Enough that I can keep reading the complimentary newspaper during takeoff ;)


24. *thrown up in a bar* -- No


25. *been snowboarding* -- I went skiing when I was very little...


26. *met someone from off the net* -- Once or twice


27. *been moshing at a concert* -- I've "moshed" at a club, if that counts?


28. *been in an abusive relationship* -- No


29. *taken painkillers* -- Yes, but only when I *really* need to


30. *love someone right now* -- Err... yes?


31. *laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by* -- Probably


32. *made a snow angel* -- No


33. *had a tea party* -- I had a fajita party once... it was probably way better than a tea party


34. *flown a kite* -- One better... flown a kite on Tiananmen Square!


35. *built a sand castle* -- Yep


36. *gone puddle jumping* -- Maybe. Nowadays I avoid puddles, mud and dirt like the plague


37. *played dress up* -- Lots of times... the big yellow chicken and emu were my favourite!


38. *jumped into a pile of leaves* -- A long long time ago. I should try it again soon!


39. *gone sledding* -- Woo! Loads of times! The makeshift wooden board with two grey waterpipes attached to the bottom and two metal cupboard handles was the best sled!


40. *cheated while playing a game* -- I've cheated playing Quake before but I wouldn't do it again. Contrary to popular belief I have *never* cheated at Monopoly!


41. *been lonely* -- Plenty of times


42. *fallen asleep at work/school* -- Yeah. At university and once during a Business Studies lesson at school. Amazingly I woke up and answered the question correctly without having heard it while awake!


43. *used a fake ID* -- I've never had to, really. I've used an out-of-date train pass once or twice though


44. *felt an earthquake* -- Yes! Just yesterday!


45. *touched a snake* -- Yep


46. *been tickled* -- Grr. All the time


47. *been robbed* -- Not recently and I can't remember further back than that


48. *robbed someone* -- No


49. *been misunderstood* -- "All the time!"


50. *pet a reindeer/goat* -- Both


51. *won a contest* -- Not sure... Ice Cubed won every round but the national final but I don't think that is really a contest...


52. *been suspended from school* -- No


53. *had detention* -- Plenty. Oddly enough I believe I was the first person in my year of senior school to get one (my class at least)... but that was a misunderstanding (teacher thought I was giving somebody the finger when I was just waving)


54. *been in a car accident* -- A very very minor one a long time ago. Come close a few times though


55. *had braces* -- Nope. I've got a belt though... ;)


56. *eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night* -- Not a big ice cream person on the whole


57. *had deja vu* -- Yep


58. *danced in the moonlight* -- I don't really dance


59. *hated the way you look* -- My hair annoys me and my ears stick out a bit. Never been seriously bothered by it, though


60. *witnessed a crime* -- Was it possible to not hear the Spice Girls?


61. *pole danced* -- No


62. *questioned your heart* -- I think a lot but never get anywhere with it ;)


63. *been obsessed with post-it notes* -- Don't like them, myself. They're no good for organisation


64. *squished barefoot through the mud* -- I think yes


65. *been lost* -- I'm feeling pretty lost right now


66. *been to the opposite side of the country* -- Which country?


67. *swam in the ocean* -- I've been in the sea a fair few times (don't like it much) and I think I might have been a bit further out on a boat and jumped in


68. *felt like dying* -- No


69. *cried yourself to sleep* -- I don't think I've got that many tears in me. Cried in bed once or twice though


70. *played cops and robbers* -- Brilliant game! I can't remember how it works though...


71. *recently colored with crayons/colored pencils/markers* -- I doodled with a Biro on my brown paper placemat in Dali just a week-or-so ago


72. *sung karaoke* -- Never


73. *paid for a meal with only coins* -- What a silly question


74. *done something you told yourself you wouldn’t* -- Yes


75. *made prank phone calls* -- Nothing I can recall but there is a flicker at the back of my head that suggests I might have done once...


76. *laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose* -- Yeah... but these days I'm learning how to hold my Coca Cola


77. *caught a snowflake on your tongue* -- No


78. *kissed in the rain* -- Once, I think


79. *written a letter to santa claus* -- Yup


80. *been kissed under a mistletoe* -- Relatives...


81. *watched the sun set with someone you care about* -- Same as Paul... been together during the event but not actively watched it


82. *blown bubbles* -- I still do, from time to time


83. *crashed a party* -- If "crashed" means not invited, loads of times. If it means actively not invited, then no


84. *have travelled more than five days with a car full of people* -- Close... with chickens, pigeons and people


85. *gone rollerskating/blading* -- Yep. I just recently did my back in when I got taken down in Beijing


86. *had a wish come true* -- Not in the conventional sense, I don't think


87. *worn pearls* -- Never


88. *jumped off a bridge* -- Yes!


89. *told a complete stranger you loved them* -- No


90. *sang in the shower* -- I don't think so


91. *have/had a little black dress* -- Err... "had", for one day


92. *had a dream that you married someone* -- No


93. *glued your hand to something* -- No


94. *got your toungue stuck to a pole* -- I should give this a go...


95. *kissed a fish* -- Is this a metaphor?


96. *worn the opposite sexes clothes* -- Umm?


97. *been a cheerleader* -- No


98. *sat on a roof top* -- Yes


99. *had sex at a church* -- wtf?


100. *screamed at the top of your lungs* -- Hasn't everybody?


101. *done a one-handed cartwheel* -- Not me. I can do a tipple-tale though ;)


102. *talked on the phone for more than 6 hours* -- Plenty of times. Well over seven hours, which is the time at which KC cut off local (5.5p for the duration) calls


103. *stayed up all night* -- A more useful question might have been "Woken in the morning and slept at night"


104. *didnt take a shower for a week* -- I had a bath phase during sixth form


105. *pick and ate an apple right off the tree* -- Yeah... turned out it was a big cooking apple though


106. *climbed a tree* -- Grr. I was up one when a branch broke...


107. *had a tree house* -- I had a Wendy House


108. *are scared to watch scary movies alone* -- I don't like scary films... the whole "being scared for the sake of it" doesn't appeal to me. I woulnd't say I'm afraid to watch them though


109. *believe in ghosts* -- No


110. *have more then 30 pairs of shoes* -- No. I don't think I've gotten that close with my lifetime total


111. *worn a really ugly outfit to school* -- What? Like a big yellow chicken costume, for instance?


112. *gone streaking* -- No


113. *played chicken fight* -- Never heard of it


114. *been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on* -- Yes. I can recall the abuse my Uncle got after the incident ;)


115. *been told you’re hot by a complete stranger* -- Not sure about hot


116. *broken a bone* -- Yep


117. *been easily amused* -- Sometimes


118. *caught a fish then ate it* -- No


119. *caught a butterfly* -- I don't think so. Had a go at taking a photo a few weeks ago though


120. *laughed so hard you cried* -- My speciality!


121. *cried so hard you laughed* -- No


122. *mooned/flashed someone* -- Never


123. *had someone moon/flash you* -- Maybe not me personally, but I've been there when it has happened


124. *cheated on a test* -- Yes, a very long time ago


125. *forgotten someone's name* -- I remembered a name once


126. *slept naked* -- Yes


127. *French braided someones hair* -- I might have tried


128. *gone skinny dipping in a pool* -- Maybe... I'm not too sure


129. *been kicked out of your house* -- No

That was good fun. Now to find something else to do...

Returning home

Each time I post a new entry I am really shocked to find out just how long it was since the last one. The time between entries doesn't seem that long. If it doesn't seem long, then I don't think it is.

The last couple of months have been, without doubt, some of the most interesting, busy and enjoyable days of my life. There is no way I will ever forget the last month and a half travelling from Bangkok, Thailand, down south to the island of Phan Ghan and then back up north to Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Chiang Khong and across the border to Huang Xia in Laos. From there I spent two days on a slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, stopping off for a night in the beautiful small town of Pak Beng. From Luang Prabang further north to Udomxai and Luang Nam Tha with a day-trip to Muang Sing before catching the bus across the Sino-Lao border into the city of Jianghong in Yunnan province. From there the 18-hour sleeper bus took me to Dali with a two-day excursion to Lijiang before sleeper bussing to the provincial capital of Kunming. A day in Kunming before catching a flight to Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. In Hangzhou I was met by Xiaoxiao and a driver for Vivi who drove me the three-plus hours to Taizhou city in south-west Zhejiang. That's where I am now. In bed.

Since I last updated my site I've been to Lijiang, which is north of Dali a mere 100km-or-so from Tibet (or the Tibet Autonomous Region as the Chinese government might have you call it). For me Lijiang was perfect. A whole mass of tiny, windy streets with wonderful fresh-water running down many of them in little streams. Beautifully constructed stone and wooden bridges and some of the most delightful looking restaurants you will ever find.

For many people though, Sayaka included, Lijiang isn't perfect. The sheer volume of Chinese tourists makes it hard for you to forget that you're not living a life hundreds of years ago. But for me it really didn't matter. Lijiang is one of the most charming places I've been; easily up there with Luang Prabang in Laos.

In Lijiang I managed to bargain a double room with en-suite hot-water shower/toilet down to just 35RMB, which works out at approximately GBP1.20 per person -- at that sort of price you'd expect something with damp sheets, moths and bed bugs, but that definitely wasn't the place. Yunnan province in general has some of the best weather in China... when I say it is similar to England you'll think I'm having a laugh, but I'm not. Sleeping at night without air conditioning or a fan is something very easy to take for granted, but I can assure you that I didn't, not for one single night in Yunnan. The nice climate keeps everything fresh too, which is more than I can say for some of the cheaper places in Thailand and Laos (damp sheets, insects, mosquitos, etc.), as well as some of the more expensive places in China!

I managed to get up very early one morning only to discover that the sun wasn't about to rise any time soon. So at about 5am I went back to bed until 6am to find, once again, the sun wasn't due for about another hour. Eventually (thanks very much, Beijing Central Time) I left my guesthouse at 7.30am to get some photos of Lijiang without tourists and with some more interesting light. It didn't really work out, despite my best efforts, thanks to the rain (and I was bloody freezing... I didn't realise things got so cold in China -- I only have shorts and t-shirts with me; no jumper, no coat and no thick woolly socks, scarf or anything else like that). Of the ten-or-so photos I took, it looks like one might be worth taking to the printers.

Later on that afternoon we headed back to Dali and I then caught the sleeper bus to Kunming to arrange a flight to meet Xiaoxiao in Hangzhou. I left a little bit earlier than I had wanted and I'm in two minds as to whether I'm happy or not. It's really brilliant to be with Xiaoxiao again after so long, but compared to the wonderful adventures I've had in the last few months, being in Taizhou (a fairly bustling Chinese city that has *no* foreigners (I mean they *really* stare at you here -- more so than the small tribal villages in Thailand and Laos!)) is sort of equivalent to... well, sitting in a small room and reading a long book about something that holds absolutely no interest to you. In short, right this very minute I could be... anywhere, really. Maybe in Dali, maybe on a sleeper bus to Kunming or any number of other places. But as I say, it is nice to see Xiaoxiao so I don't really mind at all... but if Xiaoxiao wasn't here I'd be going mad. It's now September 10 and I fly from Shanghai to England on September 13... doesn't sound long but you'd be amazed what you can get up to in so little time!

Today I've had a shower (very nice when I consider that I previously showered over 48-hours before (showers are done in the evening here; I travelled from Lijiang to Dali and then from Dali to Kunming by sleeper bus (no shower); I spent the day in Kunming before catching a 7:45pm flight to Hangzhou and did not arrive in Taizhou until almost 2am... having had no more than two hours sleep on the sleeper bus (ironic, really) I went to sleep)) and eaten a Big Mac at McDonald's before sitting in on one of Xiaoxiao's driving lessons. Then I went on the Internet and really enjoyed it. For the past few hours I've been briefly looking through a couple of my photos. Earlier on today I told my Dad that I wasn't really too happy with the photos I'd taken, saying only a few were worth keeping, as well as making up a lot of excuses about not having anybody to copy... by this I mean "learn from". i.e. I don't really know any great photographers; I know Ansel Adams but only about three photos at best. I know what photos are nice but I've never really considered what goes into making them nice. I don't own any books on making (and making really is a better word than taking) photos, which I really wish I did. When I get back I'm going to buy three books (after skimming through them to check they are as good as their recommendation to me) -- the Lonely Planet book on photography and two National Geographic books on photography, one on portraits and one on landscapes. I'm still not sure what I enjoy more... some of my landscape results are fairly impressive, I think, but on the whole I enjoy portraights more... but only very infrequently do I enjoy the results.

I said the same to Vlad on MSN too. But now that I've had a very quick skim through some of my Laos and Yunnan photos I really need to change my mind. Some of the photos I've got on my little USB hard drive are absolutely amazing! I obviously forgot or got annoyed with the ratio of amazing to good to acceptable to downright poor. But even looking at them now there are so many things I can look at and think "Oh, why didn't I do it another way, instead?" And that's good. Another reason I don't think I've improved my results as quickly as I'd have hoped is lack of time to look at what I'd come up with. Mostly it was about five minutes for 150-odd photos while they were being transferred from the CF card to the laptop hard disk. And that's not long enough.

For my own curiosity I've just checked how many photos I've got on this hard disk -- there are now 53.5GB of compressed photos -- it says there are 16658 items (including directories) but I have got two files per photo (one "negative" and one "print"). That's still quite a few photos. Out of these ten thousand photos I'll be really happy if I come up with 100 *really good* ones to print out and use as postcards for the places when I re-visit them in the future.

I feel I've learned a lot about cameras, too. When I bought my Nikon D70s I based my decision almost entirely on online reviews (mainly D70s v 350D) and a very quick hands-on test. What eventually sold me was the size and build quality and the decent-sized viewfinder. I say "decent sized" but I really mean "bigger than the Canon equivalent". Since then I know a lot more and I'm in a far more educated position... if I went back now I don't know if I'd go the same way again. The 350D is too small for me but I think I like the way the auto-focus works better than with the D70... but having said that I don't use the fancy AF stuff that the Nikon offers, so it might be a bit of a no-issue. One thing I knew when I bought the D70 was the lack of extended battery pack/vertical grip. I considered this a non-issue but now I know it's not. I want a vertical grip with shutter-release and main command dial (for aperture) but with the D70 that is not an option. The older and more expensive D100 has one and the high-end D2X and D2Hs both have them as part of the body. There are rumours of a D200 all over the Internet but no official details. If it is the successor to the D100 then it should it as an option. I really don't need a better camera -- I'm not good enough with the camera I've got now but I have this annoying habit of wanting things to be "just right". But anyway... I said I might go the Canon route if I went again... mainly because of the extended battery pack and because of the slightly better auto-focus. But also because there is a mid-range camera (and a very good one it is, too) -- the 20D, which right now Nikon don't have. It's not an issue now but in the future it might be... but in the future there might be a D200, which I reckon will whop the 20D's ass, anyway. I think the Canon lenses are a bit cheaper, too, which is quite important.

But the D70s is a really great camera and if you know what you're doing then there is the D2X. I used one a few days ago in Lijiang and it is a seriously nice camera... ergonomically it is outstanding -- far far far better than the latest Canon EOS-1D revision, which makes me glad to be a Nikon user... even if they do tend to lag a year behind Canon ;)

Right, far too much woffle. The last thing I want to say before I get to bed is just how many people I've met along my travels. I can't possibly name them all but a quick attempt would include Sayaka, Laurene, Conrad, Tracy, James, Quentin, "Dave", Ava, Shinpei, Ming, Xiaoqian, Vivian, YU Lu, Miss Zhang, Rusty, Michelle, Davide, Mr Haggis and a whole pile more people that I have no idea as to what their names were. I've got plenty of things to do when I get back home -- find somewhere to live, sort through my photos, get in contact with people, post photographs I've promised to post and start learning a lot more.

I'm really looking forward to it.

P.S.
This is an addition. Just as I was about to switch my laptop off and go to bed... it started vibrating... my bed that is. I do believe I've just experienced my very first earthquake. At least, the first I've been awake and known about.

The Year of the Bag

Dali, Dali, Dali. It's all about Dali.

Today was largely spent eating and shopping, with a short break for a trip to the photo shop to get two photos printed off. I was bitten there too -- while the 1RMB/photo pricetag sounds nice, it reflects the quality. As to what colour things they changed to make two half-decent looking photos look so bad, I can only guess. Both photos look like they were printed with day-glo.

Ah, well. On the whole, it's been a nice day. Breakfast/lunch was spaghetti bolognaise followed by a chocolate pancake (ah, I'm living the life out here!) followed by a whole day of shopping. For once I bought something, too! I just don't have it... yet.

While looking for a nice bag to buy as a gift I ran across some really simple yet cool-looking material bags. I practically fell in love at first sight but was disappointed that one style just didn't fit -- the strap was too short. But anyway, I've arranged to buy 23... because I can. I figure a different colour for each day of the week, some to sell to make back the money spent and maybe some more as spares. I'm getting the bus to Lijiang tomorrow and I'll stay a day or so before coming back to pick up the custom-made larger bags as well as the standard ones that already fitted. I'm not quite sure how I'll get them on the plane... but I did recall I was about 9kg under the limit on the way in... some bags and a couple of t-shirts might ever-so-slightly push me over that limit but we'll see how it goes.

But anyway, as I say, tomorrow さやか and I are headed to Lijiang, probably by minibus. It's only about three hours away, which will make a nice change. I'm not really sure what's there as I have been a little lax when it comes to reading my Lonely Planet... I'm sure it'll be really good though!

Can you hear the cold?

Dali is one of the more laid back places in China, which, compared to Thailand and (especially) Laos, is one of the most happening places to be. But Dali is a little different in a sort of York-shambles kind of way (which is the best I can come up with without mentioning cities in Laos and Thailand). I don't know about how much ganja, hash and opium gets smoked around the Shambles, but something tells me that it really isn't anywhere near as much as here!

Yesterday we, well, walked around a bit, took some photos and did little else. We headed into the new city on the bus (1元/人) so I could eat at KFC for the first time ever (or did I once go in Manchester?)! It was okay, actually, and we headed back this evening too, as I figured I was unlikely to find any more Western food for a while (and I really needed it after a week or pork fried rice and pork and pepper).

We were pick up by a guy from Arsenal called Scott, who was back in Dali for the first time in a couple of months. He owns/half-runs a bar about three doors down from our guesthouse called Bad Monkey. We didn't see much of the place yesterday when さやか and I helped him in with his bags (he gave us a free lift from the old city to Dali) due to a lack of electricity, but this evening when we popped in (it wasn't officially open, but the door was) it seemed like a nice place.

After the sucess in Laos with the motorbike I figured hiring a couple of mountain bikes wouldn't be a bad idea (and you can't go wrong for less than a pound per bike for the whole day!), but I was wrong. I ended up in agony most of the way due to the bike being so crappy but while out cycling (for no more than an hour in total, actually ;) we met quite a few people at a small village near the big lake. I've made a promise to post a couple of photos I took back to some young girls we met there. I'll also include one or two of the other half-decent ones that I hope I took. A two-hour trip around the lake was nice, but a little slow. Cheap, too, with the ticket prices starting at 100RMB each before a little bargaining got them down to 40RMB!

Like I say, Dali is fairly slow, so we've not done much. But not doing much has been good fun. It's odd, actually, because no matter how little I end up doing... I'm always busy. This is the longest I've sat still all day (apart from the boat trip, but there I had a purpose (of sorts)). Tonight I'm really looking forward to reading my book, which I had to stop a few nights ago on the bus when it got dark.

Here's to an evening as slow as the day!

Yunnan province, 中国

Wow, I'm back in China (again!). The bus we catched that supposedly went straight through to Jianghong... didn't. Instead we got dropped in Mengla and had enough time to get some food (zhu-rou he [word for pepper] ;) before turning up back at the bus station at the exact time the bus to Jianghong was due to leave.

The journey to the border on the Laos side was nothing short of treacherous but once officially outside of the country and around a bend in the road it looked like we had arrived in Disneyland... but it wasn't; it was just the Chinese showing up the Laos border by spending vast quantities of money on roads without holes and lots of flowers. From there the journey was fairly boring but the six hour trip to Jianghong (on top of the six-or-so hours we'd already spent on the bus from Laos) was fairly uncomfortable.

Once in Jianghong we escaped the mob of people wanting to provide us with lodgings before eventually accepting an invitation to look at a room with two beds, hot water, TV and a fan for just RMB30 (about GBP2) -- not bad for China! The room wasn't the cleanest in the world but I have seen a lot worse (for a lot more), so we checked in. It was only later (after finding our way to Dico's) when we were walking back that we discovered an awful lot of xiaojie (prostitutes) kicking about on the street around our hotel. If that wasn't comfirmation that the place was most likely a "love hotel" then the two empty condom packets down the side of the bed were a dead giveaway! In case you're wondering why I moved my bed... if you saw the stains from spit and phloem that were all around the room, you'd understand.

After being in Laos and Thailand for so long I really forgot a few things about the Chinese. Some (and I stress some, as it is absolutely not always the case) are the most ignorant people you might meet, as well as some of the most dirty (again, some). Xiaoxiao might argue that they don't know better about the spitting and so on, but that's just not true. It is not a problem in either Laos or Thailand where there are just as many cigarettes and arguably far lower levels of education and sanitation.

Yesterday morning we got up to find something to eat before getting the 18-hour sleeper bus to Dali at midday. I recall spending seven hours on a sleeper bus last year and absolutely hating it... but maybe I just wasn't accustomed to the alternative back then. This bus was practically the most luxurious transport I've been on since the sleeper trains in Thailand! It was roomy (to a point), I could sit up and read a book, it had a window (that opened *AND* closed!) and was generally nice. Of course, you had to try your best to ignore the sticky floor and remember that shoes are absolutely always essential.

This morning we arrived in Dali new town fairly early and spent some time trying to find our way to the Birdnest guesthouse as recommended by Vicky and Conrad back in Luang Prabang, but we eventually found out we needed to get a bus or taxi to the old town first. We did that, but still couldn't find the place so we're now in a rather nice place called The Tibetan Cafe and Guesthouse. It's in a traditional Tibetan style, the rooms are very nice and clean, if a little small. My room has a Western-style toilet, too! (had to pay extra for that, though)

While the bus was comfortable, I didn't get too much sleep, so the first thing I did was get some sleep and shortly I'll meet さやか and we'll go explore the town. On the way in I was really struck by the beauty of the place and さやか has even gone as far as calling it the Chinese Kyoto. I'm not sure I fully agree with that, but it is very nice.

Apologies for not managing to keep quite up-to-date all the time. Finding places to use the Internet now can be a hassle, especially if I want to use my own laptop. I'm also finding that there are not enough hours in the day to see and do the things that need to be seen and done without the hassle of the Internet. But I'm okay and still really enjoying myself. I also seem to have lost my Chinese SIM card so I'm a little more cut off than normal in China but for me that's no problem as you get fairly used to it in the other countries ;)

Bye bye for now. Time to see the town!

P.S. The inline image is nothing to do with Yunnan or the last couple of days. It was taken a few days ago in Luang Nam Tha, Laos. I'm fairly happy with it as it is now, but I spent only about a minute with it in the GIMP. This is the low-quality sample file tweaked and cropped a little. There is some dirt at the top left where I have gunk on my camera's CCD. With some more time I will work from the original RAW file and clean up the dirt.