Xi'an

So aside from the whole camera getting stolen incident, Xi'an is a pretty interesting place. There is a tremendous amount of old culture here (having been the capital some time ago), and there are more things to see than I even hope to have time for. Sadly I lost all my pictures of the Great Mosque and the Muslim quarter (along with the awesome food I had). Tomorrow I will go to Luoyang and from there to explore the Shaolin temple - yes, THE Shaolin temple, where Kung-Fu began. Perhaps I will take a day of kung-fu classes just to prove once and for all how crappy I am at the striking arts.

Lost memories

Today I had the unfortunate experience of getting my camera stolen right out of my bag. All it takes is a few seconds of not paying attention. I was exhausted from racing around the 14 km Xi'an city wall by bike (rental) and I had the misfortune of being distraced by a post-card vendor when it happened. I noticed too slowly, and so nothing one can do other than file a police report and hope for the best. Got to meet some nice officers in central Xi'an and who knows - stranger things have happened. In the meanwhile, gone is Guilin, Hong Kong, Macau and the tail end of Hokkaido (Sapporo and Otaru). With the exception of what I've uploaded, gone are pictures of terraced fields in Longsheng and the Yao minority tribe, the Seven Star Park, meeting all the great people in Guilin, meeting Henry and Kannie in HK and the incredibly ghetto hotel I stayed at, and lastly the fun night at A-Life nightclub in Sapporo where I saw Ukumori Tomomi perform live, met her and the DJs, and a great night hanging out with Mami and getting to know some unique places in Sapporo I would never have the chance to know about otherwise. These experiences will live on in my mind. IN THE MEANWHILE I purchased a nice new Canon Ixus70 digicam, which seems to be way better than my old one, so future pictures will be better. I shall hope that some pictures and videos I can recover from friends I met on the way.

Guilin, China

Wow - Guilin is a very pretty city. This is the China of films and dreams. The people are very friendly as well. The language barrier is tricky, but doable. I really need to study more. I had a brief scare when the backlight on my phone died (rendering it useless in all but sunlight) but it appears to have started to work for now.. I did lose my compass today though - I MUST replace that ASAP as I've gotten far too dependant on it! Tomorrow I will check out terraced rice fields and some hill tribes.. if I can wake up.

Hong Kong and Macau

Blogging has become a little more challenging, but let's catch up a bit. I was in HK for 4 days and did a quick trip to Macau. HK is a very VERY hectic city and while it is full of incredibly rude and uncaring people, there are some very nice people there as well, and lots of potential to have a great time. Henry and Kannie were both kind enough to take the time to show me some of what HK has to offer! The food is also very good, and you can buy just about anything you desire - provided you have enough money. I had the chance to taste the poor side of HK as well by staying in Mirador Mansion in a floor populated mostly by illegal African immigrants and tenants who have not paid their rent and are facing eviction. It was a humbling but welcom experience. Macau was full of casinos and you could see the massive amounts of money travelling through - unfortunately much of the Portuguese influence is superficial at best these days.

The Great Firewall

Apparently blogspot.com is blocked by Chinese government.. so I can't see what I'm posting. Things may be a little messed up until mid-July

Cheers

Japan

It is nice coming back to Japan after a 5 year pause. Unfortunately I'm not here for long. 2 days in Tokyo, 4 in Hokkaido. Met up with Tom Kalland after not seeing him for almost 10 years, back in Oslo, Norway. Spent an evening and morning in Hakodate, a romantic little city on the southern tip of Hokkaido. Too bad I'm by myself. Sapporo is a crazy city, and it kinda seems like all the yakuza moved up here, or at least they don't even make the slightest attempt to hide. Even the soaplands and other not so good things are in plain sight. I guess to me, the downtown is kind of like the Japanese version of Vegas. I am staying in a HOLE of a hotel, but it is fun - especially the lack of Western toilets. Met some cool people here tho.

Daegu, Korea

This was a short but awesome trip. It was cool seeing Woong pick me up from Dongdaegu station in his officer's uniform. Did some crazy drinking and got to see a little bit of the underside of Korean night life :), and of course have good food! Went to a random university festival and got to see some famous Korean hip-hop star perform - so famous I can't remember his name :p. Nearly got my camera stolen tho.