sabato 5 gennaio 2013

long time no see

Well, well, well...

I did not upload any info on the blog from the past year because of the lack of friendship between Google and China, but this was not the real reason, the truth is that I've stop the travelling and I am having my life in Kunming, China.

I like my life in Kunming, I am very happy at the moment and I really can't complain, I am back home in italy for Xmas with few days rest in Sri Lanka, so I have some picture to upload here, just in order to keep things going with the blog.

Tomorrow I will start my journey back to China, but I know I am gonna miss these holidays spent back home...

Enjoy and Happy 2013!

Sri Lanka - Unawatuna

Sri Lanka - a little friend 

Sri Lanka - Unawatuna

Sri Lanka - Hikkaduwa

Sri Lanka -  Hikkaduwa surfing (unfortunately not me) 

Sri Lanka -  Hikkaduwa

giovedì 5 aprile 2012

the comeback!

Hi there!

finally I've been able to come back, even if for a while! It was long long time.... too many things happened, or maybe not too much, I've just had a regular life here in Kunming, and my Chinese now it is not bad! I've been studying pretty much, working sometimes, hanging out in the weekends, and I've start to do nice things, such as playing rugby! I am still a newbye, but I am completely in, below few shot of the match we had here in Kunming against the Chengdu Pandas, in a couple of weeks we are going there for the rematch!

Cheers

Luca

The Kunming Flying Tigers, first rugby team in Kunming since world war II

Third half with Chengdu Pandas

venerdì 4 novembre 2011

Goodbye Blog!!

Avviso ai naviganti: per gentile concessione di qualcuno molto importante e molto intelligente, da dove vivo ora in Cina non posso piu' accedere a FB o al mio blog.

Due to the new internet policy in mainland China, I cannot longer use my FB and my blog. Bye

Luca

venerdì 26 agosto 2011

Visa run in Cambodia: achieved!

Hi blog,
Just come back in China from almost a month visa run in Thailand and Cambodia. I had wonderful time visiting new country to me such as Cambodia and enjoying the beach life in Thailand, so more than a visa run or a trip, it was a real holyday, I think I deserve it after long time!

For what concerns Thailand, nothing new to add, my only new discover it was Ayuthaya, great place with nice temples, a very good alternative to Bangkok that I cannot still understand, too big, too noisy, too much traffic and too hot for me.

Cambodia it was a new country to me, I had good expectations and I am happy about what I saw. I have start from Battambang, with a nice ride from the Thai border with a Toyota Camry in the company of a whole family of 8 people (all of them in the back seat of the taxi), then I went to Siem Reap with a long but wonderful boat trip, I spent few days there to visit a good buddy met in Malaysia and to see temple city of Angkor (even if I am not a big fan of really touristic attractions, I have to say that Siem Reap it well worth a visit in a life time) and then I went to Phnom Penh where I left my passport to the Chinese embassy. Then I went to Sihanukville, a good place to do nothing for 4 days and after that I come back to Phnom Phen to collect my passport and finally leave for Thailand.

What I found really amazing in Cambodia are of course the people: even if they had a tremendous past with the Khmer Rouge which exterminated one generation of people, even if they live in a country where corruption is a normal and socially acceptable behavior, even if they are poor, even if they do not have many options for the future to change their life, even if they can still jump on a mine if they walk outside from their garden, well these people are still happy because they are alive and they can enjoy life.

I can highly suggest to people who always complain about life, always sad and angry, that cannot find enough reasons to be happy, to have a nice 2-3 weeks trip in Cambodia, I think that when they come back they can see all things from different point of view.

Enjoy!

Luca


Kids in Battambang
around Battambang
Boat trip Battambang - Siem Reap

Boat trip Battambang - Siem Reap
Siem Reap
Ta Prohm Temple
Ta Prohm Temple

Boat trip Battambang - Siem Reap


Angkor Wat
5 in the morning at Angkor Wat, after I wake up at 4 to be sure to see the magnificient sunrise over the temples. In this exact moment, the screen of my camera fuck me off and from now I have to take "blind" pictures, without even know if these were good or not. I apologize with that group of Korean close to me for that loud dialoge between myself and some higher identities and all those bad words in strict Italian language.

Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm Temple
Baphuon Temple
Bayon Temple
Bayon Temple
Sihanukville
Phnom Penh, S-21
Ayuthaya
Ayuthaya

"A person is smart, but people are stupid". This is a good example.A gig of people to see what? What shitty Lonely Planet says in the bible



martedì 19 luglio 2011

notes from my year in asia

Well, well, well…. one year ago I left Italy with the idea to start a Round the World Trip and since then many things happened… First of all I suddenly realized that it was not possible for me to make a RTW trip in a reasonable time, when I was in Hong Kong I thought to have just a look into China and I finished to stay there 4 months, and only to see Yunnan and Sichuan, so I reckon that I would need something like 3-4 years to achieve my original plan. But it is not a problem at all, I like to travel slow, very slow, I like to see and too appreciate little details, so even if I will not see all the world this time, I will be happy as well, which is a good goal for this trip and in general for my life.




Then in this year I saw many wonderful places, I ate a lot of local foods, I had many meetings, most of the time with great people that I will carry forever inside me and I got a girlfriend too, not bad for 1 year of solo traveling.



Now I am in Kunming, but in 1 week I will be traveling again in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos due to my Chinese visa issues, so time to rock again!



My top 20 highlights of the first year of traveling :

- Playing the “you know my friend Tim” game during English classes teaching in Yangshuo;

- Playing basketball with monks at almost 4000 mt in Tagong;

- Finding a bunch of mountains goats in the mist at 6,30 AM during the trekking at Tiger Leaping Gorge;

- Going from 3.800 mt up to 4500 mt and back in the same day during the trekking in the Yading holy mountains;

- Carrying stones with the head for 2 weeks when I was staying in Buddhist temple in the mountains around Dali;

- Sky buring in Litang;

- Diving in Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines;

- Sunrise in Dali and sunshine in Ko Jum and Langkawi;

- Get lost with motorbike in the Boulevan Plateau and finding secret waterfalls (and getting sun burn all over my arms at the same time);

- Elephant riding in Laos;

- Hanging out with local people in Vietnam Central Highlands;

- Playing pool with Hmong people in Sapa (and discovering that the same bar went on fire at the same time I left Sapa – it was not me, I swear) ;

- Party in Pulau Perhetian;

- Get lost during bicycle riding around Shangrila mountains and in Yangshuo rice fields;

- To be up at 5000 mt in China and down to the sea at -30 mt in Philippines;

- The death bus from Shangri la to Daocheng;

- The vomit bus from Danba to Chengdu;

- The sticky bus in Philippines;

- The smile of the children and the curiosity of old people who see foreigner for the first time;

- Eating pork bbq and pork sizig with a nice ice cold San Miguel beer in Dumaguete, eating fresh giant crabs in Hua Hin, bbq in Luang Prabang and Luang Nam Tah, drinking ice coffee in Hoi An, the ice fruits and cream in Hanoi streets, eating lamb with black pepper sauce and orange tea in Cameron Highlands, eating fried noodle in Yangshuo and Shangrila, the late night dumpling with peanut sauce in Shenzen.



But maybe the most amazing thing is that it was relatively easy for me to be out hitting the road for 1 year, I still remember the fear, the big issue of leaving a secure life 1 year ago, I would have never said that it would be like this, to experience the ultimate freedom of a no stress, no commitment life.



I wish myself to be lucky enough to experience the same during next 12 months.



Luca

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giovedì 30 giugno 2011

2 months gone, time for a visa run

Now 2 months of my normal life in Kunming are gone, my chinese is getting slightly better, I watched a lot of movies, readed few books, worked a little bit, and I have start to plan my route for the visa run of next month. I will landing to Bangkok and coming back to China through Cambodia and Laos, so I wiil have the chance to see the South East Asia part I left before. Good man! Time to rock and kick ass again!!

martedì 31 maggio 2011

1 month gone

I am in Kunming from 1 month, trying to learn chinese but my level is still close to zero. I hope next month will be better. Ni hao.