Travel Life

Settling in: After my first visit to Thailand (back in 2015), I felt like I had my fill of Southern Thailand. I was not excited about returning for another week holiday . I was willing to give the North a fair first impression though (as it is strangely different from the South). There was nothing wrong with experiences had in the past while travelling in Thailand, but I was not as interested in the party areas and full moon parties as in the past. To be honest I would not have given Thailand a second glance if it were not for the fact that two of my friends (who I was travelling with) had never travelled there. (this was one of those long walk days XD I am thrilled, just pouched-left) The flight to Chiang Mai from Dalian (Liaoning), China was a long but pleasant flight as we flew in with the ever so luxurious, Korean Air. We were going to be arriving late, this was great because we were able to align two flights within a similar time frame to meet in Chiang Mai that evening with a cou...

 Guangdong is the home to many interesting secrets and fine details of Chinese life and culture in the twenty-first century. Being someone who participates in a great amount of outdoor recreational activity, I drink a lot of water and being someone who often appreciates the legitimacy of "don't drink the tap water", I often drink NongFu Springs water. The springs, I found out this year, are actually located in a water conservation park called outside of the city of Heyuan. interestingly enough, the park is open for visitors and is actually quite nicely put together and surprisingly clean for how many tourists were coming through the area. I also reckon, the lack of tourist items available deterred people from disposing of garbage in a poor manner because there was not much in the way of garbage for them to dispose of.  Interesting thought, if tourists can't buy things that make garbage, would tourism still lead to an overwhelming acucmulation of plastic pollution? Her...

 This year our staff in the international high school took a retreat day to go into the city and have a day together. Our Principal preferred it to be professional and proactive, originally we were told we'd be going to the Ling'An Impression Garden. As a department being tired at this particular time of the year (end May/Beginning of June), we asked if there were other options, something that wouldn't require lengthy bus trips or maybe even a whole day.  The museum took the better part of 3 hours and we went for a pretty great lunch (Turkish).   It was family and friends so the couple families on staff (including my own), came along.  Sharing some of the pamphlets on the exhibitions available and some of the photos from that day. Getting to the Museum is easy enough, and it is in an excellent location for a tourist. It is next to the Flower Square in TianHe, close to the river! A trip to this great coffee and chat sort of attraction in Guangzhou is especially r...

Guangzhou "Things to Do" Double Feature Grandview Mall (TianHe Sports Complex Area) Living here in Guangzhou for the last few years, and being here through a portion of the later COVID-19 Pandemic has been an experience to say the least. One noticeable thing that has evolved/changed since what would seemingly be "life before" is the way that the malls are producing experiences for children and adults alike. Bars took a hit in China across the country during the pandemic, many closed, needed to relocate, but there was a question of "what to do with the spaces that were left vacant in plazas and malls?" It would generally be high rent properties that would seemingly close down and reopen somewhere else (usually much more inconvenient, but a good bar won't lose its patrons).  Many of the rental spaces were changed into restuarants and in other cases, children playground areas. Grandview Mall is a crazy example of a mall that seeks to keep people there wit...