http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue Travel Blog, Tips, Culture, Gear, Stories Wed, 16 May 2012 07:10:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Travel Blog, Tips, Culture, Gear, Stories Travelogue no Travel Blog, Tips, Culture, Gear, Stories http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/some-chinese-think-im-a-uyghur-from-a-place-that-is-not-very-good/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/some-chinese-think-im-a-uyghur-from-a-place-that-is-not-very-good/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 07:02:59 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=9585 “No, American,” a Chinese friend of mine snapped at a group of young men sitting near us in a restaurant. “They said that you were from a place that is not very good,” she explained to me. The explanation was not needed, I understood what they where saying: they thought I was from Xinjiang province [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/some-chinese-think-im-a-uyghur-from-a-place-that-is-not-very-good/feed/ 3 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/the-keys-to-retiring-to-travel-the-senior-vagabond-series/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/the-keys-to-retiring-to-travel-the-senior-vagabond-series/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 03:09:38 +0000 Gar Williams http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=9586 Dump it all and GO! Dump it all! The house, the car, the furniture, and all those clothes you have in the closet that you never wear. If you want to go then do it. Dump it all and just GO! Six months ago, I sold my house, my truck, my furniture, and everything else [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/the-keys-to-retiring-to-travel-the-senior-vagabond-series/feed/ 8 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/walk-to-the-yangzi-yangtze-river/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/walk-to-the-yangzi-yangtze-river/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 13:42:24 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=9587 TAIZHOU, China- I began walking south on Hailing Bei Lu with the intention that I would not stop until I’d reached the banks of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River. I estimated the hike as being between 25 to 30 kilometers, and had a day pack on my back filled with some essentials, as I knew that I would [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/walk-to-the-yangzi-yangtze-river/feed/ 7 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/from-hungry-peasant-to-university-professor-social-transitions-in-a-reformed-china/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/from-hungry-peasant-to-university-professor-social-transitions-in-a-reformed-china/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 11:42:44 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8792 “So China has changed very fast, right?” I encouraged Professor Liu to speak. “Yes, very fast,” he replied. “Is life better now?” The professor torqued his hand quickly back and forth and replied noncommittally, “In some ways, yes, in others I’m not so sure.” We were riding a train that was speeding towards Nanjing, and [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/from-hungry-peasant-to-university-professor-social-transitions-in-a-reformed-china/feed/ 2 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/red-underwear-chinese-zodiac-year-ben-ming-nian-tradition/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/red-underwear-chinese-zodiac-year-ben-ming-nian-tradition/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 03:20:46 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8789 “How old are you?” I asked Riuwu, an accounting professor at a university in Nanjing. We’d just met on a train returning on the Nanjing – Natong extension, and this is a common question to ask a new acquaintance in China. Asking people here how old they are in this culture is also a must in many [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/red-underwear-chinese-zodiac-year-ben-ming-nian-tradition/feed/ 0 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/hiring-journalists-bloggers-and-travel-writers/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/hiring-journalists-bloggers-and-travel-writers/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 12:51:36 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8786 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/hiring-journalists-bloggers-and-travel-writers/feed/ 0 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/petra-shepard-is-becoming-a-good-traveler/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/petra-shepard-is-becoming-a-good-traveler/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 05:30:14 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8781 “Petra, we are going to a new city today!” my wife spoke to our two and a half year old daughter, Petra. “A new city!?!” she said with excitement and then scampered off to fetch her Dora the Explorer backpack. With her purple rucksack on her back she ran to the door and put on [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/petra-shepard-is-becoming-a-good-traveler/feed/ 7 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/hard-seat-class-on-chinese-trains/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/hard-seat-class-on-chinese-trains/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 10:35:14 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8775 Unless on a very long journey, when a train ticket vendor asks me what class I want to ride in I say one thing without hesitation: “The cheapest you have.” In China, this often means hard seat class. Riding hard seat in China is not as bad as it may sound — you’re not being [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/hard-seat-class-on-chinese-trains/feed/ 0 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/yangzhou-is-a-very-modern-ancient-city/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/yangzhou-is-a-very-modern-ancient-city/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 07:06:25 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8770 If any place in the world deserves to be called ancient, it’s Yangzhou. This city is so old, in fact, that when it was first conceived the Romans were just coming up with their 12 tables of law, the Maya were devising their first solar calendar, Alexader the Great was over a hundred years away [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/yangzhou-is-a-very-modern-ancient-city/feed/ 0 http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/the-electric-bicycle-revolution-in-china/ http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/the-electric-bicycle-revolution-in-china/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 10:33:39 +0000 Wade Shepard http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/?p=8765 I remember a China where the streets were full of bicycles. I remember peddling in virtual seas of thousands of other cyclists, how rush hour was a critical mass of bicycles zooming every which way, where bike lanes became roaring highways. The bicycle was the top commuter vehicle in the country, and there were hundreds of [...]]]> http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/the-electric-bicycle-revolution-in-china/feed/ 14