Vagabond Journey Weekly Roundup – January 28 to February 3, 2013

What happened this week on Vagabond Journey:

The week started out in the same place last week ended: in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, PRC. Last week I was grounded by smog, this week I was halted by the Chunyun, the world’s largest human migration. I would rather hide away in my apartment and wait a couple of weeks than have to use a body stand or stuff my head inside a pillow to escape the agony of traveling with a billion other people. But this did not stop me from enjoying my walks and bike rides around Taizhou, and I found myself at a traditional funeral and in the practice space of a group of traditional musicians who were playing old songs from old times. I have to say, though, that I miss the connections and hook ups that I had during my days as a career study abroad student, and it brought back memories when Tristan Hicks submitted an article about how to study abroad multiple times and still graduate on time. Though not even the professors that I had while studying in Hangzhou could give much advice about how to deal with China’s contaminated food problem, and not even buying imported foods seems to be a satisfactory strategy. Hey, at least China is still a cheap country to live in and we can all escape for a few moments of humor with Laowai Comics.

In other news, the white collar class of Jakarta is in a row over the fact that a recent government proposition will begin paying scavengers nearly as much as them to clean the streets. But this doesn’t even begin to compare to the fact that Tibetans had their passports were confiscated on a ruse and not returned. While all of this is going on, Dave from Thelongestwayhome.com visited a living goddess in Nepal.

But don’t worry, we all wish that we could be back in the USA drinking beer with our friends and family for the Super Bowl today. Just remember, if you get tired whatever old, washed-up performer they have doing the half time show this year, feel free to come on over and read about Bali’s traditional markets.

Above all, don’t be afraid to stand out in the crowd and use being conspicuous to your advantage.