Back in Beijing, I had to wait almost a week to get the Uzbek visa processed. This gave me ample time to explore all the sights that are mentioned in the backpackers bible – the Lonely Planet guidebook. After trying in vain to find more sights in the French and Japanese guidebooks, I...

Visiting my brother Rene who is – by coincidence – working on a business project in Changshu, was a very welcome deviation from my current round-the-world trip. This small city (by Chinese standards) is neither featured in the Lonely Planet nor the Guide du Routard guidebooks....

So I have been rambling a lot about China in my past posts. Not all of it is that bad and I am actually collecting a list of things I do like here and which I probably will get used to and therefore might miss when leaving China. People. Chinese people usually are very friendly and helpful....

33 Million people are living in the municipality of Chongqing. That is an awful lot of people. No wonder that this place is – by some – considered as being the biggest city in the world (at least population wise). Being achieved by a paper transaction that simply extends the...

Urumqi was a surprisingly nice stay, given the fact that the only reason to come here was an administrative stop for extending my Chinese visa. The town has a lot of markets – both Chinese and Uyghur. Nevertheless, a lot of these sites have become very touristic and it takes time to look...

So there was the “Olympic Torch Relay” in Urumqi on June 17th. And I was waiting for the processing of my Chinese visa extension and hanging around the place anyway. Obviously, this Olympic event would be a welcome change from the usual sightseeing. So I was decided to join the...