http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/ A trip of global proportions en-us 2005-11-09T12:28:42-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/015369.shtml August 2005 Just because we could, we caught a train to Vienna. We were only there for a day and a half. But we explored the old town center and the famous black church and amused ourselves with trying to... Jim & Lisa 2005-11-09T12:28:42-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/015368.shtml August 2005 Leaving Krakow, we made a mistake. In an effort to conserve funds we bought second class train tickets to Prague, Czech Republic. It was a 9-hour overnight trip. The three of us, backpacks in tow, climbed onto the... Jim & Lisa 2005-11-09T12:13:58-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/015367.shtml August 05 From St. Petersburg we made our way to Warsaw. All three of us were struck by the beauty of Warsaw, the old town square is surrounded by multicolored historic buildings, art vendors and musicians are everywhere. We spent... Poland Jim & Lisa 2005-11-09T11:49:02-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/014352.shtml For our visit to St. Petersburg we had an ace up our sleeve: We had friends living there! Sally, and her husband Mike had just taken up residence in the city last May after Mike won a scholarship to... Russia Jim & Lisa 2005-08-12T12:45:18-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/014282.shtml MOSCOW - So what a change to go from the far east to the doorstep of Europe! After watching the world roll by our window for nearly a week it was finally time to engage the world again. Although we... Russia Jim & Lisa 2005-08-05T09:25:21-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/014281.shtml Ahhh, the Trans-Siberian, or more accurately the Trans-Mongolian. We climbed aboard at 7:30 AM on July 27th and the train pulled out of Beijing station exactly 10 minutes later, right on schedule. We had booked a first-class, two-bed berth, meaning... Russia Jim & Lisa 2005-08-02T08:48:08-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013990.shtml We've gotten a little behind on entries here in China because the internet connections are pretty slow...and we've been doing some traveling outside of cities....(we hope to fill in the gaps in the next couple of weeks) We leave the... Jim & Lisa 2005-07-25T06:34:34-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/014280.shtml Lisa and I left Beijing seperately: She caught a flight to Chengdu to take some Qi Gong classes and I boarded an overnight train to Xi'an the next day. Chinese trains are very clean and efficient for the most part... China Jim & Lisa 2005-07-20T07:42:44-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013991.shtml From our hostel WAY outside of Beijing we headed north to the section of the great wall at Mutianu. It is supposedly about 2 hours north of the city. However, our driver didn't seem to know how to get there.... China Jim & Lisa 2005-07-17T06:48:43-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013976.shtml Beijing: The undisputed center of the Chinese world. A city with as much history, complexity and appetite for change as China itself. We were on the outside - quite literally. While Beijing may not be China's largest city in terms... China Jim & Lisa 2005-07-16T02:45:03-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013974.shtml We woke in the early morning of July 1 and headed for the airport in Hanoi (Vietnam). By mid-afternoon we had arrived in Shanghai, China. I had booked us in for 2 nights at a REAL hotel to celebrate Jim's... China Jim & Lisa 2005-07-07T01:44:58-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013641.shtml From Hanoi we wanted to take a boat trip up to Halong bay while our passports were at the Chinese embassy getting visas affixed into them. We decided to go with a tour group (by far the easiest way to... Vietnam Jim & Lisa 2005-06-30T04:08:10-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013639.shtml I had asked a fellow traveler if I would have a hard time finding a tailor in Hoi An when we arrived...she just laughed and assured me that they would find me. She could not have been more right. Our... Vietnam Jim & Lisa 2005-06-24T03:51:28-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013638.shtml From the Mekong Delta area we found our way north-east to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city). Saigon is the craziest city that we have experienced thus far on our trip. The shear number of mopeds on the roads is outrageous... Vietnam Jim & Lisa 2005-06-18T03:16:16-05:00 http://blogs.BootsnAll.com/kemp/archives/013549.shtml The Mekong Delta area (South-west corner of Vietnam) truly is a different world. Life revolves around, and takes place on the Mekong River. We spent a couple of days floating around in a boat and exploring the floating villages and... Vietnam Jim & Lisa 2005-06-16T00:58:24-05:00