Eric's Beijing Diary

Reflections on a Wandering Life.....

001 Shanghai to Beijing — August, 2004: My first summer trip to the west took me to Yunnan Province. In Dali, I had a hard time buying a ticket to Beijing, so I bought a ticket to Shanghai, believing (correctly) that it would be pretty easy to get a ticket bsack to Beijing once I got to Shanghai. Blessing in disguise, because I got into Shanghai at 7 in the morning, bought a ticket to Beijing on the evening train, and then got to spend the day at the Bund.
002 Zhengzhou to Kaifeng — July, 2005: I was teaching an extension course in Zhengzhou for the software college, and I had a day off, so I took the train to Kaifeng to find the Kaifeng Jews.
Afghanistan: My interest in Central Asia really began with my trip to Kashgar in 2005. But my interest in Afganistan in particular began with the sad realization that so many, many kids in that country have very limited opportunities for education.