I'm famous!...time to leave

Well after nearly five months of living in Xi'an, the local media has finally recognized me as the star I am. By local media, I mean the free monthly expat magazine. And by recognized, I mean a rather unflattering photo of me eating pizza at an expat Halloween party.

So without further adieu, I present my fifteen minutes of fame in China:

Xianease Expat Magazine, December 2011 Issue

Expat Halloween collage. Look closely, I'm top right of the left page.

The December issue of the Xianease makes that Halloween slice of pizza seem like it was eaten just yesterday.

In other news, I have submitted all of my grades for the fall semester. This means I can now embark on a two month whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia. Here is an outline of my itinerary:

I leave today for Kunming, the capital of China's exotic Yunnan province. I'm going by train (33 hours, wish me luck). From Kunming I will head 10 hours northwest to Lijiang to see the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I head south to the ancient town and backpacker paradise of Dali to celebrate the New Year before returning to Kunming.

From Kunming I go to Singapore (BY PLANE!), with a 20 hour layover in Hainan Province--China's Hawaii. From Singapore I will leisurely spend two months making my way back to China. I have no set itinerary or timetable for the journey, but it will go something like this:

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

Kuala Lumpur

Georgetown/Indian Ocean Beaches

THAILAND

Phuket/More Beaches

Bangkok

Chiang Mai

CAMBODIA

Siem Reap

Phenom Phen

Sinhanoukville/Pacific Beaches

VIETNAM

Ho Chi Mihn City

Nha Trang/Beaches

Hanoi

From Hanoi I head to China by train. I will stop in Guilin, a chinese city world famous for its stunning scenic beauty, before returning to Xi'an.

I won't be traveling with my computer, so I dont know how often I'll be able to update this blog over the next two months. I will make sure to take many photos along the way, and I will post them as often as I can.