After I graduated in December 2013 I have been doing a little freelance copy-writing, some teaching and wedding planning of course. But staying at home for these past months have been very hard for me. I don’t have classmates to talk to, I don’t have to leave my house in order to do my job. Then finally last night I had a talk with my husband and he encouraged me to make this one week trip before my graduate studies start. It’s been four years since I traveled alone and I had almost forgotten the freedom and the excitement on being on the road. From the map above you can…

Chaozhou is located in the easternmost part of Guangdong province and it has a population of 2.6 million people. It’s easy to reach from Guangzhou or Shenzhen by 高铁 (high-speed rail). The local language, Chaozhou dialect (or Teochew) is very different from Mandarin Chinese and I found it difficult to understand what older people were saying even when they used Mandarin Chinese. According to friends and readers online, eating is the main event when visiting Chaozhou. Especially seafood, meatballs made of beef and different kinds of snacks. As are pretty much all smaller cities in China, Chaozhou is a chaotic place with motorcycles everywhere. It seemed like all traffic regulations…

In four years I’ve traveled in China by train at least for 165 hours. I’ve tried soft sleeper, hard sleeper, standing ticket changed to hard seat and comfortable soft seat in a bullet train. I’ve traveled alone, with my boyfriend, with a friend and with twenty classmates. So what is train travel in China actually like? Buying tickets   The first hurdle will be buying the tickets and it’s best to buy them in advance if you want to avoid waiting at the railway station for hours (days) or settle for a standing ticket. Especially during holidays, Chinese New Year being the worst, you have to buy the tickets in…