This year, it’s Turkey!
Take a walk in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey (Bryce Edwards)
WANDERBLOG
BY ALAIN CHARTRAND
The Western New Year’s always produce some good times, but I look forward to the Chinese New Year, which happens in Asia at the end of January.
In Taiwan, many foreigners get a full week, while in the western world, it’s only a two-day holiday.For Chinese New Year at the beginning of 2005, I rode my motorcycle around Taiwan, camping along the way. It was one of my most memorable trips. I love being completely alone for days. It really gives me a chance to think about all kinds of things. Some of my friends and family thought I was crazy, but it feels great and I’m looking forward to doing it again. I’m just not sure when or where. It might be in Taiwan again. You never know.
I’ve been very busy since my recent move to China–busy at work, going out and seeing the surrounding area with some tour-guide friends. My old home, the little island of Taiwan, was great. I miss it a lot and all the friends I have there. Oh well, China is my new home now. On the other hand, I’m glad that I’m here and seeing a new part of the world.
Actually, I did plan to write a few updates about my trip around Taiwan on my motorcycle during Chinese New Year, but as it turns out, I’m the biggest procrastinator I know. I e-mailed all the pictures of my trip to myself, I just never got around to writing the updates and sending out the stories. I’ve had all those pictures in my e-mail folder for almost a year now! That’s procrastination! My life was going so fast that I just couldn’t keep up with what was happening.
My Taiwanese girlfriend, Jasmine, recently came to visit me where I live now, in Jiaxing. We had a great time. She watched some of my classes and then we took the train from Shanghai to Beijing when I had some time off. The very luxurious and comfortable commute took 12 hours–from 7 pm to 7 am. I slept almost the entire ride. We spent three days in Beijing. It was my second time there (haven’t had time to write about the first Beijing trip yet, more procrastination).
We went to the Great Wall of China, and we saw Mao Zedong, The Forbidden City, Behai Park and lots of other stuff including meeting up with my buddy and ex-roommate from Taiwan. Together, Jasmine and I went to some cheap night markets to buy T-shirts.
But that was last New Year–I’m planning to go to Turkey for the 2006 Chinese New Year. At first, I wasn’t completely sure. My friend Bruce; a fellow English teacher I met in Taiwan invited me to visit him during Chinese New Year. I agreed, but never made any concrete plans. When I decided to go, I called and e-mailed him but received no response, so I started making backup plans.
I was talking to my friend, Stacy about going to Thailand and Cambodia. Everyone knows I like to travel alone but Cambodia is one of the places where I don’t want to be alone but I really want to go there. I want to see Angkor Wat–one of the Wonders Of The World.
I eventually reached Bruce. There’s a big difference between planning a trip in your head and actually buying the ticket and deciding to go. That’s what I did.
Here’s the plan. I leave from Shanghai on January 21st and arrive in Istanbul at 4:40 am. That’s early! I’ll stay for two weeks. Bruce will be my tour guide. I’ll also have some time to be on my own as well. I’ll be joining Bruce’s sister’s wedding. That means I’ll be at a Turkish wedding. I’m sure that’ll be a crazy experience.
I did some preliminary research and here is what I found.
“Turkey is Asia’s foothold in Europe, a melting pot of cultures and a bridge between continents. Here the contemporary and the ancient, the cosmopolitan and the bucolic, the spiritual and the hedonistic come together to create a vibrant, diverse and exciting whole.”
- A brief summary I found on the Internet
“Turkey is on the Black sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean sea. It shares borders with Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. A short boat ride away you’ll find Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Cyprus, Egypt and Libya.”
– Quoted from the Turkey Lonely Planet Guide.
I’ll be leaving Turkey on February 3rd to go to Paris, France. I’ll be staying there for three days before making my way back to Shanghai. I’ll definitely be trying out that new train tunnel between England and France, I can’t wait. That’s it for now. Happy New Year’s. iT!
Alain Chartrand has been an English Teacher for five years. He taught English in Taiwan for two years then relocating to Mainland China for two years. He currently teaches English in Taipei county, where he lives happily with his wife Jasmine.
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