Wednesday, July 28, 2010

THE MAP - Initial travel plans

So here you go.
A map, full with details of the initially planned route for my travels. At least as much details as I could afford to spend the time to put in.

I didn't end up doing the full counting - but it seems like 20~50 minority groups, ~5 religions (not including the classic 3), ~10 mountains, a few rivers, a few gorges, and quite a few villages. Should be interesting to do the hour-count for bus rides.

This is just the initial plan - so no real idea how things will actualy evolve - but should give some good context for some of the stories to come.

Here are the map - some more info and tips/ how-to-read for viewing below.

First part: Landing and starting in Kunming, ending in Chengdu.
Yunnan and Sichuan.


View Ari's China Tour - the Plan in a larger map

Second part: - Continuing from Chengdu and ending in Chengdu, going clockwise.
Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan.


View Ari's China Tour - the Plan in a larger map




The route is split into 2 maps (technical lmitations), which can roughly represent a first and a second part of the overall route, nicely split at Chengdu.
Also, I will have to leave China and come back at some point in September, due to my Visa restrictions - options for where and when are left open for now.

Once you opt into any of the map-manipulation suggestions below, you might want to use Chrome browser - for some improved performance and speed ...

You can click above any of the markers for some additional information.
Change to Satellite view ('Sat' Button) to get a quick feeler of the landscape, or go full blast and try viewing with Earth ('Earth' button).
Points marked in Trquoise are options around the main route (loosely followed rule).



Saturday, July 24, 2010

Ari's list for a trip to China

Following my mom's excellent list of to-do's and packing instructions, I'm left with supplying a short focused list:

Camera: Cannon EOS 550D

Lens: Cannon EFS 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM 
         Cannon EF 50mm f/1.8

UV Filter: Hama 72mm

Lens Hood: EW-78E

Batteries: LP-E8 x2 + Charger

Memory, Cards: SanDisk SDHC Ultra 16GB Class 4
                       SanDisk SDHC Extreme 16GB Class 10
                       Kingston SD 2GB

Memory, HD: mini/ portable HardDisk, 500GB, 
                     preloaded with Cannon SW and manuals
              USB stick: SanDisck Cruzer, 32GB

Remote:Cannon RC-6

Cables

Bag: Compact Crumpler - Jimmy Bo 300