Tag: travel
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Mandarin Language Scholarships
“Sometimes I ask myself if I ever really went to Mainland or whether it was all just a dream”… I’ve been studying in Taipei for about a month now and it is one of the best things I’ve ever chosen to do! I’m at NTU’s Chinese Language Division (National Taiwan University) on a Huayu Enrichment…
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Yunnan: Tiger Leaping Gorge and Lijiang
I have come to realise that I have a complete inability to say no to trips. Aside from the obvious places (Beijing and Shanghai) and a few other sites (such as Zhangjiajie and Hangzhou) I am surprisingly ignorant when it comes to places to visit in China. As such, I am really not fussed where…
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Beijing Birthday: Turning 23 in the Big City
I’m jumping around a bit in the timeline of my travels (or does it count as my travels now if I semi-live in China? Hmm…food for thought!). Anyway, my last post was about Melbourne in February. Jump ahead to March 26th and I’ve been in China for exactly a month and it’s my 23rd birthday.…
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Australia Day: Melbourne Style
After a couple of drinks in the Glenmore, I said a fond farewell to Sydney feeling relaxed as I walked along the water looking at the lights of the Opera House glistening in the water. But my quiet little walk was not to last as I had a sudden brainwave. ‘Oh no, the taxi has…
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Wonderful Sydney Take 2
After a bumpy but short flight, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I landed back in Sydney after a hot, humid, mozzy-filled day in Cairns. Despite having a fantastic time at the Great Barrier Reef and Atherton Tablelands, I hadn’t been a fan of the city itself and honestly couldn’t wait to escape.…
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你好中国! Ni hao zhongguo!
So I will catch up on the places I visited on my 11 other flights (11!) in February. However, as I’m so behind, I thought I should fast forward to the present and give some updates about life in China so far. I’m in Jinan (济南), the capital city of Shandong (山东) in China on a…
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Wallabies & Walking on Maggie
I made sure I was set up with A LOT of reading material for my penultimate, but most mammoth journey: a long 24.5 hour coach ride from Brisbane to Townsville, followed by a short ferry crossing over to Magnetic Island. Watching the scenery go past, I still felt baffled that such a long stint on the bus…
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Brisbane: The city of 34,000 steps
I said a fond farewell to Byron Bay. The Greyhound was mobbed with backpackers going to Surfers Paradise. I was one of only two travellers going all the way to Brisbane. Now, I don’t mean to judge other people’s travel decisions, but honestly why do people go to Surfers? My friend Liz had urged me not to…
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Sciatica & Surfing: Byron Bay
After falling in love with Sydney in a matter of days, I was sad to leave. Paraic and I had a great day before my bus wandering around Newtown, the student area of Sydney. With books being SO expensive in Australia (I saw a paperback I’d bought in the UK for £6.99 priced at $30…