Introduction:

Hello readers,

Last winter, I took you to 'la belle France' where you were given an inside look into the daily life on the French countryside. The journey began on the west coast and ended in Paris. In the summer of the same year, I took you on a trip around China; it was well over 3000KM of traveling through Shanghai, Hangzhou, Putian (where I grew up), Beijing, and Xi'an, plus many small "towns" in between.

This winter, I wrote a mini-log on my travels to Cuba. There wasn't a lot of writing because I was on vacation! Summer of 2010, starting tomorrow, I'll spend majority of it in South Africa. Here I will explain my trip.

May 12: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I'll spend a night here, no, not in that hotel. Hope to take some good pictures there. Most of it will be night scene, so I dont know how they'll turn out.

May 15: Cape Town, South Africa


Cape Town is rated one of the most beautiful places in the world. I'm there to volunteer on an eco-construction project on the outskirts of Cape Town. Not really a civil engineer, but I do hope to contribute my creativity and problem solving skills. I work 5 days a week, with weekends off to spend in the city.

During the week, I'll be staying at a volunteer guest house with other international volunteers. As stated in the information package I received, there is no internet access there for volunteers. My ToSHITba laptop is still under repair; I won't have it for this trip. I'll be logging throughout my trip, but as to when they will be uploaded is uncertain.

World Cups of Soccer will take place during my stay; I hope to catch a game or two if I find some money on the ground or be a bit conservative with my spending. One of the ideas I'm chewing on is to go to the Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Invictus anyone?

The themes of this travel log will be the 'usual', consisting a bit of everything (like the France version). I do, however, feel that this one is going to have a bit more emphasis on work, economy, government, African traditions...)

Hopefully you liked my previous photography. For its size and portability, on this trip, I'll be using my Olympus point-n-shoot'er. Its quality will be lower than the Nikon D60 (used in China, Cuba), but I'm going to make the best of it.

On the way back, I'll once again go through Dubai, then to New York (which.....), then to Toronto.

Alrighty, good bye Canada! See you in 10 weeks!
Feel free to email/facebook message me for gift request or simply to say 'hi' ;)

P.S. Verse 1 will be written on the airplane. I have 12h50m to write it.