- edited on Friday the 3rd of July 2009 -

As everyone of course knows, itineraries are the sort of thing that are highly prone to variations; hence the famous quote from the movie ‘Darjeeling Limited’ from Wes Anderson: “fuck the itinerary”… But at least I can try to keep it updated!

• May 6th: Go to Norway to visit my girlfriend’s (Sabrina) family, and maybe get some Scandinavian  fresh air and smoked salmon. -DONE-
• May 18th: France! Back home for 3 weeks. A good opportunity to finalize my website, see my friends and family. -DONE-
• June 11th: Going to China for the second time! This is the core of this year’s travelling for me. My draft plan is this following itinerary:
  • Stay about a week in Beijing, meet some friends and do the last preparations. -DONE-
  • June 17th: Start by Xi’an, the ancient capital of the Chinese Empire, and for a long time the final destination for the traveller on the silk road. -DONE-
  • Travel west to Xinjiang!!!
  • June 19th: First stop on the Silk Road = Tianshui, where some Buddha cliff caves are hanging around. -DONE-
  • June 22nd: Zhangye, described wrongly as colorful by the Lonely Planet… A big Buddha sleeps there (35 meters!). -DONE-
  • June 23rd: Mati Si, a series of grottoes/temple in the middle of a cliff, surrounded by alpine scenery. -DONE-
  • June 24th: Jiayuguan, with its historic fort guarding the Silk Road… -DONE-
  • June 25th: Dunhuang, one of the hubs of the Silk Road, with the Mogao grottoes and super cool sand dunes and camels… The occasion to rest a bit for a couple of days in this oasis. -DONE-
  • July 1st: Turpan, the historic oasis on the Silk Road… -DONE-
  • July 3rd: Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Uighur Region. Objective: renew my visa!!!
  • Maybe actually go to Almaty, the ex-Capital of Kazakhstan. Weather and authorities permitting I will also try to cross the Tibetan area of Southeastern Qinghai and North-west Sichuan to finally reach Hong Kong in the end of the august.
• September 1st: City University of Hong Kong… I will study for a semester as an exchange student with Sabrina who will be coming straight from Uganda. What an international internationalism!
• September to December: This semester will hopefully give me the chance to go to Philippines, Burma, and other places of South East Asia… It’s going to be a busy studying/traveling semester.
• February 1st: Hello American University of Cairo!!! If the first semester wasn’t enough now it’s gonna be Egypt for 4 months, with quite much traveling around and diving in the red sea…

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