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	<title>adventures in *</title>
	<link>http://ch4n.com/blog</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:56:10 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>8/3 a day in svalbard</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Starting off at Phippsøya, we head to the northernmost point of our voyage. Along the way, we encounter the swimming polar bear. After reaching 80.5N, we turn south to visit the Krassin marker at Beverlysundet. We end with the sighting of fin whales at 11:30pm, basked in the golden light of the midnight sun. Click [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=709</link>
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		<title>7/30 continued</title>
		<description><![CDATA[cabin 208 First impressions of the ship, it&#8217;s quite nice. I wasn&#8217;t sure what to expect, but it&#8217;s basically a 3 star hotel on the sea. My cabin has 3 beds, 1 of them a bunk. Three 1 ft wide closets, a desk, couple chairs and table between the beds. The bathroom was tiny, but [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=703</link>
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		<title>photos</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve posted some photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/alvinychan/SvalbardNorway I&#8217;ll have more updates in the next week.]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=697</link>
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		<title>7/30 setting sail</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m finally over my jet lag but now with the 24 daylight, I want to stay up all day to take photos. I got up at 7 to get breakfast then spent an hour cleaning my lenses, filters, and camera bodies. This trip I think I brought too much gear. I bought a bigger backpack [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=689</link>
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		<title>7/29 longyearbyen</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The midnight sun, hiding behind the clouds I took the 9:55a flight to Longyearbyen, arriving around 2pm. I ran into Mirjam and her friend on the plane, she was seated in the row in front of me, funny coincidence. Checked into the Radission SAS, the world&#8217;s northern most 5 star hotel. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=686</link>
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		<title>7/28 back to oslo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Stave Church near Vann Rain woke me up around 4:30, I fell back to sleep and got up at 8 to mostly sunny skies. Today I need to head back to Oslo to catch a flight to Longyearbyen the next morning. Along the way, I stopped by a couple stave churches &#8211; built in the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=638</link>
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		<title>7/27 jostedal</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I camped overnight and actually slept better than at the hotel. Woke up around 4a when it started getting light out. I met up with the Icetroll tour guides around 10 and we drove up to the trailhead with a group of 7 other people. We put in the kayaks and paddled 6 km to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=673</link>
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		<title>7/26 driving</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I picked up a Toyota Prius at the airport, I was hoping for a new Golf but it was all they had available. I had an exhausting drive to Gjerde, 445km away but it took me nearly 9 hours. The speed limit in Norway is generally 90kph on the E roads (major highways) and 60 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=671</link>
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		<title>7/25 Oslo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Only managed 2 hours of sleep, thanks to the jet lag and tram. Headed out around 8:30a to Holmenkollen, using the subway and bus. One ticket system to use the mass transportation here &#8211; bus, tram, subway, ferry. Real easy to get around. The Holmenkollen Nordic Center includes a museum of skiing. It shows the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=661</link>
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		<title>7/24 Oslo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Opera House I took the Flybussen (bus) from the airport, which is about 40 miles north of Oslo. The area reminded me of Springfield Oregon, rolling hills covered with expansive field of grass. Sparsely populated with small farms dotting the landscape. I went to check into my hotel, the Thon Hotel Europa. My room has [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=648</link>
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		<title>7/23 departure</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the North Atlantic During the flight to Philadelphia, I ordered a sandwich for lunch. As I was handing the steward my credit card, he said &#8220;I don&#8217;t need that, Ill trade the sandwich for your Blackberry.&#8221; I told him I&#8217;d be lost without it. He replied, &#8220;It&#8217;s better to be lost than to be [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=625</link>
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		<title>itinerary</title>
		<description><![CDATA[No time for Russia like I had originally planned, instead I&#8217;ll focus on Oslo and Sogn og Fjordane in the west. 2 days in Oslo, I&#8217;m going to see Edvard Munch&#8217;s painting &#8216;The Scream&#8217; at the National gallery. Then visit the Holmenkollen ski jump north of the city, great views from the top. It was [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=623</link>
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		<title>where&#8217;s the boat</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I grabbed the code from Gap&#8217;s site, this will show the MS Expedition in near real-time. Its first sailing of the season is June 30 from Edinburgh to Longyearbyen. I&#8217;ll be on the July 30 to August 7 sailing.]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=612</link>
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		<title>Norway!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I received an email from Quark Expeditions yesterday morning around 11, they&#8217;re offering the kayaking option ($500 value) for free on their Arctic cruises this summer. That got me thinking, I remembered a friend that I met on the Antarctica cruise, booked a trip for Spitsbergen awhile ago. I emailed her to see which cruise [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=598</link>
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		<title>more pictures</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve uploaded the rest of the pictures to http://picasaweb.google.com/alvinychan]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=590</link>
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		<title>2/7</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Headed to the airport at 8:30a to fly back to the states. Our flight was delayed 40 minutes due to lightning and rain. Once we got off the ground, it only took 10.5 hours to reach San Francisco, we went straight across the Pacific Ocean, rather than [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=553</link>
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		<title>2/6</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Rest day, I had dim sum with my yee-mah (aunt) and yee-jeung (uncle). Afterwards my aunt took me to a temple to bai-sun (pray). There were numerous statues of deities throughout the temple. I was told to light incense sticks and place them in containers in front of the statues. My mom asked my aunt [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=551</link>
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		<title>2/5 &#8211; Lost in Shenzhen</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After 14 long hours, we finally arrived in Shenzhen, so I thought. My blackberry went haywire the previous day. It only displayed a white screen so I wasn&#8217;t able to see what I was typing or view google maps. I had no idea where I was exactly. I asked if anyone on the bus spoke [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=549</link>
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		<title>2/4 &#8211; Bus ride from hell</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was looking at my options for getting back to HK. A flight from Guilin to HK would be 1200rmb, I&#8217;d still have to take a 1.5 hr bus ride from Yangshuo to Guilin, then another hour bus to Guilin airport. Flying to Shenzhen then bussing to HK was another option, 500rmb. The hostel worker [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=547</link>
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		<title>2/4</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I had noticed the previous day, locals would order bowls of noodles and top it with various vegetables from a table in the back. Rather than ordering the specialties, which most tourists probably get rooked into because that&#8217;s what the waitress shows them on the menu first, I tried out the noodles. It&#8217;s a rice [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=545</link>
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		<title>2/3</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I took a raft down the Li river to the next town Fuli. Had beer fish, a local specialty of carp steamed in beer, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and topped with red and green peppers. Yangshuo was full of chinese, german, british tourists. The main pedestrian road, West Street was lined with tons small shops and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=543</link>
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		<title>2/2</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Another day in Guilin, I walked to Seven Peak Park in the morning, a park dating back to the Sui dynasty. Many of the locals were out practicing tai chi. I hiked up one of the peaks where a lady was practicing chinese calligraphy with a water brush on the ground. Another group of people [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=541</link>
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		<title>2/1</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today is a travel day. I still haven&#8217;t adjusted to the 16 hour time difference, I&#8217;m going to bed at 12am after taking some melatonin, then waking up around 3 and laying in bed until 7. I took the train from Hung Hom station to Guangzhou. As we crossed the border from HK the the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=539</link>
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		<title>1/31</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I had dim sum with Grandfather and Grandmother, then spent the rest of the day walking around Central District. In the evening, I had dinner at my aunt&#8217;s again. This time, her dog bit my arm.]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=535</link>
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		<title>1/30</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My Grandfather came by in the morning to take me to his apartment at Lei Muk Shue estates. It&#8217;s a public housing development with at least 8 different buildings, with over 37,000 residents. The development had it&#8217;s own bus station terminus, shopping mall, and farmers market. I was expecting a ghetto project but it was [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://ch4n.com/blog/?p=533</link>
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