Holiday Approaching, Signing Off

The last class ended today. As it so happens, the long-anticipated winter holiday break is finally here! As I've mentioned repeatedly in this blog:

1) The weather these days have been bone-chillingly cold and it hasn't let up
2) Work has been busy and I haven't had a break in ages
3) Warm weather and relaxation awaits.
4) The beginning of the holiday has some uncertainty as to how I'll be leaving!

For the details of how this trip unfolds, please point your browsers to:

http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/Xujiahui/blog-555712.html

Unlike this blog, there will be more pictures posted there, and it's also going to be duplicated to the Crazy Guy on a Bike website.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com

The thing is, however, both of those blogs won't get many new updates. While first landing in Thailand I'm going to get on facebook, sort out all the past crap with my account, and rejig the security settings. Once that's straightened out, I'll post a general entry to the blog about how I left China during the winter weather, and we'll leave things at that.

The rest of the updates won't happen until a month later once I've got all the photos and can work from there directly.

I'm more or less taking a hiatus from the internet for the next month. The laptop and cell phone stay here, and the only electronic thing going with me is a camera.

The one benefit of facebook and other net access being blocked in China is that it's possible to live without it. Similarly, a backpacking type of vacation need not be tech-laden, and it can do without all those gadgets. I read a recent article about how today's backpackers carry around gadgets, cell phones, noteboook computers, Ipods, Skype, GPS and many other things. It can be an advantage on occasion, but it's now gotten to a point where you've never really out of touch, and people expect you to always be in touch. Not this time -- I'll be disappearing off the radar for awhile.

See you in a month's time.