Ramblin' Man

Now that two months have gone by and I've got my sea legs, so to speak, it's time to get the hell out of Shanghai! Not back to the US, of course -- not just yet ...

1. First up is Suzhou. I plan to go on April 4th, when we have a day off work, and stay the weekend.
2. Then there's Hangzhou. Two of my co-workers graduated from Zhejiang University and they return every year to go hiking with tons of alumni, and they invited me along. A perfect time to explore the city :-) I'm not exactly sure when this will be, though.
   
3. I just finished booking my ticket for Beijing from April 25th - 29th!!! So excited. I'm gonna stay here, I think. Haha.
   
4. Speaking of The Jing (as it's known to hipster expats around here), if you've spoken to me at all in the past year, you'll know that one of my goals for this trip was to go to Dongjing (Tokyo) and see a baseball game. I don't think I ever shut up about wanting to do that, haha. Well on June 6th and 7th, the Chiba Lotte Marines are coming to the Tokyo Dome to play the Yomiuri Giants -- and I hope to be there.
5. To complete the trifecta of the 'jings, I might catch Nanjing also. (I've been told there is no such thing as Xijing.)
   
6. One of my co-workers recommended Wuxi, too.
   
7. If I'm feeling really uppity, I might just take a weekend and go to Ulaanbaatar. I have no heartfelt desire to go there, but let's face it -- I'm closer to it than I'll ever be, and Mongolia has a way higher "what the fuck?" factor than even China does. Haha. I dunno if that makes sense to any of you, but that's how I see it, lol. Plus - Genghis Khan!!
   
8. On my way back to Austin I plan to spend a couple days, at least, in Sydney. Although I have met a bunch of Aussies here and they are all hyping up Melbourne.

All I can say is -- w00t!