Around The World With Dan Perry

Tensions have been rising on the Korean peninsula. What are our options? My guest Jeremiah Jenne is a historian living in Beijing. He has been to North Korea multiple times, including just a few weeks ago (I have been there as well). Jeremiah laid out three potential military strategies for the US to intervene in North Korea; unfortunately, all of these options are various shades of terrible. He also talked about diplomatic strategies, which also are controversial and risky. Jeremiah has several other projects in Beijing. He runs a small company called Beijing by Foot, which gives walking tours of historical sites in Beijing. I went on one of these tours to the Summer Palace and thoroughly enjoyed it; highly recommended for anyone who wants a taste of old Peking. Jeremiah's blog is Jottings from the Granite Studio. This includes the writing he does for other publications, as well as his Podcast, “Barbarians at the Gate.”  

My guest today is Gigi Wong. Originally from Hong Kong, she currently lives in New York, where she works with first-tier Chinese real estate developers. We spent most of our time talking about a trip Gigi took a few years back. Starting from Beijing, she rode the Trans-Siberian railway to Moscow. From there she headed into Finland, Estonia, Germany, Austria and Turkey. She still wanted more adventure, so after Turkey, she traveled to the little-visited countries of Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan.

My guest MCK runs a program called Bounce. Basically, it's a twenty-minute conversation in which he listens to you and asks you the right questions to work through whatever's on your mind. He and I did a Bounce session at the beginning of this podcast and it was very helpful. We also touched on many other travel related topics. Special Offer! For one week after this podcast is released, MCK will give you a twenty-minute Bounce session, and you can pay whatever you think it's worth. Head on over to http://mck123.com/1000t for more info.  

Matthew Clausen and I recorded this podcast on a dark and breezy night, while sitting atop the Great Wall of China. We had just finished a long day of trekking on the wall, starting at the popular restored section of Mutianyu, and ending at “wild” Jiankou. We had a fantastic time reminiscing his week-long visit to Beijing, culminating in this outdoor adventure. We also discussed rock climbing, our views on what it means to travel, and much more.  

My guest today is Tamara Gil, a multimedia journalist based in Beijing, China. Tamara and I had a long and interesting conversation, during which we covered quite a large number of topics. There's a lot more info available on my website.

My guest today is Sean Kelly. He's an art teacher in Beijing, China. He has also lived in Shanghai and Costa Rica. We talked about life here, living on campus, travel and a few interesting movies that remind us of China. Thanks for your support!  

My guest today is Moisés Santiago. We touched on a variety of topics, including being a teacher in China, spaying your cat (not for the faint of heart), staying calm in stressful situations, and the importance of maintaining possession of your passport while traveling abroad. It turns out that both of us have had the pleasure of losing our passport, though his experience had significantly worse consequences than mine. Moisés was an awesome guest and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.

Mirco Tranchina has lived in China for several years. Since coming here, he has become fluent in Chinese, and he is now on a TV show. He also has a full-time job, and he's finishing his master's degree. Fun fact: So far, Mirco has lived in ten different apartments in Beijing. Luckily, he was able to take some time out of his busy schedule to record this podcast. We had an awesome conversation; I hope you enjoy it.

My guests today are Erin Draycott and Connor Grill. They have both been living in Beijing for several years. I sat with Erin and Connor on the roof of their hutong apartment for a conversation about travel. We touched on many subjects, including their recent trip to Israel.

My guest today is Li Song Mei. I met her through Arthur, her former teacher, who was on episodes 30 and 31 of the podcast. Li Song Mei is from a small village in Guizhou Province, China. She's currently in grad school in Beijing.   Li Song Mei is a member of the Hmong (Miao) ethnic minority group. We discussed a lot about her culture, including the largest traditional Hmong festivals.  

My guest today is Morgan McKinnon. She has been living in Beijing for over four years. We talked a lot about expectations versus reality in moving to China, and some of the great and not-so-great aspects of living here. One of Morgan's many messages is that you have to keep challenging yourself. Following her own advice, she'll move to Morocco next school year, where she'll start the next chapter of her life.  

In this episode of the podcast, I talk about my bicycle trip with Katie through Yunnan Province in China. We bought folding bikes for the Chinese New Year, loaded them with gear and took off for a two-week adventure. At least that was the plan. While the trip was basically a disaster, we did learn some valuable lessons (or at least some of our previously-learned valuable lessons were reinforced): Most people are good. They'll encourage you and look out for you. Especially when things are going badly. I think people can feel it when you're down on your luck, and they'll do their best to help. That's the nature of humanity. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. When things aren't working, don't be afraid to change your plans. That's how we stumbled upon the Jingpo festival, as discussed in the podcast  

 This is my continued discussion with Arthur and Xiao Ni. Xiao Ni continued to impress me with her stories. Unfortunately, as she sojourned through Turkey and Lebanon, she was plagued by misfortune and people of ill repute. Maybe the theme for this show should be “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.”  

My guests for the next two podcasts are Arthur and Xiao Ni. After a long career in Seattle, Arthur came to China to volunteer with the Peace Corps. Nowadays, he spends large portions of his time volunteering at a university in Guiyang, a “small city” of 3 million in Guizhou province. Xiao Ni is Arthur's former student. She didn't want her whole life to be planned for her, so after college, she decided to go on a long journey around Tibet, India, Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt. All she needed was a way to pay for it.  

My guest for this episode is Rimvydas Markevicius from Lithuania. We had a great time discussing his country, my country, and China, where we both currently live. We also got a bit philosophical at the end, when we went over our motivations for traveling, and the question every traveler needs to ask him/herself every now and then: is the reward of travel worth all of the trouble? Listen to find out our answers.

My guest for this episode is Fei Fei Huo (霍婉菲). She grew up in Chengdu, China and has traveled to many parts of Europe. We recorded this podcast while sitting by the river in Shaxi, China at the end of yet another picture-perfect day. Our discussion was mostly about cultural differences between East and West, and she taught me a lot. You can even hear my moment of epiphany when I learned why Chinese people sometimes say things that don't make any sense to my Western brain. If you enjoy this discussion even half as much as I did, then we're off to a good start.

My guest for this episode is Carol Woo (胡宝娟). She grew up in both Guangdong province (China) and Hong Kong. She's quite artistic – she organizes theater performances for international audiences. For now, she's helping to run the Horse Pen 46 hostel in Shaxi, Yunnan Province, which is where I met her. We had a fun and lighthearted conversation in the hostel's coffee shop.  

My guest today is Kathy McGowan. When I met her, she had just finished a three-year stint of living in a “small” city in China (population 3 million), and was relaxing in Shaxi for a few days before heading to New Zealand. The thing that struck me about Kathy was her willingness to just pick up everything and move. She's lived in over fifty houses, and counting. We talked about a few of her former homes (including India and Malta), as well as what's up next for her.

We have a different format for this episode of the podcast. I was sitting in the market square of Shaxi China, drinking coffee and having a chit-chat with four new friends. We decided to record our conversation, which I'll call our “Coffeecast”. Joining me were Kathy, an English woman staying at my hostel, Hugh and Pauline, cycle-tourists from England, and Liam, who you met during the last podcast. I hope you enjoy our talk. I might do more Coffeecasts I the future.

My guest for this episode is Liam DelMain. I met Liam at the Horse Pen 46 Hostel in Shaxi (沙溪), Yunnan Province, China. He calls Minnesota home, though when he was still a toddler, he lived in Beijing for two years with his family. He has returned to China almost every summer since. Having been raised between two different cultures, Liam has a lot of insight into these disparate worlds.