When I was asked by some Chinese travelers why I was writing this blog, I gave the shortest possible answer I could muster in my limited mandarin. Mainly because I didn't have the vocabulary to continue the conversation in more philosophical terms!
给自己纪念, 给别人参考
Roughly translated, it means "it serves to facilitate memories for me, and as a reference to others". Except of course it sounds much more elegant and succint in mandarin. Everything does.
I realised that I haven't delivered on the "reference" bit, not least from the way the blog is organised - chronologically with no search function or categories. A reader would have to scroll through NINE pages to get to the very first post! Heck, I had lost track of the sheer volume of content that has been uploaded over the past few months.
I've thus spent a rainy evening in Berlin re-organising everything into country-sections, clickable from the Navigation Bar at the very top. For now, it's split into China, Tibet, Central Asia, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Clicking on the country button brings up a summary page of relevant blogs, with clickable links. Also by clicking on the "more" button, the section on Visas and Border Crossings pops up.
I hope this will be helpful to future visitors. Let me know if anyone has any ideas on how to make the navigation even more user friendly. Do however bear in mind that my blogging service, Weebly, does have its limitations in website design and the templates they provide.
