Where to start! It was all amazing, the great aussie people, the fab weather, the cute kangaroos and kaolos and beautiful coasts.

We arrived into North Queensland after successfully getting through customs on 14th Feb and settled into the chilled life of Cairns. The salt water lagoon pool, the many bars, outside BBQ areas and best of all the Great Barrier Reef.

For my 25th Birthday we took a boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for an introductory dive and snorkel. We stopped at 2 different sites and managed to see loads. It was like being in the film ‘Finding Nemo’. Our introductory dive was awesome we went right to the bottom where we could see clown fish snuggled up in anemia and got to touch a giant clam which instantly snapped shut, it felt wierd and squidgy. A great way to spend your birthday

Our Jucy campervan was one of the best things and worst things in Australia, it was tiny but had everything we needed from a kitchen sink to DVD player. Our first adventure in the van was through the Atherton Tablelands just south of Cairns which was gorgeous but with seriously bendy roads, 282 bends to be exact. We stopped the night in the Crater Lakes National Park by Lake Eacham which was just like paradise. The lake was surrounded by a rainforest and grassy patches perfect for a picnic. We swam in the lake with the tiny saw shelled turtles under the stars and dived into the lake from the overhanging trees… Blissful!

Next on our 7 week trip down the East Coast was to Yungaburra Historical Village to try catch a glimpse of a platypuss and to drive along the waterfall circuit. The best was Millaa Millaa Falls which had a huge water fall with a small swimming hole at the bottom which was absolutely freezing, we enjoyed some yummy pancakes after for pancake day from the gas cooker in our camper.

One of the nicest camping spots we found was at a campsite on Mission beach, surrounded by palm trees, the deserted golden beach and thousands of ugly cane toads.

We detoured away from the coast to visit the huge Wallaman Falls, it had a spectacular 270m drop where water cascaded over and plumeted into the bottom.

The next stop was at Townsville Queenslands 2nd largest town which was similar to Cairns with a long esplanade walk way with gym equiptment all along it, plenty of BBQ stations, a water play park and a huge swimming rock pool free from stingers. There were stinger safety boards all along the esplanade identifying all the different jelly fish and telling you what to do if your stung from swimming in the sea.

We stayed a few nights at Airlie Beach, Mackay, Rockhampton, Agnes Waters and Town of 1770 before we reached Bundaburg. We loved the little hill billy town of Bundaburg because it had ‘Mon Repos’ the turtle breeding area. We booked into do a turtle night tour at 7pm, we had to wait for the rangers to spot some turtle activity on the beach and monitor the turtles nests. We were luckly we only had to wait an hour some people are there till 2am before anything happens. February was the month for hatching. Mummy turtles nest from November and start to lay their eggs in December so we were both really excited to see some baby hatchlings so we had our fingers crossed it would happen tonight. We couldn’t have wished to see anymore than we did it was fantastic, we headed out onto the beach led by one torch light to keep it as dark as possible and we gathered in one circle. The ranger then faced her torch into the middle of our circle where there were about 100 new born turtles, they hatched out of their nest only 15 minutes ago but had shuffled down the beach and got caught up in some rocks so they had been moved to a safer part of the beach and kept here so we could watch their journey into the sea. The rangers took a couple out so we could see them close up and hold them. They were tiny and easily fitted into the palm of my hand. They were covered in sand but you could still see there small shell and feel how strong their fins/legs were.

They have enough energy in them to last 3/4 days to get down the beach into the strong waves until they make it into the deep ocean. We lined up in 2 lines down the beach and switched our torches on to guide the turtles into the water, as they follow the lights which would normally be the moon light on the sea. The turtles were released and made a mad dash down the beach, they took about 5 minutes shuffling down between us and then plunged into the waves getting washed up back on shore several times. It was amazing, one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

We then carried on walking along the beach and to our surprise a late Mummy turtle had made it’s way up the beach to lay some more eggs. We caught her after she had layed her eggs but watched her scooping sand up with her huge fins and covering her eggs up. We watched her leaving her eggs and dragging herself back off to sea. The eggs were too far down the beach in danger of getting washed away so we stayed to help the rangers relocate the eggs.

We carried on down the coast stopping at Hervey Bay where we took a day trip over to beautiful Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the world´s largest sand island, 123km in length and 22km wide. Although the island is very green with a rainforest the base is all made up of sand. We took the 30min ferry and docked at Wanggolba Creek where we boarded our tour bus. We soon reached 75 mile beach which had beautiful white sands, the beach is the islands main road so all road rules apply with a 80kph speed limit. Our 1st stop was to see the Maheno ship wreck, the cruise liner was struck by a cyclone in 1935 and was washed ashore and has been here ever since.

Next was to the amazing Eli Creek which flows at the rate of 4.2 million litres of water an hour, so it was basically a natural lazy river. We walked up it and then jumped in and floated like a cork all the way back down to the beach. The water in all the creeks are so fresh and clear and clean enough to drink.

We spotted some dingos on the beach napping in the sun, they look just like domestic dogs but can be as aggressive as a wolf.

After a buffet lunch we wandered around central station’s mini rainforest which had more crystal clean creeks flowing through them and filled with talls trees of all kinds including Kauri Pine, Piccabeen and Scribbly Gum trees.

Our last stop was the amazing Lake McKenzie, sparkling blue water ringed by white sandy beaches. The base of the lake is coffee rock which is formed by sand cementing together and rainfall collecting in it, the rainfall is then filtered through the organic sand rock, so it was just like swimming in a lake full of evian water. You could see right through it, it was paradise!

We drove through Maryborough ‘Mary Poppins town’ making a quick stop and then stopped at Noosa Beach on the Sunshine coast. Noosa was a surfer’s dream town, we decided here would be perfect to practice our surfing skills. We headed to Noosa Spit where it’s good for beginners and rented a 9m board to start with. After a few goes we were standing up quite steadily so after an hour we swopped the board for a smaller 8m one which was better in the big waves but a lot harder for us to stand on. After 4 hours we were quite pleased with ourselves having caught quite a few big waves but were absoloutely shattered and stinging from many small jelly stings.

After a few days along the Sunshine coast we hit Brisbane City. We spend a day in the city by streets pool an artificial lagoon with a sandy beach, walking along the riverside boardwalk and over Victoria Bridge to the main busy shopping streets. The city had some cool old buildings and little churchs which gave it some character.

We then drove an hour out of the city to Jimboomba where my Cousin Brent and his family lived. We stayed here a week in our own room giving us a break from the camper. I had never met my cousin before so this was a fantastic experience meeting his partner Mary and their adorable little boy Blake and being spoilt with Brent’s amazing BBQ’s.

While we were there we took a trip up to Tamborine Mountain, at the top were little boutique shops and cute cafes. We walked along gallery walk and after a mooch around the chocolate shop, fairy shop, cheese factory and winery we went to the brewery for a tasting session. On the way down the mountain we stopped to walk around the Cedar Creek Circuit where there was a tumbling waterfall, mini rock pools and a boardwalk through open rainforests.

All 5 of us went to the Lonepine Sanctuary at the weekend which was a small zoo. There were loads of cute koalos clinging to the trees with their fluffy grey bums sticking out. The best part was getting to hand feed the friendly Kangaroos. We had seen plenty out in the wild along our travels but never this close. Their fur was really soft and they ate the pellets of food out of my hand gently. We even seen a baby joey hanging out of its mummy’s pouch.

Then we hit the amazing Gold Coast which we loved. We had another week out of the camper while we stayed with friends Kim and Byron who we met on our African tour in September. We had a mega chilled out week going to Wet N Wild and Dreamworld with the scary tower of terror rides. They were a 2 minute bike ride away from the beautiful beaches of Miami and Broadbeach on the gold coast so we made a picnic up one day and explored the coast line on bicycles. We cycled up to Surfers Paradise which was about 10km away and mooched around the many shops and then went for a dip in the sea and got beaten up by the huge waves. A big thank you to the fantastic hosts Kim and Byron

Before we left Kim and Byron we headed to Byron Bay (entering New South Wales) with their friends at the weekend for a night out. The lads went out surfing in the day while us girls do what we do best, shop. Byron Bay is a great place for a weekend out, it’s filled with little boutique shops and loads of cafes and bars. I’v now found my new drink which seems quite popular with the Aussie girls, vodka, water and lemon. I didn’t have much of a hangover the next morning. We stayed in Byron Bay for a couple more days and enjoyed the sun, sand and little beach coves. We wandered along the coast and up to the lighthouse to gaze at the views of the gorgeous beaches.

Our next stop was Coffs Harbour where we were greeted by a huge banana, the towns icon. We found a lovely camping spot by a grassy park and a large water creek where the locals were fishing. We continued driving down the coast to Port Macquarie a small but charming town. We arrived just in time for feeding time at the Koala Hospital. There were about 10/15 Koalas there in total being looked after then rereleased into the wild. We learnt all about Koalas, their habits and watched some older ones being fed their daily milk through a syringe, they loved it.

We wandered along the pretty shore which were lined with big boulders and everyone of them had been decorated with painted pictures and messages from the locals some of them were fantastic, the boulders filled the shore for 2/3km and there was not one free boulder for us to paint.

That night we went into the small observatory that held public viewings on this particular night. An astronomer gave a short insightful presentation, showed us a huge piece of meteorite which was ridiculously heavy and then we had chance to look through the telescope. It was first pointed at the Nebula, the 3 stars making up Orion’s sword handle then we reposioned it so we could see the Jewel Box which is a cluster of yellow, orange and red stars. We found a camping spot at Flynn’s Beach within steps of the beach and we were able to sleep to the sound of the crashing waves.

We spend a couple of nights in Newcastle camping at Nobby’s Beach and chilling out on the beach and watching the big fishing boats sailing by. The water here was freezing compared to up North which meant more sharkies, we still braved 15mins playing in the huge waves. We could have a proper swim in the Ocean Baths a huge swimming pool using the sea water which was still freezing so you had to keep swimming.

Before starting our adventure in Sydney we had one last night in the camper at Manly just 30mins out of Sydney. I’m glad we stopped here as it was lovely, white sandy beaches, harbour filled with little yet expensive yaghts and bars and restaurants covering the wharf.

We were glad to say goodbye to our tiny Jucy Camper and check into a hostel. Even if it was just the 2 of us sharing a single bottom bunk in a dorm room. We spent 4 days exploring Sydney, and could have spend a lot more time it was one of the nicest cities I’ve been to mainly because of the magnificent harbour with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We walked all around the Opera House admiring it and taking loads of photies then up to Harbour Bridge to see it from up high. This area was lovely at night time, Harbour Bridge was all lit up twinking in the water and the Opera house looking even more grand in the spotlights. The best viewing place was through the botanical garden at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair where you could see both the Opera House and Harbour Bridge together.

Darling Harbour was just as pituresque and chilled out, we sat here and enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere while a magician performed one side of us and a group of breakdancers the other side. We also stumbled across a huge celebration of the Indian Holi Festival in Darling Harbour where they throw paint powder everywhere and over everyone. There were 100′s of people celebrating, we just happened to be in the right place when a flash mob of bollywood dancers broke out into a fantastic dance.

We left the busstling area and busy array of cafes, restaurants and bars and walked across the bridge to Cockle Bay Wharf. From here we walked up through Martin’s Place which is filled with huge monumental buildings, along Elizabeth street to Hyde Park. In here was the fascinating Anzac Memorial to honor the soliders of war. Inside the entire ceiling was made up of 120,000 gold stars one for each of the war veterans. At the end of the park was St Mary’s Cathedral which had stunning stain glass windows. We walked along Mcquarie road where the library, Mint Museum, Hospital and Parliment house all were in tall grand buildings. We spend a hot and sunny day at Bondi Beach, where we had one of our last sunbathes before chilly New Zealand.

Our last stop in Australia was Melbourne in Victoria, we arrived late at night and finally settled after having to change hostels because the one we booked was filthy and smelly. Apart from that Melbourne was gorgeous, it was filled with alleyways bursting with little cafes, cake shops and chocolatiers.

We happened to be there when it was the Melbourne Comedy Festival ‘Big Laugh Out’ so we bought tickets to one of the gigs which was absolutely hilarious and we watched several free live performance at Federation Square while chilling out on the deck chairs.

There is a lovely walkway area along the Yarra river which is full of bustling bars and restaurants and has the largest casino in the southern hemisphere. The river walkway also leads onto Kilda road the art district area which was a good half day out. We ventured into the queen victoria market which was packed full of goodies including clothes, souviners, sweets, meat, cheese and wine. We stocked up on fresh fruit and I got a new battery for my watch so nothing exciting. We took the tram one day to St Kilda Beach, we had a picnic and walked up to the new pavilion on the pier. There was a small boardwalk over to the rocks which had a colony of small but adorable Fairy Penguins underneath. We had a go at a game of bowls, I just about got the hang of it just as it was time to go. Andy thought he was great winning 10-3.

Our time in sunny Australia was up, even though it hurt our budget it was fantastic and we’ll definately be coming back!

Our first stop was to the Harbour Front which had a huge shopping mall (there are fancy malls all over Singapore) this one was called Vivo City where we found a ‘food republic’ a food court selling all kinds of yummy asian food. There was a pretty boardwalk leading over to Sentosa Island from the Harbour which led to Universal Studios which is where we went the next day for some fun and adrenaline.

The best rides were Human Vs Cylon and the new Transformers 3D ride, Andy had to have his hand stamped to go on the Human Vs Cylon ride because he was too tall and could only sit in the middle seats or on the front row. That night we headed back to Harbour Front and sat by the waters edge to watch the fireworks from Sentosa Island.

Marina Bay is the place to be in Singapore, and probably the most photographed area. In the centre of everything was the amazing Sands Hotel which was 3 tall skyscrapers with what looked like a ship balanced across all 3 towers, I think it was suppose to be a spaceship. There was also a football stadium with the actual pitch in the water, when a game is on there are boats out there fetching the balls that go over. The whole area was extremely modern, with big glass building and fancy theatres. We visited the weird Merlion statue which is half fish half lion, we then watched a live band audition from an outside theatre and then saving the best till last we took the lift and rode up to floor 57 of the Sands Hotel. Up the top was the sky bar and a big viewing platform and wow it was high, you could see all of Singapore from up there. My ears must have popped at least 3 times on the way back down.

We past through China Town which was covered in decorations from their New Year. This year they celebrated the year of the dragon so there were huge dragons everywhere.

On our last day we visited Singapore Zoo which was amazing, all the enclousures are really big and all the animals seemed well looked after. The best part was the free ranging Orangutans island with a boardwalk right through the middle. We managed to get our picture taken with a group of them including 2 little babies. To our dissapointment we weren’t allowed to hold them or take them home. We got to see the lions, jaguars, cheetahs, dragon lizard, monkeys, crocs, white rhino and chimps all getting fed so we had a pretty good day to end our time in Singapore.

We were very very lucky to have landed into Malaysia at this time of the year, as it was the Hindu festival ‘Thaipusam’ which happens only once a year and is only this crazy in Malaysia. The festival’s activities happen at the Batu Caves but all throughout the streets of Kuala Lumpur everyone seemed to be celebrating. We walked through China Town where party poppers were popped, colourful confetti lined the streets and chinese dragons were dancing for crowds.

Thaipusam festival is about showing your full endurance, penance and to thank one of their gods Lord Murugan. We went up to the batu caves in the late afternoon to escape the hot sun. The festival started the night before with a procession carrying a huge chariot 13km from KL centre up to the caves and goes on for 3 days non stop. We soaked up the festive atmosphere and made our way over to the entrance of the cave which is guarded by a 43m high gold Murga statue. There was 272 steps leading up to the cave and these were constantly rammed with people going up and down. There were 3 lanes, the left side was for Hindu’s carrying gifts for the God, middle for general public and right side for coming back down.

Before the devotees reach the steps they walk past the crowds and get themselves into a trance through chanting and the playing of drums, some of them were so tranced they looked like they were on drugs… Seriously weird! The reason they brought themselves into this trance like state is so they wouldn’t feel the pain when they pierced their bodies. Some pierced their tongues and cheeks with skewers and other more devoted hindu’s were pulling along small chariots by metal hooks fastened to their back skin. A couple of guys had about 100 hooks attatched to their back along with roses dangling from them. Apparently they don’t feel the pain because they are in a trance. Those who don’t want to pierce their body carry a home made Kavadis a heavy metal frame attached to their upper bodies which holds an elaborate decoration above their heads. The majority of Hindu’s there don’t go as far as all that to show their devosion they simply wear the orange colour symbolising reunication and carry silver pots of milk on their head up to the cave.

At the top we witnessed Hindu’s being brought out of their trance and getting all the hooks and skewers removed. This was by far the weirdest thing I have ever seen! As soon as they are removed hot ash is applied to the wound and what I could not believe or understand was that there was no blood at all. When they started coming out of their trance they seemed to go all weird and many fainted, some had their tongues hanging out and were pacing around chanting. I managed to record a guy coming out of his trance so I can share with you this weirdness.

After our crazy first day we spent the next couple of days exploring the rest of Kuala Lumpur. We ambled around vibrant china town where we were staying and through Petaling street which was full of market stalls, we picked up a handfull of £1 DVD’s for our camper when in Australia. We ventured over to Merdeka square a former cricket ground and where Malaysia celebrated independance in 1957.

We were amazed at how big the Twin Patronas Tower were, they were massive!! We went to the traders hotel and up to the swanky sky bar where we enjoyed a tiger beer in full view of the towers which are beautiful when lit up at night time.

We enjoyed some delish cheap Indian food on Bintang road while looking at the hand painted peace bears. The bears have been travelling all around the world to promote peace, there was a bear from every country so you can imagine the place was filled with bears.

The lake gardens is a popular place for an afternoon chill out, so thats exactly what we did. First we had a play in the astronomical centre a fun space themed area where we had fun in the no gravity zone and being sucked into an astronaut toilet. We found a peaceful spot in the botanical gardens by the lake, rainforest trees and sunken gardens filled with exotic flowers. We walked through the deer park on the way out which was filled with cute little bambi’s.

We visited the national Mosque, ‘Masjid Negara’ one of South East Asia’s largest mosques. It has a magnificent 18 point star dome which is a turquoise colour. To enter we had to be dressed in muslim clothing, we looked very funny. The mosque was stunning, the main prayer room was surrounded by a glistening pool moat and 5 pillars symbolising the 5 areas of Islam. A guide took us under his wing and taught us the beginnings of the Islam faith for which he was very passionate for. It was really interesting and I now know a lot more about Islam that I didn’t know before.

Before getting on our bumpy sleeper train to Singapore we went to central market and China Town to grab some last minute fakes, a few pairs of sunglasses (£1 each) as we seem to lose them or brake them frequently and a Mont Blanc pen for Andy.

We spent just over a week in Cambodia, firstly in the Capital of Phnom Penh. We stayed near the river where there was a row of restaurants and bars, everywhere else in the city was dug up roads with no pavements, littered with rubbish and an awful lot of homeless and poverty. It was really sad to see, they need the tourism, we were constantly asked whether we needed a tuk tuk (literally every 20 seconds).

Despite the poverty the city did have some charming buildings, including the Royal Palace and Gardens which were huge. We walked all along the palace walls and continued onto Wat Phnom, a temple up on a hill surrounded by gardens and a huge clock in the flower beds.

Our main activity in Phnom Penh was visiting the Killing Fields, we rented a scooter and tried to get out of the city which proved hard to navigate. Eventually we managed to escaped the city and drive straight into a traffic jam. There was a big junction with 4 roads leading off on all sides but without any system, no roundabout or anything. Big trucks, cars, tuk tuks and scooters were all crammed in the middle beeping their horns. We were completely stuck for about half an hour and finally we were able to crawl through some gaps. We had to be careful on the scooter as it was known that local police will pull you over and demand a pay on the spot, if this happened we were told to give them $10 and get on our way luckily this didn’t happen.

Once we arrived at the Killing Fields we read up on the shocking Khmer Rouge which was brought in by a man named Pol Pot in 1975 and ended in 1979 after killing around 1.7 million cambodians. It was April 1975 when he gathered young peasant boys who were deemed unintelligent to be his soliders and ransacked the capital of Phnom Penh . He made all civilians old, sick and babies march out of the city into the country to slave for 12/13 hours a day with only 2 meals of thin rice porridge to keep them going. The killing fields was where they brought people to be killed, at the beginning they killed all intellectuals so only the peasants remained for slavery. Even if you wore glasses you were killed as this was a sign you had intelligence. If you disobeyed the Khmer Rouge or got involved with pety crime you would be brought here and killed.

The tour involved walking around the site and listening to the audio descriptions, the first stop was the truck stop where they would have crammed 100 cambodians into a truck having being told they were heading to a new home and stopped here to be killed on arrival or placed in a small dark basement prison. The most horrific part of the tour was the mass graves that still held the bodies of thousands buried here. The worst part was that because of the heavy rain and floods each year the bones, teeth and rags rise to the surface. There were several teeth amongst the dirt and even a large arm or leg bone. There were scraps of rags everywhere pocking up from the ground, it was really disturbing. There were other horrendous parts of the tour which I feel too disturbing to write here.

In the middle of the surrounding fields and graves was a glass monument containing 1000′s of skulls, bones and rags that are collected from the graves after the floods each year. What I found most shocking was this occurd less than 40 years ago so half of Cambodian’s population would have lived through the dramatic Khmer Rouge and Famine times.

Our next stop was to the shooting range, run by army guys. We were shown a menu of different guns, rocket launchers and grenades. Andy paid to shoot an AK47, he was led into a long and narrow room where he aimed and shot at a target of a man and managed to hit 3 times in the head. Next he had chance to shoot at a coconut but missed.

BATTAMBANG
Battambang is futher North from Phnom Penh and a much smaller town with even more poverty, there wasn’t much here for tourists but it was a better picture of Cambodian culture. We found a cheap guesthouse with huge high ceilings and paid £4 for a room for the night, it wasn’t until later that we realised we were in a garage room, one wall was covered with a floor to ceiling curtain which hid a big garage door!

We walked along the river, past the local eateries and markets and watched some local boys kick around a football. We ended up walking down a small road next to the river and seen some of the very poor sections of the town, people’s homes consisted of corrogated steel shacks and children running around with bare feet covered in dirt. The children were super friendly, 2 little girls ran up and spoke very good English to us and Andy made friends with a little boy who held his hand and followed us all along the road. Later we went back and found the 2 girls to give them a pen and pencil I had in my bag, they were overwhelmed over something so simple and couldn’t believe they were allowed to keep them.

The next day we were up early and met our tuk tuk driver ‘Mr Shee’ who we had organised for a tour that day. He took us to the bamboo train, which wasn’t at all what I expected. It was just a square made out of bamboo pieces with wheels attached underneith and an engine on the back. We were sat on a piece of carpet on top of the train with the driver behind us with the motor. It was really fast I’m surprised it didn’t come of the track. It was a straight line that lasted about 20minutes, if we met another train coming the other way we had to stop and take the bamboo train apart and off the track to let them past.

Once we reached the other side we had to get off and wait for 15 minutes, there was a little hut selling confectionary by an old couple with no teeth. While we waited 2 little girls aged about 5 and 7 took us and showed us around their fathers brick factory. They spoke perfect English telling us how the bricks were made at each stage. At the end they requested $1 each which of coarse we gave them as it was hard to refuse 2 little girls. They told me they only went to school in the afternoon presumably kept off in the morning to do these tours. Soon it was time to travel back on the bumpy bamboo train and arriving back in time to catch our bus to Siem Reap.

http://imnotsleepinginthere.com/?p=314 Continue reading →]]>

Me, Andy and Randall arrived into Vietnam on a sleeper bus on Christmas Eve after a horrible wet and cold border crossing very early in the morning and feeling very grouchy. We made it to Hanoi by 7pm Crimbo eve and were absolutely starving having lived on a plain bread baguette for the past 24 hours which Randall kindly bought us with 1 US dollar he found, as we didn’t yet have any Vietnamese Dong. After several plates of food we wandered around the busy lake to St. Josephs Cathedral and gathered with the locals around the christmassy nativity scene.

Christmas Day in Hanoi wasn’t particulary warm but it was definately warmer than home. We woke up in our little dorm room and opened the little sweety package our hostel had given us. After some brunch we had our first Christmas drink, a cocktail on a rooftop bar. Instead of having a normal Christmas dinner we rebelled and gorged ourselves at the most delicious chocolate buffet in the world at the metropole sofitel hotel, the most christmassy place in the city.

Randall left us on Boxing Day to go home for a surprise visit, so me and Andy were left to organise our Halong Bay trip which we booked for the next day. We were staying on a lovely luxury boat for one night called Alova Gold, we had our own cabin with a huge window where we gazed out onto the beautiful lime stone peaks of Halong Bay. There was a dinning area with bar and a top deck lounge area.

We set sail along with the 100 other boats in the bay while eating our lush seafood lunch and headed towards Tip Top Island. We hiked to the top and had the most fantastic views of Halong Bay where they filmed the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Sadly it was rather overcast so the pictures look a bit gloomy. We then visited Surprise Cave which was huge and filled with staligmites. We warmed up on the boat and then learnt how to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls which were delicious and how to carve flowers out of vegetables.

After the chilly North we wanted some sun to bring us into 2012 so we caught a flight down South to Ho Chi Minh then caught a bus to sunny Mui Ne Beach. We stayed here for nearly a week and still didn’t want to leave. We spent New Year’s Eve sipping home made Mojito’s on our ocean view balcony before counting down the last seconds of 2011 around a bonfire on the beach. 

New Year’s Day was a blisteringly sunny day for us, we rented a scooter for the day and set off along the coast passing the beautiful sandy beaches and fishing villages crammed withh wooden boats and bamboo rafts that looked like giant bowls. We were heading towards the white sand dunes, which we eventually found after getting directions off a friendly local boy who offered to jump on the front of our scooter and take us there (he was about 7). We rented quad bikes for and sped around the huge sand dunes getting stuck plenty of times. It was a great way to spend New Year’s Day rather than being hungover at home.

Mui Ne Beach is well known as a kite surfer’s paradise with the sea filled with them learners and experts. Our first thought was that we would try a 1 or 2 hour lesson however aparently beginners need at least 7 hours. We were persuaded to do a 5 hour course together with one instructor. It was realllllly hard!!! My arms and upper body were aching after the first hour. We started off practicing with a small kite holding it at different angles while the wind was blowing fiercly. I wasn’t that great with and it kept plunging out of the sky at great speed and on to the beach on top of people who were not pleased. The bigger kite was easier but by now my arms had given up, we practiced getting the kite up and down safely and how to get the kite to stand you up while your on the board. It was then time for some body dragging in the water and controling the kite while bobbing around. I was aching all over the next day so opted out of the remaining 1 hour left the next morning and left Andy to it. Maybe I’ll pick it back up again when I’m home where the weather is perfect for kite surfing.

We had plenty of time to try out the Vietnamese cusine which was predominantly fish on the coast. My favourite was chicken or fish with lemongrass and chilli mmmm and the most popular dish among the locals was noodle soup with all sorts of things in it. Thailand still wins my vote for food in Asia.

Our next stop was in Nha Trang another tourist beach resort but busier. Nha Trang was filled with bars and more bars, this suited Andy as nearly every bar offered free Mojito’s. We decided to rent a scooter again and see more of real Vietnam, the drive in the countyside was exactly how I expected Vietnam to be. We passed bright green rice paddies with local women harvesting wearing the traditional Vietnamese hats. We drove to the picturesque Ba Ho Falls and walked along the long winding narrow hill side paths and watched the water cascade over the rocks.

</p>

We found our way to a small port where there were boats across to Monkey Island which had collonies of wild monkeys so I was definately going. We payed 60,000 Vietnamese Dong to cross over on the boat and admission to the island which is £2. Once arrived we wandered into the tall trees in search of monkeys, the ones we found were a little shy but came out to say hello when we presented them with a bottle of water. They drank and splashed the water around right in front of us. We carried on in search of some more cute little monkeys, instead we found greedy aggressive ones. We bought some nuts from the kiosk to feed to monkeys but they didn’t seem to like these, according to the woman behind the counter they prefer crisps and oreo biscuits… Shocking! There was no fresh fruit or veg to feed them only unhealthy confectionary, so we gave in and bought some crackers. As soon as we had the food the monkeys started going crazy, as we should have expected from wild monkeys. Andy held out his hand to feed one and a big crazy monkey flew at him through the air and snatched the bag out of his hand leaving a nasty scratch. We managed to feed plenty of monkeys who came up and took the cracker right out of our hands but soon they had swarmed around us. One jumped and hung on to my backpack, another knocked the cracker bag onto the floor while one creeped up behind me and grabbed my legs. We made a quick exit off the island and back to the safety of Nha Trang where we rode a sleeper bus back to Ho Chi Minh city. I swear I will never again get on one of those buses, sleep was impossible as you feared for your life every second as the driver weaved in and out of traffic with his hand constantly on the horn.

Ho Chi Minh was another busy city filled with scooters and cheap cafes with small plastic chairs selling noodle soup and saigon green beer. While we were there we visited the War Remnents Museum and the famous Chu Chi Tunnels. The museum was really interesting and gave us some background information on the Vietnamese war. Outside the museum were real fighter planes, tanks and bombs including the huge daisy cutter. Inside was rather depressing and filled with shocking pictures of death and the after effect of the chemical agent orange which the american’s dropped.

We learnt so much more from our guide at the Chu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels are just outside the city and was where 16,000 vietnamese lived underground for 20 years during the war. Our guide was born after the war but he still remembers what it was like growing up in a communist country. We weren’t allowed to ask him any questions on politics and he wasn’t allowed to describe what south vietnam’s flag used to be like when it was a republican country. It seemed like a hard place to live even now, with the north and south having such different political opinions. We arrived at the tunnels and were shown different types, the smallest being the fox tunnel which you could only just fit into and was very claustrophobic. We were able to crawl through 100m of tunnel which had been enlarged for western tourists and even then we struggled especially Andy. We saw a real size tunnel which was absolutely tiny, you would have to army crawl on elbows and knees. The vietnamese wouldn’t have had a problem with them being so small due to the food shortages. These days the vietnamese strive to be white and fat as it’s a sign of being rich when we want to be tanned and skinny.

The tunnels had 3 layers, the first holding the kitchens where they only cooked in the morning when it was misty to discuise the smoke. The second floor was for the living and dining areas and a third floor for talking. Throughout the levels were winding zig zag tunnels designed for intruders to get lost. In the entrances to all these tunnels were boobie traps which looked grusome. I cannot believe people lived underground for 20 years, out of 16,000 only 2/3,000 people survived.

Before heading off to the famous tubing area in Loas, Vang Vieng we stopped over in the captial Vientienne after a horrendous 13hrs minibus ride. The centre of the city was quite small and centred around the river where they held the markets. After some yummy grub (mainly Thai food) we had a few drinks in the outside bars.

The coach to Vang Vieng took 4 hours and is top of the list for the worst journeys ever. I honestly thought I was going to die, the driver must have thought he was a rally driver. The roads were very windy and narrow overlooking cliff faces, not nice. The coach was nearly up on 2 wheels several times. I was sat next to an Aussie girl who was beside herself with fear. Thank god we made it safely having befriended a group of aussie girls and boys. We found a gorgeous hostel for really cheap with the best view ever of the scenic green mountains.

We had lunch and dinner at the same restaurant most nights along with the aussie lads, where they did amazing cheap asian meals. As it was our first night we explored around the different bars and clubs. At the end of most nights we ended up on Party Island in the ‘bucket bar’ where most drinks were drank out of a bucket, like everywhere here. By midnight on the first night we were all slightly/very drunk Randall especially so because it was technically now his birthday.

Our first day tubing for Randall’s 26th birthday was unreal! Although we didn’t bother with tubes as most people said they were a pain we just swam to each of the bars. As soon as we arrived and got our first colourful wristband put on we knew it was going to be a good day. The sun was shining, no clouds, loud dance music pumping, cheap buckets and people sunbathing and dancing on the outdoor decking.

Everyone started on the whisky/ vodka bucket, and after the second bar we had to swim over the river to get to the next one while trying to hold our buckets above the water. The third bar was where most of the swings were (where people have killed themselves) some of the lads did the zip line which looked fun but pretty shallow. Me and Andy jumped off a tall wooden platform that you had to fling yourself off. The atmosphere was great in all the bars, the only accident was when I fell through a hole in the wooden decking. My right leg completely disappeared under the floor, I had some nasty bruises the next day.

We were all extremely hungover the next day, but after some brunch we were back to the bars hitting the buckets again. The lads found a rope swing today which swung you out half away accross the river. Another great day drinking, dancing, socializing, playing volleyball on the beach and learning the Loas dance.

We were suppose to be leaving the next day for Vietnam but a few people were rather sick, a combination of too much alcohol and the extremely dirty river water. Instead we chilled out in the bars (drinking coke) and watched family guy and friends on loop. The only programs they have playing in the whole of Vang Vieng, perfect for a lazy day.

Our first port of call in Thailand was Bangkok. We managed to experience two types of Bangkok: party Bangkok when Andy’s friend Nick Randall came to join us and sightseeing around Bangkok when my parents came to visit.

We first arrived into Bangkok on the 6th Of December and were greeted with glorious sunshine whereas everyone at home was freezing. Me and Andy had a couple of days before Randall arrived so I took my chance and dragged Andy to the weekend market, ‘Chatuchak’ as I didn’t think I’d stand much hope dragging them both there. It was absolutely huge, supposidly the biggest market in the world. The market had everything, fashion sections for clothes and accessories, furniture, homeware, stationary and a huge pets area selling puppies, kittens, rabbits, guinea pigs, fish and even hedgehogs. Some of the puppies were unnaturally tiny, smaller than my hand and dressed up in cute little dresses and booties. I managed to get everything I needed plus a few extras and only spending 600 baht/ £12 and that was on a notepad, an anklet, a belt, a bag, a lace jumper, a dress and a t shirt. We felt rather exhausted after our shopping spree, well ‘my’ shopping spree that we treated ourselves to an hour long foot massage for £3 which was amazing. I had several more of those throughout my time in Thailand plus equally cheap manicures and pedicures. This travelling business sure is hard work!

Randall arrived into Bangkok on the 12th Dec to join us for a couple of weeks, we had 2 nights in Bangkok and the only sightseeing we did was around the bars and clubs. We took our antics to Khoa San road, by 10.30pm it was heaving with food street sellers, clothes markets, lady boys and lots of loud drunks including us. It didn’t take us long to become accustomed to the famous but horrible samsong whisky buckets. On our way to the next bar we decided it would be good fun to all buy the same I love Bangkok vests, even if we did look ridiculously stupid, well the boys did anyway. These vests became our favourite party outfit.

Having had enough of rowdy Bangkok we headed up North towards the more urban Chiang Mai. We caught an overnight sleeper train which were much nicer than the china trains we were used to, these ones had a fancy gold curtain that pulls all around your bed for some privacy.

We had 3 relaxing days in Chiang Mai staying at ‘Julie’s Guesthouse’ the weather was fabulous and the food and drinks soooo cheap. We never really spent much over £1 each on our meals, so as you can imagine we ate like kings after spending a month in China. We hired scooters on our first day there so we could explore around and take oursleves on tours rather than sitting amongst other tourists on a bus. The best thing about the scooters were that they were pink.

We set off to try and find the Tiger Kingdom, we gave up after 2 hours of riding around and roaring like a tiger at locals trying to ask for directions and were on our way back when we seen the entrance only a 30min drive away from our hostel. We bought tickets to see the big tigers and the smallest tigers. We went to the big tigers first and by golly they were big and scary. We spent 20 minutes with 3 BIG tigers in their huge enclosure, we were allowed to lie right on them and do anything as long as we didn’t go near their heads and front paws. There were a few scary moments when the tigers made a grunting noise or went to get up when you were lying right over them. The place stated that the tigers weren’t given any drugs but I can’t understand how these tigers would just lay there looking rather zonked out without being given something. They were walking around but in a rather sleepy state. Next was my favourite part when we got to play with the baby tigers who were 1/2 months old. These ones were very hyperactive and loved play fighting with each other. The next section had 3 adorable sleeping tiny baby tigers that were only 1/2 weeks old.

On our last day we booked a tour to become elephant trainers for the day. Chiang Mia is known for their many elephant camps, sadly I don’t think we chose the best one. It was brilliant getting up so close to these elephants but I just wish I hadn’t given money to this particular camp,the elephants didn’t look overly happy and most of them were chained up and we all found it very depressing. The trainers tried to teach us how to use an elephant hook, a blunt dagger on the end of a stick. None of us wanted to use it so when we climbed on the elephants they didn’t really listen to us and started stomping backwards down a hill, rather funny. We got to feed 2 cheeky little elephants who did thankfully look happy, we must have given them 100 bananas in total as well as sugar canes and long grass. It was then time to ride the elephants down to the river for a bath, we rode for about 30 minutes right on top of the elephants back/neck without any seat so it was extremely uncomfortable. When we reached the water the elephants walked down a steep slope with us still on them and slid into the water. We used small buckets to wash them and cool them off.

Although the nightlife wasn’t as good as Bangkok we still managed to have an eventful night out. On one of the nights out we stumbled across a mobile bar on the back of a tuk tuk with all sorts of alcohol and cocktails, we enjoyed a Jagerbomb before setting off for Zoe Yellows club.

That was all we had time for in Thailand in December, as the 3 of us then set off for Loas, Vietnam and Cambodia which will be the next update on the blog!

However me and Andy returned back to Thailand a month later for some more chilled out time and to meet my parents for a couple of weeks. We only had two days in Bangkok this time so we crammed as much as possible into our days. We were staying close to the sky train in Siam Square which was really handy, the sky train is basically a metro system but high up above the city with fab views. We took the sky train to the pier and hopped on the tourist express boat which bobbed down the river stopping at the main areas. We jumped off at the Grand Palace, having read up on what to wear before going we still had to borrow clothes. Andy and my Dad had to put tracky bottoms over their shorts and I had to borrow a very nice red sarong to put over my leggings because my ankles were showing. You had to be completely covered up. We eventually managed to get inside after being told twice by tuk tuk drivers that it wasn’t opened yet and English tourists weren’t allowed. Luckily I’d read up about these annoying tuk tuk drivers that will say anything in order to take you shopping instead. The grand palace was more spectacular than I’d expected, buildings covered in jewels, mini mirrors sparkling in the sun and nearly everything coated in guilded gold. After an exhausting hour or two we jumped back on the boat for a peak into China town, it was absolutely heaving with shoppers getting their last minute bits for the Chinese New Year Celebration.

The next day we took my parents to the party centre of Bangkok, Khoa San road. We’d only seen this road at night time so it was nice to be there sober for a change. It was full of market stalls and bustling tourists, and not as many drunks but still the odd one. Then it was time to say bye to Bangkok and hello to paradise Phuket.

For our first week in Phuket we stayed in a lovely 2 bed apartment on Naithon Beach. The apartment was in a resort called Pearl of Naithon and I thoroughly recommend it. Naithon beach in my opinion is one of the nicest secluded beaches in Phuket, just a small stretch of golden sand with warm waters and beach restaurants dotted all along the shore. We were in heaven, this was the first week of luxury we had had and we made good use of the big spacious apartment, the huge warm pool, the beach and choosing a different restaurant to eat yummy Thai food in every night. We even celebrated Chinese New Year on the beach with fireworks which was a treat.

For our second week of luxury we were staying at the Marriott hotel on Mai Khoa Beach. Before we started another relaxing week of sunbathing and the odd cocktail we decided to explore the rest of the island by renting a car for the day without breaking the bank of paying the extremely expensive taxi fee’s on the Island. Andy drove and did a fabulous job, we headed off towards busy Patong Beach early in the morning. It was very different compared to the quiet beaches we were used to up the North of the Island. It was definately the place if you wanted cheap drinks and souviners, it was busy, noisy, smelly but with plenty of bars and even more lady boys. We had a look in some market shops, a peak at the crowded beach and went for a fruit shake in a beach bar before we had had enough.

We then headed further south of the island towards Karon and Kata beaches, some of the more popular beaches for tourists. It was busier than the north beaches but not as overcrowded as Patong. We stopped here for lunch before driving up to a fanastic view point over the south beaches. We then spotted a giant buddha high up in the hills and thought we’d go take a look. It was huge, 45m high although it wasn’t very old in fact they were still building parts of it, still rather spectacular though. We walked all around it and even sighed our names on a piece of marble that will eventually be stuck onto the buddha, so we are hoping to live a bit longer now.

Our final stop for the day was near Phuket town at the night market just by the Wat Nada Temple. It was a brilliant market and we all managed to get what we wanted, althought completely exhausted at the end of it and very sweaty.

All we had to do for the next week was relax again, the marriott was amazing! There were 2 marriott resorts next to each other and we were allowed to use the facilities at both so in total we had 5 swimming pools to choose from.

The best part about our stay was seeing the adorable baby elephant and the big elephant every day. These 2 elephants were clearly well looked after and adored their mohouts (trainers). We were made up seeing these happy elephants after our bad experience in Chiang Mia. We were greeted with a big trunk kiss from the baby elephant every day, and got to go swimming in the sea with the big one. He absolutely loved it, he went right under the water and played with his mohout by using his trunk to pick him up and throw him back in the water.

Me and Andy explored the Mai Khoa ocean on a double kayak and had a go at using diving equiptment in the pool, so we weren’t completely lazy.

The time came when we had to depart from my parents leaving them on the sunny Phuket beach as we headed back for Thailand mainland. After a couple of hours we arrived into Krabi and found the passanger port that would take us to Koh Phi Phi Island, our next task was to find somewhere to sleep. We made our way to the popular beach area, Ao Nang and after asking in about 10 either full or overprised hostels we agreed on one. The next day we hopped on the 2 hour ferry to Koh Phi Phi Island. All I wanted to do was snorkel which is exactly what we did. After being a little disheartened finding out that we didn’t have time to go on a cheap group snorkelling tour, we managed to get a good price for a longboat for 2/3 hours. We took our private wooden boat from Phi Phi Don Island the bigger and main island and sailed across the bumpy waves. All the time we were getting completely soaked and thrown out of our seats. It took only 25 minutes to reach the uninhabited Phi Phi Leh Island. Our boat driver took us all around the small island stopping off so we could snorkel in 3 or 4 different places including Maya Bay where they filmed ‘The Beach’ we didn’t actually go on the beach as it cost more money but we swam near it, I wouldn’t mind being stranded here for a few weeks. We arrived back to the main island and had just enough time for lunch, an explore around and a laze on the beach before catching the ferry back to Krabi for our last night.

We still had nowhere to stay and after the ordeal at customs we didn’t really care. We jumped on a bus bound for the Hard Rock Hotel. This turned out to be full and we only had 1 night so I had a look on the internet and booked us in to the Metropark. A really nice hotel near the MGM and Wynn casinos.

After checking in we headed out to hit some casinos. Some of them are much larger than the Vegas ones but only seem to offer bacarrat and a couple of other games. We went to watch some poker at the Wynn where Phil Ivey was playing. I whipped out my camera and managed to get a photo before the staff came over and told me to delete it…

…I didn’t delete it.

After a gamble and a mcdonalds dinner we headed back.

The next day we relaxed in the hotel.spa in the morning before checking.out and going down to the Galaxy Casino. We won quite a bit and were able to pay for the hotel before having a quick go on craps on the way out.

We managed to lose all our profits and headed to the Hong Kong Ferry in a sulk although I still class leaving Macau break even as a win.

The boat was quite rough but only took a couple of hours. When we got closer to Hong Kong it was dark and we could see the buildings on the island all lit up. We got off the boat and walked up Nathan Road, the busiest road we have seen, and on to the Metro. Our hostel was situated 9 floors up in a large apartment building. There was no lift so we had to climb the stairs to the top. We met the owner of the flat as he was on his way out. He gave us a key and told us to make.ourselves at home. The flat consisted of 3 bunk beds in the open plan lounge/kitchen area and that was about it. We dumped the bags and headed back down the stairs to explore MongKok.

After a nights sleep in the hardest bed known to man we were up and out early. We visited the flower market full of Christmas trees which lead on to the bird market where local men would gather with their tiny birds in their tiny cages and feed them live crickets with chopsticks.

We then headed down to the avenue of stars and watched the symphony of lights from across the harbour where green lasers and lights shot out from the skyscrapers across the sky in time to music.

The following day we made our way to Hong Kong Island and checked in to our new hostel (slightly nicer than the last place). After dumping the bags we caught a ding ding tram to the famous Happy Valley racecourse. Unfortunately there wasn’t any racing on but the stands were still full of people watching the live horse racing on a big screen. We placed a few but stephs choices of horses left a hole in our wallet. Even my excellent choices weren’t enough to stop the hemorrhage of cash. We left the horse racing a massive £4 down. Steph was eating dry bread for the rest of the week.

That evening we went to a tour called dialogue in the dark. We were handed a blind man’s cane and guided around recreations of areas in Hong Kong in absolute darkness. We had to board a ferry, find a seat at the cinema and order a drink at a bar without being able to see a thing. It was really interesting and a great insight into what it would be like to be blind in a big city.

The following day we went up to Victoria Peak. It was raining and cloudy however we planned to bring some sandwiches and beers to have at the top. The tram ride up was near vertical and took about 10 minutes. We walked around the top of the peak and found somewhere sheltered for our picnic. The views would have been amazing on a clear day but it was too foggy for us to see much.

We headed down and had our last meal in Hong Kong before catching our flight to Bangkok the following day.

BEIJING

Our train from Lhasa to Beijing took 3 days so we booked ourselves into a soft sleeper berth with 2 bunk beds. It was very swanky indeed, we were very lucky that no one joined us so we had the whole room to ourselves. The journey was amazing, the railway is the highest in the world with the most spectacular views of snowy peaks. We had nothing to do but chill and eat are many packets of noodles.

We arrived into Beijing early on 13th November and travelled to our hostel using their very efficient underground subway. It was lovely to be in a busy city after being in the hills of Nepal and on the friendship highway in Tibet, although it was extremely busy! We spent 5 days in Beijing and we managed to get lost every day.

We wasted no time and hired bicycles as soon as we’d arrived and took off to explore the narrow streets of Hutong. Our first stop was the Forbidden City. We bought audio guides and spent the next 2 hours getting lost in the ancient walls. It was absolutely huge, we only managed to cover around one third of it.

On our way back home we had an unfortunate encounter with a policeman. We needed to cross over the road on our bicycles which is extremely hard in the heavy traffic, so we just did what others seemed to be doing, cycle down the wrong side of the road (but still in the cycle lane and we only needed to go 200m) I remember saying to Andy, ”I think we should cross over to the right side” his response was, ”Nah, they don’t seem to bother here”. So what happened next was entirely Andys fault. We were stopped by a policeman. I think the only reason he stopped us was because he wanted to practice his english, as many more chinese people rode past us on bikes going the wrong way. He was going to give us a ticket until we told him we were from England and then he started asking for advice on London Uni’s. We eventually got away after exchanging emails and a promise to keep in touch.

We were starving when we finished our tour and looking forward to trying some proper chinese food. We found out very quickly that chinese food is actually very different to english/chinese food. They eat almost every part of an animal apart from the nice meaty part. They love the head, feet, eye balls, intestines and all the fatty bits. Yuck! Trip advisor and our lonely planet guide became our bible for finding decent places to eat. Our first meal was a great success, after stumbling into the restaurant having being lost for about an hour. We enjoyed a sticky pork dish and a very spicy chicken dish. They love their spicy food in china, this was the first time we had heard of their traditional dish ‘hot pot’ which came in a huge fondue bowl. Inside is a very very very spicy dipping sauce which you dip all sorts of meats and vegetable into.

On our second night we went to a chinese acrobatics show which was amazing, our favourite part was when 5 motorbikes crammed inside a small metal ball and were all whizzing around each other.

My favourite part of our Beijing trip was visiting the Great Wall of China. There was many parts of the wall that you can visit, we choose Badaling as there was also a museum there. We hiked from tower 10 to tower 8, it was extremely steep in some area. There were not many foreign tourists there at this time of the year so we were getting a lot of attention, at one point I was grabbed by a couple of old chinese ladies who insisted they must get their picture taken with me. We soon got used to this as it happened in most of china, they were extremely friendly.

Our next trip was to visit the Summer Palace and instead of getting audio guides we decided to take ourselves around and enjoy the tranquil atmosphere. It was sadly a foggy day so the view wasn’t great of the lake that covers the most of the Summer Palace area, but you could tell that this place would be truely beautiful on a clear summer’s day. To finish off our tour we jumped on a wooden carved boat to take us across the lake.

On our last day we spend a couple of hours gazing around the funky and contempary 798 art district. By lunch time it was time to head back to the train station, but it wouldn’t have been normal for Beijing if we didn’t get lost one more time. This time we lost each other… Dreadful I know! We were searching for a certain bus that would take us to the station but after half an hour we still hadn’t found it. So andy jumped onto a bus that had stopped nearby to ask for directions, next thing the bus doors have slammed shut and the bus is driving away leaving me standing all alone on the pavement. With less than an hour till our train and me not knowing where Andy had been taken to and no money on me I tried hard not to panic. I could see the train station in the distance so of I trundled towards it, luckily when I arrived I caught sight of Andy walking towards me looking equally panicked, phew! We made it onto the train in time.

We travelled to Xi’an by hard sleeper this time because it would only take one night. The hard sleeper carridges were in an open corridor with rows of bunk beds with 3 beds on each. We were stuck up the top where there wasn’t even enough room to sit up, still fun though.

XI’AN
We really enjoyed Xi’an because it wasn’t as big and we didn’t get lost, not even once. Xi’an is still a busy city but with an added charm with the ancient city walls still standing and the lush green trees dotted throughout the busy streets.

We rented bikes once again from our hostel ‘Xiangzimen youth hostel’ and took to the streets exploring inside the city walls. We cycled past the big bell tower and headed towards the big Goose Pagoda in the main square. The square is more enchanting at night time when all the trees are lit up and there is a fountain show which we missed because our tuk tuk kept braking down. In the square there were groups of locals dancing the same routine and a group choir singing along to brass instruments, a nice place to relax at night time.

Andy found us an all you can eat chinese buffet restaurant on our second night which is normally Andys dream dinner. Sadly it didn’t live up to his dreams, but it was definately an experience. We had no clue what anything was but it did not look like ‘normal’ food as we know it. It was good fun trying random things but we stayed well clear of the fish heads, chicken intestines and duck liver curry.

The main reason for our trip to Xi’an was to visit the famous Terracotta Warriors which did not fail to impress us. The area itself seemed a little too clean and touristy for an excavation site. There were 3 pits in total containing the warriors. Pit 3 was the smallest but held quite a few warriors that were still compact compared to pit 2 which was bigger but most of the warriors had been destroyed. We saved the best pit for last, pit 1. There were thousands of warriors all lined up next to or behind each other, some with chariots and horses. It was truely amazing to see this hidden wonder that had been kept secret underground for so many years. It was founded by a couple of farmers digging for a well. Not one warriors face is the same, all having unique details on their face, hair and body.

CHENGDU
‘Famous for the Giant Pandas and Spicy food’
We arrived into the relaxing city of Chengdu early on 21st November after another night on the top bunk of a hard sleeper. We jumped on the morning bus to take us to the Giant Pandas which are the cutest animal I have ever seen, if they were small enough I would have sneaked one out for my travelling pet. They were awake when we arrived there, their most active time being 9-10am and late afternoon. Some were up trees chilling, others sat pulling and munching on mounds and mounds of bamboo. They were truely fascinating. There were about a dozen baby pandas as well so we were extremely lucky. They were all snuggled up together fast asleep.

On our next day we ventured to People’s Park what we thought would be a pieceful park, this place was anything but pieceful. There was music blaring and it was absolutely packed, mainly with retired locals who were practicing tai chi or dance routines. There were kareoke areas, kung fu areas, flamenco dancing all sorts. You could wander around all day watching the locals for hours. We found a tea house hidden amongst the trees and relaxed with a bowl of green tea on the bamboo chairs and played cards along with the locals.

I managed to drag Andy along to a traditional Chinese Opera show which is completely different to our Operas, this one didn’t include any singing. Instead there was a weird comedy act, stick puppets, hand shadows and the famous changing faces act which we still can’t figure how is done.

After a horrendous massage where they tried to tear apart my limbs and crush my bones (andy enjoyed it) we went for a horrendously spicy meal. Chengdu is in Szechuan provence, and they are famous for their spicy foods. A couple next to us let us try their dish, it was pretty tasty. We ordered what they were having, it wasn’t until after that our mouths started to burn and we found out exactly what we just ordered, duck’s beak! They were quite fatty, especially the tongue but they were tasty apart from the overwhelming spice.

YANGSHOU
Every chinese person wants to go to Yangshou for their holidays, it’s warm and out of the city surrounded by gorgeous hills. It has to be one of my favourite places in China, with 2 main rivers running through the city, Li river and the Yulong river. There were plenty of cheap bars and restaurants containing a huge selection of asian and western food.

We rented mountain bikes and explored the scenic streets. We ended up cycling along a popular bike route which took us to the Yulong river. We jumped on a small bamboo raft and drifted down the river for the next 2 hours. We had our own rafts man who steered the raft with a large bamboo stick. The views were absolutely amazing as you can see from the pictures.

We treated ourselves to a mud bath and a soak in the hot springs at the moon water caves. The mud bath was a bit weird and very squelchy, we soon got used to it and were flying down the mud slide in a pool of mud covering us head to toe. We then thoroughly enjoyed the hot springs and didn’t want to get out.

Along with the great food and fun activities the night life was also better as this is where the tourists are. Once you get here you never want to leave. Andy had spotted a big sign about a beer pong competition on a rooftop of ‘Monkey’s Janes Hostel’ so of course we had to go so Andy could be crowned the champion. Andy had Lisa for a partner a chinese girl who was pretty darn good. Well out of 7 pairs I went out first and Andy won. He got a beer pong champion t-shirt and 80 Yuan (£8).

Before ending our trip in China we passed through Guangzhou for 2 night, where you do not want to use the metro system. We tried with our backpacks and after 15mins of pushing and cramming as hard as we could we had to give up. Soooo busy! We left China on 1st December after having a fab time and headed for Macau.

We met our new guide Dordgie and driver Shegwan, andy rememberred their names by thinking of a dodgy segway! They seemed friendly enough and our land cruzer was mega comfy that would take us across the friendship highway to Lhasa. The first day we headed to the town of Nyalam our first stop in Tibet which was 3,300m high.

We started to take our altitude sickness pills today to try and prevent the sickness and headaches that usuals comes when reaching high altitudes. They must have worked as we both felt fine most of the way even when we were at the highest hight of 5,400m.

We had to forget the hot sunny weather we had been used to as it was absolutely freezing in Tibet! Time for our thermal layers, woolly hats and hot drinks! The main drink in Tibet is sweet tea, which is like a really sugary mug of milk nice in the morning to warm you up. We mainly drank black and green tea… Even andy who hates hot drinks.

Our next stop was Old Tingri, a small village 4,300m high. The streets are no where near as busy as in Kathmandu, the population in the whole of Tibet is around 2million. There were still 100′s of wild dogs roaming the streets and the odd cow and yak in the middle of the road. The main mode of transport in Tingri is either horse and cart or bicycles with trailers attached.

We met a couple from Argentina in this town who had been travelling for 12 years, and now had 4 children who had all been born in different countries. They had travelled most of the world in an old fashioned Rolls Royse and even have a book about their adventures called spark your dream. This could be us in 12 years time!!

The views along the friendship highway were amazing, we travelled along small dirt roads with huge snowy mountains on both sides.

While you lot at home were celebrating Bonfire Night, we were on our way to Everest Base Camp! On the 3 hour journey there we could see Mt Everest in all it’s glory getting closer and closer. We passed through Ronbuk village on the way and stopped to view the highest monastery in the world.

When we reached Base Camp we braced ourselves for the icy cold air at 5,200m high but lucky the sun was shining today so it took away the bitterness. Don’t get me wrong it was still freezing and my face stinging from the cold, it was probably just below minus. Everest looked amazing and so close even though the summit was about a 4/5 day hike from base camp. So off we went… Only joking, we definately wouldn’t make it, as many others who try don’t make it unfortunately. People who do complete the challenge often lose fingers and toes as has happened to one of Dorgie’s friends.

The air this high up is noticable thinner, we climbed a rocky mound of about 100m high and we were both out of breath and had to take a minute to get our breathing back to normal. We took plenty of photo’s and enjoyed gazing at that fabulous views.

Now was time to concentrate on our next journey which was travelling to the capital of Tibet, the magical city of Lhasa. It took another 3 days travelling before we arrived there. We stopped at the 2nd biggest city in Tibet, Shigatse which is home to the ‘Panchen Lama’s Tashilompu Monastery’. This was our first of many monastery visits so we were still quite eager today.

The monastery was huge, like a small village and took a while to view it all. This monastery holds the largest gilded statue of a Buddha in the world, 27m high. Unfortunately to take a picture would have left us poor. Neither of us knew a great deal about the Buddhism religion so we were a little baffled with all the different statues and names.

Next on our itinerary was the ‘Phalkhor Monastery and Kumbum Stupa’ in the town of Gyantse. By the end of the 6 floors we must have seen at least 100 different statues and were exhausted. We were however becoming more knowledgable about the religion and could now recognise statues of the past, present and future Buddha, all the different protectors, the yellow and red hats and beginning to recognise the Panchen Lama’s. Number 14 Panchen Lama is 27 and is living in Beijing.

Finally the day came when we drove the final part of the friendship highway, past the beautiful Yamdrok lake and over the mountain passes. We stopped at the lake and had chance for a photie with the turquoise lake and snowy mountain tops in the background.

I even had the chance to sit on a Yak and wear a traditional Tibet hat and silk scarf while a local man thrust a goat at me to hold.

As soon as we were approaching Lhasa the surroundings became cleaner and more modern. Once we had settled into our lovely hotel, we took to the streets to explore. It wasn’t as busy as Thamel in Kathmandu but it was still just as easy to get lost which we did plenty of times. We found our way to Barkhor Market and were gladly sweeped up with the pilgrims doing their clockwise loop around the square called a Kora, the pilgrims walk the kora daily with their prayer wheels. This kora was one of the popular circuits as in the centre was the Jokhang Temple.

The next 2 days were filled with more monasteries. The most amazing and fasinating one had to be Potala Palace, which used to be the winter palace of the Dalai Lama’s.

That night we walked back to visit Potala Palace in the moon light in the main square beneath it. We stopped to watch the spectacular fountain show, water spurting in all patterns and colours to the rhythm of chinese music.

We also visited Drepung Monastery where our guide took to testing us on all the statues and the history to practice his english. Then it was time for Sera Monastery which was interesting when we managed to see the monks debating in the courtyard.

Our last visit was to Jokhang Temple, in the middle of Lhasa city. It was the 15th day of their month today so the temple was packed. The same smell hit me that is in all monasteries, the smell of melting yak butter. The pilgrims bring their own butter to sprinkle or pour over the candles in front of the statues. They also offer money, food and drink to many of the statues. The top of the temple had an amazing view over the city and the pilgrims lined up with their mats praying.

Along with all the monastery visits we did have time to get lost within the streets, meet the locals and try the delicacies including yummy yak burgers and Tibetan noodles.

Our time in Tibet has sadly ended, and time to board the 2 day train to Beijing which is the highest railway in the world.