Cambodia so far

So, lets get the travelling situation out of the way first, before explaining where we have been, and what we have seen.

Currently, Alex and I are travelling with 2 guys from Germany, one called Hannes who we originally met in Hampi (India) and his friend, Toni, who met up with Hannes for South East Asia. Ant, on the other hand, is currently travelling with a guy from Thailand called Sab, whom he met in Thailand on new years eve. Sab is pretty loaded, as he gets given money by some guy from Singapore for coming on holidays with him. It works out great for Ant as Sab is paying for everything for him, including the 5 star $260 dollar a night hotel. Not that I'm jealous, in our $2 a night hostel. Ant is now in Vietnam, so hopefully we will meet up with him there.


First stop in Cambdoai was Siem Reap, probably the most famous place in Cambodia for being home to the place they dub (like a hundred other places we have visited) the eighth wonder of the world, the Angkor Wat temples. We hired bicycles and travelled out there, occasionally hitching rides on the back of tuc tucs. It was a great day cycling around, temple to temples, stopping once to feed the monkeys some banannas a local kid sold us. The first temple we saw, the most famous was impressive, and supposedly the largest in the world. However, it would be more interesting with a guide to explain the carvings to you, but being lowly travellers thats the kind of luxury we do not extend to ourselves.

Our favourite temple was the one where some of Tomb Raider was filmed. Nature is slowly taking over, as huge tree roots snake their way through the ruins, making for some crazy sights. Whilst it is amazing, the pictures make it look better than it is. In Hampi you felt like a proper explorer, climbing over temples without another soul in sight. In Angkor Wat there are lots of tourists around, and your imagination cannot run away with you as much when a Chinese person shoves past you hitting you with their 20 inch camera lens on the way past.

The rest of our time spent in Siem Reap was less exotic. We played counter strike in an internet cafe a few times (England vs Germany of course) and got a couple of fish spa's ($1 for 20 minutes with a free beer). The Germans had friends who are also travelling who we met up with and one turned 20 years old whilst sat in a fish spa. That was a surreal experience for me, sat with a beer in hand, having my feet nibbled by fish, whilst a group of Germans sat around me singing happy birthday in German.

After we had exhausted the extensive cultural opportunities of Siem Reap we travelled down to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Don't get any mistaken ideas of a bustling metropolis however, it isn't particularly busy. I met up with Ant that night to watch Man United in a bar. Sab came and kindly bought me a few beers and some tea. The next night they came on a night out with us and Sab paid for all our drinks pretty much (including a $40 bottle of gin) as well as paying for Hannes to get completely into a fish spa.

Our cultural experiences in Phnom Penh involved going to the killing fields, one of the sites where Polpot murdered thousands of Cambodians as part of his genocide. The tuc-tuc drivers offer a trip there as part of a package where afterwards you go to a shooting range, which seems like some kind of sick humour. It is essentially just a field, but it has a great audio guide explaining everything, making it worth a visit. The worst bit is the teeth lying on the floor, where the rains have washed them up from the mass graves, or the killing tree, which soldiers used to swing babies against before chucking them into the graves.

Whilst in Phnom Penh it was my mums birthday...happy birthday mum.

We moved onto a place I cannot pronounce or spell next...please wait whilst I google the name...thank you...Sihanoukville. When we arrived we could not find a room for love nor money. It was Chinese new year and the place was packed. Eventually a guy in a hostel told us he had been sleeping in the attic of a bar, so we headed there and slept there for a few dollars. It was literally wooden floorboards, with a plastic mattress but it was better than sleeping outside.

After a few beach days we rented scooters and headed out to some waterfalls. Whilst crossing over one Alex fell over and lost his sunglasses and a sandal over the edge. We managed to retrieve the sandal but the sunglasses are probably sitting atop a 5 year old Cambodian kid. I happened to catch Alex mid fall in a photo.

The day after I went diving with Hannes and Toni which was a lot of fun. for $65 you got a 2 hour boat ride, breakfast, 2 dives, lunch, and a 2 hour boat ride back. I had a really bad stomach (if you know what I mean) and everytime I equalized I nearly followed through. I was sick on the boat on the way back, and for some reason felt the need to explain to everybody that 'Im not sea sick'.




And that almost takes us up to today. We are now in Kampot, where we will explore some caves in a national park before moving onto Vietnam.

We are having a great time, and hopefully we will meet up with Ant again soon. 150 days down...so far so good.

Thailand...a real update

Okay so lets start this blog entry with a quick disclaimer... Anybody who was hoping for some amazing update because of my last entry of "what happens in Bangkok stays in Bangkok" will be dissapointed. There is no crazy "Hangover 2" storyline about to unfold here. The only times I have been sick was when I ate nuts on 2 separate occasions!

We spent the majority of our time in Bangkok on 3 streets, the main touristy streets around Kho San Road. They are entirely geared towards tourists, with various comedy t shirt stalls and bars covering the streets. I think that you are supposed to spend a lot of your time in Bangkok going out at night...drinking. And true to the stereotype, thats what we did. There are plenty of places to go and it is easy to stay out until 7am. We saw a guy when we arrived with a beer, looking worse for wear. We saw him every day, no matter the time, with a beer in his hand. We left Bangkok and came back a few weeks later, there he was. At least we didn't hit it that hard!

I suppose the craziest thing we got up to was going to a ping pong show, just to see what all the fuss was about. Alex didn't come with us, but we went with a few German guys, one of whom we originally met in India and happened to bump in to. It wasn't to impressive really, you aren't missing out on anything if you haven't seen one. Just makes you feel a bit seedy!

We did go out and see a few sites in Bangkok. We all saw the worlds largest lying down Buddha (yet another worlds largest <insert some sort of pose or building material here> Buddha ticked off the list) in a temple complex nearby. I managed to get up early one day and walk down to the grand palace complex before just wandering around the city for a few hours with my Ipod in. The grand palace complex is pretty gaudy, but very impressive. The sunlight bounces off all the jewels and gold to dazzle you whichever way you look, and you can't help but start taking copious amounts of photographs. The emerald buddha (you guessed it...the worlds largest emerald buddha) housed within has to be the most jewel bedecked item I have ever seen. 

We spent Christmas in Bangkok, which was very strange. I didn't really like it to be honest. Not because of Bangkok but just because you should be at home for Christmas. We did manage to find a great Christmas dinner in an Irish pub, complete with complimentary santa hat and party popper (we even had mince pies). We still had a good day, just not quite the same as home.

We wanted to get down to Koh Phangan for the new years eve full moon party so we headed to a nearby island in the south called Koh Samui on the 30th ready to get a ferry over the next day.

The full moon party was as expected really...pretty mental. The beach is lined with stalls selling buckets of alcohol, all with deadly mixes and stupidly cheap, whilst bars blast out songs so everybody is just dancing on the beach all night. There are fire spinners who should enter Thailands got Talent or something as they are stupidly good. After a while they get out a large skipping rope and set it on fire...

Whichever genius thought "lets get a giant skipping rope, set it on fire, then let hordes of drunk people try and jump it until it burns me" is a fool...but a genius nonetheless. I thought it was dumb at first, but then once I had drank a few buckets I got involved (sorry mum and dad) as did Ant (sorry Ant). Alex just filmed us.
The countdown is a bit hazy, but I remember large scaffolds with fireworks on and lots of cheering...thats enough for me.

Alex and I managed to make it home the next morning on a ferry, Ant wasn't so lucky and got stranded for around 4 days because of storms. With some typical Ant luck he met some rich Thai people who he quickly befriended and stayed with for free until he made it back to us.

Back on Koh Samui we waited out the storm and went to watch a Thai boxing match which was a lot of fun. We put a 10 Baht (20p) bet on each match just to make it a bit more exciting.

My favourite island was Koh Tao, the next one we went to. The island and beach were just a lot nicer in general, and I also learnt to scuba dive and trapeeze, both entirely new experiences for me.

My accomodation was included with my scuba diving training so I didn't see too much of Ant and Alex whilst on Koh Tao, being with the other people from the diving school. I had so much fun that I signed up to do the advanced course straight afterwards. I think the highlight for me was the night dive. I absolutely loved it! It felt like I was exploring some alien planet, with only my flash light showing me the creatures of the deep.

To celebrate my birthday Ant and Alex took me out for a steak dinner and a drink on the beach which was nice of them. I had to be up at 6am the next day to dive so we couldn't have a big one. They went back to Bangkok the next day to sort out visas but I stayed to finish my course.

After finishing diving some people from the dive shop went to do some trapeezing which I did (the video is at http://vimeo.com/35093459). That was a lot of fun, and a bit scary being up 10metres high. In the evening we went out for a korean BBQ and then got drunk on the beach. In one bar I was playing a nice innocent game of connect 4 with my dive instructor. What she didn't tell me was that if a guy loses then he has to go behind the bar, drop his trousers and get spanked 10 times by the barmaid...I lost. And jesus, the barmaid did not hold back with that stick. I did get a free gas chamber out of it though. Yeah, apart from that I loved Koh Tao.

Back in Bangkok Ant has gone to meet up with his Thai friends who he met at the full moon party so I haven't really seen him. Alex and I have been to the Tiger Temple today, which is a weird experience. Essentially I think those monks may have lost their way.


It is supposedly a sanctuary containing over 100 tigers, 2 lions, and 3 bears. However, it is a massive tourist trap. Once you are in you can go and crouch next to lots of tigers and pet them whilst a volunteer takes photos of you. The rest of the time you can wander around, seeing monks vaguely abusing tigers to get them into nice poses for photos. There are rumours that the tigers are drugged to make them docile and it wouldn't suprise me at all. They all look pretty monged out. Still...a great photo, no? I don't have much of a conscience regarding that kind of thing anyway, and they didn't really look unhappy (just very very sleepy).


And thats Thailand. When we have passed through Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos we may spend a bit more time in Thailand to see some more countryside. Depends how much time we have I guess. Ant is still with his Thai friends so hopefully he will catch us up in Cambodia the day after we arrive.

One week in Bangkok

What happens in Bangkok stays in Bangkok...

The end of China, told from the middle

China

Never have I been to a country with so many of its own people being such tourists. Chinese tourists do not just terrorize foreign populations but also their own. Lijiang is a shining example of this. The old town is a lot like Pingyao, apart from you can tell it is all faked, and new. It has a Disneyland feel to it, and every single building is a shop, a hotel, or a restaurant. God knows where anybody lives. We were there in December, and it was a bit cold, yet the streets were still busy with Chinese people with very expensive cameras snapping anything and everything.

 

That being said, the town is still really nice to walk around and take it all in. It may be fake old, but its still pretty. The cobbled streets wind around traditional buildings and small bridges arch over slow-running canals lined with willow trees. There are lots of impressive mountainscapes in the background as well, all adding to the effect.We tried some insects cooked on a skewer, which was...interesting. They didn't taste of much but they were crunchy and I wasn't a fan of getting wings/legs stuck inbetween my teeth.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge was next on the agenda, the highest valley in the world (maybe? I lose track. Everything seems to be the worlds something or other). We got a bus out to a dead end town and stayed the night in a hostel run by Tibetans. That's where it all went a bit Pete Tong. 

Alex was ill with food poisoning, so we agreed to wait a day to see if he would be better the next day. That was for the best as we realised we didn't have much money and the dead-end town only had ATMs which wouldn't take our cards. Ant and I had to take a 2 hour bus ride to Shangri-La just for a cash machine. The town has been renamed Shangri-La after James Hilton's "lost horizon" novel, another attempt to attract those Chinese tourists. It was a fun side trip though, and Shangri La looked nice (but not worth more than a fleeting visit). We got cash, had some yak meat noodles and got out of there. 

The next day Alex still wasn't better, and we had our first real argument as a group. 98 days in, so close to the 100 without a real dispute. Oh well. We were running out of time in China to do all the stuff we wanted to and the Tiger Leaping Gorge is a strenuous climb. Alex wanted us to wait another day, we argued that even if he felt better he would be feeling too weak etc to be up for it anyway, so we went without him. 

Turns out Alex wasn't well enough to do it the next day. I still felt guilty though. But...there must be a God, playing some sort of sick joke on me. Half way up the gorge there is a guest house where you spend the night. I spent that night throwing up and was completely drained with a fever the next day. That climb down was one of the hardest things I have ever done. When we got to the bottom I got into a bed with 6 layers of clothes, a hat, and gloves on and was still shivering uncontrollably. There is some justice in the world hey.

The first day up the gorge was spectacular though. What a great place to go visit, the views are astounding and the guest house (half way house) has the best views out of a bedroom I have ever seen and it was dirt cheap. 

We celebrated the 100 days of travelling apart, which is a shame. Ant was more interested in seeing the cities so headed to Macau and Hong Kong early whilst Alex and I wanted to see a bit more countryside. I can't really speak for Ant, so this is what me and Alex did...

We headed to Dali, which is a really cool town, although there are lots of weird ex-pats there and bars with weird atmospheres. This american guy who called himself "whisper" and dressed like a fool was one particular guy I was keen to avoid, despite him being hard to get rid of. This stop was only because of the bus schedules, so we didn't do any activities here, but I could have stayed a few days easily.

Guilin was a great place. I liked it there a lot. There we visited some rice terraces, which were nice but could have been missed out to be honest. I think we went at the wrong time of the year so they didn't look too impressive. If we had more time there were some good walks to do around the area with guest houses to stay in but we only had the one day.

The real highlight, which made fewer days in Hong Kong worth while was Yangshuo. The town itself is awesome, but mainly because of the scenary in the background. There are weird limestone peaks which I have no idea how they were formed but they look awesome.

We hired bikes and cycled around the river. Some of the best views I have ever seen, I loved that day. You are cycling down a dirt path, with impressive mountains all around you, a meandering river, and great villages. The only down side to the day was that Alex got a flat tire half way so he was really struggling to get back. We had to walk quite a bit back and cut the route short. Every cloud though...the short cut involved going over the river on a bamboo raft with our bikes. I even got to test out the underwater mode on my camera. 

Macau was okay, I didn't really like it that much. I don't gamble so I guess that doesn't help seeing as it gets more revenue than Vegas nowadays. It seemed like a city that was a bit run down but then had billions pumped into it to make these fancy casinos. However, the opulence of a few buildings does not hide the crap around it. We weren't there for long though so maybe I am being unfair and there was more to see.

Hong Kong is a great city. Its easy to see why so many people want to live there. We met up with Ant again but he was couchsurfing to save money so we didn't see him too much. He got on really well with his couch surfer and he was having a great time. We found a good hostel in a great location and not too expensive so it was all good. 

We saw a large Buddha (another) and went up Peak Hill on the tram to have a great view over the city. I had been trying to get a couch surfing place for me and Alex and one person who responded wanted to meet up although we couldn't stay at hers. Alex wasn't feeling up for it so I went alone and had a good time. We got some beers from 7-11 and sat by the harbour with an amazing view of the city at night then walked around Mong Kok night market. I may actually like couch surfing, its a good way to meet people who know the city inside out.

We met up with Ant again on the plane, it felt like a reunion.

We all loved China, it is an awesome place. Its very different to India so its hard to say which is better. Every place in India felt unique whilst Chinas big cities all felt a bit the same, as they are so developed. So maybe India wins, just. But then the countryside in China is amazing. I would like to go back and do a lot of hikes etc (geek, right?) Its a real shame we had to miss out Shanghai as well. The food is amazing (the street noodles are great and so cheap) and the people are really friendly. It can be frustrating when the language barrier hits you in the face. Being stood looking at someone with no idea how to communicate what you want, and seeing them wanting to know, but unable to ask. Its funny though at the same time I guess.

110 days down...bring on Thailand.

There's More to China....

Pingyao
From Beijing we travelled to Pingyao, which is an old walled town, supposedly one of the finest examples of a traditional Chinese town. It is impressive, and a lot of fun just to walk around soaking it all in. There were lots of tour buggies as a lot of Chinese tourists come here but I guess we were a bit out of season as it was fairly quiet. There is lots of things to visit around Pingyao such as the underground castle but we didn't get around to doing any of it. It was a bit expensive anyway. We spent our days wandering around the town (not even bothering to pay to go up on the city walls) watching (and sometimes laughing) at the locals going about their day. There were lots of old Chinese men in flat caps playing Chinese chess or Mahjong Tiles. The hostel was impressive, being a 500 year old building with courtyards and big rooms (and a great pool table). The dorms were in the eaves of the building and were very 'atmospheric'.

The thing I enjoyed most about Pingyao was buying a new laptop. I was getting jealous of Ant and Alex being able to watch films on theirs so I splashed out. No easy task in China when the staff don't speak English. Firstly they did not accept cards so 1 lad in the shop took me on his motorbike to an ATM. Then I had to take it back to get them to try and install Windows in English (again, hard to explain). It was solved by sitting infront of a PC on a free translation website speaking through that. I waited whilst they put English on it and sat for an hour on this free translation website with about 5 staff sat around speaking to me. It was pretty funny, especially as the free translation does not translate very well. I asked if 1 of them wanted to visit England and he 'yearns for it with his heart'...apparently.

Xian

The Teracotta Army...the eighth wonder of the world. I was left feeling a bit let down. I don't know what I expected, to.  be blown away I guess, but I wasn't. When you consider the history behind it, with each warrior being different, and how old they are, etc etc, then it is impressive. I think it would be better if you could walk closer to them (which I guess isn't possible) rather than just see them from above in their pits. It was still worth going to see, but has not left the impression that the Great Wall left on me. We met an English guy, a Dutch guy, and an English girl who we went there with, and we have been travelling with the 2 guys for a while now.

We went to the Imax to see Tin-Tin at an empty cinema. The Dutch guy, Kev also had found a snooker hall so I went and played snooker with him. The best thing about that was the electronic scoreboard with a remote so you just press the colour ball you potted and it adds up your score. Great!
Alex and I went cycling around the city walls. That was a lot of fun to do, even though it was knackering because of the rubbish bikes you get given and the bumpy ground.

Chengdu
At Chengdu there was the 3 of us and Kev and Tom (Dutch and English guy). Chengdu is famous for its Pandas.  We spent a lot of time in Chengdu drunk or hungover. One day consisted of getting a KFC bucket and watching Full Metal Jacket. Some days just drifted by watching Sopranos on my laptop. I didn't even go to see the Pandas (although Ant and Alex did) because I had seen them in Beijing and apparently its very similar.

The reason we were going out so much is because of CC club. Westerners get free entry and free whisky all night. We asked how much the whisky was...85pounds per bottle. Madness! The club was great. Every now and then a group of Chinese girls or guys get up on stage and mime and dance to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. Pretty funny.

We did walk around the town a lot, go out for food etc. However, we did so little that the staff at the hostel took a picture of us all on our laptops (adding speech bubbles like 'internet cafe????') and printed it out as a leaving present. It is stuck in my journal alongside my polaroid picture of the day.

I wanted to go climb Mt Emei Shan, a 3 day hike, but Alex and Ant didn't. Luckily Tom and Kev did so I left Ant and Alex at the hostel and went off. Firstly we stopped off at Leshan to see the Giant Buddha. He is the largest stone Buddha in the world and mighty impressive. We didn't have much time to catch our bus so it was a bit of a whirlwind visit. The town looked like a dive anyway.

Mt Emei Shan
I loved Mt Emei Shan, it might be my favourite thing I have done whilst travelling yet.

We left our big bags at the hostel in the village of Baoguo and set off with our day packs, ambitiously aiming to complete it in 2 days rather than 3. That was out of the window pretty early on. We got lost and ended up back at the base but at a different place. I didn't mind though because it ended up taking us through this awesome valley. The path wound around lakes and streams with clear blue waters, over rope-bridges and between temples tucked into the mountainsides. I Loved it. There were various stone carvings as well, from times the Emperors had visited. Add the fact that we dallyed about taking photos as well as getting lost, there was no way we were going to be able to do this in 2 days.

You get to a certain point walking through a valley over wooden bridges and walkways (feeling a lot like Robin Hood hah) when you get to the monkey section. There are loads of monkeys here, which can be a bit aggressive. There are staff with slingshots incase the monkeys get out of hand. We had our bamboo walking sticks the hostel had lent us so we just banged our sticks to get through. They weren't really bad to be honest, and its always fun to see monkeys so close up.

The next bit was a bit hellish. There were endless steps, forever winding up the mountainside. You would turn 1 corner to see steps as far as the eye could see dissapearing into the mist. That was demoralising. The views were ace though. Eventually, out of the mist appeared the monastery where we were spending the night. It was certainly an impressive setting - a Chinese style monastery set infront of misty mountains. It felt very surreal. Saying that, the rooms were awful. The whole place was very quiet and felt a bit like a horror film. The rooms were shitty and it was so so cold that high up that I piled about 5 blankets on me.

The next day was more climbing steps still. The scenery began to change, and I spent the 1st of December surrounded by snow covered forests with no-one else around for miles it seemed (apart from Kev and Tom). The monasteries we passed looked even more impressive covered in snow, and I think I took more photos than the rest of China put together. The monastery we stayed in that night was less basic than the first, and the beds had electric blankets which were a welcome addition.

The last day was an easy climb, resulting in the most impressive summit I have been to yet. Everywhere you look there is something to see. In front of you in the distance are snow-capped mountain ranges. To your left the other peak of the mountain with a temple perched perilously on the top. Below it the cliffs vanished into the blanket of clouds. Then you look behind you, at 'the golden summit' which has a huge golden statue of Buddha and a golden temple. I think I had a grin on my face the entire time I was up there.

Okay so its a lot of steps, whereas some people like to be on more of a trail. And the peak is busy as it can be reached by a bus then a cable car. But it's awesome to climb, the views are amazing and you still get that sense of acheievement. Its over twice as high as Snowdon.

When we got back to Chengdu we had another night out at CC (so much for the 3 day detox) and then moved on. Next stop...Liajiang in Yunnan.


Again...Phew. Hope you all enjoyed it. I cannot upload any photos as the internet is a bag of s**t here. I hope everything is good (and christmassy) at home.

Beijing

The flights were horrible from Delhi to Beijing. We had a 5 hour flight, an 18 hour stop over in Bangkok airport, then a 5 hour flight to Beijing. It was a bit shitty...literally as we all had upset stomachs leaving Delhi. Bangkok airport is great though, and we found some sofas to sleep on.

We arrived in Beijing and immediately got offered a taxi. We haggled him down from like 50 pounds to 12 pounds. We realised as he walked us to the car park that we should have just gone to the taxi rank instead of getting in this plain car. The ride was fine though, luckily.

Beijing was foggy. Well it looked foggy but its all the smog apparently. It made it very atmospheric driving into the city. It was also cold, which felt awesome. I never thought I would enjoy putting on a pair of trousers so much. The first thing I did at the hostel was to have a shower. Man, I have missed hot showers a lot. It felt so good, and I could literally feel the dust and dirt of India washing away.

We ended up staying 2 weeks instead of the 4 days we originally booked. You don't need 2 weeks to see Beijing (although there is a lot to do) but we had a lot of time just doing nothing in the hostel. We all loved the hostel. The staff were amazing, the bar area was very cool and they had a program which streams films, even ones that are still in the cinema, and in good quality as well. We spent a lot of time just sitting around in the bar watching films or sitting on the internet. The internet is a bit annoying, it's hard to get onto facebook because of the great firewall of China but when the government aren't blocking the site you want it works well. We met a guy called Shaun from Singapore who lives in the hostel and works as a photographer near by. He was a hero and we spent a lot of time with him.

When we actually did venture out there is loads to do, we didn't even do it all. We went to the zoo and saw some pandas (thats a first for me I think). Loved them. All the lions and tigers were in their small cages for the night and you could get so close to them, that was very impressive. Alex took a picture of a lion and sent it into the national geographic who posted it on their website. If voted for enough it gets published in the magazine (I think it may have finished by now but heres the link http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/daily-dozen I think its November week 1 or 2).

We did see all the classic sites as well, like Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Lama Temple. I wasn't too impressed with Tiananmen Square, I expected it to be bigger for some reason. I can't believe it can fit 1 million people in it. It was there we experienced our first "tea scam" where Chinese ladies pretend to be students and chat to you eventually inviting you to get some tea with them from a teahouse. Once there they charge you a fortune and rip you off. It was pretty convincing, good job we knew about it before hand unlike our friends Briege and Gary who fell for it. The Forbidden City was interesting, but very busy. We probably would have benefitted from an audio guide but we are travelling so we don't get things like that! There is a hill nearby made from the earth dug out when the moat was made, which has great views over the Forbidden City and was probably better for us. We did the Lama Temple later on in the second week. It had a huuuuge statue of Buddha (although we have been promised bigger later on in China) and lots of incense burning. The Summer Palace is in a huge park which is more impressive than the palace, and is good to walk around.

We went to a few museums, well I went to the National Museum, Chairman Mao's Mausoleum and the Natural History Museum alone (Geek) and we all went to the Military Museum. The Natural History Museum is pretty lame, with just a few big dinosaurs to keep you entertained, and the National Museum of China is only great because the Soviet style building it's in is awesome. Chairman Mao's Mausoleum isn't really a museum, you get ushered through very quickly (and shoved along if you stop like I did) by the guards and it's just a quick glimpse of his body. The Military Museum is massive, and has a lot of exhibits (if you like guns). The highlights were probably the flame thrower, the flame thrower tank, the rocket launchers and the heavy machine guns.

Probably one of the best things we did in Beijing was going to the 798 Art District. If you go to Beijing make sure you go there. It is a lot of old abandoned factories which artists moved into for the cheap rent. As with most places it became cool, so became expensive and now has lots of fancy galleries. It's just a very cool place to wander around. There are crazy sculptures everywhere along the streets (google image search it) and lots of free galleries. The galleries have lots of great work (and I don't even like art). The shops were selling lots of weird tat, which if I was just on holiday I would have bought a lot of. Unfortunately living out of a bag for 18 months doesn't let me buy tat.

We went on a couple of nights out in Beijing with Shaun and these 2 guys we met from Chile. One of them lives in Shanghai selling custom vintage bycycles so we may be able to meet up and get a free guide round the city there. The nightlife is good. There is 1 Hutang (I think it just means alleyway) which had lots of bars on. The Vampire themed bar was a lot of fun. All the drinks are just named after a blood type and served in fake syringes. All the furniture is Vampire-Chique (my favourite type of chique).

The "greatest" thing we did whilst in Beijing though was go to The Great Wall. Infact, it's my highlight of travelling so far. We went to a section called Mutianyu (I think) which I would recommend to anybody doing it. We headed up in a cable car to one of the watch towers (nice and relaxing) with 3 hours to do the wall. We did the 4 watchtowers to our right first which were an older section of the wall and very very steep. That only took about 40 minutes so then we went left and did the 15 or so watch towers there. For a change it was a really clear day with a bright blue sky and the views were just spectacular, I loved it. The steps could be a little steep at times but I don't really mind that (though Alex was a bit miffed at one point). Instead of going down on the cable car you can go down on the steel taboggan which takes you down right back to the entrance. That thing is great. It puts the one in Llandudno to shame. It takes about 3 minutes and you can get some real speed up on it (if you ignore the Chinese people with megaphones shouting at you to slow down). I got stuck behind some American woman (women drivers) half way down so it was a bit stop start but still...lotta fun. Big thanks to Briege and Gary for recommending that to us.

On a more somber point I felt a bit homesick occasionally (I think doing nothing gives you time to think about what you are actually doing travelling around the world). I would have liked to sit down and have the Sunday roast that my family told me they were having whilst I was on Skype with them. I would have liked to have been in England for Bonfire night and I am missing the Christmas build up.

So we loved Beijing, it's a great city and we were all a bit sad to leave. It felt like we were going on holiday, we had got to know the staff and Shaun at Sunrise hostel pretty well. I think Ant especially could have stayed there for months and months. We headed to Pingyao next but I will leave that for another update.

Reflections on India

Part One

I can't remember where I was up to on the blog and I can't get onto it in China to check. I think we had just left Varkala, so lets go from there.

Pondicherry is a town that used to be a French colony so it is supposed to have a different feel to the rest of India. It isn't exactly a district of Paris but the promenade is really nice along the sea front. It still has the standard Indian feel, with cows roaming the streets and that unfinished feeling to all the buildings. The town is very religious, belonging to some weird sect set up by someone called “the mother”. That kind of gave the town a weird feeling, but definitely not French.

It was Ants 25th Birthday so we bought party hats and a cake for the room. Alex, Briege, Gary went out to get the cake and in true Indian style when Ant asked the reception desk where they had gone he just replied “to buy your cake”. Good one. We had a few beers in the room then went out for a steak meal (one of the only places you can get it in India) which was amazing.

The highlight of Pondicherry was getting invited to an Indian wedding. Gary didn't like it because we got invited because we were white but the rest of us didn't mind. A french lady dressed in Indian garb (who lives in India doing the casting for The Life of Pi film) invited us, so we said yes.

The wedding was great. The sitting around was a bit boring but then we got a free meal which was awesome. The brother of the groom came over and asked if we wanted any alcohol. Because no-one else at the wedding would be drinking he sent someone out to get wine and whisky and took us all into a store room behind the kitchen to have sneaky drinks. The best bit was the dancing though. They dance like madmen. I got some great videos. No girls were dancing because they aren't allowed to dance infront of other men.

From Pondicherry we went to Hampi, probably the highlight of India. Its a fantastic place, a boulder-strewn landscape littered with temples. The temples seem so ancient, but are only 500 years old. India just don't look after things. The place is like the set of the flintstones movie, or jurassic park, or any other fantastical place. I'd recommend it.

We spent our days here wandering around the temples and relaxing. There is no alcohol or meat allowed inside of the town of Hampi, so its not exactly a happening place. One of the highlights was a walk to a waterfall. It was a bit risky in places, jumping over boulders across fast flowing rivers, but well worth it. We had got a bit lost but stumbled across a “meditation centre” full of half naked middle aged Germans. They showed us the way and a good spot to swim. That was a great day.

We got the train back up to Delhi where we got drunk with a group of guys who looked Chinese but were Indian and were absolute hero's. They made the 35 hour journey more bearable.

New Delhi was exactly that, new. They seemed to have cleared it up a bit, probably for the F1, and Diwali. It also helped the monsoon season was over so the streets were not so muddy.

We met up with Charlotte and Mcin who are in India for 2 weeks on holiday. It was great to see some familiar faces and also receive the care package they had brought from my parents (including my new camera and my kindle). We went to Connaught Place which is really nice compared to what we saw of Delhi the first time, and then the Red Fort.

The next day we went out to the Lotus Temple. Charlotte and Mcin had more bad things happen to them in 1 day than we have had in 2 months in India.

Firstly the metro was packed, and Charlotte ended up getting onto a carriage on her own, never a good move for a western girl. When she got off she was shaking after having an Indian guy rubbing his crotch up and down her leg the whole journey. Lovely. You should have stuck with us Charlotte!

At the Lotus Temple queueing to get in some guy tried to pickpocket Mcin but he caught him. He then had to sit in the Temple in silence whilst watching the man leave out of the other exit. That made him angry. To make things worse later on some guy tried the classic shit on the shoe scam. Its as simple as it sounds. A guy throws shit on your shoe without you noticing, then tries to charge you to wipe it off. Mcin had the lovely job of wiping it off himself with wet wipes.

I was a bit sad to leave Charlotte and Mcin, I got used to having them around again very quickly, but we were on our way to Beijing, so it was goodbye again.


Part 2

I'm not going to get pretentious talking about my “experience” in India and how spiritually developed I am or anything like that. But, India is a great place which everyone should visit. If you really can't handle the noise, dirt, poverty then you could go on tours to all the major tourist attractions, and still see lots of beautiful things. Seeing it all through the windows of your air conditioned bus and hotel is one way to do it. I would probably do that if I had children with me.

I don't think that the highlight of India was the Taj Mahal, or any other historic site, but the people (and the food). If they aren't trying to sell you something then they are great people. They are super inquisitive and friendly and will happily just talk to anybody. People who sit next to each other on a train chat like old friends, and everyone gets on with everybody else. It can grate on you a little bit, especially when feeling particularly reserved and British and just wanting to be left alone. However, most of the time its just really nice. In the little towns everyone knows everybody and they all muck in and help each other out with jobs. They have some great little communities. People in China won't speak English as well so I think I will miss that.

Onto Beijing next...