Fun in a camper van!

"If it's a rockin' don't come a knockin'!"

Ah we had fun in our loveable, cranky, slightly smelly camper van, nicknamed "Buster" in the past 3 weeks.

We toured the north and south islands of New Zealand not in their entirety but pretty comprehensively and had a ball. In order to return the van to Auckland yesterday I drove 1000 miles single-handed in 4 days, and Yes I am proud of myself. It was also a bit of fun and my lovely co-pilot was an inspiration on the journey as always! A CD of the Travelling Wilbury's also came in handy...

High lights for me here in New Zealand included a sunrise balloon trip, a para gliding adventure where I discovered an ability to emit ear splitting involuntary noises, abseiling and the discovery of my spiritual home in Hobbiton. The biggest smiles were reserved for the dolphin, orca and whale watching expeditions which were over whelmingly uplifting. All in all NZ has been good to us. We met some honest, decent people who were willing to chat but not pry, and had a ready smile. I really liked it here and will be sad to leave.

The plan is that we head for Papeete on Wednesday and Morea on Thursday. Then it's off to Easter Island and then to Santiago. We then come home.... But that's ok too cause we've had one hell of an adventure!

Onwards and Downwards

We have now arrived at our furthest destination from home. So I guess from here on in we'll be on the return leg of the journey.

Australia was interesting and a bit of a break from foreigness but New Zealand whilst not being entirely foreign does seem a bit more removed from what life at home is like.

We arrived here on monday and are currently in Auckland. I'm very excited about being here during the Rugby World Cup and seeing as we'll be travelling around the country in a camper van we'll have to get imaginative about where we'll be able to view games, but that's all part of the fun.

It'll also be a lot easier for us to get stuck into some decent hikes and walks whilst here as we'll have the freedom of bringing our accomodation with us where-ever we want to go! It would have been nice to do that in Oz as well but circumstances didn't allow it this time.

All the same we had a blast. I got quite intimate with varieties of wines hitherto unknown to me and enjoyed every second of it! We also got to explore different ends of the country and I have to say I really like Melbourne. There was loads to do there and the weather was gorgeous, despite the fact that it was the end of winter. We were very lucky in that regards.

I saw the Amazing Human Body exhibition there which is something I've always wanted to see. It has put me off the thought of ever smoking again for good it is truly disgusting what tar does to the lungs. We also went to an AFL game between St. Kilda's and Richmond which was fantastic. Definately a high light. The fact that the game was quite close in the end and Richmond staged a fantastic comeback attempt was greatly appreciated by us! It was all very exciting. So between the large variety of museums on offer, the excellent restaurants, even better wineries and the laid back attitude Melbourne rocked.

I know I haven't been great at the regular posts here and I don't know if it will improve while I'm here as we'll be travelling around quite a bit, but I do promise to post as much as I can when I can and I'll provide samples of photos along the way!

Searching for the wizard

Austalia is a very easy place to get used to. In fact it's so easy here it feels uncomfortably like home. I say it's uncomfortable coz I don't really want to be at home yet and being here is making me a little homesick. That is both unexpected and a bit off putting.

So far we have travelled from Sydney to Brisbane and from there to Melbourne. We're a little restricted on where we can go here as it's expensive to get around and I've decided I'm not willing to drive all over Australia and then tackle a month of the same in New Zealand. Besides it's even harder trying to get around New Zealand so driving is supposed to be the best option there.



We're doing lots of fun things here all the same. We've taken hikes and treks into the rainforrest. Visited animal sanctuaries and fed beautiful birds. The museums here in Melbourne are well worth a visit and of course we did the necessary in Sydney in terms of harbour cruises and the Opera house.

I have yet to take a wine tour here but to make up for that I have been sampling lovely Australian wines aplenty. So far my favourite has been a very fruity Shiraz by Oxford Landing. Very Yummy with absoloutley everything I say and to prove the point I've drunk lots of it!

We've been pretty lucky with the weather here as well. We had some rain in Sydney but some very fine days as well. It's not a bad show when you go to Bondi beach in the middle of winter and there are bikinis all over the place, it's not what I'd call typical winter at all at all. Not a vest in sight. Here in Melbourne it's colder but very fine and sunny and is quite pleasant and fresh. We're heading to see The Human Body exhibition tomorrow and off on another hike on friday so I would say all in all things are going well.

Unfortunately there is no sign of the elusive Wizard of Oz so far but I've been tracking sightings and am still hopeful of finding him...

Calling from the Land Down Under

Greetings from Oz. We've reached a new continent and a new capital in one piece.



It's been a relatively quiet week here for us as we've been catching up on sleep and the home style comforts that we've been missing in various degrees over the last four months.

I've really missed breakfast cereal. A strange thing to miss but it's top of my list. That and salt and vinegar crisps. So I've been indulging in lots of both!

We've been exploring Sydney in between all of the eating and sleeping and I'm impressed. It's a cosmopolitan and cool place to be and a good place for us to kick back in. We've done the usual tourist things here and have also taken a trek in the Blue Mountains which shook the cobwebs off a bit.

We've done quite a lot of planning here for the rest of our trip and I can now tell you that today we reach our official half way point. We've also got all of our sleeping needs covered for here and New Zealand and have changed our itinerary a little bit. Not bad work for the few days that we've been here.

That's it for the mo, we're off to Brisbane on the train tomorrow and then it's down to Melbourne for a few weeks. Brisbane looks to be HOT!! Which is good and Melbourne looks coooooooollld, which is bad, but it's amazing that one country can offer you that kind of variation so we'll take it in our stride.

Fom Tokyo to Nagasaki

We've had a busy few days on the trains in the past week here in Japan, and it's been fantastic. We organised a Japanese Rail Pass for ourselves before we arrived here and it's been so easy to use it's almost unbelievable. You just show up at a station, reserve your seats if you want to and go where-ever takes your fancy!

So far we've visited Kyoto...
Such a beautiful and Japanesee city. If you catch my drift. We wandered around the Gion district looking at temples and shrines and we even caught site of some Geisha as they moved through the streets. Unfortunately I got so excited that I forgot to take a picture... You can't win them all I guess!


Here are some girls in Kimono as the next best thing.


Shrine in Kyoto

We also spent two nights in Hiroshima. The city was completely destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945 and the people there chose to leave a partially destroyed building insitu as a reminder of what happened there. It's very striking.



But it's not just all about death and destruction when you visit either Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It'S an important thing to note about both of these cities. Life has gone on here, buildings have been rebuilt and there is a huge amount of pride on view.


Castle in Hiroshima

In fact in Hiroshima we saw our first baseball game! Once we figured out what was going on it was really good fun and the cheer leaders made it very exciting!

In Nagasaki there is a concerted effort to showcase the cities fascinating history. It was the only port in Japan to have any contact with the west for close on two centuries. Also not all of the city was completely destroyed when the bomb was dropped here so there are plenty of shrines to visit. It's a very beautiful place and both here and Hiroshima are a high light of coming to Japan.


The spectacle bridge

Oooo Exciting!

I`ve just learned that two of my photos on Flickr of Dublin have been shortlisted for the Schmaps on line guide!

The photos are this one of Merrion Square



and this one of the Grand Canal



I`ll let you know if I`m successful!

Earthquake

I didn`t realise the seriousness of yesterday`s earthquake here in Japan when I was writing last night. Here`s the latest BBC update . Hopefully that`s the end of it for the moment and the earth will remain nice and stable for the next two weeks...

Turning Japanese I really think so...

Yeah I know a predictable post title but I could`t resist it!

So we`re now officially out of China. We landed in Tokyo this afternoon after a very pleasant flight with Cathay Pacific and are lucky enough to have missed the Typhoon that was threatening to strike Tokyo over the weekend, I think we`re out of danger here now! However I did notice on the train into the city from the airport that there were delays to some trains due to an earthquake! We don`t get interesting stuff like this happening to us in Ireland so it`s a whole new world of experience for this Travelling Trixi! Bring it on I say so long as nobody gets hurt.

We`re here in Japan for the next two weeks it`s expensive so we`re on budget rations but that`s ok we`re not complaining. I haven`t seen anything of Tokyo to report yet apart from the fact that every person we met has been very friendly and helpful and everyone seems to have a word of English which is helpful!

Once agin we encountered difficulties with uploading photos in Hong Kong so I`ll just have to keep trying!

We had a ball there though. Once we got over the tiredness that comes with travelling for a protracted period of time we really got into the swing of the city. The museums are amazing and I especially would recommend the Science Museum which had this big kid running around pressing buttons and getting all interactive with the scientific stuff. It was very cool.

I also loved the Star Ferry tour of Victoria Harbour. We took the 6.00p.m. boat and it was perfect.　The sun was setting and the sky, the water in the harbour and the waterfront buildings were all bathed in a beautiful red glow. The weather was balmy to hot and the breeze was a blessing as it came over the water. It was incredibly relaxing and beautiful and definately another thing to recommend. Also the walk around the Peak is something to savour. The views are incredible and even in the heat it was a very pleasant way to spend an hour.

The other side of Hong Kong is of course the shopping. And boy can you shop if you want to drop. I loved the night markets on Temple road, the bargaining was hard but there were good souvenirs and gifts to be got there if you were up for the challenge. There was also a constant queue outside Louis Vuitton in Tim Shui Tsai which puzzled and amused us in equal measure! Why do people bother? That`s a rhetorical question I really don`t care why people waste their time in such ways! But the sheer pointlessness amused me!

So now we`re in Tokyo. I`m going to miss China a lot I know but I am looking forward to travelling in Japan over the next two weeks. I hope I fall in love with this country as completely as I fell in love with China...

Farewell to China

Well we've arrived in Hong Kong and said our sad goodbyes to China.



I've written an account of how we got here and hope that this post will appear first and the rest in order of where we went. It may not work out that way so bear with me!


Tianamen Square

I also hope to get some photos up and sent to friends and family over the next week so there should be more colour coming soon.



I had the most amazing experiences in China over the last few weeks and I'm really not ready to leave yet, but time is moving on and there's a whole wide world to be seen yet.



I'm going to ease myself into Hong Kong by going to see the light show this evening and saying goodbye to our new friends.



I'll check in again later on in the week.

Yangshou

They refer to Yangshou as a a back packers paradise and that it certainly is.



The scenery in this part of China is breathtaking and we went on a fantastic bike ride to Fuli village on one of the mornings we were there. I really enjoyed the little excursion and have made up my mind to purchase myself a bike when I get home. It's a cool way to get around.



We also attended a chinese cookery school which was great fun. We learned how to stuff pumpkin flowers, cook egg plant, make beer fish (fish cooked in beer a local delicacy) and chicken with cashew nuts. I have a recipe book and plan to practice more of this type of cooking when I get back.



We also witnessed the ritual beheading and preparing of snake meat for dinner. Now I know not everyone would be into this and I didn't think I would be either, but one thing I've learned on this trip is that food is food whatever way it comes and it all has it's merits. I drew the line at drinking snake blood though. That was a step too far for me.



We also tried our hand at Chinese painting which was very relaxing. That combined with some accupuncture put me in a very relaxed frame of mind for our last overnight train to Hong Kong.

Longsheng

oooohhhh Beautiful beautiful Longsheng. This place on our itinerary was far and away my highlight.



We stayed amongst the terraced rice paddies of the dragons spine for two nights. We walked for a total of 10 hours up and down the rice paddies, calling nie hao to everyone we met, laughing everytime someone slipped and nearly killed themselves in the mud, rescued puppies, got drenched in sweat and rain.... It was amazing.


Rice Terraces

The houses in the villages are made of wood and as they are built on terraces each house over looks it's neighbour. There was an incredibly strong feeling of community and peace there and everyone we met had a kind word and smile for us. There are two minorities living in the area we stayed with the zhuan minority and met women of the miao minority who unwound their long hair for us so they could demonstrate how they dressed it.



I really liked this part of our trip as it really felt like the fact that we were there was of benefit to these people. We were supporting their economy and their way of life and I loved every minute of it. I hated leaving the peace and beauty of that place.

Shanghai

Of all the places I've been to in China I think Shanghai was my least favourite. It has a lot to offer and is a very busy commercial place but it just didn't do it for me.



Saying that though we had fun there all the same. The tourist tunnel was surreal and funny experience and if you're into 19th century porn by an add on for the sex exhibition, it's flippin priceless. Although once I realised that all the porcelein chinese women were depicted with bound feet it was slightly less funny... and a lot more surreal.



The boat ride to see the lights of Shanghai is pretty cool but I wouldn't go up the Pearl tower again. The queues were Chinese style - chaotic and I just wasn't in the humour for it on that night. I think after the peace of Hangshou, Shanghai just grated on me a little. Lots of other people loved it though.

Hangshou

Hangshou is known in China to be it's most beautiful city. The main attraction there is the West Lake. It lives up to it's tag line I have to say.



We spent a very pleasant afternoon strolling around the lake on the first day we arrived and on the second day we spent an even more pleasant morning cycling around it! We also visited a tea museum and plantation which was really interesting.



I liked Hanshou so much better than Nanjing. We relaxed there and got some beautiful photos.



This is the famous Laughing Buddha, he's one of many rock carvings at Failin Temple complex and he just makes you happy to look at him!

Nanjing

It was only a short hop relatively speaking from Tai'an to Nanjing where city living was once again the order of the day.



Nanjing is a big place and there's loads to do there. As we only had a short time we visited the Presidential palace, the Taiping gardens and the Confucious temple as well as a trip out to Sun Yat Sen's monument.



There's a cool street with lots of night life called Fuziama street but beware of biting insects as Michelle and I got seriously huge disgusting bites there....

Buyong Village and Taishan Mountain

We didn't actually stay for an night in Tai'an city but were bussed instead to a village outside the city called Buyong village. We were billeted with various families in the village for the night so that we could get a glimpse of how real people live here in China. It was brilliant.



For a start the food we were given was just out of this world. It was simple enough fair but there were was loads of it. We were also introduced to new varieties of vegtables each more delicious than the last. In fact I would have happily survived on veg and rice if I had to after eating the food cooked by our hosts.



We were also given the opportunity to visit the village kindergarten as well as other community run projects. The Kindergarten was one of my highlights though.



The kids were beautiful. They had a little show prepared for us and then demanded that we do a show for them.... It was pricelessly funny watching grown men attempting the macarena! Everyone was sick and sore from laughing afterwards.



We stayed in a very simple room that night complete with cockroaches, straw mattresses and a thundering rain shower! It was all good though and I'd go back in a heart beat!



The following day we were dared to climb the local holy mountain called Tai'shan. It's a buddhist and taoist holy place and there were no other tourists there attempthing the 6666 steps! It was tough going. About half the group went half way and then took the cable car whilst those with more energy ran up the remaining steep incline! All I'll say is that theview from the cable car was very picturesque!

Xi'an

We took an overnight train to Xi'an with the sole purpose of visiting the Terracotta warriors, it was something I was really looking forward to. As we landed so early in the morning we went straight to the historical site which was a real bonus as we got to see all the warehouses before the large buses of crowds of tourists arrived.



The warriors are amazing and I was almost drooling at the thought of all that lovely archaeology waiting to be discovered there. The sheer scale of the project is amazing and the Chinese have done an excellent job of presenting the story and the archaeology.


This was taken on camera phone I should have a better example later on.

For the rest of the time in Xi'an we visited the Muslim market which is definately one of the best markets we've been to on this trip. I got a silk brocade jacket made for me and the Boy picked up lots of gear that he had been looking for. Later that night we met up with the gang and had the most incredible meal. Hanif took us to a local restaurant, the type you'd walk past without even noticing that food was served there where we were introduced to Hot Pot. The principle is that there is a vat in front of you with stock of the chilli variety and the broth variety and the fun part is that you get to put whatever you want into the soup to cook! It's like fondu without the cheese. It was all very delicious and the communal eating part was just as much part of the experience as anything else! We then drank far too much beer and nursed our sore heads until we got our next overnight train to Tai'an.

The Great Wall

Rather than taking the east route and heading for the closest section of the Great Wall to Beijing, we were driven at 5.45 in the morning to Simatai which is about 2 hours from Beijing. I had been warned that the Wall was a bit of an endurance challenge as there were hawkers to be avoided and as well as crowds of people vying to put their feet where yours were supposed to go. However at Simatai it was nothing like I was warned about.



The first thing we discovered was that we each were allocated our own personal salesman or woman. Each person has a companion who walks and talks to you as you scale the wall huffing and puffing fit to blow the house down! I was given a tiny little man who stank of drink abandoned me to take the short cut (cheaters walk I call it) and then guilted me into buying a t-shirt because he was an old man you see! It was all very strange and kind of funny.



The actual walk itself is about 10km and took around 3 hours. It was tough tough going. I think the pollution in Beijing was really beginning to affect my breathing and whilst I enjoyed the experience I would have preferred if I hadn't been so wrecked after it! The views from the wall are amazing and the actual experience of being there made up for any discomfort. We were also there practically by ourselves. Apart from our little companions the place was deserted. It was very peaceful, clean and there was a very real sense of history there. It was definately worth the hype.

All the Tea in China

We're really beginning to settle into our time here in China and have begun to enjoy many of the customs of ordinary people here immensely:

Tea drinking.
Coming from Ireland, where we drink a lot of tea anyway, the adaption to Chinese style tea drinking wasn't a problem for me. Also the fact that at home I prefer my tea black as opposed to the standard "tea in your milk" preference of most of my compatriots further made the adaption to Chinese tea drinking a little easier for me. The ritual behind having a pot of tea in a Chinese tea shop is really beautiful and relaxing. The varieties of tea available is incredible and so far I haven't tried one that I haven't liked, whether that be green, jasmine or oolong. It's all so very good. We've also tried Mongolian and Tibetan yak butter tea on our travels. The Mongolian option was palatable enough it's green tea made with milk and flavoured with salt, I liked it. Yak butter tea is also made with milk and is much more pungent and not as palatable in my opinion, but then I was pretty ill at the time I tried it, so I wouldn't take my word for it!

Duck eating:
I cannot praise the Peking Duck eating experience enough. They really know how to cook the skin of animals in this country. That includes pigs as well as ducks by the way. When you have a Peking Duck dinner there isn't a scrap of the bird that isn't used. From the head to the bones all are included in the meal at some stage, and are served in different and interesting ways.

Interneting:
As travellers we constantly have our eyes peeled for the one chinese character that we can definately recognise - wang ba! The Internet cafe's here are generally massive, futuristic, smoky and dark. They also don't provide USB connections as a rule so unfortunately we've had big problems uploading photos which is disappointing for us. Maybe Hong Kong will be better!

Sleeping:
Ok so maybe we're not indulging in this national past time as enthuasically as the Chinese do but we do get some sleep from time to time. The Chinese however are allowed in their constitution to sleep at work providing that the sleeping doesn't interfere with the work of others. The places where you find people asleep can be very strange. So far in the middle of a busy road is the top of my list of weird and wacky.

Avoiding death:
That sounds dramatic doesn't it? But every time you try to cross the road here and do so successfully is a major victory. The green man may mean pedestrians can walk safely in most of the world (except in Greece and Italy maybe) but here it means that the oncoming traffic should speed up, swerve to make contact, or swing into the right turn lane which for some reason never stops for the lights. They're the ones that'll get you if you're not watching out for it. Riding in a taxi is a lot of fun too if you don't mind lots of lane jumping and horn blowing as opposed to brake using. I will never complain about Irish drivers again.

That's the round up for the mo. Sorry again for the lack of colour. I can't view the pages myself at the moment so I'm just guessing about the blandness! It's only slightly frustrating at least I can post and retrieve mails, so forgive me if I don't reply to comments.

Update from Manchuria

We're currenlty in Dalian in a city in the north east of China near to the Korean border. We're quite proud of ourselves for getting here successfully and for booking our return to Beijing for later in the week. I think we're aclimatising to the Chinese way of doing things, though the queue jumping and spitting won't be habits that I'll be taking home with me!

However on the positive side of things I love the tea here. I love wandering the markets even if it means being harassed a little and I love the game of bargaining (when I have the energy to engage!). I also really enjoy meeting the people here in China. It's so funny to be busy doing my own thing only to look up and find a small crowd has gathered to watch me or just to have a look at one or either of us. It's not intrusive it's just curiousity and it's not surreptitious it's bold and open and I appreciate that. I also find the kindness of strangers to be incredible. My faith in human nature is returning and being restored and it's a wonderful feeling.

Dalian seems to be a fairly typical Chinese city. It's definately not as polluted as Beijing and the annoying cough I've been cultivating has abated since we landed here a day ago. We were out at the Summer palace in Beijing before catching the night train to Dalian, the day was very hot about 38c and sticky. I can honestly say I have never felt as dirty after a day of wandering around. I had to make do with wet-wipes as we didn't have time for a shower before leaving Beijing andthey were filthy after running them over my sticky skin! No wonder my poor lungs are beginning to give out.

So we're returning to the final time to Beijing towards the end of the week and then we embark on a three week tour of the rest of the country ending in Hong Kong. I'm not too sure what the internet accessibility will be like as we travel so I may have to store up the next instalment until Hong Kong in July...

From the Rooftop of the World

We're currently in Lhasa, Tibet in the roof of the world and it's amazing to be here.

We took the Trans Tibetan train from Beijing on the 2nd of June and arrived here on the evening of the 4th. Getting here was as much of an adventure as actually being here and I will treasure the memories from that trip forever.

We travelled hard sleeper class which was an education in itself, believe me. We were due to travel soft sleeper which is slightly more salubrious in that there are only 4 berths per room and they have the luxury of a western style toilet. However hard sleeper it was for us due to the railway company overbooking the train. So we quickly adapted to the 6 berth rooms, no doors for privacy and the joys of a squat toilet on a train. Like I said it was an educational experience. We had a ball on the train despite the initial inconvenience. There were over 100 middle school children returning to Tibet after being in school in China for the past four years who decided to adopt us for the journey. There were times I was glad of the oxygen being pumped into our room as there were so many people gathered around us asking questions or simply just smiling at us. It was amazing.

On reaching Lhasa, I'm afraid I succumbed to a fairly serious bout of altitude sickness but thanks to a Tibetan drug called Gao Yuan Ning Jiao Nang I have rallied successfully. I would recommend this drug to anyone if you come here and suffer from the hell that is Accute Mountain Sickness.

Lhasa is an incredible city. The Tibetan people have the most beautiful faces I have ever seen. When the smile they light up all around them. Their language sounds like music and when they work together they sing. It's an amazing sound and one that makes you want to join them in their joy. I feel so lucky to be here and my only wish is that I could stay longer here.