The long way home

Thailand to Malaysia

emadilema — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:52:00 GMT

Since I wrote last time I have left Thailand and headed to Malaysia so I guess I better go back and recap!

After leaving Khao Sok national park Andy and I headed to Ko Phi Phi. I had never been to Phi Phi before and heard that it was stunning so I had pretty high expectations and it didn't disappoint! The island is beautiful, tiny and very backpackery... by that I mean crammed with backpackers and bars and beach side bungalows. The beach was lovely to look at but not the best for swimming cause the water only comes up to your knees if your lucky, but it was lovely and relaxing all the same.

The first day w headed to the beach Andy and I managed to lose each other - we didn't have a very good pan for where to meet, so just chilled out on the beach by ourselves and met up later. It was very chilled out and relaxing. We ate lots of seafood and drank sang som!!

On the second night we decided to go to watch some Muy Thai (Thai Kickboxing). There were kids that looked about 9 in the ring at one point which I found a little disturbing - basically we were paying to watch kids beat the crap out of each other, but overall it was pretty fun. Lots of buckets of rum punch were drunk which resulted in us missing (or postponing) our boat trip which was booked for the fallowing day in order to lay about on the beach instead.

When we finally did make our boat trip, we were in for an eventful day!!!

The boats left at 11 am in the morning and we all piled in with our fins in hand ready for a day of snorkeling! The first stop was monkey island - an island full of monkey's strangely enough, and then it was around to bamboo island where the real fun started!

Our boatman (Tam) told us we had 30 mins then we had to get back on the boat to leave for the next spot. Andy, me and 2 Canadian boys Nick and Ben that we were talking to followed our boatman back to the boat but the rest of the passengers were no where in sight. Our boatman was getting quite agitated and we couldn't work out what the problem was until all the other boats started taking off and we got stuck on a rock. We all got out and between us managed to lift the boat and dislodge it from the rock (I say all of us but in reality I let the men be men and take care of this while I stood and watched. It was obvious that the tide was going out quickly and we were in danger of being beached if we didn't get a move on but still there was no sight of the rest of our boat so tam made the decision to leave without them!

Obviously at first we thought this was hilarious as we were in the boat so it didn't effect us. We even joked that Tam's policy must be no speedos on the boat being that two of the 3 guys we were leaving behind were proudly strutting around in their budgie smugglers!

One of the couples managed to hitch a lift on another boat and caught up with us and we were powering away from the beach but the other two couples didn't seem to make a move for it at all and where left stranded on the beach unable to reach us because between where our boat stopped and the shore was spiky corals. All the other boats had disappeared at this point and here we were stranded just off the beach with half our passengers standing on the shore refusing to even try and get across!

Tam and Nick had to end up swimmming out with fins for everyone and although watching then try to walk in fins over the corals was amusing for those of us on the boat, those involved were pretty peeved and had cuts and scratches by the time they finally made it back aboard. - oops Meanwhile we had now wasted about half our boat trip and most of our petrol.

We finally got started again and were going along nicely when the motor started to cut out. Tam was having obviously trouble steering the boat and then the motor cut out altogether. We had got the propeller stuck in rope that was being used to secure lobster pots (or something similar) One of our speedo clad heroes and Ben were given knives to jump into the water and cut off the rope and we were on our way again.

We finally made in to Phi Phi Laay which is where the film the beach was set and it was truly a beautiful beach - so worth all the hassle (for those of us that weren't involved anyway!)

Andy and I went for dinner and drinks with the Canadian boys that night and ended up back at Hippies bar on the beach where we had been a few nights before, till late.

We decided it was about time we moved on from Phi Phi and so we headed to Rai Lay just near Krabi. The beach here was truly stunning and I wish we had more time to spend here but after 2 days we needed to head South to get to Malaysia.

The trip to Malaysia was a long journey involving a boat, a mini van, another mini van and a taxi through the south of Thailand and over the boarder to Kota Bharu.

Yesterday was another full day of travel but this time on the jungle railway from Kota Bharu to Jeruntut and the scenery was stunning, then a boat to Taman Negara where we are now.

This is a huge jungle that is older than the Amazon and is supposed to be full of creatures. So the next few days will be spent trekking and exploring! I like the jungle.....

When we finally did make our boat trip, we were in for an eventful day!!!

We finally made in to Phi Phi Laay which is where the film the beach was set and it was truly a beautiful beach - so worth all the hassle (for those of us that weren't involved anyway!)

Andy and I went for dinner and drinks with the Canadian boys that night and ended up back at Hippies bar on the beach where we had been a few nights before, till late.

The trip to Malaysia was a long journey involving a boat, a mini van, another mini van and a taxi through the south of Thailand and over the boarder to Kota Bharu.

Yesterday was another full day of travel but this time on the jungle railway from Kota Bharu to Jeruntut and the scenery was stunning, then a boat to Taman Negara where we are now.

This is a huge jungle that is older than the Amazon and is supposed to be full of creatures. So the next few days will be spent trekking and exploring! I like the jungle.....

Back in Thailand again

emadilema — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:54:00 GMT

I am currently in the Khao Sok national park in the south of Thailand. I firstly met up with Andy in Bangkok and we drank too much beer and caught up on all the news since I've left England. The next day we were able to breifly catch up with my cousin Jon and some of his mates to visit the grand palace in Bangkok. I have been there before - the first time I was in Bangkok so I should have remembered that you couldn't wear no sleeves and shorts!!! I didn't though and we therefore had to borrow the clothing that they give out to tourists to make them look stupid! We saw Thai people who had been alowed into the palce without having to dress in either the ridiculous plastic trousers Andy wore or the mens shirts and gold sarong I had to wear!!!!

Anyway - we really only had the one day in Bagkok after which Andy and I boarded a train to Srat Thai - a horrible brothel; town that I had been stuck in before, which also serves as the connection to the islands and Khao Sok national park.

I had forgotten how beautiful it was here and had started to take scenery like this forgranted until Andy proclaimed that this was probobly the best place he had been in his life and I looked around and realised it really is one of the nicest places ever.

John met us at the bungalows and we geaded off to go swimming in the river. I had been warned by Cherie and Rod about the biting fish but that did nothing to stop me letting out a almightly( and very girly) squeal when I was bitten. I was convinced it was a snake it hurt so much and both the boys just pissed themselves laughing at me - noone showed the slightest concern!!!

We had a great afternoon swinging on the rope swing into the river, then headed up to see monkeys at the temple. We met an English couple that we had drinks and played cards with last night which was great fun and then spent today floating down the river in tubes - you can't get more perfect than that!

John has now gone back to Ka Samui and Andy and I are going on a trip to the lakes tomorrow and will prob head to Phi Phi after that so I'll write more then!

Phenom Penh and the North East

emadilema — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:32:00 GMT

I haven't written for a while so have a bit of catching up to do!

I arrived in Phenom Penh with m new travel partner - Kerstin who likes to be called Chris, and we headed off to S21 and the killing fields for our first day of sightseeing.

S21 used to be a school and was converted to a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It is an awful and depressing building, the top floors containing the tiny cells that prisoners were kept in with barely enough room to stretch ou to lie down, and literally thousands of people were turtured here. Afterwards we took a tuk tuk out to the killing fields were the Khmer Rouge excectued thousands and thousands of people. Just to bring home how recent all of this took place - you can actually see clothing and bones coming out of the ground around the pits that were used as mass graves. It was a really disturbing day. On the way back to town I could help but look around at everyone I passed thinking - this was recent enough that you lived through it. Such a horrible thought and it touched me even more than visiting the concerntration camp in Berlin.

On to more pleasent things - after such a heavy day of sightseeing we all declared that it was time to lighten the mood and head off go carting!! We had met some English boys Paul and Ali and a Canadian guy and girl and off we went! Being the only one who had never driven go-karts before (or even a car for that matter) I sucked but it was great fun!!!

I had originally planned to head to the south coast after Phenom Penh but the English bioys were heading to the North East to see dolphin and swim in volcanic craters and I thought that sounded great so decided to join them!

First we headed to Krati where the Irradily dolphins live in the Mekong river. nIt was a long and bumpy bus ride but when our little boat was surrounded by about 5 dolphins it was definitely worthwhile!!! The area around Krati is really rural and beautiful and we were treated to one of the nicest sunsets I have ever seen.

Next we headed off to BanLung. Getting there involved a 7 hour bus journey on the bumpiest roads I have ever travelled on!!! Everyone was being thrown around the bus - on numerous occassions I was thrown clear out of my seat! - It was kind of fun though - like being on a roller coaster!

BanLung is literally the middle of nowhere. The town has all dirt roads and due to the rain they were entirely mud. Dressed in my flip flops and balancing my pack I slip and slidded my way to the hostel in a scene reminiscent of glastonbury 2003!

But what an amazing place!!! We hired moto guides and 5 of us (joined by a Dutch guy we also met in Phenom Penh and an American we met on the bus) we set off for a day of swimming in waterfalls which was just beautiful and exactly what we all needed!!!!

BanLung also has a lake which has formed in a volcanic crater which is one of the most stunning places I have ever visited. The photos really don't do it justice - but I will try and upload some in the next couple of days anyway.

We spent one of the best days I have had on this trip so far floating on tubes around the lake till the sun went down. Perfect!!The next day we hired our own motos and headed back to the lake for more fun on tubes. It was great!!

The bus journey back however was stiff competition for the worst bus journey of my life - 15 hours on mainly dirt roads, being thrown out of my seat all the way back to Phenom Penhn.

So now I'm in Bangkok after flying in from Phenom Penh this morning and waiting for Andy to get to the hotel - He has just landed. I have met some great people in Cambodia and travelling on my own was not scary in the slightest, but I'm pretty happy to have a friend arriving now.

We are off down South of Thailand tomorrow night - the beach calls!!!

Angkor Wat and Smokin Pot

emadilema — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 19:59:00 GMT

I finally arrived in Cambodia, dusty and sweaty after flying from Guilin to Bangkok and stopping at a hostel for the night (well for about 5 hours sleep) and getting up the next morning to catch a bus to Aranya Prathet, crossing the border and getting another bus to Siem Riep. I had heard about the bus ride from Poipet to Siem Riep and was expecting it to be pretty bumpy and dusty - and it certainly was!!! For 6 hours!!!!

On arrival in Siemp Riep at 9pm was absolutely knackered!! I went straight to my hotel room to shower. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought - hey, I'm looking pretty tanned, but alas, the tan was actually a layer of red dirt which coated me from head to toe!

I decided I need a day just chilling out in Siem Riep on my first day, so I had a lie in then went to explore the markets. By about 2 pm I was bored and had heard that if you purchased your ticket to Angkor after 4 pm you could enter for the evening before also, so I went and found myself a moto guide and headed for Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat truly is amazing. Photos do nothing to capture it's immense size and being there as the sun went down was beautiful - the temple silhouetted against a purple sky. It really was magical.

Day 2 I decided to set off in time to capture sun rise at Angkor Wat and was therefore up and away for 5am (despite having met up with an Aussie couple I met on the bus the night before and going out for beers until about 12!!)

The roads were rammed with people headed to Angkor Wat to catch the sunrise and everyone was poised with cameras ready for that perfect sunrise shot. Considering I barely know how to use my camera, and knowing I would never achieve an amazing sunrise shot I opted to head straight through the temple instead so that as the sun came up I watched it from the back of the temple and was able to explore the temple with hardly another person in sight. Besides, in my opinion the sunset made for a much more beautiful image than the sunrise.

Next I headed off to Banteay Srei which is about 20 kms from Angkor Wat. Being that it is so much further out it is visited by many less tourists than the other temples, although it is considered to be one of the most beautiful. Banteay Srei means Citadel of the women, and as such was decorated with images of women (goddesses) throughout.

I then headed back towards Angkor Wat and visited East Mebon and Pre Rup two of the smaller temples.

Just before lunch I arrived at Ta Prohm which was my favourite temple and the one which is nicknamed the Angelina Jolie temple because tomb raider was filmed here! It is also the temple that the French decided was to be left in it's natural state and was allowed to be left as it was found in the 19th century. This means that tree roots have grown up through the temples which made it a shady haven for me in the heat of the day. With the tree roots entwined in the temple structure it also gave it a fairytale quality.

After lunch I headed to Ta Kea and Thommanon, then on to Bayon and Angkor Thom.

Bayon was a huge structure with numerous towers on top, all decorated in faces so that it feels like you are being watched the whole time you are there.

I have to admitt that by the time I reached Angkor Thom and Bayon I was pretty much templed out - being that it was now 3pm and I have been templing since 5am!!! I had to force myself to walk around Angkor Thom and was trying really hard not to think - oh right, another pile of stones about these amazing temples, but there are really only so many temples you can see in one day!

So it was on to Battembang the following day (which is where I am now) I explored the town and booked myself on to a cooking course at smokin pot! - What did you think I was referring to in the tittle....

The cooking course was great fun! Firstly we headed off to the markets to buy all of the ingredients for the 3 dishes we were going to cook. All the food was so fresh! So fresh in fact that we were able to buy our fish live and watch the women bludgeon it to death and scale it in front of our eyes - oh joy!

We cook Amok fish which is a coconut curry and a local Khmer speciality, some spicy beef and basil stir fry and the Khmer style Tom Yum soup with chicken. It was great fun and they give you a cook book with all the recipes, and loads more, so I'll look forward to cooking some when I get home!

Off to Phenom Phen tomorrow. I've met a German girl named Kerstin who I'm going to travel with and share room/ transport etc with in Phenom Phen so I won't be on my own which is great.

Gallery: Biking in Yang Shuo

emadilema — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:36:00 GMT

Biking around YangShuo

emadilema — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:51:00 GMT

Cherie, Rod and I finally met up again in Yang Shuo which is a small town outside of Guilin - and this time we have managed to actually find a relatively small town to chill out in!! For the first couple of days we did exactly that - chill out, read books, drink milkshakes and relax and by Friday we were ready for another adventure so hired bicycles and set out for the day. Armed with a map that only bears a vague resembleance to the town we set off to explore the nearby villages. There is a bike path that winds it's way alongside the river which, although incredibly bumpy, was quite an easy ride through some of the most amazing scenery I have seen in China. We cycled past rice paddies, through tiny villages and alongside limestone cliffs that make for a spectacular view. We must have riden for about 4 hours and by the time we headed back in to town we were all knackered! Being that the above described trip was such a success and so peaceful and tranquil yesterady we decided to head out on bikes again to find somewhere along the river to swim. We set off pretty early and took the main road out of town that my rough guide assured me would lead us to a place on the river where we could swim. The first trouble arose when it became neccessary to cycle through a roundabout which seemed to have about 8 different 'lanes' of traffic hurtling through it at high speed and in all directions at once. In my attempt to follow Rod through I narrowly escaped being crushed between an electric cart (much like a golf buggy) and a cart selling bananas - what a way to go! Having just recovered from this near mishap I looked up to see a coach hurtling towards me, horn blaring and a mini van blocking any hope I had of getting out of it's way before I was crushed to my death. I swerved in front of the mini van, nearly took out a toothless old lady and landed half way up the gutter - just in time!!! The road that we had to ride up next did appear to have a bike lane I was relieved to see. Unfortunately however, this appeared to be taken up by Chinese tourists on bikes who, as I was about to discover, cycle in the same haphazard fashion in which they drive! 4 or 5 wide, sometimes in the middle of a lane of traffic, on more than 1 occasion someone swerved in front of me then slammed on the brakes causing me to either swerve into a lane of traffic to avoid them or slam on the breaks myself, risking flying over the front of the handles bars after such an abrupt stop. This was done on both occasions so that the person in front of me was in a good position to take a photo of me as I attempted to screetch to a halt!!! At that moment I gained an insight into how Bradgalina must feel and understood the appeal of retreating to Namibia. So here we are cycling along a highway, being chased by the paperazi on bikes thinking - this isn't the serene outing I had imagined.... Luckily most of the Chines tourists were heading to the butterfly cave and we were taking a dirt path off to the right along the river - so our journey becaome peaceful once again and we headed down to the river for a refreshing swim. Chinese people either don't swim, think it is far too cold to be swimming at this time of year or are aware of some man eating beast that lives in the river because people were either so surprised to see us in the water that they nearly fell off their bikes as they rode past or they openly laughed at us and pointed us out to their friends. Either way - the water was lovely and nothing seemed to be lurking beneath. YangShuo has a number of caves that can be visted on tours organised by the guesthouses. We chose to head out to the water cave - as the brouchure stated - this was the real water cavbe not one of the many fake water caves. I don't know what the fake water caves are like but the real one is a bit crap!! We arrived dressed in boardies and flip flops and piled into a wooden boat with 3 Middleaged Chinese couples. The men were all wearing suits and chain smoked for the duration of the tour and the women were also dressed in similar unsuitable attire for caving - well I though so anyway, although they were prob looking at us thinking the same thing. The main features of this cave were a mud bath that we waded around in for a bit ( the Chinese couples in suits jsut watched us with fascination) but it smealt a bit like sewerage so we got out - and a waterfall and pool which was pretty unimpressive and too cold to swim in. A helpful guide pointed out the formations to us. Despite having names like 'Frog love the fairly lady' and 'Monks make love' I couldn't make any many of the figures I was supposed to be able to see - just looked like a load of rocks to me. We were shown the stalic mits and stalic tits - the brouchure even encouranges you to tap them and see if you can make beautiful music - conservation doesn't seem to be big in parts of China. Despite the caves being a dissapointment the day was very amusing, so all was not lost. We are going hot air ballooning tomorrow. Cherie and Rod have been before but I haven't so am really looking forward to it!! Just hope the weather is good!!!

Gallery: Macau and Hong Kong

emadilema — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:29:00 GMT

Macau

Macau and Hong Kong

emadilema — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:39:00 GMT

After a few more lazy days in ChengDu Cherie, Rod and I split up and headed off in our seperate directions for a few days. They headed off to Lijian and me to Macau to visit my cousin Jon and his wife Summer who are living out there teaching.

Macau is chock a block with casinos!! There seems to be hundresds of them lit up like Xmas trees at night. You really have to wonder how they are all getting enough business to stay afloat - but apparently they are and there is currently even more being built.

Friday was a public holiday in Macau so Jon and Summer were off work so we headed to Hong Kong for the day with some of their friends from work. Having been to Hong Kong before a coupld of the girls were keen to spend the day shopping, but me Jon and Vitoria instead headed to the peak.

The peak is the highest point in Hong Kong and you reach it by riding up the mountain on a cable train. Th eview from up there was great - it perhaps would have been better if it wasn't so hazy from the smog but we stayed up till the sun went down so we could see Hong Kong lit up at night.

There was a huge que to get on this cable train and we would have had to wait about a hour and a half to get up. In order to skip the que we bought tickets to the cable train and Madamme Tussards which is on top of the peak which alowed us to que jump to the front. I wasn't all that fussed about Madamme Tussards but we figured since we had the tics anyway we may as well check it out and I am glad we did. It was a lot more fun that I thought it would be.

There was a wax figure of some famous sumo wrestler - not being up on my sumo wrestlers I hadn't the foggiest who he was but they provided sumo suits to dress up in to pose for a picture with him and I wasn't going to pass up on that opportunity!!!

On Saturday both JOn and Summer had to go in to work (how ridiculous!!!) so I explored Macau for the day. It is small enough that I just got around on foot all day. Macau is the perfect mixture of Asian and European - European smells of coffee and baked pastries but Asian prices!! It feels much more like South East Asia than China.

Yesterady (sunday) after getting up at 9am to watch the replay of the world cup final (I had to switch my phone off and give it to JOn for safe keeping so I didn't text people to find out the result and he disabled the internet connection in my room cause I couldn't be trusted not to try and sneak the result)we headed to Coloane to go to the beach and eat portugese tarts - a nice relaxing day.

Unfortunately due to the weather in South west China,I got a message from Cherie saying that we are not going to be able to trek Tiger leaping gorge after all which was our plan for what to do next! It is a real shame as it's the worlds deepest gorge and looks stunning - besides the Chinese government are talking of damming it in the next few years so it mau not even exist for much longer! But if weather is bad there can be landslides in the area so we just can't risk it! That means that although today I had a flight to go back and meet tham in Lijian, I am still in Macau. Instead I am going to blow that flight (ouch) and we are meeting on Wed in Guilin instead. Guilin is closer to where I am now so at least we know the weather is good there are the scenery does look amazing so it may not be so bad. I do feel sorry for Cherie though as tiger leaping gorge was her must see in China. Oh well - Guilin it is!

Gallery: London to Beijing

emadilema — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:35:00 GMT

Beijing

Gallery: Don't forget your hiking boots

emadilema — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:30:00 GMT

The Great Wall

Gallery: Terrecotta Warriors

emadilema — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:25:00 GMT

Xi'an

Gallery: Every bodies kung fu fighting

emadilema — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:18:00 GMT

Deng Feng and Shaolin

Gallery: Entertaining the masses

emadilema — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 03:56:00 GMT

Leshan and Chengdu

Entertaining the masses

emadilema — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:58:00 GMT

Finally, I am pleased to say that on arrival in Cheng Du two things were obvious - firstly we had finally arrived far enough South that I can stop wearing everything I owe at once layered on top of each other giving me an abominable sow man type look and secondly here was a city where the pace of life seems to fit with my ideals!

Chengdu is much more laid back and relaxed than anywhere else we have been so far. The street of our hostel is lined with little tea shops and cafes and the restaurants do milkshakes, pizza and pasta - not that there is anything worng with Chinese food - but I could really do with a break!!!

On arrival in town we decided to go for a walk and check out the peoples park that we had been told about by a man in our previous hostel. It was about a min walk away and is definately the place the older Chinese like to hang out - about 40 and up I mean. It is amazing how active, in particular the lder generations, the Chinese are. Every park hosts Tai Chi clasees, exercise classes, groups of people dancing and people playing board games.

We seemed to stumble across what appeared to me open mike night in the park. Every corner we turned there seemed to be speakers and a microphone set up and a group of people gathered to cheer on friends intent on showcasing their talent..... or lack there of as the case may be. I tell you one thing, the Chinese have no shame! I don't think there is a word for embarrassed in the Chinese language - the concept seems entirely alien to them. No one with an ounce of talent seemed to be in charge of those microphones but that didn't stop people from belting out a song as loudly as they could manage with skipping, hopping and 'dancing' for the entertainment of the onlookers.

We entered a square in the middle of the park where a small raised stage could be found and this is when the true fun started. Someone said something over the microphone and all of a sudden we were surrounded by Chinese people clapping and cheering a watching us expectantly. Rod managed to escape and stood a safe distance away leaving Cherie and I surrounded by people trying to drag us up to the stage. A moustached man with a saxaphone approached and found out we were from Australia so started belting out something that vaguely resembled waltzing matilda and he wanted us to get up on stage to sing it!!! We tried to explain through fits of laughter that neither Cherie or I can sing to save ourselves and they finally relented although we were forced to dance with some Chinese women in the centre of the cirlce to Doe a deer which seemed to last forever before we managed to escape. During this entire escapade Rod did not try and intervene to save us once - instead he stood and filmed the whole thing!!! It was probobly one of the funniest moments of my life!

Yesterday we went to Leso to visit the worlds largest standing Buddha - unfortunately half of China also seemed to be there so we spend most of the day exploring the nearby temples which were relatively quiet! It was really beautiful and serene there - which is how I feel at most Buddhist temples.

Today we spent the morning at the Panda breeding centre in Chengdu. The Pandas were gorgeous!!! Although the adult ones look like people dresed up in suits and I couldn't help but wonder whether the whole thing was some ploy by the Chinese government to boost tourism in the country and they really were just Chinese men inside those Panda suits.... When we first arrived one of the Pandas walked down to the front of the enclosure, held up a paw as if it was waiving and posed, then turned it's head to the other side to give everyone a good photo opportunity before wandering off to eat bamboo again. It was very funny! We prob spent a good 45 mins just watching the younger pandas fight. Apparently after they have eaten in the mornings they just sit and do nothing - they get something like drunk from the bamboo so it was just as well we got there in the morning! The life of a Panda doesn't seem to bad actually.....

Terracotta Warriors

emadilema — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:20:00 GMT

We left Deng Feng at 5am in the morning and headed to Xi'an. I have to admitt that this was no easy feat for me considering that every part of my body was aching due to my day of kung fu. When I say every part I literally mean every part - including my fingers. Rod had to help me lift my back pack every time I needed to put it on!

We got to Xi'an and it was raining, in fact it hasn't stopped raining for 4 days now and I am getting a little tired of having wet feet. It is also really cold. Thank God I brought my jeans (thanks Lucy!!!)I've also developed a bit of a cold

Anyway - the main reason for being in Xi'an was to visit the terracotta warriors so we joined a day trip and off we went.

The site is not exactly as I had pictured it, it is mainly like an archeological site, still in the process of being excavated. Apparently they are hoping that within about 100 years that scientists should have the technology to unearth some of the warriors without them losing their colourings as at the moment once they are exposed to light the painting on the figures fades quickly. The central tomb has not yet been excavated as scientists have not yet worked out the best way to do this and besides it is surrounded in mercury whi ch is poisenous. I think it shows amazing restraint that some eager archeologist hasn't just though damn it - and gone right ahead. It must be very frustrrating knowing that the technology to unearth the rest of the treasures will not exist in your lifetime and you will therefor never know what was inside!!!!

We also visited some hot springs that were fed from volcanic springs just outside of Xi'an. Unfortunately we couldn't swim in these though - I've no idea why not and since it is feezing cold and wet, it would have made a perfect afternoon!!

Tonight it's off to Cheng Du to see some pandas among other things.

Everybodies kung fu fighting

emadilema — Mon, 8 Oct 2007 21:44:00 GMT

Another early start and we boarding what is apparently the best train in China in order to leave Beijing and head to Zheng Zhou which is on route to Shaolin for some kung fu action!

We arrived in Zhen Zhou and on first impression it did not seem to be any less populated than Bejing. We finally found a bus that would take us to Dong Feng and we were on our way. Both the rough guide and the lonely planet describe Deng Feng as a small town consisting of one street, and containing little more than kung fu accessory shops. So imagine our surprise when we arrived in a bustling town with a population of 640,000!!! What the????

Finding a hotel was interesting... despite the fact the town is at the base of the Song Shan mountain (where the Shaolin temple is) there seems to be no other wetserners in the entire town and therefore very few hotels. We met a friendly conceirge from the one hotel (out of our price range) and he sorted us out with a cheaper room. In fact he has not really left our side since we arrived... he keeps turing up at our hotel door and asking if we need anything which is slightly annoying, but on the plus side he did help us to organise tickets to an amazing show - I think it was called the zen music and light show, which was set at the base of a mountain. It was truly amazing and included kung fu, dance, music and singing.

The next day was headed to the Shaolin temple in the pouring rain. It was a shame that the weather was so shite because although we were on the top of the mountain we could barely see each other let alone anything that resembled a view. The temple is really touristy and very new - most of it was only built under 10 years ago but it was still pretty cool to be there. There was a Shaolin ku fu show and we saw boys aged about 3 years old doing the most amazing things with looks of such concertration on their little faces. I am sure they would be horrified that instead of finding them scary, I thought they were the cutest thing I've ever seen and just wanted to take one home！！！

I managed to organise a day at a wu su school for today and got up at 6.30 in order to get to the school at 8am to start class. I arrived dressed in my sheffield wednesday football shirt and some yoga trousers (with my new friend the conceierge) to meet my instructor. He spoke barely a word of English so the conceirge translated and it was pretty obvious that he wasn't sure I was going to be able to make the grade! He told me that kung fu is really hard work and I might not be able to accept this. I tried my best to assure him I was well hard and a day of kung fu was no worries and eventually he agreed to take me and the conceirge left. So there I was in a training room with my coach, on my own trying to work out what the hell I was doing.

Firstkly he made me run about a million laps of the training room and then it was time for some stretches. He seemed impressed with my stretching ability, so I thought that was a good sign. Anyone that knows me will also know that the fact that this man thought I was not going to be able to cope with a day of training made me determined to prove that I was no softy and I punched, kicked and stretched like never before to prove to him I could be the next kung fu master. As a result, by the time the other students arrived at 9am I was absolutely knackered and thought fuck.... I can't do this till 5pm!!!!

I was in a training room with the other international students and we were split up into groups of between 3 and about 8, each with our own instructor. In my group there was a frech Canadian guy and a guy from Mongolia. All up there was about 35 students and only 3 of us were girls.

I can without hesitation say that day has been the hardest day of physical activity that I have ever endured!!! Every part of my body currently hurts and I suspect just getting out of bed tomorrow will nearly kill me but it was a brilliant day and I am so glad I did it!!!!

Throughout the day I learnt a sequence of punches, kicks, odd standing on one leg like a bird type positions and contourting my body into the most unatural shapes imaginable! I was very pleased when the instructor told me I train kung fu good and most people take 3 days to learn what I did in 1 day!!! That showed him!!!! Now I'm going to try and hobble back to my hotel - god knows how I will manage to climb the stairs, and crawl into bed where I plan to lie as still as possible for the next 8 hours. Another 5 am start tomorrow as we head to Xi'an...... I feel like I might die......

Don't forget your hiking boots

emadilema — Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:48:00 GMT

After spending a fairly relaxing day at the temple of heaven yesterday, we got up this morning at 5.45 in order to head to the great wall of China. The sections we went to were Jimshanlyn and Simatai which were suppossed to be a mixture of restored and original wall.

I would like to blame the early start for my lack of forethought when dressing to head off to the wall. Once we got there is became obvious that everyone else knew something we didn't. Stood in three quater jeans and flip flops outside of the bus I couldn't help but feel concen when I noticed that evryone else seemed to be wearing hiking boots and carrying walking sticks. It was then that our guide announced - 'you will need to trek 10 kms from this point to Simatai where I will meet you' and I felt some brief panic.

In true Aussie style we decided that everyone else was prob being overly cautious in their attire and heading off to the wall in our pluggers! I will try and upload some photos in the next couple of days just to show how stupid this decision really was. At some points the wall was approx a 70 degree incline, with lose rocks, slippery surfaces and a drop on either side. I had visions of the newspaper heading "Aussie plunge to their death at the Great Wall of China - wearing only thongs on their feet' and every Chinese person who walked past looked at our feet in astonishment. It really was one of the stupidest things I have done!!!

Anyway - obviously we made it and the views were spectacular. The size of the wall really is incomprehendable!!! It stretches as far as the eye can see and reaches such hights that I can not even imagine how the poor workers building the thing carrying the stones up there. It was an exhausting walk of 4 hours which ended in a fantastic - if not slightly scary flying fox ride down the hill and over a river. It was great!

Last night we found a Peking duck restaurant and between the 3 of us managed to eat an entire duck - brain and all. I have no idea why it is that I have to pretend I am really tough and willing to try anything but I do, so when they presented us with the ducks head sliced down the middle I plunged my chopstick in and got me some ducks brain. It was horrible!! It wasn't that it had a nasty taste, or any taste at all really, it was more that it left a greasy film on my tounge and I couldn't stop thinking about it for hours afterwards which made me feel really sick.

Tomorrow we are off to the forbidden city so it should be another really long day of walking, and a pretty early start. After that it is the Shaolin temple for some kung fu action which is obviously the part of the trip I am most looking forwards to!!!

Best get off to bed now then.

London to Beijing

emadilema — Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:21:00 GMT

Word of advice: If you are going to up and leave all your friends and move to the other side of the world - have 1 farewell say goodbye and bugger off!!! I decided to stage a series of events over about 2 weeks which means almost every day for 2 weeks I had to say goodbye to someone so have cried constantly for my last 2 weeks in the UK.

After much stress I finally made it to the airport to fly Aeroflt to Beijing. Areoflt is not an airline that I would hurry to recommend to anyone, although at 230 pounds I can't really complain..... but I will

There was no tv screen, no blanket, no music, no pillow and after my refreshing 1 hour sleep on sat night and 4 hours sleep on fri all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep. Unfortunatley the women next to me took it upon herself to wake me every time the stewardess came past to see if I wanted a drink or food or maybe just to piss me off... I'm not sure.

Made it to Beijing in a daze and met Cherie and Rod at the hostel. At this point having not slept for approx 3 days I decided it was a good idea to go to the forbidden palace with them on Chinas international day. The Forbidden palace is opposit Tiamen square where as many people as the population of Australia seemed to be assembled!! The forbidden city was not much better and we were jostled and touched in places usually off limits to strangers and finally made it to outside the gates of the forbidden city where we decided to come back another day when hopefully there would be less people..... welcome to China!

I seem to be somewhat of a celebrity here. If I am standing still for more than about 5 mins a group of (usually men) assemble behind me and gape open mouthed. The more polite ones (usually women) ask for me to pose for a photo with their friends - so I oblige. There are currently numerous pictures of me floating around homes in Beijing - for wat purpose I have no idea! Cherie and Rod also get a fair bit of attention but not quite in the same way and we think it may be my hair - I guess there is not many ginger Chinese about so that may explain their interest....

Yesterday we spent 6 hours walking around the summer palace (again along with more people than the population of London)It still managed to be serene in places and the architecture really is amazing.

I used my first public toilet yesterday whcih was also amazing but for a very different reason. I hope not to have to use the toilet again this trip... enough said!!