Blogs from Asia - page 2492
June 25th 2010
Noraebanging I know I said that I would write about our Noraebang excursion a while ago, but I’ve been... well... lazy. It’s getting hot here too, but it’s not just the heat that’s annoying it’s the super high humidity. Most days the temperature is about 30 degrees Celsius but the humidity makes it feel between 36 and 38. Very very hot! The rainy season is supposed to go from July through August, so I think we’re in for a rough couple of months. It’s already started raining and you might think that the rain would relieve some of the humidity and maybe cool it down a bit, but you would be wrong, it was the opposite. We’ve started needing to use the air conditioning at night just so we don’t sweat to death in our sleep. ... read more
June 25th 2010
It's Friday, and I have finally completed my first full week of work. Although each day is long, the week seems to have gone by very fast. The railway system is the biggest challenge we have each day. Every morning and afternoon we must cram ourselves into the subway in order to get anywhere! We all have a good time with it though and have experienced some funny times on the subway. For the past 3 days it has been raining, which doesn't help the already humid weather. So I have learned to bring my umbrella with me wherever I go. This week at work I have been doing a lot of different things, including brand research on pharmaceutical companies, brainstorming brand names for 2 companies, and doing a study of how other branding companies do ... read more
June 25th 2010
Day7- our heads a little sore we were late to rise so rushed to get packed up and catch a minibus to the bus station, luckly they were late themselves. the bus journey was reasonably harmless only a little uncomfortable but the Cambodian karaoke music they played the whole way was torture, also the cup holder by our seats had a lovely little surprise in store for us- it was full of what looked like insect legs!!??!! it wasn't until we past through a bustling little village market we spotted a lady walking around with a tray on top of her head piled high with what looked like crispy chard cockroaches for sale by the handful, so the previous occupants of our seats must have passed the journey snacking on a tasty treat (but didn't care ... read more
Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-la - Heading north towards Tibet
Published: June 25th 2010Asia » China » Yunnan
June 25th 2010
One thing we forgot to mention about our arrival in Guangzhou was the large illuminated notice board at the immigration entry which was displaying two pages of vital information for visitors - a detailed explanation about the emergence of the BLACK PLAGUE in town. The board contained a very detailed history of the PLAGUE in Europe and the necessary information on recognizing the symptoms and what to do for medical treatment. The importance of this information hit us when we discovered large rat traps strategically placed along the hallway near our room at the hostel (didn't see and captured rats though). We left Sanya on a drizzling Sunday morning, caught a taxi right in front of the hotel for 50RMB ($8.50 yes the local Sanya rip-off price - “no the meter does not work!!”) and headed ... read more
End of the tranmongolian... 9 million bicycles in Beijing
Published: June 25th 2010Asia » China » Beijing » DongchengJune 25th 2010
Well I haven't blogged in a while and alot has happen since I left Moscow. We left at 8.30 in the evening well over a week ago and I now find myself sitting with a coke in Beijing in China, the world's largest communist state. The train from Moscow to Ulaanbator took 6 nights and was in part fantastic and in others excrutiatingly painful. We crossed the urals to stunning views of high topped mountains, with snaking rivers crawling in between, followed by the siberian plateau of flat sprawling fields bisected by gushing rivers full to the brims and dotted with small wooden farms. You quickly get into a sequence of measuring time in packets of noodles and your major concerns become, where does the next meal come from, when can I next have a shit, ... read more
June 25th 2010
To get to Luang Prabang we caught the slow boat down the Mekong River, after first sitting on crappy wooden chairs then realising we could have nice comfy ones (well as much as nice and comfy you can get on a boat - clearly lifted straight out of cars/minibus) waiting for several hours sat on the boat ready to go..finally the boat was ready! We set off around 10, hoping that it wasn't going to take the 9 hours we were told! The scenery was outstanding, such beautiful mountains, and hillsides. Half of the first day we had Laos on one side and Thailand on the other. A long 7 hours later we made it to Pak Beng the half way mark. Getting off the boat and being greeted by so many people touting for business, ... read more
June 25th 2010
Everything about getting to China had been difficult. Obtaining a visa, changing money, and even finding the border. However, entering the country was blissfully stress free. We breezed past customs without the least bit of hassle, most officials more laidback than anywhere else we have been. Our James Bond-esque (well Hannah's) attempt at covering our Lonely Planet China book, which now went by the name of 'Rebecca's Choice', went unnoticed. Apparently customs have been known to confiscate Lonely Planet book's that show Taiwan as a seperate country, but who would check two smiley faces like us hey? We set our clocks an hour ahead (now seven ahead of England) and booked tickets for the 8pm sleeper bus to Kumming, further north of Yunnan Province. We had around four hours to wait and so spent the time ... read more
June 25th 2010
Hello everyone! After 6 months of traveling, I am trying to get it together by creating a blog since some people complained that I wasn't writing anything about my photos :) So, we arrived in Nepal in early April for a little over a week. Nepal is one of the most, if not the most beautiful country we have visited so far. Although Kathmandu can be crazy with all of the people, goats, cows, rickshaws, taxis, bicycles, and most of all scooters in the street, it's a great city with really honest, friendly people. After we returned from trekking, we spent another week in Kathmandu just eating, enjoying all of the bakeries and western food. Of course, the first place we went to after we came back from trekking was the pizza place, owned by an ... read more
June 25th 2010
In Xi'an, central China, even warmer! Having a chill out day 'cos were wrecked. So much walking and think the 'food' is takin its toll. Gettin sick of Chinese and even McD's and KFC are hit or miss! But it's not too bad! Going to see Terra cotta warriors in a few days. Goin to see a Tai Chi instructor give a free class in our hostel 2nite, shud be fun! Not missing Ireland yet altho I hear the weather is not bad, typical! Oh Facebook is really hard to use here and my phone (Sarah) isn't working so tryin my best with the emails! U can send messages on this aswell. ... read more
June 25th 2010
Going to Singapore Day 1 The trip to Singapore from Brisbane was really fun. Instead of going on a cramped ugly aeroplane I went with Singapore Airlines which I am happy to say is my favourite airline ever. I watched a lot of TV including How I Met Your Mother, The Simpsons, Double Take, Mitchell and Webb and The Middle. I also watched the movie Marley & Me. Every passenger had a cable for watching iPod media and charging their device, a USB port for looking at media stored, and a powerpoint. Arriving in Singapore Day 1 Seven and a half hours later we arrived in Singapore. It was very hot but thankfully the airport was air-conditioned. We collected our bags, got our passports stamped and ate the complementary mentos. From there we took the MRT ... read more
