Gemma has written this as I'm too busy looking at F1 websites / facebook / online banking (trying to figure out where I have spent so much and why the value of the pound appears to be collapsing). Pics will follow soon. I love Vietnam! We arrived last week and the first thing we saw as we left the airport was a herd of cows wandering across the motorway! This kind of thing is normal here! Hanoi was crazy, so many motorbikes, scooters and bikes everywhere - crossing the road is quite an experience! And the things they transport on them... [View Full Entry]

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Gemma, James and I have just left Laos. We all had a great time and Gem and I are going to really miss James as he has now jetted back to the UK. Laos has been fantastic. It is such a special country, suprisingly so, especially when considering we hardly knew anything about it before we got there, apart from it being involved in the Vietnam war. Laos now seems a long way from the country that was so involved in the fighting, supporting the Ho Chi Minh trail and subjected to massive bombing in the 'CIA's secret war'. I have [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Thailand last Saturday and made straight for our hostel. It took a while but we got there eventually with the help of a nice Thai lady at a busy bus stop. Gem quickly got stuck into shopping the next morning at the largest market in South East Asia supposedly. She bought new shorts and dresses, but I wanted a Ferrari t-shirt; they didn't have any. Wasn't so impressed with the largest market in South East Asia after that, but it was good to taste Thai food from street vendors, yum yum! And the fruit shakes are so good; [View Full Entry]

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Well, as you probably expected me to say, the Formula 1 was indeed, fantastic! I read that it was a quite a dull race to see on TV, but watching it track side in Shanghai was everything I imagined. The noise and speed of the cars was awesome and the atmosphere great. Lewis Hamilton is a superb driver and noticeably quicker at braking and down shifting into the corners. He drove like a man on a mission, occasionally locking up a wheel, but always making the corner. I really hope he keeps it all together and wins the championship this year; [View Full Entry]

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We have just started a nice few days of relaxation. Now obviously we can't claim to have earned it, but we'll enjoy it all the same. Sometimes when you are travelling everything seems to be going that little bit too quickly, and you never have a chance to step back and take it all in. Well we have arrived in Shanghai now, which means we have finished our last pre-booked tour. I think that we are both relieved and it is going to be fun actually arranging the travelling, rather than be whisked through the sites with a guide. Shaolin temple [View Full Entry]

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We caught the train to Xian a few days ago. We had really enjoyed Beijing and visited the Forbidden city on our final day there. It was good but I much preferred the Great Wall! Xian is a very old city that has been the capital of China during the Qin dynasty (I think!). It reminded me a bit of York with the old walls surrounding the centre. We ate out and wandered around the old market buying some warriors to send home. We had ample opportunity to practise our bartering skills; after threatening to walk away about 12 times we [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in China a few days ago. We crossed the border without problems and the young soldier who had been sent to watch us over the border in our carriage was desperate to speak to us in english. He was very friendly and gave a good first impression. We arrived in Beijing the following morning (we were getting a bit restless on overnight trains now) and we were eager to get to the hotel. The first thing that hit us were the number of people. It is so so busy here. The station was packed like a football stand. We [View Full Entry]

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Wow - Mongolia was amazing! We arrived in the capital Ulaanbaatar which was a city that had no resemblence to the rest of the country. It was just built like any other Soviet city that we had already seen - all with the help of the Russians unsurprisingly. The previous night on the train had been both eventful for us all and terrible for me. Great excitement unfolded in our carriage as it turned out we had some dodgy Russain guy trying to hide bags of bullets in the cabins occupied by us and some Australians. We quickly nick-named him 'Bullet' [View Full Entry]

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We are in Irkust now, more than half way through our Trans-Siberian journey. Train life is great. We are catching another train tonight to Ulan Bator. Over the past 4 nights we have played lots of cards, lost and won loads of small money and drank some vodka - of course. The cabins are 4-berth and quite spacious, although we all needed a shower! Stopping at stations is a lot of fun. We can get off for 15 minutes or so and buy some goodies from the old ladies who come down to meet the train. We are getting more and [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Moscow a couple of days ago after boarding an overnight train from St Petersburg. We had to take first class sleeper tickets as all the second class had been sold, and we ended up spending 100 pounds per ticket. However it was extremely comfortable and we both got a good night sleep. Arriving in Moscow at the station named after Lenin was a bit of a shock. There were plenty of tramps lying in thier own urine and the entrance to the underground smelt like a sewer. I'm pleased to say however it got much nicer! The actual [View Full Entry]

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