Anna and Dave

Hi All, Sorry for this very delayed blog post. You'll also notice that I'm not really writing about where we are either. We're still not up to writing the post for Nha Trang yet... oops. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, China was a bit of a nightmare with regards to decent internet onnections to the outside world. We found Facebook wouldn't work and Skype was very sluggish. We decided not to worry so much about getting the blog written and wait until we found a decent connection. Secondly, we just got very, very busy! Without our long train trips through the countryside we found we ran out of time each day and just let everything lapse. Lastly, We're just having too much fun!!!! Don't worry, we're still thinking of all of you but there ... read more

We were thankful we’d booked a hotel near the airport the night before we left Shanghai. It was walking distance to Terminal 1 at Hongqiao. Small problem... we were going from Terminal 2. Enquiries at reception revealed the presence of an airport transfer service. It was a first come, first seved basis and cannily we showed up for the earlier one about 20 minutes early. This enabled us to actually get a seat on the bus in amongst all the luggage that everyone seemed to have. The weirdest thing so far travelling throughout South East Asia is the sheer amount of crap that everyone travels with. Fair enough, you’ve got your standard luggage but everyone seems to be travelling with an additional box or two. In the airport terminals the luggage trolleys are fully loaded and ... read more

I’ll begin this blog as we freeze in the waiting room at Harbin rail station. We’d tried following the electronic signs for each train as they were called, but with little success. As the time of our departure drew near, a crowd began to queue politely at the gates to the platform. Around 10mins before the train was due to leave an announcement boomed over the tannoy in Chinese. This was quickly followed by those not in the queue piling towards the gates to form one massive throng at the gateway. We figured this was our train and began collecting our things together and getting our bags on. A set of attendants appeared for each of the gates and, as one, opened them all and began checking tickets as people jostled their way though. As the ... read more

Joining the train mid afternoon gave us the novelty of being able to see the world going by outside the carriage. We were sharing our cabin on this leg with a pair of Russian lads around our age that took regular trips to the gap between carriages for a smoke or off to the restaurant car for snacks and beers. We attempted the offering of the small chocolate mountains to no avail. We couldn’t help but feel we’d chosen something no-one liked. We got into watching the passing scenery, soon discovering that the section of Russia we were crossing during daylight was filled with scarcely more than the odd remote village and a large amount of frozen rolling hills. With the sun setting we soon resumed the usual darkened routine of reading and eating before sleeping. ... read more

We arrived in Omsk and quickly headed into the warmth of the terminal building to try and find a way out to the hotel. Having found there was no convenient public transport it was going to be our first Russian taxi experience. As we were heading out towards the front of the station, a smartly dressed man asked if we were after a taxi, having said yes he ushered us out to his waiting car and had our bags loaded in the boot. Pausing the proceedings, we asked how much the fare was going to be, to which he replied 500 roubles. Knowing the hotel was a way from town and over the river we figured £10 was a little steep but not unreasonable for the journey, so jumped in. Around 10 to 15 minutes of ... read more