Sydney August 2009 There is no holding back Mary here, she interviewed with an employment agency the day after we arrived, was sent to a bank interview the next day and started work the next, so amazingly was set up in a great 4 month contract job after only 2 days. Unbelievable. Took a lot of pressure off us, knowing that we would soon have money coming in and we would actually be able to stay in Sydney and go get somewhere to live. Over our first week we scoured through the web looking for places, and tried to get to [View Full Entry]

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Monday 3rd August 2007 Tianjin Finally it was D Day, 4 months in coming but here it was, the fun was over and it was time to travel back to western comforts but by traveling east and rejoin the day to day living we had managed to avoid around Asia with such great enjoyment, well as much as living in Sydney for a year is like the real world at home in Dublin, which isn’t really a lot so its not too bad. Our taxi driver raced us out to the airport in no time and refused to keep the 1 [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 2nd August Beijing Our last day, how did that happen, we are looking forward to settling in Australia for a bit and unpacking the bags but I know we will miss it all when we do. We relaxed for a while and packed up most of our things, the bags haven’t grown that much considering since Dublin airport 4 months ago. It was time to throw away the crap t-shirts and rags we picked up in Cambodia and the likes, don’t think we’ll be wandering around Sydney in our Angkor Watt shits. We headed back down to the shopping street [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 1st August 2009 Beijing Today’s priority again was shopping, we had been saying for months that we were going to buy loads of things in China and send them home, that was before we knew the things that they sold in China and how much more expensive it was than SE Asia but we still wanted a few little things as reminders. Also there was the task of buying a suit for Mary as we probably wouldn’t have a lot of time when we got to Sydney with her interview the next day. We looked up where there might be [View Full Entry]

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Friday 31st July 2009 Beijing Our trip to the great wall picked us up at 6.20am so we were once again herded onto a little minibus with other dreary travelers to transport us to another bigger bus to cram us in with even more people and drove for about 3 hours to the Simitai section of the wall. You can only access the wall in very particular designated spots on its million mile span around the world. You can actually get fined if you are found on an un-reconstructed area which is probably good as in some parts it is really [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 30th July 2009 Beijing The hutong we are staying on is really very nice. It’s all very bohemian like; there are about 4 little coffee shops almost in a row and a few small clothes shops. We went into one of the coffee shops were you would swear half the people were sitting there writing poetry or having a quick espresso on the way back from yoga class. We had a nice but well overpriced breakfast and headed back to Tiananmen Square for the next tick on the Beijing must do list, The Forbidden City. The crowds were alright, apparently [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 29th July 2009 Beijing Our train to Beijing was leaving Qingdao at 11, we had tried to leave yesterday but there were no seats available and we didn’t fancy standing for 6 hours. Same kind of train as the last one which was ok. As soon as we got on the teenager in front of us eagerly turned around to introduce herself, obviously dying to practice her English. She was very nice actually and told us how she loves the movie Twilight and how she is going to Beijing to play in a concert. With this she whips her traditional [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 28th July 2009 Qingdao We hopped on a public bus after breakfast that we hoped would bring us a small bit up the coast and we’d have a look at the city. It brought us past the Olympic park and to Beach Number 1 before veering off and heading into the industrial city zone so we hoped off and got one on the other side back to the Park. They held the sailing events for the Olympics here so they built a stadium, no water in it though, must have just been for medals and a park with a fountain [View Full Entry]

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Monday 27th July 2009 Qingdao We got up about 9.30, you tend to wake up early in the dorms as there are people moving about from about 7am, very glad we didn’t have to do them anywhere else, they are fine if you are traveling on your own though I’d say. We had a bit of breakfast and then we were able to change into our new double room and shower in our own bathroom which was great. Mary wasn’t feeling too good, think the prawn in China don’t go with her too well so we took it easy for a [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 26th July 2009 train to Qingdao We boarded the train to Qingdao at 7.30am, its always a surprise what kind of train you end up on and in what seats, even where it is going in China since you just go up to the counter with a sheet of paper and hope that whoever wrote it for you isn’t ripping the piss and sending you on a hard sleeper to Mongolia. Because if they ask you any questions all you can do is shout, Qingdao or something at them wherever it is you want to go. We were expecting a [View Full Entry]

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