This week has been a lucky one for me. It started off when I went to pick up my rental car. I was happy with the budget option which the website said would be a Ford Focus (Americans don't do small cars) but when I went along to pick it up they didn't have any available - all they had was a Ford Mustang! Nice. I won't slag off the Focus as most of my family reading this own them but it was certainly easier to 'light up' the Mustang which of course I did at every given opportunity. Then when [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so despite Brisbane being a really great city it was getting a little lonely. You meet some cool people but it's not like having your friends around you. The main problem was that hostels really aren't for me. They're all decent as far as hostels go but they're basically what I've been working for the last few years to get away from - no privacy, nowhere to put any belongings. You literally live out of a bag which is just hassle. To cut a long story short, rather than continuing to haemorrhage money on something that was okay I've decided [View Full Entry]

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The additional photos have now been added. I've also added a video to the "Further Plans" blog. Worth watching for a laugh. I landed in Brisbane about 5 days ago and it was instantly more relaxed. For starters everybody spoke English, the customs guy was even a Machine Head fan, the sun was shining, there was nobody hassling you for taxis, and I presumed you didn't have to crap into a hole (like in Beijing). The journey took a while as I had to fly via Hong Kong and Taipei (Taiwan) although I was just glad to be in the country [View Full Entry]

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Okay, I'll keep this one short as I'm getting a little tired. As mentioned in my previous blog I have changed my travel plans so I am now going directly to Australia from Beijing. Basically I think I have bitten off more than I chew by coming to Russia and Asia first. The language thing is a becoming a big problem - even eating is becoming an issue and things like sorting out the phone are a none starter. The culture is a shock to the system so rather than hoping it will get better I'm just gonna shoot off down [View Full Entry]

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As I said in my earlier blog I had gone for a wander around the Forbidden City and was about to pop across the road to Tinamen Square when some Chinese girls approached me as I was taking a picture of Mao. There was a group of 5 of them, all of whom were dressed normally (i.e. they weren't prostitutes) and could all speak almost fluent English. They just looked like a group of students on a trip. They asked me if I was English and thought it was great because it meant they could practice theirs. They were all really [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Beijing yesterday feeling like a giant and immediately people started trying to scam, ie the taxi drivers, known as the taxi mafia. I got on the bus and was impressed - all the stops were announced over the tannoy in Chinese and English. Got to the hostel which was very Chinese looking and is situated right next to the Forbidden City. I took a stroll through the Forbidden City and got non stop hassle from people wanting money for tickets, lifts (in their put puts), guided tours ("Please, this is my livelihood"), possibly a prostitute - for some [View Full Entry]

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I've been in Moscow for 3 days now and I've only seen 2 English people, unfortunately they looked like tossers so I didn't speak to them. There are very few people who speak in English and nearly every sign is in Russian (Cyrillic) so it's really hard to know what anything is. The hostel I am in is nice, but empty other than the four girls who seem to run the place. In my room there's one layabout who seems to be the boyfriend of one of the girls, and one other person who I haven't actually met yet as he's [View Full Entry]

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Just before I left my friend Catherine told me that I'll have days where I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing and they can turn out to be the best days of the trip, which is what happened on Thursday. I was wandering around looking for somewhere to eat and came across a British pub. As it is difficult to find restaurants or bars in Moscow (because of the different alphabet they use) and because I hadn't met an English person (and still haven't) I thought I'd pop in for a pint. As I ordered my drink the Russian guy next [View Full Entry]

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I'm now in Moscow safe and sound. I enjoyed the train journey and would certainly recommend it. Talk about it being a small world. The first time I spoke to travellers was in Cologne station. They were waiting for the same train as me as they are doing a similar route. The Irish guy asked me where I was from so I told him Carlisle, expecting him to have never heard of it, but it turned out the girl he was with is from Carlisle. Bizarre. The standards went down somewhat when I got to Warsaw. The East station I had [View Full Entry]

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The big day had finally arrived, all the work was done. I was jobless, homeless, and carless. All that remained was to sit on a train for the next 4 days. [View Full Entry]

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