ChrisHughes

Alas, distinguished loyal readers- my sally into the far reaches of foriegn lands has come to an abrupt end, forced to fly home for reasons beyond his control- your intrepid narrator must cease his incessent ramblings and become a native rather than a forigner. It has been a wonderful and varied journey and your company has been valued most highly- I shall end with a brief account of thailand and Malaysia ( i didnt manage to get to cambodia in the end ) Thailand was most interesting, full of tourists and quite like a giant holiday resort (in my experience) however, the temples and countryside are most striking- and of course the beaches are lovely. but plane loads of westerners is not my thing really. So i would recommend if you want a nice beach holiday ... read more

So im in Yangshauo and decide its too bloody cold so i head off to Hong Kong. arriving in Hong Kong its equally cold- this is a major let down. However i dutifully sight see for about a day, the next day i head off to Macau (ex-Porugese concession, its a bit strange to see signs everywhere in Portugese) hang out there for a bit then take a cheap flight (30 pounds) to bangkok. Getting off the plane was like walking into a sauna it was crazy- i thought the engines were still on or something as it was night time and hotter than i think its ever been a home. Anyway i was forced to throw away most of my backpack- but tshirts and shorts and the like are ever so cheap here so is ... read more

Hello loyal readership, I am in Shanghai at the moment- its very impressive and was nice weather until just before chinese new year when it started to rain, I hadnt seen rain since moscow though so i was pretty excited; also being and Englishman it reminded me of the green and pleasant (and wet) land i call home. Anyway, my excitement at the rain swiftly diminished when i had to walk around in it, I suddenly have a craving for the bitingly cold but at least dry weather im used to. Chinese new year was smashing tons of fireworks being thrown around in the street much to the distress of oncoming traffic- chinese people letting off fireworks in their hands or lighting big ones in the middle of the road holding their cigarettes. crazy crazy. Before ... read more

Right, so i left UB with lots of mongolian and chinese currency to avoid cash-flow disaster similar to the russian border fiasco, hopped on a train bound for Zamin-Ude which is the mongolian/chinese border town after an uneventful journey i leapt off the train excited about being interrogated by angry chinese, i got to the border crossing it was dull- got into an enormous room FULL of mongolians crossing into china. A border guard came upto me and asked if i was german. I disguised my abhorrence and showed him my passport, he escorted me past the crowd and i just walked through, felt kinda bad cutting in infront of the masses but i wasnt going argue with the red guard. Im in Erlin wondering around, looking for an ATM as the ticket to Beijing is ... read more

Well ive been awfully busy, wondering about Irkutsk and a couple of days at lake baikial, which didnt dissapoint. eventually, I arrived at the lake at 3pm and walked about the fish sellers around the port (if you can call it that) in Listvyanka which is a village of 2500 people on the lakes edge. I was expecting to be dumbfounded by the lake but it was completly covered in mist, i couldnt see more than a couple of hundred meters into the lake so i wasnt best pleased, stayed in a little room that one of the locals rents out it was very siberian, came with genuine outhouse (which was, for a sheltered chap like me, quite shocking) had to stoke the fire to stay warm and generally be very country. The next day was ... read more

Been quite busy today, but have a little to add from where the kazan entry finished. I had gone to sleep in my hotel room (did i tell you it was 15 pounds? jeez louise as charles would say) anyway i was asleep, which is an activity i excel in, when i was rudly awoken by the telephone ringing- the conversation went something like this; Me: (picking up reciever) Huh? what? hello? W: (woman speaking in russian) Me: Im afraid i dont understand, W: Ah, English.. mabye sex? Me: Mabye, probably not; and certainly not with someone who rings up and says "mabye sex?". (that is the retort i would have been pleased to deliver, however what i actually said was probably : " what?! no bugger off " ) WHORE: ok thanking you sorry very ... read more