Cupla Nomad

Auckland We arrived in Auckland after a smooth three hour flight from Fiji. When I stepped off the plane it was tough to not say Bula to people!! We decided to check out Auckland for two days and we had a very rough plan to book a camper somewhere before then. So after hopping onto the bus and checking into the YHA hostel we went on a jaunt down the main road in Auckland, Queen St. It was clear that our overall experience here in New Zealand was going to be so different than our previous few months. For one, walking down the street we were not being stared at, that there were fully functioning traffic lights and people followed them and that really the way of life here is the same as home. This means ... read more

We arrived in Fiji early in the morning. We didn’t sleep too much on the flight and were wrecked by the time we arrived. When we stepped off the plane, the heat hit us right away! Great to be back in the hot weather. As soon as we stepped into the airport, a few men playing guitars and singing met us at the entrance. It was the first of many warm welcomes we received here. The next step was the slowest immigration queue I have ever encountered and this too was the first of many of the laid back procedures of the Fijians! It didn’t help that there were about 100 Filipino men arriving to work on fishing boats in the region so I suppose it was more difficult to process this paperwork over the average ... read more

The bullet train was pretty quick taking us over an hour to travel 165kms with a few stops along the way! We arrived at our hotel to be surprised to find the most beautiful room yet! We hadn’t paid that much (about €26) in comparison to the prices in other hotels. The accommodation in china is more expensive than South East Asia but the food, transport etc. is very cheap. Anyway back to the room – it was boutique style with separate toilet and shower glass cubicles, lots of mirrored wall space, stripy wall paper, a fancy velvet lounger. A great unexpected find! We found out later that for some reason we got the place for a fraction of the price compared to their price list!!! Thanks Booking.com! The main reason we have visited Shenzhen is ... read more

We left Hanoi bound for China on a sleeper train. The sleeper part was a bit inconspicuous cos we had to get off twice to do border crossings so the stopping and starting definitely interrupted any shut eye we needed! We arrived in Nanning and immediately noticed how busy the train station was, crowds of people everywhere. Nanning is a provincial city and the guide books really didn’t recommend stopping her but using it as a transfer stopover before moving on. I would have to disagree slightly because while we were here we met the friendliest people, saw some interesting local customs/routines, had some interesting food and also found that China was to be somewhere we really want to revisit! After arriving we walked to our hostel, it was only 10mins away so handy enough. The ... read more

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage City, the first we have been to on any of our travels yet. As quiet as we thought Vientiane is, Luang Prabang is silent, sleepy, quaint, pretty and the list could go on. In fact after 8 days in Vang Vieng the 12 hour journey, 160km windy mountainous road between them could have been thousands of miles they are so different. The town has been preserved as it was years ago and it is alluring. The buildings here are more often than not wooden or have shuttered frontage. The streets are small paved pathways, immaculately kept with planted borders. The streets are so quiet – no trucks/lorries are allowed into the city, the motorbikes are even quiet but a lot of people cycle. I mentioned to John a few ... read more