DR Drea AKA Ted

Well it was a year late again, but all the better for it. Stayed in a geat apartment with good friends. Not much snow but no rain either so very happy. Not the most exciting place in the world and v expensive but overall a great experience.Esp liked the viking ships from 850/900 AD !!! kinda makes you feel pretty small !!... read more

I d always wanted to go to Cologne to see the xmas markets , so when i saw that Coldplay were there in December it was perfect. Gig was fantastic , every one was given a wristband which lit up on certain songs , made the crowd the light show. Fantastic night loved it.The new album is very bouncy and up beat. Can wait to see them again , soon !! Xmas markets were fab , much better than Vienna, the mulled wine was like rocket fuel.lots of stuff to purchase and comfort food ! PS Cologne , a very nice city, great Cathedral , its a beast !!... read more

Three Hours out of Beijing is Guibekou. A small village and a town next to a very old and mountainous section of the great Wall. Two five hours walks allowed me to visit two different sections, the most spectacular section was the crouching tiger section. up a mountain a blooming long way very high with sections about 60 degrees in angle. helluva view and the moment archie had come for :) "top of the world ma " ! the pics dont do the scenery justice, blue skies green hills and mountains and fresh air ! still i kinda wish id seen one of the restored sections just so i could see how it looked in other parts in its hey day. still theres a lot of blooming sections and they re all different ! I could ... read more

Well the seven day trip ended up being five thanks to a delayed flight, following heavy weather in China. Plane was stuck or lost somewhere in China ! (flight back was delayed too)! After China ,Seoul felt under populated despite being pretty Tiny. Wish id visited the country or the Border Zone, but the weather in seoul was pretty bad. Seoul was much more like Japan than China, and more expensive than China, Japanese Prices. Still the War musuem was very good and lots of info on the Korean war. Lots of temples which were good but not as cool as the Chinese ones. The people are interesting, very western , would probably be an interesting place to work and live and get under the skin of the culture. Met some cool people and discovered the ... read more

A twenty hour train seperates Guilin and Yangshuo from Shanghai and they are worlds apart in other ways. Although Yangshuo is quite touristy its tiny compared to shanghai. it has great scenery good cheap food and an excellent hostel outside town, (Trippers Carpe Diem). i spent four nights there and could have spent longer. two days of biking around the Karsts , a swim in a river , (no monkeys though danni, just water buffalo) , hot humid but sunny weather, toke me back to Asia and Thailand of four years ago :) Shanghai has the bund and the Bazaar, terrible weather and the worst air quality. felt ill there if the air doesnt get you the food will ! (some of it was good but didnt stay inside me long) ! should have only stayed ... read more