EdwardC

Well New Zealand is nothing quite like one would ever come to expect and yet hugely varying. Well if I describe forests and mountains that would be forceeable but it taking about miniature topical juggles, Alakan chilliness and Moonlike terrain might sound less familiar (none have I known first hand (this sepicically mentioned because of my brother) but merely through pictures and figures of speach). I arrived in Wellington and decdied, that due to the mere 12 days before my onwards flight it be best to travel quickly at first thereby having time to spare later one. I arrived in Wellington late at night following a New Zealand Air flawless flight from Australia. New Zeland air certainly provided outstanding serivce and great facilities. I wandered about the quiet harbour town rsurrounded by hills doted by houses ... read more

Just as in the famous movie of Australia, it didn't lack in drama... Arriving in Perth was a chilling experience. Travelling in shorts and t-shirt was a bad idea as at night it is excessively cold. The winter having barely come to an end in the Southern hemisphere, cold gusts are quite common at mid October. The journey into town was amusing as firstly the temperature had risen by ten degrees in the brief hour and that the sight seems somehow a blend of the UK and USA. This impression will remain throughout my stay. I found a nice hostel to stay in with cheap prices (relative as everything was 5x more expensive than Bali) and a apparent good atmosphere. Upon my arrival on hearing that poor weather was forecast for the next couple of days, ... read more

The final stop to my Asia trip following just under four months of intensive travel throughout its range. We had visited Bali possibly 11 years earlier and in spite the memories of a child are never all that accurate, certain aspect strook me. The airport which I remebered as small and quaint has become a endlessly extended building taking in the largest Boeings. I arrived and headed to Kuta, centre of the toursit life, and with suprising difficulty shared accomodation as in spite being low season the hotels and steets still seem filled and booked out. The beach is a long strech of sand with fair waves and the most plesant sea temperature imaginable. A real delight to swim in the heat and the tumbling of waves. I rented a motorcycle and ventured off to the ... read more

Flew into Singapore and must confess I was dissapointed at first. i had anticipated the so spoken about cleansiness and fervant complicance to laws but found a place resonably clean but certainly very uncontrolled in respect to trafic and people. Singapore is quite small but suprsingly diverse. It seemed at first alike to Bangkok but actualy the more I went to the center the greater the change. I was unforunatelly staying in the less upkept areas therefore natrually it was a suprise but then the apprence of colonial buildings, tradition neatly blended with a genuenly booming in construction city. I walked about the first day along the road with the most shopping malls I have ever seen. Possibly as all the malls I saw in my life accumulated. Conicidententally I met a friend from Geneva and ... read more

Its been a while since I have last written but time has come to complete the Asian leg of my trip. South Corea I arrived and spend a couple of days discovering the city. I was strook by how impeccably clean everthing was and the very much german engeneering styled perfection in their road infrastructure. Unlike China, Seouls temples where more humble, but not only due to the uncomparable size difference of the territories but particularily in the humility and subtlness of the architechture. Far less imposing bringing a more relaxing and not overwhelming sights. Taking a tour to the Demilitirzed Zone (DMZ) which seperates the military armies of both Coreas. Undoubtable it was highly organised and particularily toursity however it was interesting and enabled a more sincere appreciation of the tentions between the two nations. ... read more

Well the journey south was very pleasant with comfortable hard sleeper bunks, quite a luxury in comparative to the standing or hard seats. I arrived early in Nanjing and tried to find accommodation but having been unsuccessful decided to continue straight to Shanghai the same evening and visit the town throughout the day. Nanjing is and odd town, very developed with the 9th tallest skyscraper in the world and on the other hand very much peasant population and 70's communism behavior. The city is huge and the transport incomprehensible though walking is often a good option. There is a surprisingly pleasant lake in the very center of the town and the memorial museum for the 1937 massacre is quite poignant. the exhibit is far more impressive than the one for Stalingrad (huge difference in victims) and ... read more

This little street where the hostel was located, just 750 meters from Tian an Men square (the main square of Beijing and the largest in the world), was completely in rubles and earth when I arrived. By the time I left, it was nearly finished entirely (about 300 meters long and 5 meters wide). Chinese work very hard day and night. Very impressive but odd to another extent when these workers come from out of town work for little wages and then subject to the temptations and delights of the city. Communism is still alive in some aspects. I met a couple of friends from home with whom we went out and discovered the Olimipic stadium. The famous Bird's nest stadium and the cube are in surprisingly bad condition after merely a year. rust is leaking ... read more

Kashgar is nothing like I had ever expected. The first thing when I crossed the border from China, I saw, was a line of camels transporting goods across some rather rugged terrain. Kashgar is by no means real China. The Arabic writing, the dark complection of everyone, the attitude, the streets, the cloth, quite essentially everything and anything is more or less like I would imagine Marroco or Cairo to be like. Unbelievable thought culturally really interesting. Due to the unrest in Urumqi just a month earlier (whereby several hundreds were killed triggered by ethnic fighting between Uighur's and Han's), hundreds of Chinese military and anti manifest troops were patrolling the streets. They seemed more afraid for themselves rather than the crowd. I was still hoping to enter Tibet and and inquired as to what the ... read more

Well it has been a long time that I have not updated my blog but hopefully my memory will not be too poor at remembering the twist in the various stages that have gone by one my trip. After Karakol with the french family with whom I was traveling for that week we went to Chopon-Ata, a hub of Russian-Khazak holiday makers. The difference is tremendous going from quiet streets and rather useless boulevards to a dis-organized but booming little town with nightclubs, beaches and countless rather fine restaurants. At the same time was a summit of 8 "presidents" composed essentially of the local administrators and some Kazakh representatives. For this event they had hundreds of policemen line the streets and control every access route at just under 20 kilometers in diameter. Tremendous. They also decorated ... read more

Finally back on my blog. It is not all that easy to conect and when so only limited time available so I appologise for the delay. Obtaining the Tajik visa was suprisingly easy thought as I went though a travel agency (only way for tourists to get hold of one) they charged me a lot. Wanting to travel to the more remote region of the Pamirs they require a further permit but having some time on my hands I decided to attempt to obtain it in Dushanbe (the capital). At the agency i met an american wanting to travel the 600km distancing the two cities therefore we decided to travel together. After having been a little conned on the cost of the travel we eventually after arround14 hours arrived in Dushanbe. The authorites constantly asking for ... read more