Arrived into New Delhi just after 6am. Headed into the backpacker suburb of Paharganj to a cheap hotel called Navrang to rest for the day. Booked onto a goldern triangle which had two seats left and was leaving that night. Spent the day wandering around the Main Bazaar Road. Lots of shopping and places to eat. Heaps of people, rickshaws and cows lined the open dirty roads. 10pm boarded our bus for the most horrible 6hr bus trip ever. Stuck in a small seat beside a faulty heater which wouldnt turn off in the high 30degree heat and no leg room. [View Full Entry]

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Arrived at the Varanasi station by 5am and had a long wait until someone from our hotel came to pick us up. We were dropped off in a very busy part of town by the river and had to find our way down long narrow ally ways of Godaulia to Ganpati Guesthouse. These streets were crazy, very dirty and filled with loads of tiny shops, rubbish, people and mad animals from goats, monkeys, waterbuffulo and cows. A huge bull horned Cathys backpack which was terrifying. The hostel was Ok and sat right on the river Ganges so the view was spectacular. [View Full Entry]

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8th May and Cathy and I were up at 5.30am to say our goodbyes to everyone then we were off for a very long boring 6hr bus trip to Chitwin National Park. We were signed up with the Rainbow Safari Lodge situated just outside of the park. In the evening we were taken on a tour of the village and learnt how these people must live with dangerous animals and malaria mozzies. These houses were made from cow dung and elephant grass. Visited the elephant camp and went on a quick bush walk around the town coming out at the rivers [View Full Entry]

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25/4/07 A nice 6am wakeup call to start the day off then a 6hr van ride to our starting point of Phedi. The drive was through a lot of rice paddy fields, past rivers, and numerous small towns. Was good to get out of the city and into fresh air. Plenty of burned out crashes along the way though so was nice and reassuring about the road safety in this country. Reached Phedi by 2.30pm just as it began pouring with rain. A short afternoon of hiking was before us up through small villages fill of beautiful people carrying out various [View Full Entry]

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16/4/07 Left Zhanghau in a taxi and drove for half an hour through no mans land to the Nepalese border. Lots of people were there trying to get through and we just waltzed on through. Caught a ride in a curiser and drove 4hrs past numerous bustling towns, packed buses and fertile fields. The instant change from Tibet was incredible with so many people - who diffentently had more of an Indian presence about them in looks, clothing and food sold. Finally reached Kathmandu about 2pm and found a great hotel, Pilgrims hotel, down a busy street in the Thamel area. [View Full Entry]

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12/04/07 The start of our land cruiser trip down the friendship highway from Lhasa to the Nepalese border via Mt Everest! The first two hours was easy going along nice roads up through snowy mountains. Stopped at the peak at 4794m for some photos and a turn at sitting on a yak. The toilets were just the beginning of how bad they were yet to come, with just an open pit behind a small wall in which you were expected to pay for. Drove past Yamdrok Tso lake which was beautiful and past many deserted looking town. The desert looking fields [View Full Entry]

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Spent 35hrs onboard a train from Xian to Lhasa. This was quite the experience of being squashed in a small 6 bunk room with no English speaking people who would keep offering me food to eat like chickens feet and I also came down with a cold. This train ride is the highest in the world and it goes over 5000m in altitude. The view out the windows showed bare land with a few packs of yaks and only a handful of bare mud houses. The land is a desert set in permifrost all year but it was still beautiful. Travelled [View Full Entry]

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4/4/07. Off the train in Xian and headed to Bobs hostel where I caught up with a girl I had meet back in Beijing. We shared the whole hostel with just one other kiwi couple which was great. This town was filthy. It was the most polluted city Ive ever been in and I constantly had a sore throat here. The four of us caught the bus up after lunch to the Terracotta Warriors. It took forever to walk there and looks like it must receive thousands of visitors during the tourist season but there was only a small number of [View Full Entry]

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29/03/07 - Day of travel from Hong Kong up the river delta by a turbojet to Shenzhen, through customs and then a 3hr flight on China Airways to Beijing. Finally as night arrives I manage to work the buses and tubes and the narrow roads with no sign posts to find my hostel - Leo's Hostel. This was down a great little traditional road fill of stalls, shops and rickshaws with loads of families amoungst it all. Had five days up my sleave in Beijing. Initially found it very hard to get around as there were so many people and very [View Full Entry]

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So the big OE begins. After a long flight I land in Hong Kong in the early hours of the morning and board a bus to my hostel. This time of day there is still a fair bit going on out in the streets even if most of the shops are boarded up. Get dropped off on the busy Nathan Road in Kowloon and discover what a fire trap of a building Ive booked myself into - Chungking Mansions. Luckly I thought ahead and booked into Li's hostel which is only on floor 3 of 16 so I still have a [View Full Entry]

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