I suppose first off i ought to deal with the rather strange selection of title, well New Zealand despite being geographically one of the countries furthest away from England in reality its actually the most similar! Essentially a bit colder... less rain more snow, more sheep less people its a bit of a topsy turvy comparison but the feel of the place is remarkably similar. Christchurch essentially Cambridge minus a few punts (although you can punt) and a large sprawling University, quaint and European without too much to offend or excite, made it a solid base for our short exploration of [View Full Entry]

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After a painful goodbye to our beloved Asia and an equally painful connecting flight we arrived in Australia mainland of the smallest continent in the world; Oceania... well i say that but most the time I was in Australia I didn't actually here one person call it that (except other foreigners) some popular variants of the countries name are as follows: Oz, Aussie, Ozzie, Land Down Under, essentially I'm trying to get at the point that Australians really love to give things nicknames and it might be a bit of a weird thing to pick up on but it is a [View Full Entry]

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Malaysia So after a rather long, uneventful, yet extremly comfortable train ride we arrived in Butterworth Malaysia relatively well refreshed! We mulled over the idea of a rush job visit to some of Malaysia's natural beauty highlights but as ever time was of the essence and we instead opted for the much simpler solution a visit to confusingly colonial Penang an island just of the coast from Butterworth and a short ferry ride (20 minutes) found us at the main terminal. Despite having been a British colonial town and much of its expansion was due to that fact it is [View Full Entry]

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So we arrived in Bangkok on the bus and quickly found a place to say around the backpacker haven of Khaosan Road. We stayed just one night in Bangkok as we were both relatively bored as although it has a lot of impact there actually isn't too much to do in Bangkok. It's a bit of a seedy area to be honest with an absolutely enormous number of Lady boys mainly discernable due to their Adam's apples! Needless to say we visited the absolutely ridiculously elaborate Thai royal palace which was very interesting and impressive, strangely though the dress code meant [View Full Entry]

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Cambodia... A country which is becoming increasingly popular and featuring much more frequently on travellers itineraries through South-East Asia, primarily due to its amazing temple complex close to the city of Siem Reap, home to the jewel in the crown of Cambodia and the worlds largest religious building Angkor Wat. We started our journey through Cambodia in the south having just arrived from Vietnam, Phnom Penh Cambodia's capital city and home to some of the most harrowing examples of the damage which was caused to the country during the 1970's under the Khmer Rouge / Pol Pot regime, In [View Full Entry]

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So onto Vietnam... Or so you think anyway! We were forced to take a small diversion before entering Vietnam due top the lack of a Chinese Visa making an overland entry impossible. Consequently we were forced to go to Macau and get a cheap flight to Bangkok and then make a connection to Hanoi! This may sound upsetting to you but after 10 hours in a Casino in Macau gambling our lives away (we only lost 15 pounds) It actually wasn't at all upsetting. It was totally funny and a deffinate tick in the box for macau! Mainly because they gave [View Full Entry]

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Hong Kong Hong Kong coined as the city where 'East meets West' Asia's 'world' city. I would describe it more as a Collision that a meeting! The two cultures combine so voraciously in some aspects yet in others the lines are hardly even blurred. Traditional red brick school building and British uniforms, attended by all asian children. It is a very odd scene. Hong Kong by day really is reminiscent of England but with primarily Asian people! Despite this there is still a much larger proportion of Western people in Hong Kong than can be found in other parts of [View Full Entry]

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We waved goodbye to Beijing West railway station from the comfort of our 6 berth hard bunk, doorless train compartment. Hardly a poetic description i admit, yet the realities of traveling by train in China are carriages packed with people, bags and annoying fruit sellers! Xi'an The Ancient capital of China home to many of the ruling dynasties of old and probably most famous now for its proximity to the terracota warriors this city harbors a slower pace of life than is to be found in its compatriots Beijing and Shanghai. Despite this the place isn't particularly rural it has fa [View Full Entry]

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Beijing! ...And so our journey continues south across the continent of Asia and China is our first port of call. After arriving in Beijing we took the afternoon easy to settle in and seen as we were to stay for a week rather longer than most of the other places we will be staying we allowed ourselves the luxury of actually mildly unpacking rather than just yanking out things from the top of the bag which smelled fresh enough to wear! After the settling in was all over Tom and I went over the road to a local internet cafe and [View Full Entry]

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Mongolia Mongolia a country steeped in history yet relatively untravelled today. As a travel destination many people wouldn't put Mongolia high up there list of places to see but after visiting i have to say it was an absolutely amazing place to visit and i would really recommend it to anyone. Upon arrival in Ulaanbaataar we immediately headed for the ATM to replenish our currency and then off to check in and explore the city! We decided as it was early to hit the temple and enjoy the early morning Buddist ceremony a lot of chanting and strange actions took [View Full Entry]

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