We arrived in Ninh Binh after a short bus trip from Hanoi, we were met by staff from the hotel by motorbike, Stu had his backpack on his back, but my driver took it off me and slung it over the handle bars and we were off, great fun! The next day we hired 2 bikes with drivers and they took us to Tam Coc (Ngo Dong River, 9km from Ninh Binh) to see the caves and stunning scenery. We thought it would be very much like Yangshou in China and Halong Bay in Vietnam but this took our breathe away [View Full Entry]

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We were sitting having a drink when Stu noticed a bloke walk in that he thought he knew..... we sure did, it was Lou Carpenter from Neighbours (Tom Oliver), Stu was like a little kid (like he was when he met Martin Johnson in NZ), he went straight on over to speak to him, and he was a really nice bloke. Neighbours had given him 4 weeks off the show, while he meets friends for holiday and starts up a new restuarant in Hanoi for street kids and it was the opening that week. Stu asked for a photo.............. [View Full Entry]

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Hello All We arrived in Vietnam last Monday 5th after a very eventful boarder crossing from China...... We left Beihai on Monday morning at 08.20, Sandy made sure we caught the right bus, we travelled for about 2 hours to the boarder crossing, we caught a little golf buggy which dropped us off outside the customs area and it was manic, full of Chinese with all there goods to sell in Vietnam fighting there was through to be first in the queue, everyone was very friendly, considering they dont see many westoners at this crossing, we eventually got through the gates [View Full Entry]

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We arrived here last Saturday by over night train then bus. Lisa's family friend moved our here from Biggleswade, nearly 3 years ago and loves it, so while we were passing we thought we would visit! We were given phil's friends brand new flat to stay in, which was lovely, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, large living area and even better 3 balconies to descide where to drink our evening beer! Phil and Sandy are teachers and have their own school downstairs in their flat block, we meet some of the kids which was nice, and good practise for them to speak [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday 20th April, where we end our STA Roam China tour, we have had such good fun! Here are some interesting facts for you.........HK has a population of 7million, HK returned to China on 1st July 1997, HK divided into 3 regions - HK Island, Kowloon and New Territories. New Territories includes 235 outlaying islands. We went to see the BIG BUDDHA on Lantau Island, which took 10 years to build and its made out of Bronze. 268 steps up, very impressive and the views were pretty good aswell, we also did a short walk [View Full Entry]

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Yangshuo Did anyone see the TV programme with Paul Merton in China, i think it was on TV last year? Well the hostel we stayed in was called Fawlty Towers and Paul Merton came here to visit becuase of the name and our little reception man was on TV with him, it was such a friendly hostel. This town was very much for the tourists but such an amazing place the scenery was breath taking with all the limestone karst around the edges of the town. We went on a Li River Cruise which turned out to be sooo much fun, [View Full Entry]

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We arrived here around lunch time and our tour guide took us around to show us the main sights. Stu and I caught the local ferry from The Bund(most famous location in Shanghai) across to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower @ 468 meters high but across from there was the tallest hotel in the world with 87 floors(something like that) with a bar and viewing platform, it took us a while but eventually found the lifts and got to level 85 as we went to get the last lift up, Stu was stopped becuase he had sandles on - NOOOOOOO, so [View Full Entry]

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We arrived here on 7th April by over night train. The weather was really hot, so i hit the shops to buy some vest tops, Stu loved it! We hired bikes to cycle around the Ancient City walls of around 14kms, Stu and i hired a tamdam, it was great fun, Stu was up front, which was good for me because i could take in the scenery and take photos but of course i will still pedaling The next day the weather was terrible didnt stop raining most of the day. We caught a local bus to the Terracotta Warriors, some [View Full Entry]

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We arrived here a week today in the pouring rain, but ever since the weather has been great blue skies all round. We went to the Temple of Heaven which was used as a place for the emporers to pray for good harvests. There were loads of older chinese people playing games, singing and generally having a good time, very entertaining. But the Japanese are so funny, there are loads of them, all wearing a team hat so they dont loose eachother on the daily tours. Now why do the Chinese have to spit on the floor, its made me gag [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Mongolia (still travelling on the train) after fairly long border crossings from Russia to Mongolia then another hour or so to enter Mongolia (We love Mongolia already, the people are so frendly, not like the Russians that never smile). We arrived in Ulaanbaatar around 6.30am, but the cabin attendant got us all up around 4.30am for some strange reason, met our next Honcho Sana, who looked like a nutter or wide boy as Stu called him. He had a broken hand from fighting in the street (well so he said!) We went to a square where a statue [View Full Entry]

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