Well the last blog seems to have caused quite an uproar! So I will start by addressing all of the comments suggesting that this whole trip is in fact a hoax! Firstly to mum and dad, no the pictures were not fake and I am not in fact staying in some theme park in America! Secondly to Uncle Ged, no I am not in fact living in a bedsit in Manchester, working in Primark and photoshopping myself into pictures from the Internet! And lastly to Helen, yes that is actually me in the pictures and not some random! When the hair [View Full Entry]

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I left my hotel in Manila at 6am on the 17th of June. 47.5 hours later I arrived at my hostel in Rio de Janeiro! Or was is 36.5 hours later? From Manila I flew to Tokyo, from there to New York and then on to Sao Paulo from where I caught a bus to Rio and finally a taxi to the hostel. When i boarded my plane in Tokyo it was 8.20pm on the 17th. When i touched down in New York it was 8.15pm on the 17th! 5 mins before i was due to leave Tokyo! I wondered if [View Full Entry]

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After 2 nights at Alona beach on Pangloa Island (where we enjoyed the fresh seafood restaurants along the beach front, the bars, a massage from an old lady that was quite clearly senile and the company of a transsexual called Fiona - see pic on previous blog) we headed back to Cebu city for a couple of nights. Cebu and the Pacific Pensionne guest house has very much become our base here in the Visaya's - we've called in 3 or 4 times in between islands. Cebu city itself is the 2nd largest in the Philippines after Manila and Cebu island [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in the Philippines on May 18th and have spent the past 3 weeks island hoping around the Visaya's. We had heard a few bad stories about the Philippines before we came - terrible infrastructure, unreliable transport, dodgy planes, boats that sink, constant hassle from people trying to sell you stuff and rip you off and the really bad stuff like muggings, kidnappings, bombs.... But my experience here has only been positive and aside from a few minor points I don't have a bad word to say about the place. Everyone is extremely polite, shop doors are opened for us [View Full Entry]

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On May 5th we left Beijing for Hong Kong where we were meeting my mum and dad for 2 weeks. We were more than ready to leave that's for sure! Beijing had some fantastic sights to see and some great food to be eaten (if you could find it) but it was hard work and wasn't what i would call a holiday. of course the case would have been different if you went with lots of money, stayed in a nice hotel and went on private tours, or had your own private chauffeur and tour guide as one family we met [View Full Entry]

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And it is nowhere more obvious than in Beijing. Everything about it screams ‘I'm big, I’m important and I’m here, right here’. The buildings are HUGE, all of them, the roads are ridiculously wide and there is empty space everywhere. For those who are unfamilia with China it can seem to exude a my back garden is bigger than yours, I’m better than you kind of attitude. It’s loud, proud, and arrogant and is coming to take over the world! The same can be said of the people, they spit on the floor in front of you, they shout all the [View Full Entry]

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Well time really has been flying! Over the past month I’ve endured problem after problem with the air shipments of products to the UK. If its not flying because its not finished production, its because the containers didn’t arrive in Beijing. And if that’s not the reason then its because the paper work is wrong or the captain of the plane got ill and didn’t show up! Are these problems (and a whole host of others I wont even go into) a result of this being a new venture and therefore being prone to teething problems? Or is it because the [View Full Entry]

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Well this restaurant deserves a write up all of its own! KAGAYA, owned by Mark Kagaya! Is his name is really Mark? I doubt it! But it's easy for gaijins (foreigners) like me to pronounce! I think I should start by saying that I had read a few things about this place on the internet. Mainly on other peoples blogs and normally proceeded by a subheading like "weird and wacky places to go" or followed by words like "oh my good god!" Well I thought, oowww that sounds cool I'll take Dan for his birthday! And I have to say the [View Full Entry]

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OK time for a pop quiz! Q - Japan is one of only 4 countries which boasts its own _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _? A - Disneyland! And that’s exactly where me and Danny headed the day after the fish market expedition! I remember going to Disneyland Paris back when I was a kid and I was no less excited this time around! Tokyo Disneyland is only 15mins outside central Tokyo and is connected up with a direct train! Going on a Sunday was a mistake though, the queues were HORRENDOUS. 2 hours for Space Mountain! [View Full Entry]

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Well time really is flying here in Tokyo! I feel like I’ve done so much and told you about so little! So over the next few installments we’re going to jump back in time and I’m going to tell you about a few of the day trips I’ve made. Back in November I visited Tsukiji Fish Market. Now you may be thinking oh brilliant a fish market, I learnt everything I need to know about fish from Ian Wright on the ASDA advert. But you would be wrong! Tsukiji Fish Market is a fascinating place, even for those of us who [View Full Entry]

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