M - Our original plan was to work our way north from Istanbul through Bulgaria, Romania to northern/western europe but: i) the weather further north wasn't looking quite as warm as we had expected and ii) we felt we may not fully appreciate a series of back-to back capital city stops (and frankly we figured we could do that later in life). Hence a change of plans. Head south to Athens (admitedly a capital city) to see the Acropolis (we have always wanted to see it) and then take a less direct route back to France, perhaps even continuing south to do some greek island hoping? Hostel world did us proud again in Athens. A double room within a short walk of the key sites with en suite, a balcony and a view of the Acropolis ... read more

K- Tokyo is home to 35 million people so I was expecting chaos when we arrived there. However, it is also built for 35 million people with wide roads and pavements so surprisingly we never felt the craziness I expected. Even at Shibuya junction, the worlds busiest cross street which services 100,000 people an hour (!) it did not feel that busy - probably because the zebra crossing was about 15 feet wide. Although we spent some time exploring the city and enjoying the neon displays our visit to Tokyo turned out to be all about cherry blossoms and of course hanami - cherry blossom parties. We had arrived in Japan at prime time but the season was late and I was increasingly worried that we were going to miss out. Every place we visited we ... read more

M – At 8am on August 5th 1945 the world’s first Atomic Bomb was detonated 600m over the center of Hiroshima. It destroyed virtually every building within a 3km radius. The blast and the illnesses causes by radiation have killed more than 300,000 people, effectively the whole of the city. Apart from the memorials and the museums, to visit Hiroshima today you would not believe these facts. The city is a modern bustling city and the people are as friendly to a visitor as anyone we have encountered on our travels. However the museum and the memorials are a pretty sobering reminder of how destructive man can be. Apparently our modern day weapons are more than 3,000 more powerful than the first Atomic Bomb. The genie is certainly out of the bottle on nuclear weapons but ... read more

M – When we started planning our round the world trip Japan was one of only three must-see countries for me. Beyond these (Japan, India and Namibia) I didn’t really care where we went as long as we saw different things. As such I was pretty excited on the ferry ride over from Korea to Japan. Our first few days in Kyushu Province in southern Japan have more than lived up to expectations. Already we have been buried in hot volcanic sand, ridden the bullet train, climbed an active volcano, visited an ancient samurai castle and witnessed a traveling Kappa’s performance and been invited to spend the night at his house in Tokyo. Apart from the weather being a little mixed it has been a great start to our Japan trip. We find we can gauge ... read more

K- As you may have realized Mark & I are basically just eating our way around the world. We have had some great food experiences in many countries but Taipei, Taiwan has just jumped right to the top of the list. This place lives and breathes food. I managed to eat one of my favorite foods, chinese dumplings, 5 times in 4 days. In fact I seriously over-ate and will always remember Taipei for a slightly uncomfortable feeling and an inability to walk fast. Taipei is a very modern, clean and calm(ish) City and despite the wintery grey weather we explored the center on foot as we addressed some necessary jobs such as buying me some new shoes (flip flops not being really appropriate for the 6C temperatures to come in S Korea!) and also purchasing ... read more