We should have first met the Amazon rainforest from the window of our bus on the way from Cuaba the Porto Velho but all we saw was cows! Miles and miles of cows. The road we were travelling along was only paved in the 1980s, the improved access led 350,000 people to flood into the area grabbing land and clearing 20% of the forest in Rondonia state. Next hop was a flight to Manaus - the city at the centre of the Amazon basin. From the plane the enormity of the forest becomes more real: 600km of trees and that’s just [View Full Entry]

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From Brazilia we took an overnight bus to Cuiaba hoping to organise a tour into the Pantanal. The Pantanal is a huge wetland area - the biggest wetlands in the world. Its rich in wildlife particularly birds. For about 4 months of the year the land is flooded. This has preserved the area from too much human settlement. The long distance buses are excellent (they need to be with a country this big). Comfy seats that recline right back, toilets, air con and frequent stops for meals. The food that we have met so far is interesting even the bus stops [View Full Entry]

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I jumped off the plane and made my way into Rio to meet Viv (still in work mode after the IAU conference that presented our holiday destination by taking place in Rio this time round). Sunrise over the favellas on the way into town was a very atmospheric welcome. We spent most of the first day wandering along Copacabana and Ipanema, taking a dip in the sea and baking in the sun. 40 minutes was enough to lightly roast all sides (or turn Viv quite pink)! The beaches were packed full and very active - the Brazilians don't take the beach [View Full Entry]

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Having been back in the UK for a few weeks now its all feeling very normal. Most things are sort of the same as they were a couple of years ago but there are a few changes: • Some of the high street shops are using fatter mannequins (and people in general are looking bigger having got used to the smaller stature Asians), • 20 pound notes are different, • Petrol costs loads! (but in comparison to wages its still less than in the Philippines), Two things that I have been a bit disappointed by are a lack of choice in [View Full Entry]

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A week inside a living museum. Uzbekistan has a perfect tourist trail with three fantastic cities to visit. Each has its own style but they fit together well. The tourist sites have been very well looked after (you could argue too well) with lots of restoration and re-building work having been done. Even the notorious police have been warned off from troubling foreigners - the one time I was stopped on the Tashkent underground the police man asked where I was from and demanded my passport, when I said I was from England and he waved me away before I even [View Full Entry]

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Kazakhstan got the shortest visit of my trip, despite being a huge country. It serves as more of a gateway to other places than a destination in itself. for me it was the place to collect my visa for Uzbekistan and is also the departure point for the last country on this trip - the strange and foreign UK! Arriving in Almaty I wasn't quite sure what to expect, a taste of the USSR, little change from western China? In the event it is a very European feeling city, wide streets filled with posh cars. People dress well to stroll past [View Full Entry]

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The second half of my trip through China has been so different from the first part that Its hard to believe its all one country. Just about everything is different except the money - which goes further the further west you go. After posting the last blog I settled down to some serious travel covering a couple of thousand Km by sleeper train, bus and jeep. The route took me round Tibet (not allowed in!) crossing the lower part of the plateau at around 3000m. Its all desert, not big sand dunes but miles and miles of dusty gravel with ridges [View Full Entry]

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This is a "half way through China" blog. It marks the part of my trip where I change from being a tourist to being a traveler. Expect tails of heroic buss journeys, desert and dust storms in the next instalment. The first part of my trip through China has been a bit of a tourist fest. I started in Shanghai (the Bund) then moved on to Beijing (Forbidden city, great wall, summer palace, Tienanmen Sq) and after that Xian (Terracotta warriors). All very very impressive places to visit. Many of the great sights in China have been created by emperors lavishing [View Full Entry]

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Japan gets a thumbs up from me! The cities are clean and easy to get around, very pretty countryside and helpful people. There is loads of history and loads of new stuff as well. Toilets even in the railway station all have heated seats - that must be the hight of civilisation!! When I arrived my friend Taka (who has been on this blog before) met me at the airport and took me back to his place for the first couple of nights. I didnft know what to expect at all but still I was surprised. Within a couple of hours [View Full Entry]

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It’s a sad but happy moment. Leaving the Philippines and VSO and going on to the next adventure. In Lanuza I have been busily packing all my things ready for shipping to the UK so that I can travel light - after all a 8foot surfboard would have been right out of place as I travel through Urumqi in western China its the city that is farthest from any ocean! To make the packing boxes and crates I got a tree cut up which was good fun. The chainsaw operator was crazy, bare feet, no protective gear and a 70cc saw! [View Full Entry]

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