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Page 5 of Mr Mike Travel Blog Posts
March 28th 2007
And we cross the border into the second country. 22 days in Hong Kong and China have come and gone. I have seen some of the most fantastic sites in the world, with many more to come. This morning we walked over the bridge of friendship from Hekou, China into Lao Cai, Vietnam. It is the first time I have been over a land border since crossing from Spain into France. That time we barely even stopped the car, this time we signed exit papers and underwent a thorough dressing down on exiting China: walked 100m over the bridge, then repeated the entire process to enter Vietnam. Its lucky we gained an hour because that's how long it took! Then we went on the wierdest bus ride ever: we got picked up outside the border control ... read more
March 27th 2007
Imagine my childish delight to find out our hostel (the Hump) in Kunming is on a road called Fuxing Cun. Brilliant! I must apologise for my rant against Pandas in the last blog, but seriously: no-one would care less about them if they wern't so damn cute. Anyway. Back to Kunming. We opted for the much more sensible plane ride (1hr) opposed to the train (22hr). Flight was ok and it was nice to land in warm weather. I can dispose of the jumper for the first time since Honkers and hopefully that will be last of that. Kunming is definitely the nicest city so far in China. It is much more green and has a much more mediterranean feel to it. Unfortunately we only have a couple of days to enjoy it. The only ... read more
March 23rd 2007
How these creatures have survived I will never know. Not only do they eat a food that is so deficient in nutrients that they need to eat bamboo for 12 hours a day just to survive, but they also refuse to eat half the varieties of bamboo that grow in the wild (60). On top of that they choose to eat the part of the bamboo that is worst for them (the stalk: they eat the leaves and shoots in winter when the stalks are not available. They only have to eat these for 8 hours a day to survive). Even after all that has been taken into account they give birth when the young is so underdeveloped that the chance of survival is very low. Each mother gives birth to 1 or 2 but only ... read more
March 21st 2007
Hey There Sorry no photos on this one: there are no PC's with useable USB ports (plus it takes about 30 minutes to upload). Hopefully this will be easier the further south we go. Anyway. The Terracotta Army. Wow. Unfortunately all the buildings that surround the site are monstrosities that have been thrown up in the last 20 years and they house tat shops and coffee bars. But once you get in.... For those unaware the army was built 4000 years ago to accompany Emperor Qin to the afterlife. He was the dude who unified the tribes into what we know as China today. There are 3 separate "pits" that have been excavated. If you ever visit go round in reverse order. PIts 2 and 3 are interesting. They house what could be termed the rearguard ... read more
March 18th 2007
Honestly: no. All the infrastructure is in place and looks pretty special, but the general population is not ready to be inundated with Westerners. They look at backpackers and tourists with facination as if in a zoo. Not enough Chinese can converse in English, and the ones that do spend all their energy farming tourist dollar, and not enough Westerners can make themselves understood. Plus there is the smoking and the spitting that is far from pleasant. But I like it. I feel completely out of my depth for the first time in my life and its been a great experience. The Great Wall is amazing, The Summer Palace has to be seen to be believed, and Tiananmen Square is a sight to behold. On Wednesday we hiked the Great Wall from Jhinshanling to Simaitai. It ... read more
March 13th 2007
Its half 10 at night and we have been in Beijing for about 48 hours, and I can quite honestly say that it has been one of the wierdest and best experieces of my life. We touched down at the airport armed only with a guidebook, but it was incredibly easy to get to the hostel. A bus took us from the airport to Tiananmen Square and it was about a 40 minute walk (although it was only 2 blocks on the map. Each block lasts for about half a mile and the roads need to be seen to be believed: the cars go through red lights and bicycles go where they want. I never thought I would see more manic drivers than Cairo but I have!) The hostel itself also needs to be seen to ... read more
March 12th 2007
I know the Hong Kong entry was a little lite on the ground. This website was proving difficult to access and when I finally got on I had 10 minutes on a palm pilot at the airport. This is the extended version: Tuesday Touched down in the afternoon and made our way across town on the airport express and the MTR (underground). A very nice, clean easy to use system. No language problems (yet). Got to the Ibis (same as every other Ibis) and crashed out. Wednesday Woke up about 3am. Great. Managed to get back to sleep about 7 until 10. Checked out then made our way across town to the Vietnamese Embassy to apply for Visa. Had a go on the Star ferry from HK to Kowloon then found our first hostel. The room ... read more
March 11th 2007
Hello again. Well we've reached Hong Kong and its been fantastic. The hostel was very good, although the jet lag has been a bit of a problem. All the visas are now in the passport and its off to Beijing later on today Hong Kong itself is very similar to London. The underground is very easy to follow and the place is very clean and tidy. We have done all the touristy things: got the night skyline photographs, went to see the big buddah, looked in all the backstreet markets and did some people watching in soho. All in all very good. Off to China!... read more
February 13th 2007
Well here it is, the end of the snowboarding. Sorry I havent updated for a while but its been pretty hectic and not really much to tell. Almost everyday has involved getting up about 8, catching the bus to the mountain, then boarding all day till about 3 before catching the bus back to resort to eat and sleep. Not very exciting but I am much better at snowbaording! We did have a couple of days off last week to do the touristy things - we caught the gondola up Sulphur mountain that overlooks Banff then went for a dip in the hot spring (38C in the water, -8C out of the water. 1 tip: dont get your hair wet) We also went for a hike up a canyon to see a frozen waterfall. Very pretty. ... read more
January 16th 2007
Here is my first overseas update. Gonna have to be quick but so far it has been pretty good. Got here about 22.30 on Friday evening after an hour delay on the flight. Boarded Saturday in Sunshine village, although the light was very flat and it took a long time to get my snow legs. Sunday was much better in Lake Louise as was today back in Sunshine. The new series of 24 started last night and continues with hour 3 and 4 tonight, hence the hurry. A very interesting start. Will catch you up properly in the very near future. Gooedbye for now....... read more
I am travelling throughout 2007, with my girlfriend Sam, starting in Canada on 12th January. After a month snowboarding in (relative) luxury, the plan is then to head off to China and work through South East Asia and into Australia. This blog is the story......
... full info
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