Day 134 We stumbled off the sleeper train at approximately 7.30am at Xi'an and got taxis to our hotel. Luckily we could check in straight away and get a shower before going for a swift breakfast, this time managing to get pancakes at McDonald's. Xi'an is one of the ancient capitals of China and was once a walled city. Now the wall separates the old city from the fast growing new parts of the city. Xi'an was the starting point of the silk routes and was the largest city in the world during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Today it is [View Full Entry]

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Day 130 Our overnight train arrived promptly into Wuchang at 7am. We had all managed to get some rest even if it was disturbed throughout the night. Julie stayed on the train as it was heading to Beijing, as she had decided to go home due to her sister being ill. After getting some breakfast at the station we boarded a coach to take us on the 4 hour journey to Yichang to board the boat, our home for the next few days. The Yangtze River is the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world (over [View Full Entry]

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Day 126 We managed a harbour tour this morning before leaving Hong Kong. An hours trip on the Star Ferry showed us the sights of Victoria harbour and explained the cities ever changing skyline. At 2pm we met our group back at the hotel and left in taxis for the Hing Hum train station. A 30 minute train ride took us to Shenzhen where we had to leave Hong Kong and cross the border into China. It was a tiresome process as it involves filling in many forms, having a swine flu temperature check and standing with all your luggage in [View Full Entry]

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Day 123 Today we left Thailand as we flew from Bangkok to Hong Kong. A taxi took us from the city to the super modern Suvarnabhumi airport where we were to get a Cathay Pacific flight at 11.30am. Despite checking the flight yesterday we were informed that it was cancelled, but we could go on the earlier flight at 10.20am as we were checking in early at 7.45am. Unfortunately it was not that simple as the very pleasant lady at the check in could not find our details on her system, so could not check us in. An hour later they [View Full Entry]

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Day 120 Today we reluctantly left the laid back atmosphere of Koh Tao and caught a ferry back to mainland Thailand. The fast catamaran only took one and a half hours to get to Chumpon, where we then got a connecting coach for the 7 hour journey to Bangkok. The weather was not good today, it was stormy and wet when we left Koh Tao and it remained that way for most of the journey. We eventually arrived into the capital of Thailand at about 7.30pm (an hour earlier than expected, amazing!!). As soon as we got off the coach we [View Full Entry]

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Day 114 We got collected from our hotel at 9.30am prompt and taken to the ferry port for our transport to the island of Koh Tao. We were surprised that everything was on time and went to plan today as we didn't have much hope following the disappointment with the journey time to Koh Samui. The journey was easy and painless and we arrived into Koh Tao early afternoon. Koh Tao is another island on the east coast of Thailand and is popular for scuba diving. We are staying here for 6 nights as Oli is booked to do his Open [View Full Entry]

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Day 110 At 11am we were promptly picked up by a minibus to start our journey across Thailand to Koh Samui. The driver didn't drop us off at Krabi Town bus station as expected but at a private bus station, where we were informed that we would be leaving at 12.30pm, so we had to sit and wait for over an hour. A minibus took us on the 147km journey to Surat Thani on the East coast of Thailand. The journey was a bit cramped and slow due to the rain storms and floods we travelled through. 2 hours later [View Full Entry]

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Day 107 This morning we got a taxi with Richard and Laura from Devon to the ferry port as we were all going to Krabi in Thailand. The 1 hour ferry journey took us to Satun where we had to clear customs and get our passports stamped. Unfortunately they only provide you with a 15 day free tourist visa when entering the country this way. We will be in Thailand 17 days so we will have to pay for 2 extra days when we leave. It is this sort of information that you can't research in advance and you only get [View Full Entry]

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Day 104 After a disturbed night sleep we set off to the port to get a ticket for the ferry to the island of Langkawi. The ferry left at 8.15am and it was full of people sitting in airline type seats for the 2 and half hour trip. After 30 minutes there was a lot of commotion on the boat as everyone was getting sea sick. Luckily we were OK and arrived safely into Kauh on the popular holiday resort island of Langkawi. After getting some lunch we got a taxi and arrived at our accommodation Zakary Guest House in Pantai [View Full Entry]

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Day 101 Today we left Singapore by bus and travelled north to Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia. The bus only had 4 passengers including us and was very comfortable. We had to get our passports stamped at the Singapore border before travelling to the next checkpoint for entry into Malaysia. Here we had to remove all our bags off the coach and carry them into the customs building. Once inside we were greeted by several young officials who asked us where we were from and when we were leaving. We were then ushered to another building to have a health [View Full Entry]

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