Please excuse us kind Madams and Sirs, for leaving such a long time between drinks. But plans changed rapidly after the last straw of too many last straws in China and we've spent a week revelling in Hong Kong's Western affluence. First things first ... the reason we beat a hasty retreat from the backwaters of Chongqing: a dirty old man on a local bus hocked up a foul green oyster and spat it on the bus floor right at our feet. We were disgusted and outraged, yet this was a mere warm-up for the rudest and most indescent clash of [View Full Entry]

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Our last day in Chengdu involved nothing more than recovering from our massages and treating ourselves to the Sichuanese delicacy: "HotPot". (For those who are uneducated in the ways of HotPot, please see the text at the end of the blog) Now anyone who has even met Dave, will know of his love for this dish. Penny's first HotPot however nearly ended in disaster. A piece of beef slipped from the hold of her chopsticks and splashed scolding hot chilli oil into her eye. As if that wasn't bad enough, the insuing panic caused her to suck a sprig of Sichuan [View Full Entry]

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What a Chinese Massage Disaster! Our $3 massage seemed like a fantastic treat, touted as "Chengdu Traditional Medicine University Professional Massage with over 10 Years Experience". We honestly assumed we'd discovered a small concession of heaven in China. Pleasure greed was our first mistake. After an hour of awesome shiatsu massage, the therapist convinced us to push for an extra half. Obviously labeling us as easily led 'laowai suckers', he then strongly suggested a spot of acupuncture. "Why not?", we asked ourselves. "We're in China, they're clearly professionals and we were coinc [View Full Entry]

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As Penny's stomach slowly recovers from a bout of 'Beijing Belly', the tour of China continues.... At time of writing we are two overnight train journeys away from Beijing's choking smog and mean staring eyeballs. Green trees line the streets and parks (yes, parks!) of Chengdu, the charming capital of Sichuan. We can actually breathe out here. Penny's opinion of China improved, however, long before arriving in Chengdu. A day trip from Xi'an dumped us at the base of HuaShan, a 7km vertically hike-able mountain. Despite super-slow progress, (Pen still didn't trust food at that time), we re [View Full Entry]

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Due to vastly divergent opinions, we've decided to write separate blog entries for China so far: "Wretched Duck" by Penny China is not what it's cracked up to be. The flashy images portrayed during the Olympics are poles apart from the truth. The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square and the Temple of Heaven make fantastic postcards, (once the choking pollution fog is photoshopped out of existence), but the reality is much more hellish. The Beijing sun doesn't shine.... it 'glows' through a haze of smog so thick you can feel it sliding down your throat & gripping your lun [View Full Entry]

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Tokyo is the New York City of Asia .... well, almost. Take Manhattan, multiply it's population by 4, jack up the　fashion dare coefficient, add a billion more flashing neon signs and similar numbers of department stores, subtract the stinking sewers and street bums and there you have it. Unbelievable! Somehow the confusion melts into pure efficiency. Just don't attempt crossing the current of subway passengers en route to somewhere other than your chosen destination. Not that it matters where you end up. It's all so damn exciting. The shopping in this city is insane. We're hardly sho [View Full Entry]

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* We mentioned Japan was cheap .... True, unless you're a fan of fresh fruit and vegies. 1 x mango @ $24 + 1 x peach @ $12.99 + 1 x bunch of grapes @ $8.50 = weekly food budget blown on half a fruit salad. * More fruity facts .... each individual piece of fruit is custom-wrapped in a polystyrene lattice sock. Perhaps this explains the elevated cost? * Talk about polite .... Pull into a Japanese petrol station for a fill-up and afterwards you'll be personally escorted out to the street and recieve a deep bow for your troubles. [View Full Entry]

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They say Kyoto is the most visited tourist destination on the entire planet, eclipsing heavyweights like Paris and New York. Even so, we have yet to spot more than a handful of Westerners. With countless World Heritage listed temples and shrines, the mysterious Geisha underworld and a multitude of calming Zen gardens, Kyoto is in every sense the most traditional of all Japan's large cities. Our Japanses-style guesthouse is in a fantastic location and the cheapest in town. (Who could go wrong for AUD $25 a night?)Management didn't even bat an eyelid when Dave's hair blanketed the tatami afte [View Full Entry]

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After the crazy concrete jungle of Osaka, we stumbled upon quintessential Japan in the mineral hot spring onsen town of Kinosaki. Despite spending only a single night here, the experience deserves an entire blog entry as it held so many joys in such a small space in time. Kinosaki is a laid-back resort town where the Japanese come to soak their troubles away in 7 public bath houses aligning a slow drifting canal. As budget accommodation is non-existant round these parts, we splashed out on our first 'ryokan' & fell in love with the concept. Ryokan are traditional Japanese guest inns [View Full Entry]

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Japan is awesome! The culture shock strikes right to your core as you wade around a sea of indecipherable characters like a blind shark. Futuristic technology meets a backward existence where rusty old bikes seem to be the most popular form of transport and the crime rate is so low there's not a bike lock to be seen. We opted for a 'Japanese Style' hotel room in Osaka and we were delighted by the simplicity of fresh tatami mats with their barn-like scent and futons rolled up in the cupboard. Our only complaints revolved around communal bath times according to some [View Full Entry]

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