The Flowers in Guilin was a good hostel with excellent value single rooms with shared bathroom (around 6 pounds) and a pleasant communual area to chill out in. The weekend in Guilin was relaxing with lots of sightseeing coupled with a day of Admin (laundry, internet, planning trip etc). On Monday 5th September I headed up to Dhazi, again with the help of staff at the hostel who phoned the private bus company for me and booked me a seat for 80 Yuan (8 pounds) for the 2 ½ hour journey. Located in Longsheng County, the Longji Rice Terraces are about 100 km (2 hours drive) from Guilin. The most popular are Ping An Rice Terrace and Jinkeng Rice Terrace. History of Longji Rice Terrace can be dating back to Yuan Dynasty, but most of the ... read more

I fly to Chengdu on Saturday lunchtime from Xian which was easy and straightforward. Chengdu is another huge city in the Sichuan province and is a good base to see many of the surrounding attractions and also visit Tibet which I’d love to do on another trip after having heard stories from other travellers. It is also home of the famous Panda Research Breeding Base which I was really looking forward to visiting. I stayed in the Nova Travellers Lodge which was really good value, big with lots of facilities and spacious with a sociable common area. In the evening I got a taxi to the Shamrock pub and watched the Tri-Nations final and England play Ireland then went to the Kuan Xiengzi Alley area which was really nice and authentic. On the Sunday I walked ... read more

Hi everyone here is the first blog of the new trip. It’s taken a while as I couldn’t access the blog in China due to internet restrictions (no Facebook either!). The internet speeds in China were also slow and there haven’t been many internet café’s in Hong Kong so I’ve purchased a cheap Asus Netbook which is great for the blogging! Thanks to everyone for the good parties and gatherings in July and August it was great to catch up before leaving. So the plan is China/Hong Kong, Oz, New Zealand for the RWC and South America with a few cheeky side trips along the way but I’ll leave those as a surprise for you! The second time travelling has been just as exciting so far but also easier in terms of getting around with the ... read more

New Years celebrations 2009/2010 in Quito and I also made trips to Mindo, Banos and Atacames. Ecuador goes wild this time of year. It observes a very unique tradition the "anos viejos" (old years). There will be loads of human figurines which are stuffed dummies made with paper, sawdust, wood as well as firecrackers. These dummies are displayed through the whole of the nation before they are set on fire at midnight to signify burning the old years. Many people also dress the dummies in their old clothes and kick them for good luck while they are burning. Many of the dummies are famous people including politicians. I chose Osama Bin Laden as mine. At midnight the whole of Quito had bonfires in the streets it was amazing you could see many fires on the mountainside ... read more

The Rough guide rated Banos highly and although I wanted to spend a good few days there a day trip from Quito worked out really well and we had a great time in the town and seeing all the waterfalls. Baños lies four hours from the capital city of Quito; it is a peaceful little city on the slopes of Tungurahua Volcano at 1,820 meters above sea level. This Andean village is surrounded by snowcapped volcanoes and has wonderful thermal springs. The impressive snowcapped volcanic peaks that surround Baños are four in number: TUNGURAHUA (5,061m), CHIMBORAZO (6,310m), ALTAR (5,320m) and CARIHUAIRAZO (5,020m). The scenary from and around the city is wonderfull and the city has lots of crafts and handiwork shops I was in my element!!! I´ve had to buy an exta bag so I can ... read more