http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Toby-and-Em/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Toby and Em en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:03:44 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:03:44 +0000 Looking back I don't think that we really got a lasting impression of St Petersburg. Whether this was due to some 'travel weariness' or because we felt like we'd already seen similar sights in other European cities I don't know. We did enjoy the few days we spent in St Petersburg though and we did our fair share of exploring. St Petersburg has nice buildings. It has very old buildings. It has h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-342538.html Until this trip much of our limited knowledge of Poland stemmed from several drunken outings with UQ Boxing to the Polish Club in Brisbane these outings were always followed by next morning headaches and only the tatters of any Polish cultural knowledge remained. So it was that we entered Poland armed with vague memories of drinking vodka with gold flecks floating in it and 8 Okocim beers. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-323304.html There is no question that Prague is an attractive city. It is very pretty. The Old Town of Prague is particularly picturesque and is exactly what you see on the postcards with its narrow cobbled streets and grand almost fairytalelike buildings so full of history. Prior to arriving in Prague by train we'd been really looking forward to spending time there. We expected that we would love th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-298400.html Berlin ist arm aber sexy.........Berlin is poor but sexy.spoken by Berlins' mayor in 2004Many cities are recognisable by their grand old buildings. London has Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament Edinburgh has Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile Beijing has Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City Prague by Wenceslas Square and Charles Bridge. Berlin is unlike these other cities in that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-296883.html We were only in Copenhagen for one and a half days so rather than pretend we know something about it we'll just post the photos with our comments. It is quite a quirky city and I hope we've captured some of this in the photos. The only activity we'd recommend as a must to people thinking of visiting Copenhagen do the Carlsberg brewery tour. It's both informative and intoxicating. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-293186.html Sweden land of endless daylight beautiful people and industrial strength coffee. Every morning at breakfast I have 23 coffees and then the muscle under my eye starts twitching. It tastes really good though and as quality coffee is hard to find in China Emma and I are indulging our caffeine dependencies while we can. Breakfast is great here cheap by Swedish standards at 55SEK approx 1 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-288772.html I love to visit my homecountry whenever possible and so we decided to make a 4 day stopover in London before we began our marathon trek overland from Europe back to China. Being from the north of England a trip to London is quite exciting for me and this time was no exception particularly because we got to see my family and old friends again. Luckily for us the weather was glorious durin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-288771.html Since we last wrote we've been on some interesting day trips around Zhejiang Province so we thought we'd take the opportunity to write a brief blog and upload some of the photos.XitangThe area that we're living in has a number of ancient water towns dotted around within about an hour's drive of Jiaxing. We visited one of them Xitang last week. We went with the two other foreign teachers an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Xitang/blog-272693.html ldquoTo my mind the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.rdquo Bill Bryson.When we arrived in China we were like babies we could barely speak couldn't read and didn't really know how to get around. The smallest task that you take for g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-268121.html As we write this blog our neighbours are trying to control a fire they just started in their backyardjunkyard. About 20 minutes ago they brought over a dozen or so bales of hay from a truck sat them in some bushes and then lit them. I assume that they are trying to burn away the bushes they've been removing old bricks scrap iron and other junk from other parts of their yard for a couple o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-254948.html There is only one way to say it China is tremendous. Quaint wonderful and tremendous. We've been so well treated since we have arrived that our arms are black with repeated pinching. However the trip to China and navigating to J299ax299ng was not always so easy though it was character building...We left Hanoi by bus as all the trains were full and headed to the VietnamChina borde http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-249878.html We arrived in Hanoi on New Years Day of the 'Tet' festival which meant that Hanoi was like a ghosttown. We didnrsquot mind this because it gave us a chance to get ourselves acquainted geographically without too much hassle.Our first impressions of Vietnam's capital city were good. Our hotel was in the heart of the Old Quarter and we spent our first day strolling through the maze of streets t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-248221.html After Nha Trang Toby and I spent a very pleasant 3 days in Hoi An a picturesque town halfway up the Vietnam coast. Hoi An managed to avoid much of the wartime bombings and consequently it boasts a world heritage listed Old Town amongst its many charms. From the moment we checked into our hotel in Hoi An we felt relaxed and welcome. The people were generally very friendly and only too keen to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-244740.html ldquoI don't like dealing with money transactions in poor countries. I get confused between the feeling that I shouldn't haggle with poverty and hating getting ripped off.rdquoThe Beach.This quote comes ironically from a book I purchased from a tout in Ho Chi Minh City. Emma and I were sitting at a bar having a meal when a little Vietnamese man walked up with a huge stack of books nearly http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-243016.html We're in Vietnam and Emmakins is very excited. No more plane trips No more squeezing Toby's hand in a deathgrip It's only the train from here YayIt appears that with every country in Asia we visit the traffic gets worse. Taiwan was hair raising but crossing the road in Vietnam is a religious experience. You step out and then ldquoOh my god oh my god OH MY GODrdquo. When cros http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-241317.html Following on from our interesting first 24 hours in Taiwan the next couple of days continued in a similar vein and we were well lookedafter by Jason Laura and Levi and then later by one of Emma's oldest and dearest friends Julia. First on the itinerary was a visit to Jiao Fen Jiao means 9 in Mandarin and the town is named after its 9 original inhabitants.Jiao Fen hot springs and aroun http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/blog-239925.html A tray is placed on the table in front of us. There is a bowl of snake soup a glass of red liquid and 5 shot glasses containing other unknown fluids.The waiter approaches our table and gives orders in Mandarin. Jason and Laura our Taiwanese friends translateJason He said that the red liquid is snake blood. Please drink half eachWe dutifully share the drink between us.Jason Now into the e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-238725.html The best way to introduce Singapore if you've never been is1. Chewing gum is illegal.2. Littering is punishable by fines S1000 for first time offenders.3. Drug usage or trafficking is frequently punished by death.4. The food is awesome and tremendously cheap.We knew all this from our last trip. Singapore is in many ways the good son of Asia. Well behaved welltodo and straightlaced. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Geylang/blog-238389.html I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Singapore now.We've seen a number of strange things today and yesterday and eaten some of them too. There are some parts of a pig that shouldn't feature on your dinner plate though if you do come to Singapore and eat a mystery piggish substance make sure you ask what it is after you eat it not before. That's for another blog though.Today I'm just popping d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Geylang/blog-237055.html So there I was about 2 weeks before the day of departure. I was doing what I do best which is being a nerd so I was studying up on a Mandarin phrasebook. The phrasebook I use comes with a CD which I listen to so I can pronounce my Mandarin correctly. My secret hope is that I will sound both worldly and well travelled when I arrive in China so I had been furiously repeating everything I he http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-235751.html