Tom and Snoozy

Chengdu, Xi’an and Beijing - three cities of immense importance in China’s history. All three were past centres of imperial power and maintain their importance in the modern era. Obviously, it’s now Beijing that is pulling the strings, and they give them a good old tug on a regular basis. The only English language TV channel in China is the internationally broadcast CCTV9, and their news reports are the mouthpiece of the central government relaying their policy to the world. Each political piece is formulaic - foreign leaders are always at pains to support the “One China Policy” (i.e. supporting China’s claim to Taiwan, Tibet etc.) and the dismissal of the environmental concerns over the Three Gorges Dam project couldn’t be better spun by Shane Warne. It is well known that modern day China is subject ... read more

Asia can be a pretty bewildering place for us lao wai (outsiders). If you're one of those people that loves being out on a limb then China might just be the place for you. It's those moments when you're not really sure what's going on but you've had to throw your hat into the ring - you don't quite know where you're going to end up or what's going to turn up on your plate - they tend to be the experiences that you will ultimately remember most fondly. Learning to just go with it and enjoy the unknown is one of travelling's great lessons. There's no doubt about it, travelling through China is not for the faint-hearted. The cities are swarming with people dashing around, most of them talking at the tops of their voices ... read more

It's not so grim oop north. NZ's North Island contains the bustling metropolis of Auckland, the laid back capital of Wellington and a whole lot inbetween. We started in Auckland, where we met up with Jezz and Pen, who flew in from Melbourne to join us for a while. We headed up to the Bay of Islands, a favourite weekend destination for Aucklanders due to its fantastic weather and picture-postcard coastline. We had four perfect days in the bay, the highlight of which was sailing around in a catamaran accompanied by Bottlenosed Dolphins. They grow up to four and a half metres in length and are a mightly impressive sight. Unfortunately we couldn't swim with them as there were juveniles in the group. However, watching them bowriding and twisting out of the waves was amazing enough. ... read more

Bonjour tout le monde! We're in the Archipel de la Société, where Polynesians ride bikes whilst clutching baguettes, eat croque monsieur, play pétanque and listen to accordian music (well, sometimes...). The laissez faire attitude comes naturally to Polynesians so it seems to be quite a good match. Indeed the Polynesians here voted to maintain their association with France in a referendum in 1958 (mind you, that was five years before the French started detonating nuclear bombs in the Archipel de Tuamotos). As far as the French are concerned Polynesie Française is another part of France itself and a fair number have decided to follow Gauguin and start a new life out here in the cyclone zone. One thing that immediately strikes you about French Polynesia is that there are flowers everywhere. Many of the locals wear ... read more

Rapa Nui - Te Pito o Te Henua (The navel of the world) - Isla del Pascua to the Chileans - Easter Island to you and me - the land of the bigheads (we thought that we might fit in well here...). It's one of the most isolated places on earth, the closest neighbours being 1,900 km away on the Pitcairn Islands of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. Details are shaky but people probably first arrived here between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago. For over 1,000 years the early Polynesian settlers probably lived in total isolation from the outside world until their discovery by the Dutch Admiral Roggeveen on Easter Sunday 1722. During those centuries of isolation the islanders dramatically grew in numbers. The volcanic island provided a surlpus of food and a class of religious ... read more