Tonatiu

In brief: Went to Hong Kong for a few days, was great, then to Beijing, which was a bit of a mixed bag, under construction, nightmare visa application for India, nice streets, lakes and Forbidden City/Great Wall. Then flew to Xi’an, old capital, near Terracotta Army, Taoist Temple, then flew to Chengdu, where there is a Panda reserve, then back to Hong Kong for one night before flying to Delhi. Were originally going to spend 5-6 weeks in China but cut it short to spend more time in India. We arrived at Hong Kong island on a bus from the airport, and with little trouble found the building of our guesthouse. There was a 24 hour supermarket outside with a good selection of Chinese and western food, and such conveniences as tasty sandwiches and takeaway pizza ... read more

We arrived in Manila on the 13th July in the evening and checked into a hotel near the centre. It was really humid after Australia and just walking around was enough to break into a sweat. It was exciting to be in Asia again, with all the hustle and bustle of the city and the typical madly decorated rickshaws and ‘jeepneys’, and people shouting and living on the streets. Everyone was really friendly as we walked around, lots of them smiling and saying hello to us. We spent 4 days in Manila, looking at some of the malls and street scenes and trying to sort out a Japan Rail Pass which had to be bought before reaching the country, and is meant to be relatively good value. We found a nice restaurant as well near the ... read more

We arrived in New Zealand at 3.00 a.m. so hung around at the airport for a few hours and then got a shuttle bus into the centre and checked into a backpackers hostel. There were noticeably more young backpackers, as New Zealand and Australia seem to be popular with first time travellers, and South America more appealing to an older crowd. Everything was so organised for backpackers, with things like free phone to hostels at the airport and electronic signs at the reception which tell you how many minutes till the next airport bus arrives outside. One of the first things we did was stop at a bar that was offering all day breakfasts, English style, which tasted fantastic. Ruth has been to New Zealand before 9 years ago, so it was quite fun for her ... read more

Friday 31st March we arrived in Santiago on the bus and checked into a hostel we had booked. Unfortunately it was a bit run down for the price and the rooms were damp and we were kept up all night by the buzzer of the front door as other backpackers arrived late. We did go out for a nice dinner and saw a young couple dancing the tango on the street for money which was fun to watch. The next day we moved into a hotel which was closer to the centre and for only about £7 more much better value for money. We spent the day walking around the centre, getting information about posting a parcel back home, and going to the central market. On Sunday we went to the Palicio Cousino, a large mansion ... read more

On 20th Feb at 7.30 a.m. we got a bus from Puno in Peru to La Paz (3660m) in Bolivia. The views of the barren mountains, some snow capped, were really beautiful. We arrived in La Paz at 5.15 p.m., and got a taxi to a relatively nice hotel in the heart of the city. It was really chaotic, with loads of traffic and every inch of pavement occupied by stalls and people shouting about what they were trying to sell. We were still with George and Em (Rein and Char had decided to stop for a few days at Copacabana, a small town on Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side) and we all had a good feeling about La Paz, which seemed really exciting and entertaining. Of course I wouldn’t want to live there it ... read more