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, [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Tokyo on the 1st August, with a quick transfer in Hong Kong on the way. We had already booked a hotel on line, opting for a one in the area known as Shinjuku, the heart of modern Tokyo, where the nightlife, red light district, and shopping is centred. It cost a bit more than the less central hotels, but was obviously better situated for checking out the city at night. On the first night however we just went to sleep as we didn’t make it to the hotel till after midnight. The next day was a bit of [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Having been to Australia already but having never made it to Sydney it was quite exciting to see the harbour and Opera House from the air as we flew in to the airport on Sunday 11 June. We checked into a backpacker hostel in the King’s Cross area and wandering around later that night bumped into an old friend of Ruth’s from home called Tinon, which was fun. Though it had been cold at night and we were glad to have a heater in our room, the next day it was hot and sunny and it was really nice walking around [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Rio on April 9th pretty late and, getting a bus because the airport taxis were very overpriced, it seemed really exciting, a new country, a new language, arriving in the middle of the night. We’d booked ourselves a nice hotel online. $100 for the room was well over budget but nice for the first few days in a place like Rio, and only a block from the famous Copacabana beach. For the next three days we walked around the beachside neighbourhood, sitting on the beach in the day, and checking out the stalls selling gear to tourists and [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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We entered Argentina on foot, walking across the border from Villazon to La Quiaca. Villazon was full of shops lining the streets up to the border, a place popular with Argentineans because of its competitive prices. After clearing immigration we walked up to the bus terminal, to see if there were any buses that night to Jujuy, from where we could get a bus to Buenos Aires, there being little reason to stay in La Quiaca. We soon found out we could get a bus to Jujuy, which would arrive there at 4.00 a.m., and then a connecting bus to Buenos [View Full Entry]

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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, [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Lima on Friday 13th January, and got a taxi to the suburb of Miraflores, situated on the coast above the cliffs. It is meant to be much safer than central Lima, especially at night, and has a multitude of hotels and restaurants. We spent the first day walking around, checking out the place and looking for a camera shop which might be able to fix the zoom lens which is having some issues. It felt more like Europe than any expectations we had of Peru. On 15th January, after another day hanging around in Miraflores, walking along the [View Full Entry]

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