Wish you were here

On the morning we left Bangkok to go to Cambodia, we were picked up by the bus at 7am and had a fairly uneventful drive to the Thailand-Cambodia border. Once at the border, we all handed over our passports to get our Cambodian visas. We had paid for the bus to take us to Siem Reap in Cambodia, but once across the border we were all told that we would have to wait for 2-3 hours for a bus to arrive and then it would be a 6 hour drive to Siem Reap. This was at odds with what we had booked when we paid for this transport so needless to say everyone was a little annoyed but apparently this is something to watch out for when crossing the border like this. In the end the ... read more

After our trek anyway, we headed off dwon to Chitwan Wildlife Reserve. This is just on the Indian border and so was about a 7 hour bus ride. We figured we were pretty used to mammoth bus journeys at this stage, but when we got down to where the bus was leaving from, the bus was pretty much full and we had to practically sit on top of the driver for the first 3 hours. That's quite literally - I was sittting on a bench like thing right behind him with my knees pulled up to my ears and another girls leaning up against me, and Joe was sitting right beside the windscreen beside the driver, with 2 more people squashed up against him. The guy sitting beside Joe opted to sit on the roof of ... read more

We're finally updating our blog again after being out of touch there for a few days! We were basically in rural Tibet and conditions were fairly primitive in some places. The last place we left on the blog was Shigatse. The morning we left Shigatse, we drove for about 4 hours and came to a town called Sakya. A lot of these towns are built around the monastery and very little else so there is not a huge amount to do other than that. Once we arrived here, we had some lunch (in a pretty filthy restaurant it has to be said-God knows what the kitchen was like-we can't dwell on this or we would starve!) and went for a walk around the monastery. The hotel was similar to what we have had. This is just ... read more

The day after we arrive in Lhasa, we have a Tibetan language class in the morning.We're given a sheet of paper with loads of useful phrases and we're really trying to use them.Some people appreciate it but anyone who has any English just wants to use their English words! After a walk around the city we have a Tibetan cookery class where we learn how to make momos, a traditional Tibetan dumpling type dish. It's actually pretty delicious, all the more for having been made by ourselves!Well in fairness, we actually just shaped them - everything else was done by the chef but still..............! We have another stroll around the city, trying to aquaint ourselves with the place. It's really traditional in parts (read : no toilet facilities so really smelly!!) and has a fascinating history ... read more

This morning we left our hotel at 5am to catch our flight to Lhasa.Joe and I have exactly the same liquids in our hand luggage as we had leaving Dublin and leaving Heathrow - so we don't anticipate any problems.It's a 2 hour domestic flight with Air China.However they won't let us bring our all important mosquito repellant through!!We end up checking in another bag though so it's not a problem.Mam had given us a bottle of holy water as well to bring with us and when the security man held it up wondering what it was, my heart sank.Once I blessed myself about 5 times while gesturing at it, he seemed to get the message and let us keep it.We arrived at our hotel in Lhasa anyway with not too much action.It's very cold but ... read more

This morning we all met in the lobby of the hotel at 6am to head off on the mammoth drive into rural China. We're heading to an area that is considered by some to be Eastern Tibet.Because we are in the Sichuan Province, there is quite a lot of earthquake damage visible from the earthquake in May - mostly landslides and huge cracks in the road.As usual the driving is absolutely manic.It's obvious that the rules are there are no rules.Overtaking on a bend is the norm.We are in the bus for 12 hours and the bus driver is beeping constantly.It's to let people know as he's overtaking on a bend that he's coming.We've come to the conclusion that you can do whatever you want on the road and the onus is on the poor eejit ... read more