During our first week back in bleak Essex (the first three days of summer consisted of nothing but rain and grey skies), I was delighted to discover that around the corner from our house, the annual Thurrock Beer Festival was being held. My delirious delight stemmed from the fact that I was struggling to come to terms with the fact that I had to work in such a soulless part of the world again. 'Just think of the £'s' I keep trying to remind myself. Anyway, we had so much fun there on the Thursday night (with about 100 beers to [View Full Entry]

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Working for 6 weeks in Essex meant that Marty and I were certainly looking forward to having a week's holiday in Barcelona. After a rather unsettling flight due to some storms over southern France and Spain, we eventually landed; albeit with a landing that consisted of a bounce which made one think we had landed upon a trampoline. The pilot must have then realised that we were hurtling at a dangerous speed along the runway, so he applied the breaks in a rather abrupt manner, thrusting all of the passengers towards the seat in front of them. When the plane did [View Full Entry]

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Since I last wrote, the sun has made an appearance in the English skies. This has brought out an array of pale English folk in singlets and skirts, complaining about the 22 degree heat! Marty and I tended to see things in a more positive light, so we made our way into the stunningly laid out Regent's Park and spent the day relaxing in the sun and wandering around Baker Street (of Sherlock Holmes fame). That evening we made our way to the Globe Theatre on the Thames to watch an excellent performance of Shakespeare's 'King Lear', which was the highlight [View Full Entry]

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As we flew over the Thames I felt rather depressed about having to go back to working again after having such an amazing time traveling. Little did I know how much Heathrow Airport would do its very best to make matters even more unpleasant. When we landed, there were not any gates available for the plane to park at, so we sat on the runway for the best part of an hour. In the end they allocated us a section of the tarmac to disembark; however, the airport staff could not find anyone to drive the stairs over to the plane, [View Full Entry]

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After walking through a few of the magnificent Moscow metro stations for the last time (beautiful design is not something I had previously associated with a subway station, but the mosaics, gold leafing, sculptures and leadlight designs of the Moscow metro make it a great experience in itself), we made our way to our train platform to depart for St Petersburg. The Nikolaevsk Ekspress is by far and away the most luxurious train I have been on over the last few months. The beds were comfy, service impeccable and the supplied breakfast was both tasty and plentiful. Arriving in St Petersburg, [View Full Entry]

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My first glimpse of Siberia through the train window was just as I had imagined it - snow, thin trees and sparsely populated. The most memorable part of the five day journey to Moscow was unboubtedly meeting a drunken Russian man in the dining car who had absolutely no English at all, to go with my lack of any knowledge of the Russian language. He challenged me to an arm wrestle, which he won easily and then poured me some of his cognac, which tasted like fire water after the Russian beer I had been drinking. We had met up with [View Full Entry]

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Spending time in the Mongolian countryside has enriched my soul. Leaving the hectic life of Beijing behind (after spending our final night there watching an acrobatics show that defied all logic on what the human body is capable of doing), we were thoroughly excited by the prospect of visiting such a remote location. Aboard our train, we were at first struck by the striking, jagged mountains that we passed through as we headed west, before veering north into Inner Mongolia. The barren and stark landscape was an incredible sight after spending so long in congested cities. In the middle of the [View Full Entry]

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After an overnight train trip from Xi'an I arrived at Beijing West Train Station and wandered around for an hour looking for the subway station, only to discover that the subway runs from Beijing Train Station, not Beijing West Train Station. This was a concern, as prior to leaving Shanghai for Xi'an, I had sat down and mapped out my way to the hostel we had booked according to the subway lines. After some futile attempts at communicating with taxi drivers and stall merchants, I spotted a group of university aged people and decided that one of them might have some [View Full Entry]

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When I was 9 years of age back in 1989, my mum went to China and the photo that I remembered most vividy was of the terracotta warriors in Xi'an. She also brought home two miniature models which I would often gaze at in wonder over the years, fascinated by the story of an entire army buried with an emperor to protect him in the afterlife. Therefore, my first visit to China would not have been complete without seeing these warriors with my own eyes. After saying a sad farewell to Marty who had decided to stay on in Shanghai for [View Full Entry]

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Setting out on foot in Shanghai was like stepping into the future. The building designs simply have to be seen to be believed. At one point, Marty said she felt like she was in an episode of The Jetsons, and when I saw the Pearl TV Tower commanding my gaze as it thrusted upwards into the stratosphere, I could only agree. The skyline is dominated by numerous striking designs and the bustling street scene at the feet of these towering structures creates an exciting atmosphere. Shanghai doesn't necessarily feel like you are in China, at least, not when compared with the [View Full Entry]

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